AP World History: Xia and Shang dynasties in ancient China

Presentation Outline

Xia dynasty1) Geography and origins2) Characteristics

Shang dynasty3) Geography and origins4) Characteristics

5) Common features

6) Zhou dynasty and Warring States Period

1) Xia dynasty: Geography and origins• Lasted from 2070-1600 B.C.E• Founded by Yu the Great who would

become the dynasty’s first emperor• Located along the Yellow river in

north central China

2) Xia dynasty: characteristics

• Yu the Great implemented a flood control system to tame the waters of the Yellow river • Irrigation channels were built to sustain agriculture• The concept of the mandate of heaven was first

proclaimed that all Chinese emperors rule by divine (god) right• No written records- Xia China was an oral culture• Very much a Neolithic civilization though bronze was cast

in the later period• Belief in natural spirits

Xia irrigation system

3) Shang dynasty: Geography and origins• Lasted from 1600 to 1046 B.C.E• Established by an army which

overthrew the Xia emperor• Larger dynasty located between

two major river valleys: The Yellow river and the Yangtze river

4) Shang dynasty: characteristics• Developed first written Chinese language (character system)• Bronze age civilization which refined the use of iron and bronze to

create weapons, cooking ware, and art• The Bronze age developed much later in China than in the fertile

crescent and Egypt• Hierarchical society (Nobles Commoners Slaves• Religion was based on a belief in spirits and ancestor worship• Belief in the afterlife• Shang rulers were concerned about the “uncivilized” nomadic peoples

who lived outside the dynasty’s borders

• Shang emperors created first Chinese government system by imposing and collecting taxes• The emperor’s decisions were recorded by court stenographers

Uses of bronze and iron

5) Common features

• Agricultural societies which depended on the cultivation of rice• Belief in spirits• Yellow river valley civilizations• Permanent settlements

Question:

1) Why do historians know much more about the Shang dynasty but relatively little about the Xia dynasty?

6) Zhou Dynasty and Warring States Period• The Zhou Dynasty followed the Shang Dynasty when the Zhou

replaced the Shang emperor in battle and assumed the mandate of heaven• The Zhou Dynasty lasted from 1046-246 B.C.E • During the Zhou period new Chinese philosophies emerged: 1) Confucianism 2) Daoism

Confucius- Founder of Confucianism

Laozi-Founder of Daoism

Warring States Period

• The Zhou Dynasty was plagued by disunity towards the end, as the Zhou split into Eastern and Western Zhou, and other states such as the Qin emerged as a more powerful ruling alternative to the Zhou• This period is known as the Warring States Period• In 221 B.C.E. finally unified China and established the Qin Dynasty