 Xia dynasty first ?  Shang clans documented in writing. Warrior leaders near Yellow River.  King/admin ruled core directly. Aristocrats & royal family administered provinces. Distant areas, native rulers. Fought barbarians.  King intermediary between people and gods  Zhou replaced Shang: Mandate of Heaven  100+ subject territories  Zhou weakened – Eastern Zhou, then “Warring States”

 Early: agricultural with millet, pigs/chickens, stone tools.  Shang; trade networks developed bringing jade, ivory, mother-of-pearl – decorative. Possible contact with Mesopotamia.  Warring States: concept of private property. Land belongs to men/divided among sons.

 Shang  Worshiped male ancestors.  Divination using oracle bones; court ritual; sacrifices.  Bronze vessels to gain support of gods  Zhou  Decline in divination/ritual/sacrifices. Priests’ power reduced.  More secular philosophies  Feng shui  Philosophies  Legalism: need strict rules because people are bad  Confucianism (Kongzi): Hierarchy innate – human behavior should reflect this. Know your place. Venerate ancestors/elders; parallel state & family relationships.  Daoism (Laozi): Follow the “path.” Accept the world; take minimal action. Passive. Believes world is always changing – no absolute morality/meaning – understand “path.”  Yin & Yang: Idea of balance in nature. Justifies differences between men & women.

 Shang: warrior aristocracy  Possession of bronze indicated authority/nobility.  Scribes an elite class.  Warring States: 3-generation family fundamental unit.  head: rituals, authority, arrange marriages, sell labor of family.  Women: wives and concubines. Little status.  Marriage as political alliance.

 Rice cultivation  Pottery (later porcelain) & potter’s wheel/kiln.  Pounded earth walls.  Bronze metalworking, then iron.  Horse-drawn chariots (from Middle East?)  Domesticated water buffalo – labor  Engineering/human labor led to cities, defensive walls, tombs.  Writing system – pictograms & phonetics.  Made silk  Astrology  Gunpowder first…)

 Earthen dikes/channels, reservoirs to control water. Retaining walls for tiers; rice paddies.  Beginnings of Great Wall  Buildings of wood, some stone (high status), dirt (dug out of hills, mud brick)  Bronze ritual vessels, mirrors, bells… jade/ivory/mother of pearl jewelry & decorative figurines.  Calligraphy an art – needed to learn thousands of characters

 Isolated by Himalayas, Pamir & Tian Mts., Takla Makan Desert, Gobi Desert, Mongolian Steppe, & Pacific Ocean.  Major rivers: Huang He (Yellow) and Yangzi. Flow west to east.  Eastern section better for agriculture – west dryer/colder. East more densely populated. South gets more rain.  Resources: stone, timber, minerals.  North: loess soil is fertile & soft. Lots of silt in Yellow River results in damaging floods (“China’s Sorrow”).