annachina

My Home :)

**__// China //__**


 * __ Geography: __**
 * walls built 4,000 years ago
 * natural barriors (yellow sea, east china sea, pacific ocean, mountains, deserts)
 * china somewhat isolated from other civilizations
 * mountain ranges and deserts domonate most of china (two thirds of the landmass)
 * west china-taklimakan desert and icy 15,000ft plateau of tibet
 * southwest-himalayas
 * north-gobi desert, mangolian plateau
 * __ Rivers __**
 * Huang He (yellow river) found in the narth
 * Chang Jiang (aka yangtze) in central china flows east towards yellow sea
 * Huang he deposits huge amounts of yellowish silt when it overflows its banks
 * silt is actually fertile soil called loass

__** Enviornmental Challenges **__
 * floods devoured whole willages earning the nickname "china's sorrow"
 * isolation-early settlers had to grow their own crops
 * not completely protected
 * many invasions because barriors didnt really keep people out


 * __ Heartland Of China: __**
 * only 10% of chinas land is suitable for farming
 * much land lies within small plain between huang he and the chang jiang in eastern china
 * plain is known as north china plain is the heartland of china
 * heartland=center of civilization


 * __ Culture __**
 * culture had strong unified bonds
 * cheif loyalty of a person was to their family
 * group=more important than an individual
 * obedience/respect to ruler of kingdom just as they did the elders of the family
 * family was central to society
 * most important virtue was respect
 * elder men in the family controlled the property and important decisions
 * women treated as inferiors
 * women expected to obey father, husband and and later their own sons
 * girl between age of 13-16 marriage arranged and moved into the house of the husband
 * had ONLY sons
 * sons for husbands family could hope to improve their status
 * society divided between nobles and peasents
 * ruling class of warrior nobles deaded by a king governed by the shang
 * noble families goverened scattered villiages
 * __ Religion __**
 * family made sacrifices in honor of the fathers ancestors (paid respect)
 * worshiped a supreme god Shang Di
 * worshiped many other lesser gods too
 * kings consulted gods through use of orable bones
 * orible bones=animal bones, tortoise shells on which preists had scratched questions for the gods after questions were asked, applied hot poker to it and whichever way it cracked was the answer to the question which the preist interperted

__** Writing **__ __** Dynastic Cycle in China **__ then goes back to one and repeats over and over in a cycle.
 * each character generally stands for one syllable or unit of language
 * no link between chinese writing and spoken language
 * major advantage- same system of writing even when spoken very differently
 * unified a large and diverse land, made control much easier
 * disadvantage- enormouns # of written character to memorize
 * 1500 to barely be literate
 * true scholar must know at least 10,000 characters and for centuries this limited number of literate, educated chinese
 * noble persons children learned to write
 * peasent children did not learn to write
 * 1) Strong dynasty establishes peace and prosperity, it is considered to have mandate of heaven
 * 2) In time dynasty declines and becomes corrupt; takes are raised, power grows weaker
 * 3) Disasters such as floods, famines, peasant revolts and invvasions occur
 * 4) Old dynasty is seen as having lost mandate of heaven; rebellion is justified
 * 5) Dynasty is over thrown through rebellion and bloodshed new dynasties occured
 * 6) new dynasty gains power, restores ease, adn claims to have mandate of heaven
 * 1027 B.C people called the Zhou overthrew the shang established their own dynasty
 * Zhou adopted much of the Shang Culture
 * Zhou brought new ideas tp chinese civilization
 * zhou leaders declared that the final shang king had been such a poor ruler that the gods had taken away the shang.


 * __ Technolagy __**
 * roads and canals (trade and agriculture
 * coined money
 * blast furnaces that produced cast iron
 * cast iron production
 * weapns- swords, digger axes
 * tools for farming


 * __ Period of Warring States __**
 * Zhou ruled from 1027-256 B.C
 * weakened in 771 B.C
 * Zhou often called time of warring states
 * Chaos, arrogence, defiance


 * __ Early Cities __**
 * Anyang-built mainly of wood, one of the capitals, stood in forest clearing
 * higher classes lived in timber framed houses with walls of clay and straw (houses lay inside of city walls)
 * Peasents and craftsmen lived in huts outside of the city
 * Shang surrounded city for protection
 * needed walled cities because constantly at war. (waging war)