CHINA
Sattlelite Image of China
Modern China
China vs U.S. Geography China United States Size 3.7 million square miles 3.6 million square miles Main Physical Barrier Himalayas, Gobi and Taklamakan Rockies, Pacific and Atlantic Main River Yangtze / East - West Mississippi / North – South Population Greatest East Coast
China’s Topography
China’s Precipitation
China’s Agriculture
China’s Agriculture Rice Dominant Wheat Dominant Pasture and Oasis Double-crop rice
Shang Dynasty Shang Dynasty 1600 – 1050 BC Skilled bronze workers Oracle bones provided earliest Chinese writing
Oracle Bones Writing carved on turtle shells or Ox scapulas Thrown in fire or touched with hot poker Diviner read meaning from cracks
Shang Dynasty Bronze wine vessel, ceremonial dagger, and burial urn
Zhou Dynasty Zhou Dynasty 1050 – 770 BC Iron Age begins (Bronze still prevalent) Continue decentralized government based on tribute
T’ian Ming Leader must be virtuous and able, in order to receive the Mandate of Heaven The Mandate of Heaven continues as long as each generation rules well When the leader becomes wicked and incompetent the Mandate will be revoked
Zhou Dynasty Artifacts bronze bell, iron and 2 bronze swords, jade ornament
Period of Warring States 770 – 221 BC continuous period of warfare Confucius, Lao Tzu (Taoism), and Sun Tzu (Art of War) emerge from this period
Art of War “In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it… Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”
Confucianism Li --> propriety, societal rules, ritual (Binding force of an enduring stable society) Ren --> humaneness, kindness, empathy Xiao --> filial piety (respect for elders, patriarchal society, and ancestor worship) “The superior man (junzi) blames himself; the inferior man blames others”
Taoism Wuwei --> let nature take its course and flow with it, not against it Reject formal education Discover nature and rhythm of the Universe Detach from man-made societal concerns “Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you can only see the manifestations [of that mystery].”
Qin Dynasty 221-206 BC Reunited China after centuries of internal warfare and gave the nation its modern name
Qin Dynasty Centralized government under Shi Huangdi Many li of the Great Wall built Legalism imposed Confucian books burned and scholars buried
Shi Quangdi’s Tomb over 8,000 warriors and 600 horses with no two alike
Han Dynasty 2o6 BC – 220 AD Continues centralized state and develops strong bureaucracy
Han Dynasty Trade route known as Silk Road develops Confucian classics become basis of bureaucracy Empire expands into Kazakhstan, Korea, and Vietnam
Three Kingdoms 220 - 581 AD Shu, Wei, Wu Kingdoms battled but more stable than Warring States The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Sui Dynasty 581 – 618 AD Grand Canal, 40 paces wide and 1200 miles long, built as a unification and economic project
Sui Dynasty Taxation of 1 month’s labor per year – Grand Canal Standardized coinage Equal Field System (140 mou permanent) Rebuilt capital and invaded Korea
Tang Dynasty 618 - 907 AD “Rule of Avoidance” to strengthen control of bureaucracy Buddhism flourishes
Tang Dynasty Advances Printing Press Gunpowder Porcelain Mechanical Clocks Silk Road guarded again
Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties 1949 AD PRC reunites China