Chapter 2 Section 4 Notes

I. The Geography of China                                 

A. Two deserts lay on China’s northern

border

1. Taklimakan

2. Gobi

                                              

           

B. Two large mountain ranges lay

to the south

1. Plateau of Tibet

Plateau of Tibet

2. Himalaya

C. To the East of China the Pacific

Ocean was a border

D. Two Major Rivers

1. The Huang He in the north ( Yellow

River )

2. The Yangtze in Central China

E. China’s heartland

1. The small plain between the two

rivers is where most of the farm land was

located

2. The Chinese thought of

themselves as the center of the

civilized world

a. They called themselves the

Middle Kingdom

F. Environmental Challenges

1. Loess was fertile yellow soil blown into

the river and as the river flooded it

deposited the rich silt

2. Huang He could flood at any time and earned the

nicknameChina’s Sorrow

II. Civilization Emerges in the Shang Times

A. Paleolithic Age

1. Homo Erectus was there

a. Peking Man

B. First Dynasties

1. Xia dynasty around 2000 B.C.

a. Yu was the leader

1. Irrigation Projects

2. Shang Dynasty 1532 B.C. to 1027

B.C.

a. Left written records

b. Capitol was located at Anyang

1. Built mainly out of wood

2. Higher class lived inside the city,

peasants outside

3. High walls made of earth

c. Shang were at war often aggressors

C. Social classes of Shang

1. Nobles ruling class of warriors headed by king

2. Peasants

D. Shang Bronze

1. Used for weapons

2. Used for ceremonial vessels

III. The Origins of Chinese Culture

A. Family and Society

1. Most important virtue for Chinese society was respect

for ones parents ( Filial Piety )

2. Women were treated as inferior

a. Arranged marriages between

the age of 13-16 and

moved in with husbands family

B. Religious beliefs

1. Spirits of family ancestors could

bring good or bad fortune

2. (Polytheists) Supreme god –

Shang Di as well as lesser gods

3. Oracle bones, animal bones or

turtle shells

C. Development of writing

1. Came from oracle bones

2. Each character is an idea

3. Spoken language and written

language was different

4. Advantage was if you spoke different language you could still read a common

language

5. Estimate of 50,000 different idea characters

D. Shang Technology, and

Artistry

1. Bronze work

2. Silk

IV. Zhou Bring new Ideas

A. About 1027 Zhou overthrew

Shang

1. Justification of overthrow Mandate

of Heaven

a. Just ruler right to rule by approval of

gods

b. If didn’t could lose right to rule

B. Control through Feudalism

1. System of government based on land ownership

and personal service

2. Nobles owed loyalty to king and protected peasants

C. Gradually the nobles would become more

powerful than kings and rebel

D. Improvements in Technology and

trade

1. Built roads for trade and army

2. Created civil servant or

Government jobs

3. Development of Iron

a. Better weapons

b. Farm tools

E. Period of Warring States

1. Zhou ruled from 1027-256 B.C.

2. Zhou rule weakening kings were attacked and move eastward to

Luoyang