Ancient China
Key Terms & Ideas
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Middle Kingdom
Xia Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
Oracle Bones
Zhou Dynasty
Mandate of Heaven
Ancestor Worship
Warring States Period
Qin Dynasty
Qin Shihuangdi
Legalism
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Great Wall of China
Tomb of Qin Shihuangdi
Han Dynasty
Wu Di
Confucianism
Kung Fu-tzu
Li
Ren
Silk Road
Daoism
Laozi
Dao
2
3
Influence of Geography on China’s Development
Geography of China
• 7000 BC – Settlement along Yellow River
& Yangzi Rivers
• Vast human resources, many people to
work
• Isolation (“Middle Kingdom”)
•
•
Surrounded by mountains, deserts, rain
forests, & the Pacific Ocean
Best farmland was along the east coast
• Irrigation/flood control required a strong
central authority
• The need for a central authority led to a
Parade of Dynasties
•
“Mandate of Heaven” : The emperor had
the blessing of heaven to rule as long as
China was prosperous and peaceful
• Natural & man-made disasters were a sign
that the Mandate had been taken away and
given to someone else
• c.2200-1700 BC – Xia Dynasty
•
Early civilizations in China
Bronze weapons
4
Shang Dynasty (c.1500-1028 BC)
• Prolific Bronze Producers
– Best weapons, chariots & other wheeled vehicles
•
– Gave advantage to their army by having chariots
First Chinese Writing
– Characters representing words
– Oracle bones have first writing on them
– Chinese fortune tellers would write a question on a
turtle shell or sheep shoulder bone, when the bone
cracked, they would interpret the cracks to tell the
future
• Gov. Decentralized
Shang Chariots
– Mostly ruled by local warlords
– Fell due to weak rulers
Shang Chariot & horses
buried in a grave
Shang Bronze Vase
Oracle Bones
5
Map of Shang China
6
7
Zhou Dynasty (1028-256 BC)
• Ousted Weak Shang Rulers
– Mandate of Heaven: rulers stay in power
because Heaven allows it. If they lose
power, then they did something to anger
Heaven.
– Zhou said they now had the Mandate of
Heaven and the Shang did not
• Gov. Decentralized & ruled by local
warlords
Zhou Warlords and a Battle
– “Warring States” Period (481-221 BC)
had many wars between powerful local
lords
• Innovations:
– Gold & copper coinage replaced shells &
trading silk for goods
– Oxen & iron farm tools let farmers plow
more land and grow more food
– Books first appear
• Poetry, political books, history, manuals to
tell the future
• Many didn’t survive because they were
written on wood or silk so they disintegrated
• Confucius lived during this period
8
Local Kingdoms during the “Warring States” Period (481-221 BC)
9
Chinese farmers
A Chinese Scholar
Early Chinese Society
• Clear Hierarchy
A Chinese Slave
– Ruler, Educated Nobles & Warriors, Merchants &
Artisans, Slaves
• People bought bronze items to show how wealthy they
were (pots, dishes, artwork, etc.)
• Rich lived in cities, had slaves and peasants farm their
lands
• Poor farmed other people’s land in exchange for a
portion of the crops and provided military service
• Unsystematic Ancestor Worship
– They had no real gods, but had rituals to their
ancestors
– Ancestors kept watch on the family and could help
them, if they were shown proper respect
Women
working on
Silk
• They were given offerings of food, jewels, gifts
– Fathers’ job to perform rituals
• Had no priests
• Women’s Role in Family
A family
worshiping
their
ancestors
– Household manager
– Lineage was traced through your mother and her
family was honored
• Eventually women begin to lose power and men become
more important as the Chinese begin to honor military
victories more
• Lineage is now traced through your father’s family
10
The Unification of China
China During the Qin Dynasty
The Great Wall of China
A Market in China
China Towards the end of the
Zhou Dynasty
12
•
Qin Dynasty (256-202 BC)
Qin Shihuangdi (r.221-210)
– First “Universal” Emperor
•
•
•
Was a warlord from the largest of the states in China (Qin) who
took control of the surrounding territories
Stopped the fighting between other warlords and unified China
Reforms:
– Fixed roads, bridges, & canals
– Gave land away to the poor
•
Took it from the rich & powerful to weaken them & keep them
under control
– Unified Law/Coinage/Weights & Measures
•
Qin Shihuangdi, pictures of
life in China during his
reign, and the Terra Cotta
Warriors who guard his
tomb.
•
•
Made it easier to trade throughout China
Building Programs:
– Canals, Roads, & Great Wall
•
•
Helped his soldiers move faster to stop rebellion & invasions
Protected the people in China from invasions
•
We know where the tomb is but don’t know how to preserve the
paint and how to be safe from the poisonous mercury so the
Chinese government won’t allow it to be opened.
– His Tomb was surrounded by thousands of warriors made of
terra cotta to serve him after death. In the center was a
replica of China decorated with jewels and with mercury as
the water.
Very Unpopular due to high taxes and not allowing
people to challenge him.
– He had 460 scholars executed, reportedly by burying them
alive
– After his death there were civil wars which led to the end of
the Qin Dynasty
13
A recreation of what Qin Shihuangdi’s tomb might look like with his coffin in the
center and rivers of mercury surrounding it.
14
Qin Shihuangdi
created the
Great Wall of
China by
connecting
older walls and
building new
ones.
15
China Towards the end of the
Zhou Dynasty, shows where
the Han people lived.
16
Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD)
• Founder: Liu Bang
– Dynasty named after Liu’s home region
– Professional Bureaucrats
• Wu Di (r.141-87 BC)
– Created the Civil Service Exams candidates received jobs
based on ability, not birth
• Poor could earn powerful positions if they studied and were
talented
• Imperial university created to education people for this exam
• Chinese “Golden Age”
– China led the world in science & technology
• Invention of paper, sundial, water clock, surgery, etc.
Liu Bang
Wu Di
Schools grew to teach students & help
them pass the civil service exam
• Foreign Trade along Silk Road expanded & made
China wealthy
• Han China fell because it was too large
– Taxes were too high for the peasants, so they lost their
land to rich landowners
– Landowners and nobles revolted against the government
to gain more power
– Nomads from Central Asia raided Han territory as the
government grew weaker, until the Han fell in 220 AD
17
Silk Road Trade Routes
18
China’s “Three Doctrines”
• Growth of Buddhism
– Became popular in China, spread by merchants traveling
the silk road
– Prep for afterlife, taught people to think about death
• Confucianism
– Founded by Kung Fu-tzu (Confucius) (551-479 BC)
• He was a government official who wrote a practical manual for
how to interact with other people and how to run China.
The Buddha
Confucius
Laozi
– Practical philosophy of daily life (& governing) by
following 3 values
• Ren: goodness & nobility of heart
• Li: Proper behavior people should follow in every situation
• Yi: following moral values & righteousness
• Daoism (Taoism)
– Founded by Laozi (600s BC)
– Escape from daily life through contemplation of the Dao
(the Way)
• Complementary Beliefs
– People in China would practice all three doctrines. Ex.
Confucianism at work, Daoism in their free time, and
Buddhism when thinking about what happens when they
die.
19
Tang & Song China
Key Terms & Ideas
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sui Dynasty
Grand Canal
Sui Yangdi
Tang Taizong
Equal Field System
Tang Dynasty
Tribute System
Yongle Encyclopedia
Zheng He
Beijing & Forbidden City
Mandarins
Samurai
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Song Taizu
Song Dynasty
Sailing Junk
Foot-binding
Neo-Confucianism
Chinese Banking & paper
money
Treasure Ships
Ming Dynasty
Emperor Hongwu
Eunuchs
Silla Dynasty (Korea)
2
3
Post-Han China
• 220-586 – Six Dynasties Period
– 3 Main kingdoms:
Sui Yangdi
• Wei in North
• Shu Han in West
• Wu in Southeast
• 586-618 – Sui Dynasty
The Grand Canal created by Sui Yangdi
– Repaired Great Wall
– Expeditions against northern nomads
– Restored foreign trade along the Silk Road
• Sui Yangdi (r. 604-618)
– Connected the rivers of China by creating the
Grand Canal
• This made trade between North & South China
much easier by connecting the Yangtze and the
Yellow River
– Wars against nomads cost a lot of money &
men, so the people rebelled & overthrew the
Sui
4
Territory controlled by the Six Dynasties Kingdoms
5
Sui China & The Grand Canal
6
The Grand Canal in China, Today
7
Tang China (618-906)
• Tang were a military family from the frontier
regions
– Reorganized China
• Tang Taizong (r. 627-649)
A giant seated Buddha created during the Tang Dynasty
People
petition
the Tang
Emperor
Tang Taizong
–
–
–
–
Killed 2 brothers & his father to become emperor
Built a new capital at Chang’an
Stopped bandits, kept food prices low
Expanded China: took over Korea, Vietnam,
Manchuria, Tibet
– Foreign influence because of the new subjects led to
Open-mindedness: foreign culture & religion
(especially Buddhism) became popular
• Flourishing Culture/Economy:
A Tang Dynasty Check
– Equal Field System surveyed all land, distributed it
fairly, & made sure that everyone paid a fair share of
taxes
• Rulers moved food as necessary to end famines
– Extensive trade internally & externally
• Trade of some products were controlled by government
monopolies
– Invention of the banknote/check started as an easy way
to trade over long distances without heavy gold & silver
• Tang fell because they focused on their
personal lives and neglected the empire
8
The Tang Dynasty
9
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (906-60)
After the fall of the
Tang, there was a
period of fighting and
turmoil during which
many kingdoms rose
and fell quickly.
10
Song China (960-1279)
•
Song Taizu (r. 960-976)
– Founded the dynasty by uniting small warlords
– Strong, centralized administration in the south of China
– Favored culture over military development
•
Song Taizu
A Sailing Junk
•
Song Taizu conquers his neighbors
By 1127 Northern China was mostly abandoned to
Nomads
Important Innovations:
– Thriving agriculture based on growing rice led to huge
cities
•
– Sailing junk (was a larger & faster ship than any in
Europe at the time), Compass (for navigation), Paper
Money all led to extensive trade for the Chinese
– Water-powered clock showed positions of planets &
told time
– Gunpowder fired rockets & projectiles out of a tube
A Water-powered Clock
Chinese wood blocks
for printing books &
money
5 cities with over 1 million people
•
•
A Chinese Rocket & men making gunpowder
•
Government expanded as China grew wealthy,
which led to higher taxes on the peasants, who
rebelled
Expanded wealth led people to spend more free
time in restaurants, taverns, tea houses, & brothels
However: Men took greater control of families in
the Song Dynasty limiting Women’s Rights
– Women were confined more to the house
– Foot binding was adopted to show a family was wealthy
enough that their daughters did not have to work
11
↓ Song China, 1127-1279 ↓
↑ Song China, 960-1127 ↑
After 1127, Northern
China was abandoned
due to invading nomads
and the Song Dynasty
focused on the south.
12
Photographs of a bound
foot wrapped in a special
sock (left) and bare (below)
An X-ray of bound feet
& a diagram of the bones
of bound feet.
Foot-binding started when a girl was young. The parents would
break the bones in her foot and then wrap it tightly to force the
bones to heal incorrectly. The goal was to make the woman’s foot
as small as possible (3-4 inches was idea). The foot was also
intended to resemble a lotus flower. It would be very painful for a
woman to walk, but was considered erotic to many men. Special
shoes were made to show how small a woman’s feet were.
A shoe for bound feet
Two women with
bound feet. Footbinding continued
into the 20th
century in some
areas of China.
13
Ming China
15
Yuan Dynasty, 1206-1368
16
Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644
• Peasant rebellions doom the Yuan Dynasty,
Mongols Flee North back to Mongolia
– Peasants rebelled against Plague, food shortages
• Ming Founder: Emperor Hongwu
– Hongwu was from a poor family & entered a
Buddhist monastery, but had to leave because the
monks couldn’t feed all the people who lived there.
Emperor Hongwu
Two court Mandarins
• He joined the army & quickly became a commander
– Ming means “Brilliant”
• Internal Reform:
– Centralized Authority
– Eliminated Enemies
The Great Wall of China
• Secret Police spied on all court officials, killed any
threats
• Mandarins enforced all rules
• Eunuchs held most high positions because they could not
have children & were considered especially loyal
• Guarded against Northern Threat:
– Restored Great Wall, Fortified New Capital of
Beijing in1421 to watch for any northern threats
– Forbidden City was built to show the permanence
of the emperor
17
Ming Dynasty China around 1400 AD
18
The Forbidden City, built in 1421
19
Ming China vs. the Mongols
• Ming tried to eliminate all Mongol things.
– Mongol clothing was discouraged
– Confucianism was restored
Ming Clothing
• Reinstated Civil Service Exams
• Economic Prosperity:
One volume of
the Yongle
Encyclopedia
– Repaired canals, reclaimed land, reforested,
revived trade, making China wealthy
• Yongle Encyclopedia (Finished 1408)
– Commissioned by Emperor Yongle
– Collected all works of history, philosophy,
literature together to promote Chinese culture
– 50 million words
Emperor Yongle
20
Ming Naval Expeditions, 1405-33
• When the Mongols fell, China was cut off from
Europe, but they still explored Asia & Africa
− Europe heard about the fall of the Mongols 100 years after
it happened.
• Admiral Zheng He (d. 1434)
A Chinese Junk
Zheng He
– A court Eunuch who rose to power & was the most famous
explorer in China
– Traveled to SE Asia, Indian Ocean, E. Africa, & Arabia 7
times at the orders of the Emperor Yongle
– Commanded huge fleets with hundreds of ships, massive
manpower up to 25,000 men
• Ships were up to 400 ft long, larger than any European ship
• “Treasure Ships”
– Carried Ambassadors, soldiers, scholars to foreign lands
– Carried tribute back to China
The Treasure
Ships brought
back exotic
animals as
well as gold,
jewels, furs,
and other rare
products
• 1433 – Abruptly Ended
– Reason is unclear, but may be due to the cost, or due to the
fact that Yongle died and the new emperor was not
interested in travel
– 1479 – All records of the trips were burned, & China stops
all foreign travel
21
The Voyages of Zheng He’s Treasure Ships
22
Fall of the Ming, 1644
• By 1600s – Weak fulers spent
their time in the Forbidden
City, enjoying life
– Emperors had economic
problems: no foreign trade
decreased tax revenue, so they
couldn’t pay their troops
Manzhou Armies invade China
• 1630s – Generals rebel against
the Ming
• 1640s – Starving Peasants
Joined Rebels
• 1644 – Last Ming Emperor is
removed & replaced by
Manzhou (Manchu) People
(Qing Dynasty [1644-1912])
23
Purchase answer to see full
attachment