1. 4 early River Valley Civilizations
Sumerian Civilization - Tigris & Euphrates Rivers (Mesopotamia)
Egyptian Civilization - Nile River
Harappan Civilization - Indus River
Ancient China - Huang He River

2. ENTER “The Four Early River Valley Civilizations”
Mesopotamia [Sumer] (Tigris & Euphrates Rivers)
Egypt (Nile River)
Indus Valley (Indus River)
Ancient China (Huang He River)
ENTER
A Chinese junk on the Huang He today.
An artist visualizes what the ancient Chinese village of Banpo
on the Huang He may have looked like over 4,000 years ago.

3. Geography Challenges? Isolation Barriers – Mountains and Deserts
Gobi Desert
Taklimakan Desert
Himalaya Mts.
Pacific Ocean
Geography
Challenges?
Isolation
Barriers – Mountains and Deserts
10% arable land
LOVE 3

4. II. Organized Government
A. Dynastic Cycle – established an order to the rule over China
i. Mandate of Heaven
B. Shang: Complex bureaucracy
C. Zhou: Feudalism = little centralized authority
D. Qin: Autocratic; emperor
E. Han: Civil Service Exam; bureaucracy under emperor
The dynastic cycle
a. Founding the dynasty
b. Internal peace, expansion and great power
c. Period of regression and decline
d. Chaos and rebellion
e. Founding of new dynasty
2. Cultural evolution shown through patterns of change in the family, in the farm and in the village.
Shang Dynasty (1750 – 1122 BCE)
1. The Shang conquered the Huang He River Valley, where the Xia people were already established but lacked government to help with irrigation
2. Government during the Shang period
a. Complex bureaucracy
b. Used military force to control people, expand territory and to spread their ideas 4

6. III. Cities
Cities were within territories that were governed by aristocrats (provinces)
Cities (States) worked together to construct walls to keep out invaders – Qin
Left: The Ruins of a Shang Dynasty City in Zhengzhou

8. The Great Wall of China 30 Feet High 40 Foot Towers 1,500 miles long
Built in 7 Years
500,000 workers died
while making the Great
Wall

9. 法家 IV. Organized Religion Life after death and human rituals
Shang: animism combined with ancestor worship
Zhou  Han: 3 philosophies on the nature of man and the universe developed that influenced Chinese society
Confucianism (preferred by the Han)
Daoism
Legalism (preferred by the Qin)
. Religion in the Shang dynasty combined animism with ancestor worship
a. All powerful and kindly dragon became the symbol for rulers
b. Gods of nature (wind, Sun, moon)
c. Shang Ti was the principal god responsible for destiny and controlled the forces of nature
d. Depended on ancestors to bring good favor from Shang Ti (precursor to the Zhou idea of Mandate of Heaven) 法家

10. V. Class Structure/Social Stratification
Class system based on occupation
Kings and royals at the top
Aristocracy – includes civil servants (landowners)
Peasants – farmers
Merchants & artisans
Slaves – used for building projects
Culture during the Shang dynasty
a. Economy based on agriculture mainly
i. Grew millet, barley and rice
ii. Domesticated chicken, pigs, and horses
iii. Discovered silkworms  silk cloth
b. Merchants and artisans made and traded jewelry, ceramic art, pottery, etc.

11. VI. Writing Simple script (Shang)  complex written language
Pictographic & ideographic
Only language that did not change its written roots entirely
Chinese developed a unique language that consisted of many dialects; common written language was established
i. Thousands of characters
ii. Signifier = meaning & Phonetic = sound

12. VII. Art/Architecture (Technological Advancements, too!)
Bronze work (Shang)  Iron work (Han)
Trade networks & advancements
Fore-and-aft rigging; rudder
Confucian Literature
Great Wall & Emperor Shi Huangdi’s mausoleum
Iron work = steel

13. Silk Routes, over-land and over-sea
Dynastic China and the Making of the Modern World
THE SILK ROAD
Silk Routes, over-land and over-sea
Prepared by Sir Martin Perez, for SS2 SY 2006/07 13

14. THE SILK ROAD China silk, clothing, lacquer ware, spices Indo-China
Dynastic China and the Making of the Modern World
THE SILK ROAD
China
silk, clothing, lacquer ware, spices
Indo-China
spices, ivory, timber, pearls
North India
precious stones, ivory, tortoise shell, incense, spices, cloth, timber
South India
ivory, tortoiseshell, spices, precious stones, cloth, timber
Arabia
spices, slaves, precious stones
East Africa
gold, ivory, exotic animals, slaves, incense
Trans-Sahara
ivory, gold, slaves
North Africa
grain
South Europe
olive oil, wine, glassware, coinage
West Europe
silver, tin
North Europe
slaves, amber
Asia Minor
silver, precious stones, timber, wine
Prepared by Sir Martin Perez, for SS2 SY 2006/07 14

15. If you were to bury items in a large pit that would help archeologists in 2000 years identify who you were and what you were about, what would you bury?

16. Pits of rare birds and animals
Stable pits
Tombs of Emperor Qin’s children
Mass graves of laborers
Pit of two sets of Bronze Chariots and Horses
Pit of Stone Armor and Helmets
Pit of Terra-Cotta Acrobats and a Bronze Tripod
Pit of Civil Officials
Pit of Terra-Cotta Army

19. Knowing what was included in Shi Huangdi’s mausoleum, what can we assume to be true about the first emperor of the Qin dynasty? What kind of ruler/man was he?