MY SITE - Home



Everything You Wanted to Know about Ancient China(or at least some of things)Ancient?China?produced what has become the oldest extant culture in the world. (Extant means still existing; you just learned a new word!) The name 'China' comes from the?Sanskrit?Cina?(derived from the name of the Chinese?Qin Dynasty, pronounced 'Chin') which was translated as 'Cin' by the Persians and seems to have become popularized through?trade?along the?Silk Road?from China to the rest of the world. The Romans and the Greeks knew the country as 'Seres', “the land where?silk?comes from”. The name 'China' does not appear in print in the west until 1516 CE in Barbosa’s journals narrating his travels in the east (though the Europeans had long known of China through trade via the Silk Road).?Marco Polo, the famous explorer who familiarized China to?Europe?in the 13th century CE, referred to the land as 'Cathay. In Mandarin Chinese, the country is known as 'Zhongguo' meaning "central state" or "middle?empire".The Geography of ChinaThe early Chinese people knew there were other tribes to the north. But they did not know there were other ancient civilizations in other parts of the world. Why? Because the Chinese were isolated by their many natural barriers. For thousands of years, China was isolated from the rest of world, in great part due to her natural barriers of the ocean, mountains and deserts.See Power Point 1 – 10; It has examples of barriers Oceans. To the east and south, China borders two seas - the China Sea and the Yellow Sea. Although these bodies of water provided food and water routes for trade, both seas are located in the Pacific Ocean. Because of its size, only a few of the early Chinese mariners attempted to explore the Pacific in the early days of China's development. This is one way the ancient Chinese were protected from invaders.Mountains. Another natural barrier was the Himalayan Mountains. The towering mountains closed off ancient China to the southwest. Ten of the highest mountain peaks in the world are found in the Himalayans, one of which is Mount Everest. Known as the highest peak in the world, its summit reaches 29,025 ft. (8.850 m).Today, climbing over the Himalayan Mountains is extremely difficult and dangerous. In ancient times, people could not climb over them, so they had to find a way through them, and that was tough. As a result, the Himalayans helped to protect the early people who settled in the interior of China from invasion.(Note: Today the Himalayans are not considered part of modern day China because its borders have changed over the years. The mountains now run near the southern border. Thought you should know.)The mountain ranges of the Kunlun Shan and the Tien Shan form China’s western border. The Kunlun Mountain system, north of the Himalayas, is the second largest mountain range in the world. Most of the range is in China though the western part is located on the border with Tajikistan. The Tian Shan Mountains is north of the Kunlun Shan near Kyrgyzstan.Deserts. China is also home to two deserts that provide a natural barrier. The Taklamakan Desert is in western China. It is located between the Kunlun and Tien Shan mountain ranges. The Talkamakan Desert, also known as the “Sea of Death,” is the world’s second largest desert. It offers poisonous snakes, frequent sandstorms, extremely hot daytime temperatures, freezing nighttime temperatures, and intense water shortages. You wouldn’t want to get lost there!The other desert is the Gobi - a vast, cold, and rocky desert. It is one of the driest places on Earth. Bordering Mongolia, it is located in the north and spreads east. The geography of China provided natural barriers from the rest of the world. But not all of China's landforms were barriers. China has two major river systems that provided fertile soil and safe drinking water. It was in the valleys of these two rivers that the Chinese built their first civilizations. (See Power Point Slides 11 – 13)Other Important LandformsRivers. The early people called the rivers in China "The Great Sorrow". That's because each spring the rivers would overflow their banks; its floods killed people and destroyed homes. But the floods also left behind rich soil called loess to the river valleys. Loess was important to the ancient Chinese because only a little more than one-tenth of its land could be farmed. (The natural barriers of the mountains and deserts cover most of the land.) The Yangtze River, also known as the Chang Jiang River, is the more southern of the two famous rivers. It has high banks. Homes build on high ground was usually safe from floods; unfortunately, not all homes were built there. Considered the third longest river on Earth, it flows for about 3,400 miles east across central China emptying into the Pacific Ocean.The other major river system is the Huang He River, also known as the Yellow River. It gets its name from the loess, or the yellow rich soil, left behind from the floods. This river has low banks which means that devastating destruction came each year. Some early people built homes on stilts trying to keep their homes safe during the flooding season. It was not until the early engineers of ancient China learned the techniques of flood control that the homes along the Yellow River survived more than one season.These geographic features have shaped much of China’s history. They served as a “wall” around the Chinese, separating them from the rest of the world. This isolation allowed the Chinese to develop a unique way of life that lasted into modern times. PrehistoryLong before China was recognized as a civilization, the region was occupied by hominids. A skull fossil, referred to as Peking Man, was discovered in 1927 CE near Beijing. Testing indicate the Peking Man lived in the area between 700,000 to 200,000 years ago. There is also Yuanmou Man, whose remains were found in Yuanmou in 1965 CE. It is believed Yuanmou Man roamed the land 1.7 million years ago. Evidence uncovered with these finds shows that these early inhabitants knew how to fashion stone tools and use fire.These finds, as well as others, provide solid evidence that a very ancient lineage of hominids and human beings existed in China - and these people had a high level of sophistication. One example is Banpo Village, near Xi’an, which existed between 4500 and 3750 BCE. This Neolithic village had 45 houses with floors sunk into the ground for greater stability. It had a trench encircling the village to provide both protection from attack and drainage (while also helping to fence in domestic animals) while man-made caves dug underground were used to store food. The design of the village, and the artifacts discovered there, argues for a very advanced culture at the time it was constructed. (Slide 14 shows Banpo Village)But there is more evidence. Many scientists generally accept the Yellow River region as the Chinese 'Cradle of Civilization'. But there is some disagreement. Some scientists say villages grew sometime around 5000 BCE while others argue that communities developed in a widespread manner (not just in one area). But both sides agree that Henan province, in the Yellow River Valley, was the site of many early villages and farming communities.In 2001 CE, archaeologists uncovered two skeletons "buried in a collapsed house, which was covered with a thick layer of silt deposits from the Yellow River. In the layer of deposits, archaeologists found more than 20 skeletons, an altar, a square, pottery, and stone and jade utensils". This site was only one of many prehistoric villages in the area.DynastiesCivilization?in ancient China began over 11,000 years ago. To make things easier, the study of ancient China is broken up into big blocks of time, each with a ruling family in charge. These ruling families are called dynasties. There were not that many dynasties in ancient China but most dynasties, or ruling families, ruled for a very long time. People refer to these dynasties as "times" - they'll say in Han times or in Tang times. Some of these dynasties lasted over 3,000 years.The Dynastic Cycle Before reading about the different dynasties, it is important to realize there was a unique pattern to their rise and fall. This is called the dynastic cycle.Think of a circle.When a new family overthrew the old dynasty and took the "Mandate of Heaven", this was be the top of the circle. As the dynasty ruled for the first half of the circle, the emperors were good and gave land to the peasants, and reduced taxes and corruption. Starting at the bottom half of the circle, the Emperor would be cut off from the peasants and people of China. Corruption would start in the outer provinces. Minor uprisings among the peasants would be put down, and their land would be taken away. Taxes increased becoming a burden on the people.Towards the end of the dynasty, there would be a major natural disaster or a series of disasters that the emperor would not or could not address, and the people would be left on their own. Left without a true leader, one of the noble or rich families would start a major revolution - supported by the people of China, of course - and soon the old dynasty would be overthrown. And now it’s the top of that circle.Then the circle would start again with a new dynasty.This was the pattern of dynastic rule in China. It was repeated over and over throughout China’s history. (See Power Point #2 Slide 1 for an example of this)Let’s take a look at some of the ancient dynasties.Xia [shyah]?Dynasty. The Xia dynasty, created about 4,000 years ago, is considered to be the first dynasty in ancient China. It lasted for almost 500 years and included 17 different emperors. Knowledge of the Xia people comes from ancient stories and the ruins of villages. Legend says?this dynasty was founded by the best engineer from the Lungshan people, who settled along the Huang He River a thousand years earlier. This is how the legend goes…Like the rivers of other early civilizations, the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers flooded the surrounding land. The people learned to build dykes (dams) to control the river but the river roared out of the dykes and over the land. During these times thousands of people and farm animals drowned. Houses, tools, and crops were destroyed. The Chinese began to call the Yellow River the “river of sorrows”. But the rivers brought a gift to the Chinese people - loess. As a result, farmers could grow large amounts of food on very small amounts of land. The river was considered a blessing and a curse. The King of the time ordered Yu the Great to figure out how to control the flood. The story goes that he spent 13 years studying the Yellow River and its flood patterns. He was so focused on his work that he did not return home once in all those years, even though he passed by his house on at least three occasions. This dedication inspired others to follow him.Yu the Great learned to control the river through irrigation. Unlike the people before him who built dykes and dams, Yu decided to build irrigation channels and canals to control the flood waters. When his system of canals and channels worked at controlling the floods, the people thought that he was chosen by the gods and made him their ruler.During the Xia dynasty, most people’s source of livelihood was agriculture. The peasant population who were the farmers supported the ruling and elite classes who lived in urban centers. This system existed until the last Xia ruler, Emperor Jie. He was a tyrannical emperor and lived an extravagant life with no thought for his country. His actions enraged all the people and was eventually overthrown by?Tang?who established the Shang Dynasty Shang?Dynasty.?Tang, first leader of the Shang, assumed leadership of the land, lowered taxes, suspended the grandiose building projects begun under the last Xia ruler. Tang ruled with such kindness, compassion, wisdom, and efficiency that art and culture flourished. The Shang are famous for their use of bronze, chopsticks, jade, silk, spices,?and writing system. The kingship was very odd. Instead of going from father to son, it went from brother to brother or from brother to nephew. The Shang justified their right to rule using the?Mandate of Heaven. (The gods said they could rule. This actually was created toward the end of the Xia Dynasty; it came to fruition during the Shang Dynasty.)(Slide 2 shows King Tang of Shang)The Shang dynasty saw 30 different emperors for around 600 years. Emperor Zhou (the last emperor of Shang dynasty) tortured his people while leading a luxurious life. This, of course, led to social issues, a gradual decline in power, and was overthrown by the Wuwang chief of the Chou dynasty. Zhou?Dynasty?(also spelled Chou). This dynasty ruled for the longest period - over 800 years with 37 different emperors. King Wu revolted against the king of Shang who had killed his older brother unjustly. Wu invoked the Mandate of Heaven to legitimize the revolt claiming the Shang were no longer acting in the interests of the people.Under the Zhou, culture flourished, and civilization spread. Writing was codified and iron metallurgy became increasingly sophisticated. The greatest and best-known Chinese philosophers and poets,?including Confucius? and the military strategist?Sun-Tzu,?all come from the Zhou period in China. The?chariot which was introduced to the land under the Shang but became more fully developed by the Zhou. Roads and canals were built for better trade and travel. They were interested in the sciences, especially astronomy. Literature flourished. It was an age of bowmen, great royal hunts, bronze candlesticks, feudal lords, jade carvings, rich nobles and poor farmers. The Shang and the Chou ruled for nearly two thousand years. For most people, daily life was very similar during both the Shang and Chou dynasties.(See Power Point Slide 3 for an example of a cooking vessel)Moving into the historical period called Imperial China.Qin?Dynasty. This was a very short lived dynasty. Shi Huangdi only ruled for 15 years but played an important role in Chinese history. in order to strengthen the unity of the nation and to maintain the Qin Dynasty, Shi Huangdi carried out many reforms in politics, economy, military affairs, and culture. It was he who he standardized weights and measures and insisted that the round coin with square hole (Ban Liang Coin) should be the coin used in the country. (Slide 4 shows the coins)In this dynasty the Great Wall was started - though little remains today of this original wall. The infrastructure through road building helped to increase trade through the ease of travel was another project. Shi Huangdi also expanded the boundaries of his empire, built the Grand Canal in the south, redistributed land, and was, initially, a fair and just ruler. Shi Huangdi really tried to pull China together as one country.While Emperor Qin did much for the country, these were very cruel years as well. He suppressed the general freedoms of the people, including free speech. If you disagreed with Qin, you would be put to death. Books were burned. He developed a system of bureaucracy to control every minute of people’s lives.Emperor Qin became paranoid of his personal safety and more obsessed with the afterlife. To ensure an afterlife for himself, Shi Huangdi commissioned a palace to be built for his tomb - and an army of over 8,000 terracotta warriors created to serve him in eternity. This ceramic army, buried with him, also included terracotta chariots, cavalry, a commander in chief, and assorted birds and animals. He is said to have died while on a quest for an elixir of immortality. (Slide 5 & 6)Well, Shi Huangdi died but it was kept a secret until his will could be altered to name his son, Hu-Hai, as heir. This plan didn’t go well. He was quite unstable, executing many, and initiating a widespread rebellion in the land. The Qin Dynasty quickly collapsed after Shi Huangdi’ s death.Han?Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was not the Golden Age, but new things were happening. Medicine?was codified and gunpowder, which had already been invented, became more refined. The invention of paper led to writing becoming more sophisticated. Confucianism was embraced and made the exclusive philosophy of the government. Tolerance for all other philosophies was encouraged and, as a result,?literature?and education flourished. Taxes were reduced and the army disbanded. (Actually, there was an army on stand-by.) The Silk Road officially opened.At first there was general prosperity but, for the peasants who worked the land, life became increasingly difficult. So, there was an uprising and new dynasty was created. (Slide 8 shows a model of a farm during the Han Dynasty)Tang?Dynasty?(Tang times, also spelled T'ang). Considered the Golden Age of Ancient China, people were finally happy the wars were over. (We didn’t go into the wars, but there was a long war with many short lived Dynasties.) The first ruler, Gao-Tzu was assassinated by his son, Taizong, who then went on to kill his brothers and others of the noble house. (Such a lovely son!) Taizong decreed that?Buddhist?temples were to be built at the sites of the battles and that the fallen should be memorialized. Taizong followed his father’s precepts to keep what was good from the previous dynasty and improve on those. This can be seen especially in Taizong’s legal code which was expanded to be specific in regard to crime and punishment. He embarked on a series of successful military campaigns which extended and secured his empire and also served to spread his legal code and Chinese culture.But how was it a golden age? The Tang Dynasty is famous for its encouragement of literature, dancing, music, scroll painting, and art. Craftsmen worked with bronze and silver and gold and copper. Scroll painting became popular during Tang times. Pottery was painted with ornate scenes of daily life, and of carriages, and bridges, and signs of the zodiac. People came from as far away as India and Korea to study the arts in China. Oh, and Tea drinking became popular. (PPT #3, Slide 1 shows art from this period)The following dynasties coincide with the eras known as the Middle Ages and the Age of Exploration.Song?Dynasty. The previous dynasty, the Tang, became unstable and uprisings continued until the Song Dynasty took over. Though sometimes referred to as China's Age of Invention, this period help shape the culture that is recognized today. Despite all advances in culture, strife remained between the wealthy landowners and the peasants. Periodic peasant revolts were crushed as quickly as possible, but no remedies for the people’s grievances were ever offered, and each military action continued to deal with the symptom of the problem instead of the problem itself. This first emperor of the Song dynasty was put on the throne by his own troops in Kaifeng. He slowly reconquered all of China until unification was completed in 979 CE. China became a world leader in science and technology and with inventions such as?the compass.Ming?Dynasty. The Ming dynasty came into power by overthrowing the rule of the Mongols. (Guess the Wall didn’t work!) Known as the Age of Exploration, this dynasty was in power during the Middle Ages. Chinese mariners sailed and mapped the world. They brought back treasures from around the globe, some of which are on display today in the fabulous?Forbidden Palace. The Ming dynasty finished the Great Wall and built the Forbidden City, an enormous palace for the Emperor.(Slide 2 shows Ming Artwork, considered extremely valuable today; Slide 2 shows the Forbidden City)Qing DynastyThe last emperor of the Ming dynasty hanged himself when an army of peasants led by Li Zicheng entered Beijing. In 1644 CE, the Manchus invaded China and defeated the army led by Li Zicheng. So, it was the Manchus who set up this new dynasty. The Manchus ruled China for the next 300 years. The Qing dynasty was succeeded by Republic of China - thus ending the period of ancient dynasties.A Few Great Inventions from ancient ChinaThe Great Wall (Slide 4)China had natural barriers in the east, south, and west but was vulnerable to the north. To stop Mongol invasions, Emperor Qin decided to build a great wall 30 feet wide and 50 feet high. (Just to help you think about how wide it is, a car could drive on top of the wall!) This was quite an engineering feat!Qin put many people to work building the wall including criminals, scholars, captured enemies, and anyone he felt like assigning to the wall construction. Laborers who worked on the wall were not paid and they were not given very much food. It was slave labor and very harsh. People died of disease and exhaustion. There were accidents from falling rocks. It is rumored that those who died were thrown (or buried) inside the wall.The Great Wall took a little longer than Qin had originally thought it would to build. It took over 1700 years! Emperor after emperor followed Qin's lead and forced people to build the wall. A great deal of the wall was built during the Ming Dynasty (1360-1640, during the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.)? By the time the wall was done, it was over 13,000 miles long! (And if you didn’t know, is the only manmade structure that can be seen from space!)Barracks were built on the Great Wall to house soldiers who stood guard to defend China from attack from the north. Wide moats were built outside the wall to make approach even more difficult. Watch towers and beacon towers were built to send smoke signals to warn of danger. When smoke rose from the wall, soldiers knew the enemy was approaching from the north and ran to assist in battle. The ancient Greeks were so impressed with the Great Wall that they named it one of the seven wonders of the world! But the truth is, the Great Wall did not work very well as a defensive barrier. There were too many open areas and the wall kept decaying. It is still decaying today. Over the years, roads have been cut through the wall. The government of China continually attempts to keep the wall from further damage. It is quite a job, as you can imagine!?You can visit the Great Wall. You can stand on it. You can walk for miles on it. As one of the largest men made structure in the world, it attracts thousands of visitors every day.The Silk Road??(Slide 5)The Silk Road began during the Han Dynasty in ancient China. It was not paved; actually, it wasn’t even a road nor was it a single route. There were actually three main routes: the Northern Route running westward to the Black Sea; the Central Route went westward to Persia, Mediterranean Sea, and Rome; and the Southern Route – which ran westward to Iran and India.The Silk Road was a nickname given to any route that led across China to Rome. It was a 4,000-mile trip with China at one end and Rome at the other end. Each had something the other wanted. Rome had gold and silver and precious gems. China had silk, tea, and spices. The Silk Road was important because not only goods were traded, but new ideas and culture were carried by the traders.The Romans were not surprised to find another civilization hidden over the mountains. They had been looking for “the Silk People” for a long time. They discovered pieces of silk from the people they conquered. Silk quickly became popular in Rome. But the Romans did not know who was making this wonderful material. The people they conquered did not know who was making silk either. They simply traded for it. The Romans sent out people to find the makers. Most never returned. When the Eagle (sign of Rome) finally met the Dragon (sign of China), you can imagine how excited they were.The rewards were great, but the dangers were many. It was incredibly dangerous to travel along the Silk Road. You faced desolate white-hot sand dunes in the desert, forbidding mountains, brutal winds, and poisonous snakes. There was one nice section, called the Gansu Corridor, a relatively fertile strip that ran along the base of one of the mountains. But, to reach this strip, you had to cross the desert or the mountains. And of course, there were always bandits and pirates. (And no police to call!) Very few traders made the whole 4,000 mile trip. They worked in relays where each trader would go a certain distance, exchange their goods for other goods, and hopefully return. The next would move along the road, trade, and hopefully return.Over time, trading posts were established along the routes to make trading a little easier. Over the centuries, cities replaced some of the trading posts. But it was always dangerous to travel the Silk Road. The geography was daunting, and bandits were plentiful.Confucius say…..Confucius was born around 551 BCE in Zhou times. Although there was one ruling family, the real power was in the hands of local warlords. Each warlord ruled a feudal state. Aristocrat-scholars, called shi, traveled from one feudal state to another, offering advice on everything from politics to weddings to war. The most famous shi was Confucius.Confucius’ parents were of the noble class but became poor when the empire fell apart. When he was about 15 years old, he became quite interested in learning. In those days, only the nobility and royals were allowed an education and all the teachers were government officials. This blocked his pursuit for an education. As a solution, Confucius went to work for a nobleman. This gave him the opportunity to travel to the imperial capital and a path to education.Confucius studied and learned until he probably was the most learned man of his day. People heard of his knowledge and sent their sons to study with him. He was the first private teacher in China. Confucius taught anyone who was eager to learn. His ideas, called Confucianism, stressed the need to develop responsibility and moral character through rigid rules of behavior. Confucianism is not a religion; it's a way of behaving, so you'll do the right things.Confucianism To have good moral character, a person was expected to be reverent in worship, respectful of your father and your ruler, study constantly, and be guided by the Rules of Conduct.The Rules of Conduct was actually a social code of behavior that was very rigid. Expectations included the honoring of ancestors and ancient rituals. Everything had to be done a certain way. One of Confucius’ rules, for example, was that gentlemen could only display their skill as archers on three hunts a year, in the spring, autumn, and winter. Another example is a saying about Confucius: "If the mat was not straight, the Master would not sit."So, to sum it up, the Teachings of Confucius showed:He believed in respect; people should respect the ruler.?He believed that people should respect each other.He believed in good moral conduct.?He believed in a code of behavior, a structured life.?In ancient China, Confucianism became both a philosophy and a religion. It was the state-sponsored "religion" of many Chinese dynasties. It was the favorite philosophy of many Chinese rulers. People today still quote and study the many sayings and ideas (rules) that Confucius taught to his students about 2,500 years ago. In fact, there was a television detective show “Charlie Chan” where the character would always say at the end, Confucius say….(And this is slide 6…Charlie Chan)? ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download