Chapter 2: New Civilizations in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, 2200-250 BCE Flashcards
(44 cards)
Where did the first Chinese civilization arise?
The Shang Dynasty, which rose along the Huang He River around 1750 BCE.
What form of government did the Shang Dynasty have?
A warrior aristocracy- a king ruled the core area,and the royal family governed distant outer regions.
What was the Shang military like?
The Shang were exceptionally warlike and engaged in near constant battles with the nomads to the north and west, taking PoW for slaves.
Cities in Early China were laid out according to?
Feng sui. Cities were laid out in a grild aligned with the North star.
What was the Early Chinese writing system called?
Pictographs, with pictures representing objects and syllables. Only the elites knew it.
What was the king’s relationship between the living and the dead/ Gods in the Shang Dynasty?
The king acted as an intermediary between the people, their ancestors, and the Gods.
What was divination?
The seeking of the future/ will of the Gods by interpreting natural phenomena using oracle bones.
What were the two primary facets of ancient Chinese religion?
Ancestor worship and divination.
What material signified nobility and authority during the Shang Dynasty?
Bronze.
What were the primary trade goods of the early Chinese?
Silk and jade. The Shang Dynasty also excelled in producing bronze objects.
Why did China consider itself the “Middle Kingdom?”
China viewed itself as the center of the universe and thus superior to other nations.
What dynasty followed the Shang as rulers of China?
The Zhou dynasty followed the Shang, arising out of nomads from the west (Wei River Valley) and conquering much of China by 1045 BCE.
What did the Zhou Dynasty preserve from the Shang?
They preserved Shang culture, like the Semites in Mesopotamia adopted the Sumerian legacy.
The Shang used what to justify seizing power?
They used propaganda, such as the Mandate of Heaven. They claimed that a ruler was chosen by a deity and supported by the Gods if he served his people well. Corruption, violence, etc like the last Shang ruler signaled divine displeasure and validated replacement.
The Zhou continued some Shang rituals, which led to a decline in what?
Divination and priests. There was a separation of religion and government.
What happened during the Western Zhou Era?
All government officials were seen as models of morality, and the government was decentralized- members and allies of the royal family ruled.
What happened during the Eastern Zhou Era?
The Warring States period and the replacement of bronze with iron/ steel.
What was China’s Warring States Period?
A series of civil wars. It arose after a series of weak Zhou emperors failed to prevent collapse, and lead to the fall of the Zhou Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty.
The expansion of bureaucracy during the Zhou Dynasty was justified by what?
Legalism- every aspect of society should be controlled with personal freedom sacrificed for the good of the state.
Legalism is?
a political philosophy that maintains that humans are naturally evil and will only behave properly if compelled by strict laws and harsh punishments.
Confucianism drew parallels between what?
Family and state- both are hierarchies.
Confucianism is?
a philosophy with a more optimistic view of goodness of human nature than Legalism. It sought to keep political and social order by improving.
Daoism is?
an alternative school of thought to Confucian emphasis on hierarchy and duty. It said that the world should be accepted as it was found, avoiding useless struggle and violence- passive: the world is always changing and lacks any absolute morality or meaning.
What did the emergence of private property in Chinese society lead to?
More patriarchy- arranged by Confucian thought.
