Kurasz+China

home page Geography Enviromenal Challanges Culture Social Classes Writting Trade Firsrt Dynasties Religion Dynastic Cycle Mandate of Heaven - get protection and respect - get land - get to live on land
 * Surrounded by the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and Pacific Ocean
 * Mountains and deserts make 2/3 of landmass [[image:http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/china/images/china.gif width="267" height="218" align="right"]]
 * Takilmakan - desert, Himalayas - mountains
 * Yellow Sea and Yangtee were to major rivers, great for farming
 * 10% of their land is farm land
 * The Yellow Sea is called that because when it floods it brings up yellow soil
 * Flooding would destroy cities
 * hard to trade
 * Invasions from west and north occoured alot
 * They called China the Middle Kingdom
 * Family was most important
 * The elder men controlled the families land and important decisions
 * Married between 13-16
 * Nobles and peasants most of society
 * Warrior - nobles were a ruling class
 * Peasant - farmers
 * Character stands for 1 syllable
 * No links between Chinas spoken and written language [[image:http://www.destination360.com/asia/china/images/s/china-great-wall-of-china.jpg width="276" height="346" align="right" caption="Great Wall of China"]]
 * All China could learn the same system of writting
 * had to know 1500 characters to be barely literate
 * Had to know 10000 to be a scholar
 * Coined money
 * Roads and canals were built for trade
 * Blast furnaces that produced cast iron
 * 2000 BC were the first settlements thjat grew to cities
 * 1st dynasty was the Xia the leader was an enginer and mathematic named Yu
 * The shang Dynasty was the first to leave written records
 * They built tombs and palaces
 * Family was closed linked to religion
 * Spirits of family ancestors brought good fortune
 * Shang Di main god
 * They were polytheistic
 * Talked to the gods through oracle bones
 * 1 - A family takes over and everything is good
 * 2 - Things start to go bad
 * 3 - There is a natuaral disaster or war and things go really bad and they think it is because the gods want them out
 * 4 - The family is overthrown
 * Starts over again
 * Kings - give land[[image:http://www.eeri.org/site/images/stories/political_maps/china_political.gif width="344" height="244" align="right"]]
 * Nobles - give military
 * Peasent - give money from farm