Brennan+China

China 

Geography
 * East: Yellow Sea
 * West: Taklima Desert and the Plateau of Tibet
 * South West: Himalayas
 * North: Gobi Desert and Mongolian Plateau
 * Huang He: yellow river in north
 * Chang Jiang: Yangtze flows east to yellow sea
 * Yellow river deposits huge amounts of yellowish silt
 * Silt is actually Fertile soil called "loess"
 * Loess is blown by winds from deserts
 * only 10% of farmland
 * Mountains and deserts make up 2/3 of land

Enviromental Challenges
 * Huang He's flood could be disastrous sometimes devouring whole villages, earning the nickname "China's Sorrow"
 * Early settlers had to supply their own goods rather than trading with outside people
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">Invaded from west and north often

Natural Barriers
 * Deserts
 * Rivers
 * Mountains

<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">Government
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">The first Chinese dynasty was the Xia
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">Shang dynasty lasted from around 1700 b.c. to 1027 b.c.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">Shang's were the first to leave written records
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">Their own name for China was "The Middle Kingdom"
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">1027 b.c., Zhou over threw the SHang and established their own dynasty
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">Brought new ideas to Chinese civilizations

<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">Warfare
 * City stood in forest clearings[[image:31029572_3afcc4e557.jpg width="76" height="76" align="right"]]
 * Surrounded citys with massive earth walls
 * Remains of one city include a wall of packed earth 118 feet wide at its base that incircled an area of 1.2 square miles
 * Shang peoploe needed walled citys because they were constantly waging war

Culture
 * Family was very important
 * Got married from age 13-16 (arranged)
 * The most important virtue was respect for ones parents
 * Women were treated as inferiors
 * Women were to respect their fathers, husbands,and even their sons

Religion
 * Family ancestors had the power to bring good fortune or disaster to living family
 * Only honored fathers ancestors
 * Worshiped supreme god, Shang Di
 * Priest scratched questions onto oracle bones to consult with gods

Writting
 * Each character stands for one syllable or unit of language
 * No links between the chinese written language and the spoken
 * People in all parts of china wrote the same but could speak differently and understand
 * Needed to know 1,500 characters to be barely literate
 * Had 2,000 or more characters

Technology
 * They created roads and canals
 * Had coined money
 * Developed cast iron
 * Used iron to create weapons

Mandate of Heaven [[Kellie B|
 * Just rulers had the divine approval, known as the mandate of heaven

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