China - George Westinghouse College Prep



AP World History

Chapter 6 Reading Guide

PROMPTS

Chapter study guides are intended to help you accomplish 2 important tasks:

1) learn historical content, and

2) practice historical thinking skills.

|Prompt 1: Describe the evolution of the merit-based bureaucracy in China, using the following terms: |

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|Confucianism merit birth/wealth examination system social mobility bureaucracy Wu Di Han dynasty |

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|Prompt 2: Rank the following groups, from top of the social hierarchy to bottom. For each, provide evidence to support why you have ranked them in this |

|order: merchants, landlords, government bureaucrats, peasant farmers |

|Group |Reason for ranking them here and major characteristics of the group |

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Prompt 3: Assess the level of social mobility that existed in classical China. To what extent did people have the opportunity to move up in the social hierarchy?

Prompt 4: Assess the validity of the following statement: “There were rarely, if ever any serious disruptions or challenges to the social hierarchy in classical China.”

Prompt 5: What types of privileges went along with being high up in the social hierarchy? What were the consequences of being on the bottom?

Prompt 6: Describe the class system (varna), from top to bottom, explaining who was in each class and why.

Prompt 7: Assess the level of social mobility that existed in classical India. To what extent did people have the opportunity to move up or down in the social hierarchy?

Prompt 8: Describe how the rise of jatis (sub-castes) contributed to the stratification of Indian society:

Prompt 9: As Americans, reading about the Indian caste-based system can be frustrating. You may find yourselves asking why the system exists and why, for centuries, most Indians were content to live obediently within their caste and jati. How would you explain this? (Be sure to bring in the relationship with Hinduism!!!)

Prompt 10: Strayer states, “Slave systems throughout history have varied considerably.” What are these ‘variables’ that he is talking about? What differences have there been?

Prompt 11: Strayer essentially organizes this section as follows. For each section, identify the main idea and key supporting details:

Source of slaves:

Place of slaves in the social hierarchy:

Economic role of slavery:

Condition of slaves (lifestyle and individual rights):

Resistance to slavery:

Prompt 12: Compare Spartacus’ rebellion to the Yellow Turban Rebellion in China (described on pages 159-160)

Prompt 13: Do you think that it is fair to refer to Rome as a ‘slave-based society?’ Why or why not?

Prompt 14: Complete the following T-chart with detailed notes:

|Describe the system of patriarchy that existed in China before the collapse of |Describe the changes came about following the collapse of the Han dynasty: |

|the Han dynasty (being sure to not oversimplify): | |

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Prompt 15: Analyze why the fall of the Han dynasty resulted in these changes?

Prompt 16: On the bottom of 171 and top of 172 Strayer, like any good historian, acknowledges that there were exceptions to the patriarchal system that existed before the collapse of the Han dynasty. What were some of these exceptions?

Prompt 17: Strayer’s thesis for pages 173-177, can be found toward the bottom of page 173: “Although Athens has been celebrated as a major source of Western democracy and rationalism, its posture toward women was far more negative and restrictive than that of the highly militaristic and much less democratic Sparta.” He goes on to develop this thesis, supporting it with the following evidence:

|Athens’ posture toward women far more negative… |Sparta’s posture toward women less negative and restrictive… |

|(at least 10 supporting pieces of evidence) |(at least 7 supporting pieces of evidence) |

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Prompt 18: Like any good historian, Strayer acknowledges that there were exceptions to his thesis. The major ones that he identifies are:

|Exceptions to Athens’ patriarchy |Exceptions to Sparta’s lack of patriarchy |

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Prompt 19: Assess the validity of the following statement: “Although gender equality has made substantial progress in the United States in the past 50 years, the gender roles that currently exist are more similar to those of ancient Athens than to those of ancient Sparta.”

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