1. Confucianism (Introductory Powerpoint)
“He who learns but does not think is lost; he who thinks but does not learn is in danger.”

2. Growth of Chinese influence
Expansion of patterns of thought and administration:
Confucianism
Writing system
Buddhism
Imperial/bureaucratic government--virtuous rule, virtuous ministers
Columbia University, East Asian Curriculum Project, "China: A Teaching Workbook" < Updated December 1, Accessed September 6, 2001.

3. Patterns in Chinese History
Agrarian economy
Social nexus
Family/household
Village/ward; county;province
Religious sects; secret societies; mercantile guilds
Dynastic cycle
Mandate of Heaven
Unity and Disunity
Southern expansion
Invasion from the North
Source:

4. Geographical delimitations
John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman, China: A New History, enl. ed. (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998)
Columbia University, East Asian Curriculum Project, "China: A Teaching Workbook"

5. Emergence of “Chinese” kingdoms
Skinner’s macro-regions
From “A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization,” Patricia Buckley Ebrey. accessed 1/21/05)

6. Shang to Zhou http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/1xarshang.htm

7. Confucian thought (adapted from “Confucian thought” website http://afe
Natural harmony linking man, nature, cosmos--man within nature (not against nature)
Humaneness (ren or jen) 仁 and the perfectability of man--the “gentleman” (junzi) and “rites” (li)
Mencius
Xun Zi
Moral role of government
Ruler as virtuous exemplar
Cultivation of virtue among the people
Filial piety and the Five Relationships
Mandate of Heaven--reference to sage king rule

8. The gentleman (junzi) and rites (li) Translations from Columbia Univ
The gentleman (junzi) and rites (li) Translations from Columbia Univ. webcourse, “East Asia in World History,”
Tzu-kung (one of Confucius's disciples) asked about the superior man. "He acts before he speaks and then speaks according to his action," Confucius said. (2:15)
Confucius said, "The superior man understands righteousness; the inferior man understands profit." (4:16)
Confucius said, "I do not enlighten those who are not eager to learn, nor arouse those who are not anxious to give an explanation themselves. If I have presented one corner of the square and they cannot come back to me with the other three, I should not go over the points again." (7:8)

9. --George W. Bush, U.S. Presidential Inaugural address, 1/20/2005
In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character, on integrity and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before--ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever.
--George W. Bush, U.S. Presidential Inaugural address, 1/20/2005