WHAP - China

Terms in this set (38)

List the Chinese dynasties is Chronological order and their dates
Shang 1750- 1045 BC
Zhou 1100- 200 BC (800 years! longest dynasty)
Qin 221- 206 BC
Han 207- 220 bC
Sui 581- 618
Tang 618- 907
Song 960-1279
Yuan 1279- 1368
Hierarchy of Ancient Chinese society
Kings & Emperors (Top)
Scholars/Officials
Poor Peasants/Farmers
Skilled Workers/Craftsmen
Merchants & Women (lowest)
Xia Dynasty(unconfirmed)
(2500-1500 BCE) This dynasty ruled in Eastern China along the Yellow River Valley. They started to work with bronze and lived at the same time as Sumer. Also silk worms were cultivated.
Xia Dynasty Spice Chart
Social:

Political:

Interaction:

Cultural:
RELIGION -

ARTS -

INTELLECTUAL -

ECONOMIC:
Shang Dynasty
(1500-1000 BCE) This dynasty was run by 7 or 8 different families who all moved the capital. The king was viewed as an inter-mediary between the people and god. Known for their artistic bronze and 2 horse chariots. They also believed in veneration of ancestors
Shang Dynasty Spice Chart
Social:

Political:

Interaction:

Cultural:
RELIGION -

ARTS -

INTELLECTUAL -

ECONOMIC:
Shang dynasty achievements and accomplishments
Oracle Bones
Wove silk into elegant cloth
Finest bronze objects ever made
Aristocracy
1st Chinese writting: pictographs or picture writting
Foot Binding (lasts untill 1911)
ancestor worship
Anyang- oldest city in china is from this age, most of what we know of this dynasty is from here
Zhou Dynasty
(1000-250 BCE) This feudalistic dynasty was the first to have written law. They had an iron coin currency and They were the 1st to declare Mandate of Heaven and Confucious lived during this era; the "One Hundred Schools Era."
Zhou Dynasty SPICE
Social:
King and nobles on top.
Military.
Merchants and farmers.
2% of pop was gentry/aristocrats.
Women were not treated equally; patriarchal; used corvee slavery throughout classical age

Political:
Used the Mandate of Heaven and dynastic cycle for the rise and fall of dynasties.
Government was feudalism where local lords governed; given land and in return provided military service to their leader.
Confucius theorized on the structure of the gov't but his teachings were not widely accepted until Han; Laozi also criticized chaos

Interaction:
Located on the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.
Expanding dynasties.
Chinese civilization was the longest in world history and one of the most creative and influential. Dynastic Cycle ensures more consistent civilization when compared to places outside China

Cultural:
RELIGION - Legalism, Confucianism, and Daoism were created
Stopped human sacrifice but polytheism still practiced.
INTELLECTUAL - Bronze and iron working.
Recorded eclipses, seismographs, bells, flutes and mirrors.
Analects- book of Confucian sayings.
ARTS - Animals in most art and dragon pendants.
Jade to make pottery and statues.
Artisans crafted.

Economic:
Use of iron working in 500 BCE.
Iron axes and ox drawn plows replaced stone, wood, and bronze tools.
Grew soybeans
Merchants benefited from roads and canals which increased the population.
Zhou dynasty achievements and accomplishments
1st to claim to have the Mandate of heaven
Nobles owned land and peasants worked it
rulers called themselves 'Sons of heaven'
1st Calvalry, 1st crossbow
used the iron plow
irrigation systems to control floods
expanded pictographs into ideographs
city states fought and there was no central government
Qin Dynasty
(256-206 BCE) China gets its name from this dynasty. Also Emperor Shi Huangdi lived during this time and started work on the Great Wall of China. Also there is a stron centralized government and a policy of legalism existed. There was a new written legal code and the 1st books were burned. Finally it was when the civil service exam was started (the 1st one was based on merit)
Qin Dynast Spice Chart
Social:
Everyone was below Shi and nobles lost power.
Some gentry women would become educated.

Political:
Shi Huangdi a strong, autocratic leader.
Abolished feudalism by taking land away from aristocrats
Created 1st empire (centralized) and formed bureaucracy but based on inheritance
Further territory expansion.
Harsh laws and forced labor for the Great Wall; followed Legalism
1st Chinese empire: rulers are truly "Sons of Heaven"
Absolutism remains part of Chinese history until 1911

Interaction:
Moved beyond Yellow and Yangtze River

Cultural:
RELIGION - Confucianism was banned
Practiced legalism- harsh laws.
ARTS -Calligraphy.
Life size army made of terra cotta that was placed in Shi's tomb not found until the 1970s
INTELLECTUAL -Standardized weights and measures.
Books still produced like medicine and agricultural ones.
Great Wall.
Continued the silk making.

Economic:
Peasants paid high taxes.
Standardization of weights and measures.
Coined money.
Repaired roads and canals for trade.
Most important Qin dynasty ruler
Qin Shihuangdi, China was named after him and he was the first to unite China
He standardized money writting and measurement
Cruel tyrant who believed in Legalism and forced peasants to work on major projects often until they died ex: The Great wall
Qin dynasty achievements and accomplishments
Military districts ruled by officials
Terra Cotta Soldiers
Books were burned and philosophers were killed; Qin did not want anyone smarter then him because if his subjects were smart then they might have an opinion about how they should be governed
Han Dynasty
(206 BCE-220 CE) This dynasty was when the Roman Republic ended and the Roman Empire began. The silk road connect the Mediterranean world (Greece and Rome) to China. The Analects become very popular and filial piety is a big part of life. Confucious is promoted
Han Dynasty Spice Chart
Social:
Emperor, nobility, scholars, , farmers, artisans, peasants and slaves; social mobility could occur if one could afford education and pass civil service exam; merchants are looked down upon due to Confucian beliefs as seeing them as parasitic

Political:
Wudi was the most famous ruler.
Made bureaucracy more sophisticated by starting civil service examination using Confucian ideology; those who passed the test were known as scholar gentry- merit based although some aristocrats got into court without exam

Interaction:
Moved beyond Yellow and Yangtze River; extended westward along Silk road during Emperor Wudi's reign.

Cultural:
RELIGION - Legalism faded; Confucianism was brought back and Daoism continued to be practiced
Buddhism enters China during decline and becomes an influential religion during the era of division between Han and Sui since people wanted to end suffering

ARTS - Ceramic figures.
Bronze, silk, jade, and ivory used to carve and for palaces.

INTELLECTUAL - Astronomy, herbal remedies, paper, ship building, compass, zoology and fishing reels, boat rudders, seismograph, paper
GOLDEN AGE

Economic:
Silk road- cultural diffusion.
Trading posts, improved canals and roads. China was the source of the world's largest overland trade network; the Silk Roads. It established global trading patterns.
Iron and station granaries.
Overseas trade developed in southeast Asia
Han dynasty important rulers
1st ruler: Liu Bing
Most important ruler: Wudi, he ruled during the dynasty's height, he wanted the best for his people and established the Civil Service exam for government officials. He knew the names of government officials and their families and was kind
Han dynasty achievments and accomplishments
Confucianism and Daoism
Accupncture (a way to balance Yin and Yang in the body)
Pax Sinica: peace in China and was at the same time as Pax Romana which was peace in Rome
Silk road: trade with Rome
Extends empire to greatest size
Mandarins and civil service exam
Stored food so during flood or famine the subjects wouldn't starve
Observed Lunar and solar eclipses and observed what we now know as Hailey's Comet
Sui Dynasty
(581-618 CE) The only two rulers in this dynasty were father and son and through conscripted labor built the Grand Canal connecting the two main rivers.
Sui Dynasty Spice Chart
Social:

Political:

Interaction:

Cultural:
RELIGION -

ARTS -

INTELLECTUAL -

ECONOMIC:
Sui dynasty important rulers
Sui Yangdi- 2nd emperor, completed the grand canal
a cruel ruler (killed and tortured people) who forced work on peasants so he could live in the lap of luxury
killed in up rise which started the Tang dynasty
Tang Dynasty
(618-906 CE) This dynasty had the most stable government and was considered a hyper-empire. They had the highest literacy and they bring back the C.S.E. Printing was also invented 600 years before Europe and porcelain as well. Finally foot binding was started. This was the time of Li Bo and the first empress, Empress Wu.
Tang Dynasty Spice Chart
Social:

Political:
Political • Early Tang monarchs fully restored the imperial bureaucracy, which the Confucian scholar-gentry continued to dominate; brought back civil service exam from the Han; considered a Confucian Renaissance
• The role of aristocratic families within the government was still present; some did not have to take CST
• Although the examination procedure offered a chance for any man to enter the imperial bureaucracy, many obtained positions as a result of birth or family connections
• Anti-Buddhist Backlash in the 800s

Interaction:
Population growth and the increased pace of trade served to stimulate urban growth in - home to largest populated cities in the world

Cultural:
RELIGION -

ARTS -

INTELLECTUAL -

ECONOMIC:
• The expansion of commerce was accompanied by substantial urban growth under the Tang and Song dynasties aided by the construction of the Grand Canal under the Sui
• Tang conquests on the western frontier opened up trade routes and helped to establish connections between the civilized cores of Eurasia; Silk Road secured during Tang
• Commercial shipping improved as the pace of trade quickened
• Chinese junks were perhaps the finest commercial vessels in the world at this time
• Market quarters in Chinese cities grew larger (these markets were organized by local guilds, but subject to imperial control); merchants had low status
• Exchanges involving money and credit became common
• The government began the introduction of paper money in the eleventh century during the Tang
Tang dynasty important rulers
Tang Xuanzang- dedicated to a commoners daughter, hired musicians and entertainers for his love
Who was the 1st and only Empress of China? Describe her
Empress Wu of the Tang dynasty
She was the emperor's concubine and became empress.
She told the emperor that his wife , Wang, had killed her 1st born daughter (no one knows who really killed her) and he replaced Wan with her. He then died and Wu married his son. She killed anyone who got in her way to power including the unlucky Wang.

She cared about womans rights and education and woman had the best rights of all Chinese history during this time

Made foot binding ILLEGAL!
Tang dynasty achievments and accomplishments
Meritocracy- you got your power from being smart and the best for the job, not money
Civil service exams
Stable economy because the peasants got land
Only female empress- Wu
Uighurs- northern tribal group who made sure the dynasty wasn't over thrown
Steel and gunpowder was used
Footbinding
Song Dynasty
(960-1279 CE) During this dynasty there is a shift in trade. Maritime trade becomes much more important, and the economy grows because of this. Foot binding is popular and China becomes to start getting left behind. The C.S.E continues but only in Manderin.
Song Dynasty Spice Chart
Social:

Political:
• In the Song government, the scholar-gentry carefully restrained military growth to prevent internal uprisings, but perhaps weakening the military allowing for a decline in strength leading to decline
• Song rulers promoted the interests of the Confucian bureaucracy; quite elaborate and expensive
• The examination system was further regularized
• The Song empire never matched the Tang dynasty in terms of extent of land controlled or military power

Interaction:
Population growth and the increased pace of trade served to stimulate urban growth in - home to largest populated cities in the world

Cultural:
RELIGION -

ARTS -

INTELLECTUAL -

ECONOMIC:
• Song chose to specialize in Silk, cotton and porcelain manufacturing (kilns operated constantly which allowed finished porcelain to be stored in warehouses waiting for export)
• Improvements in agricultural technique, in addition to increased acreage, promoted higher yields
Yuan Dynasty
(1279-1368 CE) This was the Mongol dynasty. This is the time of the Pax Mongolica, where people are given safe passage through the silk road. The capital is moved to Beijing and Kublai Khan gives jobs to mongols and foreigners. The Mongols try to invade Japan but the Kamikaze Winds save them from the Mongols
Song
economic prosperity and cultural achievement
foot binding
porcelain
brackets that stabilized bridges
nature and landscape art
Meritocracy
...
Social:

Political:

Interaction:

Cultural:
RELIGION -

ARTS -

INTELLECTUAL -

Economic:
Yuan
Mongols
largest empire in world history
Kublai Khan establishes this dynasty
his grand son Ghengis Khan actually leads and rules during this dynasty
Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644 CE) This dynasty brought emperor Yongol who hated Mongols and rebuilt the Forbidden City. Also the time of Zheng He who went on 7 expeditions, and after finally closing their borders and finishing the Great Wall of China, they get majorly left behind.
...
Social:

Political:

Interaction:

Cultural:
RELIGION -

ARTS -

INTELLECTUAL -

ECONOMIC:
Qing
(1644-1912 CE) This dynasty had 300 to 400 million people living in China because of a population boom. This dynasty was run by the Manchu people and 50% of jobs went to Manchu people and 50% went to Chinese people. This is also the time of the opium wars where Britian wins and gets Hong Kong . Puyi was the last Chinese emperor.
...
Social:

Political:

Interaction:

Cultural:
RELIGION -

ARTS -

INTELLECTUAL -

ECONOMIC:
Chinese Republic
(1912-1949 CE) This consisted of three groups: the nationalistic party, the traditionalists and the communists. Yi-Yian is the head of the nationalistic party
Communist China
1949-Present
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...
;