China

Geography

• Long Rivers, fertile soils, isolated valleys• Yangtze and Huang He (Yellow)• Unpredictable flooding (River of Sorrows)• Annual flooding deposited silt• Meandering river leads to decentralized

government, feudalism• Gobi desert also leads to areas isolated, southern

area lots rain-good for rice• Northern cool and dry-good for grains, isolated

Politics• Feudalism-land based government because of

isolated pockets• Shang dynasty controls Huang He Valley, first

organized state• Zhou dynasty• Government works- palaces, tombs, roads,

irrigation• Dynastic cycle-Mandate of Heaven, loss of

Mandate justifies new dynasty

Economics

• Farming based economy• Northern farms wheat, southern rice• Trade with west, to India, SILK ROAD, Cities along

the silk road and prosper• Silk is unique product, rich• Use shells for currency as early as 1800BCE• Bronze coins 400BCE, paper money 1100 CE• Mining as industry, use of slaves• Domesticate animals

Religion

• Polytheistic, many gods based nature• Confucianism and Daoism• Worship ancestor spirits• Afterlife• Oracle bones for predictions• Sacrifice small items, food, etc. on alters

Society• Hierarchy: Kings, courts-practice to keep Mandate

of Heaven• Nobles, priests• Warrior• Artisans, scribes, merchants• Farmers• Slaves• Feudalism, most of population farmed• Fathers control daughters, sell slavery, arrange

marriages

Intellect

• Silk, umbrella• Paper, first books, =record keeping excels• Pictographs, over 1000 symbols• Seismograph, astronomy, mathematics• Alcohol• Bronze• Considered themselves Middle Kingdom

Arts

• Paintings, sculpture• Caligraphy• Music, dance, literature• Pottery, agriculture-collars for animals• silks

Decline

• Shang 1000BCE fall to Zhou-classical period• Dynasties decline, lose favor, and are replaced

by new dynasties= dynastic cycle• Signs of decline are natural disaster, loss of

sons, food shortages, military conquest• Interpret sign of corruption to justify loss