Text adapted by Esmeralda Ferti

1. CHINESE CIVILIZATION
Text adapted by Esmeralda Ferti
Geography of China
One of the firstsettlements was establishedalong the Huang He River, alsoknown as Yellow
River. People called it China’s sorrow. This river carries great quantities of yellow dust
because in the North is located the Gobi Desert and in the northwest the Altai Mountains;
the region has extraordinarily fertile yellow soil called loess. This river ends in the Yellow
Sea. Heavy rains made it flood and it could destroy farmlands turning them into swamps
(pantanos). Early Chinese farmers had to build earthen dikes to protect their crops from
periodic floods. Nevertheless, the river was stronger and broke these dikes in many points.
This place nowadays is known as the city of Beijing.

2. The weather depended on the four seasons:
 Cold and long winters.
 Dust storms in spring.
 Short and hot summers.
 Unpredictable rainfall (after periods of draught and famine).
China has many rivers, but the biggest are Huang He, Chang Jiang and Xi Jiang. These rivers
connected people with the Pacific Ocean. As we see, civilization in China was isolated
because of the high mountains of the western and central part, and because of the desert
in the north. This is the reason why the culture of China was so different from the others of
the ancient world. Due to the fact that there was no contact with foreign people helped the
Chinese developed a strong sense of identity and superiority. In their eyes China was the
center of the world and other peoples could become civilized only by learning Chinese
language and adopting Chinese customs.
Yangshao Culture
It lasted from 5.000 B.C. – 3.000 B.C. and it is recognized for the
painted pottery (fish,plants, animals,etc). Most of the people were
farmers, hunters and fishermen. Farmers raised pigs, sheep and
maybe silkworms to make silk clothes. Their houses were built in
clusters (groups), so we suggest they lived in groups of related
families.
Longshan Culture
They lived in North China Plain, close to the
southeast coast, around 3.000 B.C. – 2.000 B.C.
Their most recognized characteristic was the highly
polished, delicate, black pottery. By the end of the
Neolithic period they already had developed a
writing system.

3. Shang China
Since the 1500 B.C.the Chinesedeveloped the dynastic systemof government. The concept
dynasty refers to a royal family that remains on the throne generation after generation. The
first dynasty was the Shang; some dynasties lasted only few years and
some other for many centuries. The Shang rule was based on
bureaucracy; at the center of this bureaucracy was the king and he had
to be a member of the Tsu Clan. Chinese believed that the king
descended from the gods, so he was the supreme military leader and he
should rule fairly. Tsu Chia was a king who expanded the empire for
more than 40.000 miles2, he was praised through the generations for
his fairness (justice).
The usual stages of a dynasty were:
 The founding. An individual would defeat military rivals in war.
 The right to rule the country became hereditary within the
leader’s family.
 Then followed a period of internal peace, expansion and great
power.
 The new dynasty collected taxes and labor from the people.
During this time, it was usual to see the road system and the
irrigation system improve, money was invested to support
education and arts, and of course there would start
construction of splendid palaces.
 A period of regression and decline was almost the last stage of a
dynasty. During this time the rulers did not think much in people
and they cared only of living in luxury. They raised taxes
whenever and life would become more difficult for the common
people. The government would stop maintaining the dikes and
the irrigation system; of course the risk of floods was much
bigger. Since it gradually became more difficult to defend the
frontiers, China received attacks from nomadic or barbarian
invaders.
 Finally, people would rise in rebellions and the chaos around the
country would eventually bring the collapse of the dynasty.
 A new leader emerged and another dynasty started.

4. Qin Empire
History of ancient china & the terracotta warriors (guerreros de terracota)
Text adapted by Esmeralda Ferti
Many centuries ago in China there were many kingdoms (states).
They frequently had wars with each other for resources and
territory. A long dark age of warring states had fallen in the
continent. This time ended in 221 B.C when the first Chinese
empire was created, all the kingdoms were unified as provinces of
this empire.
Once upon a time there was a Chinese dynasty which name was
Qin (Xhian). Thefounder of this dynasty was Shi Huangdi (Q’in Shih
Huang Ti) that in English means first emperor; he was the man
who conquered his rivals and unified China. This dynasty lasted only a short time from 221
B.C (before Christ) to 207 B.C, but unified China under a strong central government for the
first time in history and made of China a big empire.
Shi Huangdi inherited the throne of the kingdom of Ch’in when he was 13 years old, in 246
B.C. He spent 25 years conquering his neighbour kingdoms and dominating them.
Sometimes he dressed like a peasant and walked around the city
to find out what the people thought of him. There were many
assassination attempts that made him live in fear and be very
superstitious. He became obsessed with security and changed
his palace and sleeping quarters every night in secret. The story
says that the emperor spent his last years of life looking for the
“Fountain of youth”. Many charlatans and
magicians exploited his credulity (Curious note:
there is movie related to this “The Mummy 3:
Tomb of the dragon emperor”). He even sent a
fleet of 3.000 people with precious gifts, to look for the Islands of Immortals
and bring the elixir of immortality, but they never came back, a legend says
they colonized Japan and stayed there. He is remembered as the tyrant that
burned all books of the Confucian school, and buried 460 Confucian scholars
alive because they were conservative and supported the old feudal system
of landlords and peasants.
Shi Huangdi built a capital city known as Hsien-yang with many luxurious palaces, big
irrigation system for the crops, codified the laws, standardized the measures and weights,
standardized the coinage,standardized even the gauges of the chariot wheels,allowed only
one systemof writing Chinesecharacters, so that the written languagecould be understood

5. all over China. He ordered to built a big water-communication system full of canals. Also,
there was a vast network of roads radiating from the capital city of the empire to the
provinces. These two last projects were made to ensure communication and transportation
of goods to all parts of the empire.
Shi Huangdi created an incredibly big army becausehe wanted to conquer
southern China. His cavalry was armed with bows and arrows. This was a
new military technique to the Chinese, so everybody was afraid of the Qin
soldiers. In order to protect their territory from invaders (the nomad
“barbarians” of the Asian steppes), the Qin built many walls. Later they
cemented these walls in the Great Wall of China. The wall looks like a
snake or a dragon’s back. This wall was 25 feet (7.5 meters) high and 1400
miles (2.250 kilometres) long, it is the longest fortification in the world. It
was wide enough for six horses to gallop abreast on the top. Almost
700.000 workers built this long and big wall. Thousands of workers died during the
construction. Much of this structure still stands today and it is a common touristic place.
The same workers were send to work in the tomb complex of Shi Huangdi, they did forced
labor. The construction of this
subterranean palace lasted 36
years; it was the place where the
emperor would spend eternity.
The emperor died in 210 B.C and
he was buried under an earth
mound called Mount Li. The
chamber looked like a microcosm
of China and it had big treasures
inside, models of palaces, fine vessels, bamboo, bone artifacts, gold and bronze objects,
precious stones, jade door, heavenly constellations, and candles full of whale oil. Yellow
River and Yangtze rivers reproduced in silver and flow until a miniature ocean using a
mechanism. The site was discovered in 1974 by some Chinese farmers.
This necropolis is one of the most spectacular excavations of history. Inside the tomb, there
are 11 corridors with about 10.000 life-size terra-cotta realist
statues of servants, armed warriors, horses, and the emperor’s
royal guards (life-size is about six feet tall). Since the excavation
has been partial we can see about 3.600 pieces, but supposedly,
there are about 6.000 more statues which are still buried. The
statues look so alive, some appear smiling or fierce, others proud
and confident. Each one of them has a different face, hair and
clothes; people say that the emperor ordered the artists to model
realistic portraits of each soldiers, servants, etc, so they could

6. continue to guard him after death. The emperor’s warriors carry real weapons and the
horses pull real chariots of that time. The swords and arrowheads were treated with a
preservative that prevented corrosion for 22 centuries. The swords are made of metal that
is an alloy of copper, tin and 13 other elements, including nickel, magnesium, and cobalt.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
National Geographic magazine,April 1978,Vol 153, No 4, Article“China’s incrediblefind”by Audrey Topping.
http://www.museumofthecity.org/project/terra-cotta-army-unearthed/
http://factsanddetails.com/asian/cat62/sub406/item2569.html
Homework - Pagodas
Instructions: Create a drawing or elaboration of an
infographic based on PAGODAS. Label its parts and give
reasons on its particular construction factors or
characteristics (not 3-d models).
Activity - Chinese culture
In class represent one of the Chinese inventions that has a great impact in you (clothes,
architecture, script, weapons, etc). This representation should be through a drawing with
labels that must be there to give necessary data or explanation.