china #1 - #4

Question 1

loess

Answer 1

deposited fertile soil when river overflows

Question 2

oracle bones

Answer 2

animal bones and tortoise shells on which priests would scratch questions for the gods

Question 3

mandate of heaven

Answer 3

god’s divine approval for a ruler to rule

Question 4

dynastic cycle

Answer 4

the pattern of rise, decline, and replacement of dynasties

Question 5

filial piety

Answer 5

the practice of respect for their parents and ancestors

Question 6

yin and yang

Answer 6

two powers that together represent the natural rhythms of life, balances, universal opposites

Question 7

geographical features and environmental challenges

Answer 7

• natural barriers isolated ancient china from other civilizations
• yellow sea, east china sea, pacific ocean, taklimakan desert, plateau of tibet, himalayas, gobi desert, mongolian plateau
• huang he sometimes flooded and can be disastrous
• geographical isolations had early settlers supply their own goods rather than trading
• their geographical features didn’t stop multiple invasions

Question 8

settlements

Answer 8

• farming settlements along the huang he
• the settlements grew into cities
• houses, palaces, and tombs are mostly made out of wood

Question 9

social classes

Answer 9

1. nobles
2. artisans
3. merchants
4. peasants
   • noble families owned land

Question 10

role of family

Answer 10

• central to chinese society
• respect to parents
• older man controlled family’s property and made important decisions
• women were expected to obey fathers, husbands, older sons
  
  • hoped to improve status by bearing sons

Question 11

religious beliefs

Answer 11

• spirits of family ancestors had the power to bring good fortune or disaster to living family members
• paid respect to ancestors and made sacrifices
• consulted gods through oracle bones

Question 12

writing system

Answer 12

• no link between spoken language and written language
• people in all parts can learn the same system of writing even if the spoken language is different
• helped unify, easier control
• noble learned to write, peasants could not

Question 13

technological advances

Answer 13

• roads, canals
• coined money
• bronze

Question 14

artistry

Answer 14

• caligraphy
• pottery (bronze)
• embroidery

Question 15

confucianism

Answer 15

founder: confucius

Question 16

confucianism social order

Answer 16

• should be based on five basic relationships
  
  1. ruler and subject
  2. father and son
  3. husband and wife
  4. older brother and younger brother
  5. friend and friends
• filial piety is important
  
  • respect for elders and parents

Question 17

confucianism government

Answer 17

• rulers should practice kindness and virtuous living
• subjects should be loyal and law-abiding
• civil service forms a stronger government
• a king should be based on status, age, and gender to form a strong society

Question 18

confucian principles

Answer 18

1. rites and rules (appropriate behavior)
2. compassion for others, humanity
3. empathy (understanding feelings for others)
4. righteousness (being morally right)
5. filial piety (respect for elders)

Question 19

the four virtues (gentleman)

Answer 19

1. courteousness: private life, respect, consideration
2. precise: serving master, following rules
3. providing: give more than due
4. just: fair, morally right, in service for the people

Question 20

mencius

Answer 20

• disciple of confucius
• if someone does something bad, education, not punishment, is the answer
  
  • good people will mend their ways to inherit goodness

Question 21

daoism

Answer 21

founder: laozi

• the ruler should feed and take care of his people, ruler should have knowledge
• empty minds and healthy bodies, people have no motivation or desires
• wealth and material comfort confuse the people who might desire them
• happiness and security are deprived by a lack of desire

Question 22

daoism order and government

Answer 22

• natural order is more important than social order
• government is an unnatural order
• ideal government is one that governs the least

Question 23

daoism universal force and harmony

Answer 23

• universal force guides all things
• humans should live simply and in harmony with nature
• relations among all living things

Question 24

daoist principles

Answer 24

1. dao (nature) is the first cause of the universe, it is a force that flows through all life (keep bellies full and minds empty)
2. believer’s goal is to become one with the dao, don’t fight nature, and embrace it
3. man is unhappy because he lives according to man-made laws, customs, and traditions that are contrary to the ways of nature

Question 25

to escape the “social, political, and cultural traps” of life, one must escape by:

Answer 25

1. rejecting formal knowledge
2. rely on senses and instincts
3. discovering nature and ways of the universe
4. ignoring political and social law

Question 26

legalists

Answer 26

founder: han feizi, li si

• legalism became the political philosophy of the qin

Question 27

legalism social order

Answer 27

• punishments are used to maintain social order
• government should use the law to restore harmony

Question 28

legalism government

Answer 28

• believed in a highly efficient and powerful government
• rulers should provide rewards to those who do their jobs well
• the disobedient should be punished
• ideas should be strictly controlled by the government

Question 29

legalism principles:

Answer 29

1. human nature is naturally selfish
2. intellectualism and literacy is discouraged
3. law is the supreme authority and replaces morality
4. ruler must rule with a strong harsh hand
5. war is the means of strengthening ruler’s power

Question 30

shang dynasty: 1766 - 1027 bce

Answer 30

• wheeled chariots
• writing system
• written records
• bronze casting
• calender
• pottery - kaolin
• jade
• irrigation system

Question 31

shang downfall

Answer 31

nomads attack/invade

Question 32

zhou dynasty: 1027 - 256 bce

Answer 32

• longest lasting
• roads and canals
• coins
• furnaces, iron tools
• calvary
• art and literature (first book)
• experts at silk making
• established a feudal society

Question 33

zhou downfall

Answer 33

• civil war
• powerful states challenge
• nomads invade

Question 34

qin dynasty: 221 - 206 bce

Answer 34

• established china’s first empire
• shi huang di - legalist ruler
• autocracy
• 36 commanderies (counties)
  
  • centralizes control, imperial overseer
  • bureaucratic administration
  • military expansion
  • book burning, targeted confucianists

Question 35

qin accomplishments:

Answer 35

• roads and canals
• building the great wall
• irrigation project
• standardized weights and measures, coinage, laws, and writing system
• axle wheels
• unified china, first emperor
• terracotta army

Question 36

qin downfall

Answer 36

• peasants uprising
• after ruler died they were overthrown

Question 37

liu bang

Answer 37

• established a centralized government to destroy rival king’s power
• departed from shi huang di’s strict rule
  
  • lowered taxes
  • softened punishments

Question 38

empress lu

Answer 38

• was a strict and cruel ruler
  
  • tried to be more lenient to stay in power and have support
• stayed in control by naming one of her infant as emperor

Question 39

wu di

Answer 39

• considered the best ruler
• expanded the empire through war
• employed more than 130,000 people into the civil service
• started public schools
• colonized places (manchuria, korea, vietnam)
• established a bureaucracy, confucian scholars
• revival (restored) chinese landscape paintings

Question 40

wang mang

Answer 40

• minted new money
• helped feed the poor
• redistributed land to the poor
• supplied money to economy

Question 41

civil service exam

Answer 41

• knowledge of confucianism
• ability to write
• five studies:
  
  1. military startegy
  2. civil law
  3. revenue and taxation
  4. agriculture and geography