2. Dynasties: Zhou
1029-258 BCE
No powerful government rules by alliances with regional
noblemen
Weak rulers who lacked the means to control their territory
directly
Could only hope that local rulers would support them
Came from the north and displaced the Shang
Extended territory into Yangtze River valley
The Middle Kingdom
Heightened focus on central government
Known as the Sons of Heaven (gods chose them to rule)
3. Dynasties: Qin
Qin Shi Huangdi, or First Emperor
Brutal, but effective
Forced regional nobles to join his court and gave their land to
peasants who owed him their power
Built the Great Wall by forced labor
Ordered national census
Standardized coins, weights, and measures (including cart axle
length)
Made Chinese script uniform
Shi Huangdi believed that thinking was likely to be subversive to
his autocratic rule
He was a fiercely unpopular ruler
4. Dynasties: Han
202 BC-220 CE
Retained the centralized government but diminished brutal
repression
Expanded terriroty into Korea, Indochina, and central Asia
Allowed for contact with Parthian Empire
Wu Ti (140-87 BCE)
Most famous ruler
Enforced widespread peace throughout most of Asia
5. Confucianism
Kung Fuzi (Kung the philospher)
551-478 BCE
Emphasized personal virtue
Reverance for tradition
Stressed for ones superiors (fathers and husbands)
Insistence that leaders should behave well also:
Mostedty
Shunning abusive power
Treating their people courteously
Love of wisdom, veneration of custom
6. Legalism
Authoritatian state that rules by force
Human nature is evil and requires restraint and discipline
The army should control and the people should labor
Pleasures in educated discourse or courtesy are frivolity
Was often combined with Confucianism to produce a leader with a
cultured veneer who employed strong-arm tactics
7. Daoism
the way of nature
Laozi (Daoist leader)
True human understanding comes in withdrawing from the world and
contemplating the life force
Daoist ethics:
Harmony with nature
Humility and frugal living
Policical activity and learning were irrelevant
General conditions of the world were of little importance
8. Art
Decorative, highly detailed, stressed craftsmanship
Reflected precision and geometric qulities of Chinese writing
Calligraphy and painting were huge
Other popular mediums:
Bronze
Pottery
Jade
Ivory
Silk
Did not produce monuments (aside from tombs and Great Wall)
Absence of a single religion
9. Science
Astronomy
Other Science
Accurate callendar (444 BCE), based on a year of 365.5 days
Calculated the movements of Saturn and Jupiter and charted
sunspots
Purpose: to make cellestial phenomena predictable
Stressed harmony bewteen heaven and earth
Invented a kind os seismograph during the Han dynasty
Developed precise anatomical knowledge
Studied principles of hygiene to extend average lifetime
10. Technology
Ox-drawn plows and collars that didnt choke the animal
Pulleys and winding gear for iron mining
Iron tools and lamps
Advanced production methods in textiles and pottary
Water-powered mills
Paper and writing utensils
11. Work Cited
Stearns, Peter N. "Classical Civilization: China." World
Civilizations: The Global Experience. 5. Pearson Education,
Inc., 2007. Print.
