1. Outcome: Geography & Culture
Ancient China
Outcome: Geography & Culture

2. Satellite Image

3. Geography & Culture Setting the Stage:
China’s first city walls were built 1000 years after the walls of Ur, the great pyramids, and the planned cities on the Indus River.
Unlike most cultures on earth, the civilization that began in China 4000 years ago still thrives there today.

4. Geography & Culture The Geography of China
Natural barriers isolated ancient China
East: The Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and Pacific Ocean
West: Taklimakan Desert and 15,000 ft Plateau of Tibet
Southwest: Himalayas
North: Gobi Desert and Mongolian Plateau
Mountain ranges and desert dominate 2/3 of China’s landmass

6. Geography & Culture River Systems Huang He (Yellow River) in the north
Deposits large amounts of yellowish silt called loess.
Loess is blown by winds from deserts into the river

7. Huang He (Yellow River)

8. Geography & Culture Chang Jiang (Yangtze) in central China
Flows east from the Yellow Sea
At 3,988 miles long, it is the longest river in Asia

9. Geography & Culture Environmental Challenges
Disastrous floods from the Huang He
Trade was difficult so settlers became self-dependent
Geography did not make invasion impossible

10. Geography & Culture Only 10% of China’s land is suitable for farming
Most of farmable land is on North China Plain between Yellow River and Yangtze

11. Geography & Culture The Development of Chinese Culture
Fossils show that modern humans lived in SW China 1.7 million years ago
According to legend, the first Chinese dynasty, The Xia Dynasty, started about 2000 B.C.
Chinese viewed everyone outside of their culture as barbarians
Viewed themselves as center of civilized world
Chinese name for China was Middle Kingdom
Family is central to Chinese society; respect for one’s parents
Women treated as inferiors
Girls were arranged to be married between 13 and 16

12. Geography & Culture
Religion: Spirits of ancestors had power to bring good fortune; not seen as gods
Use of Oracle Bones- priests scratch question on bones, apply hot poker, bone would split, interpret the cracks

13. Geography & Culture No links between spoken and written language
One could read Chinese without being able to speak the language
All parts of China learned the same system of writing even if spoke different language thus unifying parts of China
Needed to know 1500 characters just to be considered literate; scholars knew 10,000 characters

14. Dynasties (Tang & Song)
Setting the stage
After the fall of the Han dynasty in 202 AD, China went through 350 years and 30 local dynasties that were unable recreate a strong central government
Eventually by 589, China was once again unified under emperor Wendi who began the Sui Dynasty
The Sui Dynasty created the Grand Canal which connected the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
Endless labor on state projects as well as over taxation led to a peasant revolt which ended in the assassination of the second Sui emperor

15. Dynasties (Tang & Song)
The Tang Dynasty Expands China
The Tang Dynasty would rule from
Begun by Tang Taizong who reigned from
Took power by killing his brothers and forcing his father to step aside
Taizong means “Great Ancestor”
Married Wu Zhao who virtually ruled China when her husband was sick
Tang armies re-conquered northern and western lands lost since decline of the Han
Tang rulers strengthened the central government
of China and expanded roads
Revived civil service examinations to serve in
government positions
(only wealthy could afford necessary education)
Innovated porcelain, the mechanical clock,
explosive powder, and block printing

16. Dynasties (Tang & Song)
The Tang Lose Power
To meet the rising costs of government, Tang rulers imposed crushing taxes in mid 700s
Muslim armies defeated the Chinese at the Battle of Talas
Internal rebellions chipped away at imperial government
Chinese rebels sacked and burned Tang capital in 907
Murdered the last Tang emperor who was only a child

17. Dynasties (Tang & Song)
The Song Dynasty Restores China
After fall of Tang, China was divided by warlords into separate kingdoms
In 960 a general named Taizu reunited China and declared himself first emperor of Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty would last from
The song Dynasty was Smaller empire than Han or Tang, but still prosperous
Manchurian people known as Jurchen, split from the empire and forced the Song to move south of the Huang He river dividing the empire again

18. Dynasties (Tang & Song)
Despite military troubles in the north, the Southern Song saw rapid economic growth
Inventions:
Movable Type: movable blocks with characters used for printing
Created paper money and the magnetic compass
Status of women declined during Tang and Song Dynasties declined
Footbinding: practice of binding feet to conform to small lotus or lily foot
Seen as sensual
Crippled for life

19. Dynasties (Tang & Song)
Fall of the Song
Group of Asian nomads known as the Mongols would gain power
Genghis Khan, the Mongol leader, would attempt to invade China, but would die before he succeeded and his successors carried on his legacy.
Grandson of Genghis Khan was named Kublai Khan, would overwhelm the Chinese in 1279 and begin the Yuan Dynasty.

20. Kublai Khan

21. The Mongols Kublai Khan Invited foreign merchants
Italian trader Marco Polo came to Kublai Khan’s court around 1275
Worked for Kublai Khan because he learned many Asian languages
While imprisoned, Polo told his story which was later published as a book but most Europeans did not believe it

22. The Mongols 1. The Rise of the Mongols
Temujin sought to unify the Mongols under his leadership around 1200
Slowly Temujin defeated his enemies (and friends) one by one
In 1206 he accepted the title of universal ruler of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan conquered much of Asia and had goal of invading China
By 1225 Central Asia was under Mongol control

23. The Mongols The Mongol Empire Genghis Khan died in 1227 of illness
His successors continued to conqueror territory eventually having the largest unified land empire in history
Successors divided region up into different territories called khanates.
Had territory from Kiev in the West to China in the East
Mongols destroyed villages, irrigation channels, and decimated populations

24. Mongol Empire at its Peak

25. The Mongols Rarely imposed their beliefs on conquered peoples
Even adopted some of the culture of those they ruled
Pax Mongolica: Mongol Peace- time of peace and stability across the Mongol Empire from mid 1200s to mid 1300s
Trade and inventions spread rapidly during Pax Mongolica due to safe travel
Traders wanted silk, porcelain, gunpowder, paper currency, and the compass

26. The SILK ROAD - a 4,000 mile trade route that stretched from China to the Constantinople in southwestern Asia it was opened up by the Chinese and expanded and protected by the Mongols. THE CHINESE WANTED TO MAKE A PROFIT ($) FROM SELLING SILK.

27. GLOBALIZATION-
The process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society reliant on and functioning together.
The internet promotes globalization in the world today.

28. MERCHANT - a person whose job is to buy, sell & trade goods
MERCHANT - a person whose job is to buy, sell & trade goods. (salesman or businessman) this type of person was created because of the Silk Road.

29. ITEMS TRADED ALONG THE SILK ROAD
GLASS
RELIGIONS
CAMELS
CARPETS
PORCELAIN
METAL WORK
SILK
JADE
SPICES