Brett+O+CHINA

CHINA GEOGRAPHY ENVIORNMENTAL CHALLENGES FIRST DYNASTIES CULTURE RELIGION WRITING DYNASTIC CYCLE CONTROL THROUGH FEUDILISM TECH AND TRADE
 * Somewhat insolated by natural barriers
 * Yellow sea to the East, Himalaya's to the Southwest, Gobi desert and Mongolian plateau to the North, mountain ranges took up two thirds of China's landmass
 * Fertile soil called Loess
 * Yellow river and Yangtze were major rivers
 * The Huang he's floods could be deadly
 * Settlers had to supply there own goods instead of trade
 * Were not completely protected by natural barriers
 * In 2000 B.C. Xia dynasty emerged
 * Leader was Yu, an Engineer and Mathematcian who could control the floods
 * Women were expected to marry at about 13 to 16
 * Divided social classes between nobles and peasents
 * A ruling class of Warrior-Kings governed by Shang
 * They believed that their ancestors brought them good fortune or disaster
 * Shang King consulted the gods with oracle bones, animals bones or tortise shells
 * Symbols generally stood for one syllable
 * Over 10,000 symbols, needed to know at least 1,500 to be considered barely litterate
 * Mandate of Heaven- This justification developed overtime into a broader view that royal authority from heaven went by
 * A just ruler had a devine approval, called the mandate of heaven
 * History describe the pattern of rise, decline and replacement of dynasties
 * A political system used in which nobles or lord are granted the use of lands that legally belong to the king
 * Roads and cannals
 * coined money
 * blast furnaces