1. China had an ancient civilization! Who knew???
Ancient China!
China had an ancient civilization! Who knew???

2. Warm up!
The Indus River flooded, reliably, 2 times a year. This allowed for careful planning in order to survive. Carful planning led to job specialization and cities being organized.
The Indus River Valley’s cities were organized and peaceful, so we can infer (guess) that their government was well organized and peaceful too.

3. China’s Geography
Basically, the Geography around China made it an isolated civilization.
On the West and Southwest there were deserts and mountains
To the Southeast, rainforests
To the North, desert
To the East, Pacific ocean

4. The “Middle Kingdom.”
This gave way to the idea of the Chinese that they were the “center” of the universe, so to speak.
They believed that there were the only civilization on Earth, and therefore the best.
This is an example of what we call, “Ethnocentrism,” the belief that your culture is superior to all other cultures.

5. First Dynasties The Shang was the first.
At the top were the Royal Family and a class of warriors
Next were the artisans and merchants
And last were the peasants. Most of the society was made up of peasants.

6. The Zhou (joh) The Zhou dynasty took over the Shang dynasty.
They create this concept called the “Mandate of Heaven.”
This concept claimed that the gods give rulers their power, and if a ruler was defeated it was proof that the gods didn’t like how he was ruling.
The Dynastic Cycle (turn to page 95 in your texts, let’s look at this)

7. 2 Major Religious Beliefs
Confucianism- Confucius was born a poor noble and became a teacher. He developed a philosophy for living.
It was all about people “knowing their place” and relationships
Ruler to subject
Parent to child
Husband to wife
Older brother to younger brother
Friend to friend

8. Daoism Daoism is all about living in harmony with nature
It stressed “the way” of the universe
Daoists often rejected the regular norms of society and chose to live in small communities in nature.

9. Legalism
This idea developed in the Qin dynasty (came after the Zhou) and it was the idea that “the nature of man is evil. His goodness is acquired.”
This idea allowed rulers to rule harshly, because they believed people to be naturally evil.
The emperor of this time was a very effective ruler and it was under him that the Great Wall was developed.

10. Civil Service System
Han emperors (after the Qin) developed the Civil Service system.
It was a system based on the idea that people in government should know what they are doing.
A civil service exam was developed and you were placed in the position that best suited your intelligence.