1. AP World History: Xia and Shang dynasties in ancient China

2. Presentation Outline Xia dynasty Geography and origins Characteristics
Shang dynasty
3) Geography and origins
4) Characteristics
5) Common features
6) Zhou dynasty and Warring States Period

3. 1) Xia dynasty: Geography and origins
Lasted from B.C.E
Founded by Yu the Great who would become the dynasty’s first emperor
Located along the Yellow river in north central China

4. 2) Xia dynasty: characteristics
Yu the Great implemented a flood control system to tame the waters of the Yellow river
Irrigation channels were built to sustain agriculture
The concept of the mandate of heaven was first proclaimed that all Chinese emperors rule by divine (god) right
No written records- Xia China was an oral culture
Very much a Neolithic civilization though bronze was cast in the later period
Belief in natural spirits

5. Xia irrigation system

6. 3) Shang dynasty: Geography and origins
Lasted from 1600 to 1046 B.C.E
Established by an army which overthrew the Xia emperor
Larger dynasty located between two major river valleys: The Yellow river and the Yangtze river

7. 4) Shang dynasty: characteristics
Developed first written Chinese language (character system)
Bronze age civilization which refined the use of iron and bronze to create weapons, cooking ware, and art
The Bronze age developed much later in China than in the fertile crescent and Egypt
Hierarchical society (Nobles Commoners Slaves
Religion was based on a belief in spirits and ancestor worship
Belief in the afterlife
Shang rulers were concerned about the “uncivilized” nomadic peoples who lived outside the dynasty’s borders

8. Shang emperors created first Chinese government system by imposing and collecting taxes
The emperor’s decisions were recorded by court stenographers

10. Uses of bronze and iron

11. 5) Common features
Agricultural societies which depended on the cultivation of rice
Belief in spirits
Yellow river valley civilizations
Permanent settlements
Question:
1) Why do historians know much more about the Shang dynasty but relatively little about the Xia dynasty?

12. 6) Zhou Dynasty and Warring States Period
The Zhou Dynasty followed the Shang Dynasty when the Zhou replaced the Shang emperor in battle and assumed the mandate of heaven
The Zhou Dynasty lasted from B.C.E
During the Zhou period new Chinese philosophies emerged:
1) Confucianism
2) Daoism

13. Confucius- Founder of Confucianism
Laozi-Founder of Daoism

14. Warring States Period
The Zhou Dynasty was plagued by disunity towards the end, as the Zhou split into Eastern and Western Zhou, and other states such as the Qin emerged as a more powerful ruling alternative to the Zhou
This period is known as the Warring States Period
In 221 B.C.E. finally unified China and established the Qin Dynasty