Geography
● They were isolated by natural barriers
● Yellow sea, south china sea, gobi desert, himalayas, taklimakan desert
● Thought they were the center of the universe: Called Middle Kingdom!
● Huang He River (Yellow River), Yangtze River
○ Loess is the fine yellow soil that gave it its name
● Lots of floods which meant little trade, invasions, and not much farmland
● Huang He River nickname “China’s Sorrow” (bc of all the flooding)
Shang Dynasty
● 1650-1027 BCE
● First Chinese Dynasty to leave written records
● Elaborate tombs - Lady Fu Hao’s Tomb in Anyang, China
● Social Structure: Royal Family/Nobles
○ Artisans and merchants
○ Peasant Farmers
● Family
○ Most important virtue (Filial Piety) - Respect for your parents
○ Elder men were highest + women were inferior
○ 13-16 arranged marriages
● Religion
○ Polytheistic + Ancestor worship
○ Supreme God: Shang Di
○ Kings talked to oracle bones to talk with gods
● Writing
○ Combinations of pictographs
○ Over 10,000 characters
○ No link between written and spoken language
○ Writing united China
● Decline!
○ Zhou overthrew Shang
○ Zhou claimed to have a “mandate of heaven”
○ The gods chose kings but if the king was weak, they were overthrown
Dynastic Cycle
● Good Dynasty has approval
● Dynasty becomes corrupted, weak, wicked
● Disaster - Flood, famine, invasion
● Dynasty loses approval
● Justified rebellion
● New dynasty emerges (return to 1)
Zhou Dynasty
● Controlled China through feudalism
○ Feudalism is when nobles are given land in exchange for money (taxes), and
respect, military, etc.
○ They improved, roads, money, cities with iron
● They were isolated by natural barriers
● Yellow sea, south china sea, gobi desert, himalayas, taklimakan desert
● Thought they were the center of the universe: Called Middle Kingdom!
● Huang He River (Yellow River), Yangtze River
○ Loess is the fine yellow soil that gave it its name
● Lots of floods which meant little trade, invasions, and not much farmland
● Huang He River nickname “China’s Sorrow” (bc of all the flooding)
Shang Dynasty
● 1650-1027 BCE
● First Chinese Dynasty to leave written records
● Elaborate tombs - Lady Fu Hao’s Tomb in Anyang, China
● Social Structure: Royal Family/Nobles
○ Artisans and merchants
○ Peasant Farmers
● Family
○ Most important virtue (Filial Piety) - Respect for your parents
○ Elder men were highest + women were inferior
○ 13-16 arranged marriages
● Religion
○ Polytheistic + Ancestor worship
○ Supreme God: Shang Di
○ Kings talked to oracle bones to talk with gods
● Writing
○ Combinations of pictographs
○ Over 10,000 characters
○ No link between written and spoken language
○ Writing united China
● Decline!
○ Zhou overthrew Shang
○ Zhou claimed to have a “mandate of heaven”
○ The gods chose kings but if the king was weak, they were overthrown
Dynastic Cycle
● Good Dynasty has approval
● Dynasty becomes corrupted, weak, wicked
● Disaster - Flood, famine, invasion
● Dynasty loses approval
● Justified rebellion
● New dynasty emerges (return to 1)
Zhou Dynasty
● Controlled China through feudalism
○ Feudalism is when nobles are given land in exchange for money (taxes), and
respect, military, etc.
○ They improved, roads, money, cities with iron
