RME+China

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- 2/3 mountians - 10% farmland - rivers - natural barriers (isolated china) - yellow sea, east china sea, & the pacific ocean lay on the east - the taklimakin desert and the plateau of tibet are in the west - Huang He deposits yellow silt
 * GEOGRAPHY**:

- barriers= mountians & deserts - flooding= "China's Sorrow" - barriers cut off, isolated - trade= cannot trade because of isolated barriers - use what you make - Huang He floods can be dangerous - early settlers had to supply their own goods rather then trading - natural barriers didnt **completely** protect
 * ENVIRONMENTAL**:

- dynastic cyle* - dynastic = ruling of family, cyle = repeated rotation - mandate of heaven* - mandate= command, heaven= God
 * GOVERNMENT**:

- Zhou empire was peaceful & stable - Zhou rule weakened - Zhou kings were almost powerless - late years of Zhou are called "the time of the warring states" - used iron to create weapons
 * WARFARE**:

- Zhou overthrew the shang dynasty - the change in dynasty did not change their culture - mandate of heaven= the command of Gods of who rules the dynasty - feudalism, they established this. a political system which nobles or lords are granted uses of the lands that legally belong to the king. in return for money or protection. - divided between nobles and peasents - nobles familes owned the land
 * DYNASTIC CYLE*:**
 * SOCIAL CLASS**:

- closely linked to religion - believed spirits of family ancestors had the power to bring either fortune or diaster - sprits were not mighty gods - spirits were more like "helpful neighbors" - Shang Di = supreme god - consulted gods through Oracle Bones (bones or shells with stratched on questions for the gods)
 * RELIGION**:

- each character stands for one syllable - no links between chinas written language and its spoken language - even if your spoken language was different, you could still have the same written language - 10,000 characters= true scholar
 * LITERAURE**:

- roads & canals - coined money improved trade - blast furnaces - used iron to create weapons - iron tools made work easier - sickles, knives, & spades (all with iron)
 * TECHNOLOGY**:

- Shang Di
 * IMPORTANT PEOPLE**:

- 2000 BC = settlements grew into the first cities - shang dynasty = 1700 BC - 1027 BC - 1027 BC = people overthrew the Shang dynasty and made their own - 1027 BC to 250 BC = Zhou ruled - 771 BC = Nomads from north and west murdered the Zhou monarch
 * TIME PERIOD**:

- the Xia dynasty was the first - built elaborate palaces - higher-class lived in timber framed houes, with walls of clay and straw - constant war
 * CIVILIZATION**:

- to them, people who were outside of their culture, were barbarians - chief loyalty was to your family & elders - women were treated as inferiors, and expected to obey their fathers - a girl from the age of 13-16 had their marriages arranged
 * CULTURE**: