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hommmme



Geography/Environmental Challenges - 2/3 mountains - deserts - 10% farmland - rivers,Yellow (yellow silt),Yangtzee - Floods=china's sorrow - not 100% protected by natural barriers (mts/deserts) - isolated by natural barriers -. can't trade - use what you make - walls built 4000 years ago - Huang He (yellow river) found in the north - Chang Jiang (yangtze) in central china flows eastword towards yellow sea - Haung He deposits huge amounts of yellow silt when it over flows its banks - silt is actually fertile soil called loass

Religion - family was closely linked to religion - Believed the spirit of family ancestors had the power to bring good fortune or disaster to the living family - spirits were like troublesome or helpful neighbors who demanded attention and respect

Government - New dynasty gains power, restores peace and order and claims to have mandate of heaven--->strong dynasty establishes peace and prosperity, it is considered to have mandate of heaven--->In time, dynasty declines and corrupt; taxes are raised; power grows weaker---> Disasters such as floods, famines, peasant revolts, and invasions occered---> Old dynasty is seen as having lost mandate of heaven; rebellion is justified---> Dynasty is overthrown through rebellion and bloodshed; new dynasty emerges--->New dynasty gains power, restores peace and order and claims to have mandate of heaven

Warfare - Dynasty was overthrown in 1027B.C. - In 771 B.C. nomads from the north and west sacked the Zhou capitol and murdered the Zhou monarch - Zhou leaders picked fights

Social Classes - nobles; upper class - peasants; lower class - no middle class strictly two classes

Agriculture - only ten percent of the land can be farmed on, not rich enough soil and polluting

Location - Southwest Asia - Bordering India - By the Yellow and East China Sea, Pacific Ocean - Himalaya mountain range

Technology - roads - canals (trade and agriculture) - coined money - blast furnaces that produced cast iron - weapons-eligger axes - tools for farming

Writing - a true scholar must know at least 10,000 characters - for centuries, this limited literature educated chinese - noble person's children learned to write - peasant children did not learn how to write - written language is the same through all of china but spoken varies and is not always the same

Trade - roads and canals help for trade

Time Period - 2000 B.C.

Culture - Culture that grew up in China had strong unifying bonds - In a family the most important virture was respect for ones parents. - The elder men of the family controlled the familys property and made important decisions. - Women were treated as inferiors. - Women were expected to obey their husbands, tfathers, and later, their sons. - When a girl is in a age range of 13 and 16 years old, she gets an arranged marriage, and then moves into the house of her husband. - The only way of improving a women's status is by bearing sons for her husband's family.