Ancient China was geographically isolated by deserts, mountains, and oceans. Civilization emerged along the Huang River valley. The Shang Dynasty, around 1766 BC, was China's first recorded dynasty and established social classes led by kings. Dynasties would rise and fall in a cyclical pattern, losing the "Mandate of Heaven" when disasters occurred. Confucius established a philosophy emphasizing relationships and filial piety that still influences a third of the world. The Qin unified China under the first emperor Shi Huangdi, who built the Great Wall and established a centralized government, while the Han Dynasty expanded the empire through expansionism and established the Silk Road for international trade.

2. Ancient China
• Geographic barriers isolate China
– Deserts and high mountain ranges
– Rainforests divide China from
southeast Asia
– Pacific Ocean to the east
• Civilization emerges in Huang River
valley
– “River of Sorrows”

3. Shang Dynasty
• First recorded Chinese dynasty,
about 1766 BC
• Social classes develop
– Kings and princes rule
– Royal family and noble warriors at the
top
– Most were peasants

4. A new
dynasty takes
over
Peace is
restored,
land is
redistributed
Defensive
walls are
built
Government
begins to
neglect their
duties
Corrupt
officials are
unpunished
Uses taxes to
pay for royal
luxuries
Invasions
Peasants revolt
and remove
the dynasty
from power

5. Dynastic cycle
• The rise and the fall of dynasties in
China
– Zhou overthrew Shang about 1766 BC
• Dynasties needed the Mandate of
Heaven
• Disaster meant that a dynasty lost
the favor of heaven
– Zhou ends in 256 BC

6. Confucius
• A brilliant
scholar and
teacher
• Taught that
relationships
shape behavior
• Confucianism
influences one-
third of the
world’s
population

7. 5 key relationships
• Ruler to subject, parent to child,
husband to wife, older brother to
younger brother, friend to friend
• Filial piety (respect for parents)

8. Achievements
• Invented silk-making
– Most valuable export
• Created the first books
• Developed a complex writing system
– Writing as an art form (calligraphy)
• Improved bronze technology

9. Feudalism
• Under the Zhou dynasty China became
a feudal state
• System of gov’t in which local lords
governed their own lands but owed
military service and support to the ruler

10. Creating the Empire
• Shi Huangdi became
first emperor
– Was very brutal
• Conquered many
warring states
• Built an authoritarian
Qin government
– Tortured and killed
anyone who opposed
him

13. Unity
• The feudal state was replaced with 36
military districts
• Created a money economy
• United Chinese writing
• Repaired roads and canals for travel

14. The Great Wall
• Shi Huangdi’s greatest
achievement
• 25 feet high, thousands
of miles long
• Feudal states built their
own walls, now they
were united together
• Used to protect the
civilization from nomadic
bands north of the wall

16. Han Dynasty
• Emperor Wudi
strengthened Chinese
gov’t and economy
• Held a monopoly on
iron and salt
• Used expansionism
– Increased land under
Chinese control

17. The Silk Road
• Trade route created by
Wudi
• Connected China to
western countries
• Chinese would trade silk
for grapes, figs,
cucumbers, fur, and
glass
• 4,000 miles long

20. End of the Han dynasty
• Han dynasty collapsed after the
peasants revolted
• The emperors could no longer control
powerful warlords
• After 400 years of unity, China broke
into several kingdoms
• Invaders poured over the Great Wall
and settled in China