China 1. Huang He River AKA- Yellow River - PowerPoint Presentation

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1. Huang He River

AKA- Yellow River

Gets it’s name from the rich yellow silt that it carries from Mongolia to the Pacific Ocean

Flooded the land, creating rich silt for farming

However, flooding also destroyed many houses and many people drowned

This led it to be called “China’s sorrow”Slide3
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2. The Yangtze River

Longest river

in Asia

Also had rich soil for farmingSlide5

3. China’s Geography

Only a little more than one tenth of China’s land can be farmed

Mountains and deserts cover most of the landSlide6

4. Mountains and Deserts

China’s mountains and deserts acted as

walls

separating the Chinese from most other people

Chinese people united over time to form the “Middle Kingdom”Slide7

5. The Shang Dynasty

Anyang

: China’s first capital

The people of the Shang Dynasty were divided into groups

The most powerful group was the king and his family

Shang kings chose warlords to govern the kingdom’s territories

Warlords

: military leaders who command their own armiesSlide8

5. The Shang Dynasty (

cnt

.)

Warlords and aristocrats made up the upper class

Aristocrats

: nobles whose wealth came from the land they owned

A few people were traders and artisans, but most people were farmers

Farmers worked the land that belonged to the aristocrats

Small number of slavesSlide9

6. Religion in the Shang Dynasty

Worshipped gods and spirits

Believed that spirits lived in mountains, rivers, and seas

Offerings

of goods

made gods and spirits happy

Honored ancestors so that they would bring good luck in times of needSlide10

7. Government in the Shang Dynasty

Kings believed that they received power and wisdom from gods, spirits, and ancestors

It was the duty of the King to contact ancestors, spirits, and gods before making important decisions

Kings asked for help using oracle bonesSlide11

8. Oracle Bones

Priests scratched questions on the bones and placed them on hot metal rods

This caused them to crack

They believed that the patterns of the cracks formed answers from the godsSlide12

9. Chinese Language

Pictographs

: characters that stand for objects

Ideographs

: join two or more pictographs to create an ideaSlide13

10. End of the Shang Dynasty

During the Shang dynasty, kings lived in luxury and began to treat people cruelly

An aristocrat named Wu Wang lead a rebellion to overthrow the Shang DynastySlide14

11. Zhou Dynasty

Ruled for over 800 years, longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history

The Zhou kings were the head of the government

Under the king was a large bureaucracy

Bureaucracy

: made up of appointed officials who are responsible for different areas of governmentSlide15

12. Mandate of Heaven

Mandate

: formal order

Mandate of Heaven was a heavenly law that gave the Zhou king the power to rule

because of his talent and virtue

King’s duty was to keep the gods happy

Gave the people rights

People had the right to overthrow a dishonest ruler

Natural disasters were signs that the king had lost the Mandate of HeavenSlide16

13. Fall of the Zhou Dynasty

Local leaders became powerful and stopped obeying Zhou kings

Fighting broke out

200 years- “Period of the Warring States”

221 B.C. the ruler of Qin used a cavalry to defeat the Zhou Dynasty and set up the Qin DynastySlide17

14. Life in Ancient China

Nine out of ten Chinese were farmers

Farmers ranked above merchants and looked down on them

Filial Piety:

children had to respect their parents and older relatives

Men grew crops, went to school, ran the government, and fought wars

Women stayed home and raised childrenSlide18

Chinese Philosophies

Confucianism

Daoism

Legalism

Founder

Confucius

Laozi

Hanfeizi

Main Ideas

People should put the needs of their family and community first

People should give up worldly

desires in favor of nature and the Dao

Society needs a system

of harsh laws and strict punishmentSlide19

15. Qin Dynasty

Qin

Shihuangdi

- “the First Qin Emperor”

Based rule on legalism

Had anyone who opposed him killed or punished

Made the central government strong

Unified China

One currencySlide20

16. Great Wall of China

Nomads from the Gobi Desert, called “

Xiongnu

”, often attacked

Built walls to keep them out

This STARTED the Great Wall of China (rest was built 1,500 years later)Slide21

17. End of the Qin Dynasty

Qin

Shihuangdi

was viewed as cruel by many

Aristocrats didn’t like him because he reduced their power

Scholars didn’t like him because he burned their writings

Farmers hated him for forcing them to build roads and the Great Wall

Four years after his death, civil war broke out and the Qin Dynasty was overthrownSlide22

18. Han Dynasty

Founded by Liu Bang in 202 B.C.

Once a peasant, but became a military leader

Declared himself Han

Gaozu

- “Exalted Emperor of Han”

Threw out harsh policies of the Qin dynastySlide23

19. Han

Wudi

Han dynasty reached it's peak under Han

Wudi

Wanted talented people to fill government posts

Created long, difficult, tests that people had to take and pass in order to get a government job

These tests became “civil service examinations”Slide24

20. Fall of the Han Dynasty

During the Han dynasty, the population grew from 20 million to 60 million

Lived in peace for 150 years

Emperors after Han

Wudi

were weak and foolish, causing the central government to lose respect and power

Wars, rebellions, and plots against the emperor caused the fall of the Han dynastySlide25

21. The Silk Road

Silk Road:

large network of trade routes stretching 4,000 miles from western China to southwest Asia

Trip over the Silk Road was expensive because merchants had to pay taxes to kingdoms along the way

Carried only expensive goods