AP World, China, Unit 1, Unit 2, Stearns

1. China, China, China
AP World
Unit 1 and 2
Mrs. Hals

2. Geography of China
 Zhongguo – “Middle Kingdom”
 Extremely isolated
 Believed China was center of the Earth and the sole source of civilization
 W and SW – Tien Shan and Himalayas
 N – Gobi desert
 E – Pacific Ocean

3. Nomadic Invaders
 Provided contact with outside world
 “barbarians” who “lacked skills of a settled
society”

4. Shang Civlization

5. China’s river valley civilization
 The valley along the Huang He (Yellow River)
– Irrigation, fertile farming, transportation
– “River of Sorrows” - **Controlling the flow of the river
was such a large public works project it probably
helped lead to the rise of a strong central
government**
– Loess – fine, windblown, yellow soil carried from
Mongolia and Siberia
 Loess settles and raises water level
 Constant water control issues with dikes and levies
– Flooding, bad crops, starvation
– Symbol of Misfortune
 Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Manchuria
 Later Tibet (Xizang)

8. Shang
 ~1650 BCE – group called the Shang gain control of N.
China
 Dominate until 1027 BCE
 Capital city at Anyang, (walled)
 Shang kings – controlled only a small area
– Led noble warriors into battle
 Loyal princes and nobles governed most of the land
– Probably head of “clans” – the groups of families who claim a
common ancestor
 Probably similar to the city-states of Sumer instead of
the centralized gvt of the Egyptian pharaohs

9.  Tombs of Shang rulers
– Archaeologists found tomb of Fu Hao the wife
of Wu Ding, a Shang king
– Artifacts show Fu owned land and lead an
army against invaders
– **suggests noblewomen had considerable
status during the Shang period

10. Social Classes
 Royal family and class of noble warriors
– Leather armor, bronze weapons, horse-drawn chariots
 Early Chinese cities support a class of artisans and
merchants
– Artisans – produced goods for nobles
 (bronze weapons, silk robes, jade jewelry)
– Merchants – exchanged food and crafts made by local artisans
 Salt, cowrie shells, and other goods not in NE China
 Peasants – majority of Shang China
– Farming villages, grueling lives, stone tools, maintaining dikes
– Men pledged allegiance to their noble lords

11. Religious Beliefs
 Complex religious beliefs
 Many gods and spirits of nature
 Shang Di (top god) + mother goddess who brought
plants and animals to Earth
– King is link between people and Shang Di
– Shang Di wouldn’t respond to mortal pleas, only spirits of the
greatest mortals would relay pleas to Shang Di (like ancestors’
spirits)
 Prayers for victory in war, good harvests, etc.
 Offer sacrifices of food to the ancestors
 Yin and Yang –
– Yin = Earth, darkness, and female forces
– Yang = Heaven, light, and male forces
– Delicate balance must be maintained

12. Writing
 Oracle Bones
– Heating of animal bones or turtle shells to interpret
cracks, answers a question posed to an ancestor
 Chinese characters
– Characters represent different word or idea
– 10,000 characters – yikes!!
– Calligraphy
– Spoken languages vary, but written language is the
same

13. Zhou Dynasty
 1029 BCE people of Zhou overthrow the Shang
 1029 BCE – 258 BCE – Zhou Dynasty
– Peaked ~700 BCE
 Mandate of Heaven – idea that divine right to rule is
decided by the gods
– Zhou promote this idea, claiming the last Shang king had been
so cruel that he enraged the gods, so the gods sent ruin to him
and passed the Mandate of Heave to the Zhou
– Mandate of Heaven will later be used to explain dynastic cycle
– Floods, famine, and natural catastrophe are signs that a dynasty
has lost favor

15. Feudalism
 Zhou reward supporters by giving them
control of specific regions
 Local lords govern their own lands in
return for military service and support to
the ruler
– Peasants that live on a lord’s land owe him
military serce

16. Zhou Economics
 China’s economy grew
 Ironworking arrived ~500 BCE
 Iron axes and plows replace stone, wood, and bronze
– Increases food production
 New crops - soybeans
 Feudal lords organize large-scale irrigation works
– Increases food production
 Commerce expanded
– Begin using money – copper coins (with holes so they could be
strung) – make trade easier
– New roads and canals increase trade

17. Increasing population and
prosperity
 Economic expansion = increase in
population
 Huang He people overflow into central
China – head to the Yangzi basin
 Feudal nobles expand territories
– Encourage peasants to settle the conquered
lands

18. Accomplishments
 Develop a 365.25 day
calendar
 Silkmaking
– Silk thread is made from the
cocoons of silk worms
– Women did the laborious work
– Wove threads into a smooth
cloth
– Dyed cloth with bright colors
– Became China’s most
valuable export
– Silk Road link China and
Middle East
 First Books
– Book of Songs – poems about
the lives of farming and
harvests, praises of kings,
descriptions of court
ceremonies, tender and sad

19. Accomplishments
 Territory expanded (when Huang He people overflowed
and moved outward)
– Huanghe to Yangtze – “Middle Kingdom”
 Rich agriculture with two different crops
– Wheat (N)
– Rice (S)
 Greater cultural unity
– Promoted linguistic unity
 Mandarin Chinese **largest group of people speaking the same
language in the world at this time
– Tried to limit primitive religious practices (human sacrifice)
– Encourage more limited ceremonies to worship gods (less
human sacrifice)

20. Decline of the Zhou
 Ruler was too weak to control feudal lords
– System relied on loyalties and allegiance
between the king and feudal lords
– Regional disloyalties allows conflict to erupt,
Zhou’s power is weakened
– Regional groups unify to work against Zhou
 Frequently invaded by nomadic peoples
 A new leader will emerge

21. Era of the Warring States
 402 BCE – 201 BCE
– Zhou’s system falls apart
– Regional ruler deposes the last Zhou emperor
and makes himself the soul leader of China
– Qin Shi Huangdi

22. Confucius
 Born 551 BCE to a poor
family
 Buddha and Socrates
 The Analects
 Philosophy focused on
worldly goals, how to
emphasize social order and
good government
 Studied ancient text,
explored the court, and
taught

23.  Confucian Principles:
 Five Relationships – observing the five
brings order and stability
– Father to son
– Elder brother to younger brother
– Husband to wife
– Ruler to subject
– Friend to friend
 Except for friendship, none of the
relationships are equal
 Inferiors owe loyalty and obedience to
their superiors
 Filial Piety
– Respect for parents above all other
duties
 Honesty, hard work, and concern for
others
– “Do not do to others, what you do not
wish yourself”
 Government
– Ruler has responsibility to provide good
government
– Ruler should be virtuous and lead by
good example
– People owe respect and loyalty

24.  Confucius’ view of women:
– Men were superior to women
– Woman’s duty to ensure stability of the family
and promote harmony in the home
– Correct behavior brings order and stability

25. Long lasting effects
 During the centuries after Confucius’ death, his
ideas influenced every area of Chinese life
 Rulers rely on Confucian ideas and select
Confucian scholars as officials
 Emphasis on filial piety bolstered traditional
customs (like reverence for ancestors)
 Chinese civilization spread out
– Hundreds of millions of Koreans, Japanese, and
Vietnamese adopt some of the Confucian
philosophies

26. Legalism - Hanfeizi
 Hanfeizi – died 233 BCE
 “nature of man is evil. His
goodness is acquired”
 Greed motivates most actions
 Strict laws and harsh
punishments
– Only way to achieve order
 Strength, not goodness, is a
leader’s greatest virtue
– “the ruler alone possesses power,
wielding it like lightning or thunder”
 Many feudal rulers become
legalist rulers

27. Daoism
 Founded by Laozi “Old Master”
 Credited for writing The Way of Virtue
– This book greatly influenced Chinese life
 Daoism sought to live in harmony with nature
– Instead of trying to bring order to human affairs
 How does one find the Dao?
– Dao = “the way” of the universe
– “Those who know the Dao do not speak of it, Those who speak of it do
not know it”
 Rejected conflict and strife
– End conflict between human desires and the simple ways of nature
 Be like water
– Yielding, yet an unstoppable force
 Government
– Unnatural and the cause of many problems
– “If people are difficult to govern, it is because those in authority are too
fond of action”
– Best government governs the least

28. Daoism and the People
 Evolves into a popular religion with gods,
goddesses, and magical practices
 Peasants turn to Daoist priests for charms
to protect them from unseen forces
 Confucian and Daoist teachings blend
– Confucianism shows how to behave
– Daoism influences view of natural world

29. Buddhism in China
 By 100 CE Mahayana Buddhism had spread from
India into China
 Chinese struggle with some aspects of Buddhism,
but it steadily gains popularity
– Chinese valued family loyalty, but Buddhism honored
monks and nuns who gave up family life for solitary
meditation
 Buddhism offered escape from suffering, hope of
eternal happiness,
 Buddha’s image as a compassionate, merciful god
 Ability for anyone to pray, commit good works, and
devotion and you could hope to gain salvation
 By 400 CE Buddhism spear throughout China and
absorbed many Confucian and Daoist traditions
 Chinese Buddhist monks stressed filial piety and
honored Confucius

30. Shi Huangdi
 ~221 BCE the Zhou’s were
overthrown by Zheng who
named himself “Shi Huangdi”
or “First Emperor”
 Spent 20 years conquering
most of the warring states
 Centralized power with the help
of his Legalist advisers
– Rewarded merit, punished failure
 Built a strong, authoritarian
government for the Qin dynasty

31. To unify China…
 Shi Huangdi abolished feudalism
 Replaced feudal states with 36 military districts
and appointed loyal officials to administer them
 Sent inspectors to spy on local officials and
report back to him
 Forced noble families to live at Xianyang, the
capital, so he could monitor them
 Distributed the lands (of the nobles he just
forced to move to the capital) to the peasants
 Peasants had to pay high taxes to support the
armies and building projects

32. Promoting unity
 Standardized weights and
measures
 Unified coins with Qin coins
 Scholars created uniformity in
Chinese writing
 Workers repaired and
extended roads and canals
(strengthened transportation
sys.)
 Law required cart axles to be
the same width to help with
rut issues

33. Don’t disagree!
 Jailed, tortured, and killed
those opposing his rule
 Feudal nobles and Confucian
scholars suffer
 Book burning campaign
destroyed literature and
philosophy pieces
– Only medicine and agriculture
accounts were spared

34. The Great Wall of China

35.  Most remarkable and costly achievement
 All the walls built by individual feudal states were ordered to be
joined
 Hundreds of thousands of laborers worked years, creating an
almost 25 foot high wall, with a road on top wide enough to serve as
a road
 Wall extended and rebuilt over centuries, now snakes for thousands
of miles across northern China
 Didn’t keep out all invaders, but did show the emperor’s ability to
mobilize the vast resources of China
 Great Wall became a symbol of protection and division from the
nomadic barbarians

36. A new era
 When Shi Huangdi died ~210 BCE revolts
erupt
 Anger over heavy taxes, forced labor, and
cruel policies
 Liu Bang emerges, claims Mandate of
Heaven, take the title of Gao Zu
– An illiterate peasant leader
– Works to restore order and justice

38. Built mainly underground, carved out of low mountain top (according to legend), the
construction itself took 700,000 prisoners of war and slaves over 36 years to construct
and covers approximately four square miles. The as-yet-unearthed palace is reputedly of
legendary grandeur.

42. Liu Bang
 Continues efforts to
unify China
 Lowered taxes
 Eased harsh policies
 Appointed Confucian
scholars as advisors
 Creates a strong
foundation for the Han
dynasty ~206 BCE –
220 CE

43. Wudi
 Strengthened the government and
economy by choosing Confucian
advisors
 Improved canals and roads (helped
economic growth)
 Built granaries to stabilize supply of
grain
– Gvt would buy grain when it was
abundant and store it to sell at
stable prices when it was scarce
 Imposed monopoly on salt and iron
– The sale of these products gave gvt
an income supplemental to taxes

44.  Expansionism – increased territory
 Fought battles to expand China’s borders
 Drove nomadic peoples back beyond the
Great Wall
 Created Chinese outposts in Manchuria,
Korea, N. Vietnam, Tibet, and Central Asia
– Soldiers would slowly spread Chinese
influence there

45. Silk Road
 Wudi opened up a trade route between China and the west
 Grapes, figs, cucumbers, and walnuts were new foods introduced to China
 Furs from Central Asia, muslin from India, glass from Rome
 4,000 miles long, China to the Fertile Crescent
 Relayed trade in stages
 Persians monitored trade at the western end

46.  Han emperors made Confucianism the official belief
system of the state
 Well educated scholars ran the bureaucratic
government, scholars were sent to a university at Xian to
prepare
 Scholar-officials were like gentlemen,
– courteous, dignified, history, music, poetry, and Confucian
teachings
 Civil Service Examination
– Positions to be given based on merit and qualifications
– Given on local, provincial, and national levels
– Confucian classics, histories, poems, and handbooks on
customs
– Open to anyone, but really only to those who had time to study
 Sometimes rich families would pay for brilliant peasant boys to study
 Women’s place in the “5 relationships” kept them from being
allowed to take the exams
– Confucian influence continued for over 2,000 years

47. Collapse of the Han Empire
 Ability to control powerful warlords and local military
leaders diminished
 Canals and roads fell into disrepair with weak emperors
 Heavy taxes and crushing debt = revolts
 “Red Eyebrows” and “Green Woodsmen”
– Thousands of peasants became members of secret rebellion
groups who fled their villages and hid in the mountains
 220 CE warlords overthrew the last Han emperor –
China broke up into several kingdoms
 Invaders poured over the Great Wall and set up their
own states

48. Accomplishments
 Golden Age Achievements
– Science
 Invented a seismograph
 Wrote texts on chemistry, zoology, botany, astronomy
– Medicine
 Herbal remedies and anesthetics
 acupuncture
– Technology
 Made durable paper out of wood pulp (still used today)
 Advanced methods of shipmaking w/ rudder for steering
 Wheel barrows
 Suspension bridges

49. The Arts
 Beautiful wooden temples
 Jade and ivory carvings
 Ceramic figures
 Bronzeworkers and silkmakers

50.  Han rulers created an empire about the size of the
United States
 During the Han dynasty Chinese officials established the
pattern of government that would survive until 1912