Ancient China Powerpoint

8/13/2019 Ancient China Powerpoint

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ANCIENT CHINA


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SOCIAL Peasants

Upper Class

Foot binding


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Peasants

Many peasants were illiterateand worked as farmers of theirown land or worked for richlandowners. Poorer familiessold their children (mostly theirdaughters) to work as servantsto rich families.

In Northern China the poor ate

wheat noodles, steamed breadand bean curd. In the souththey ate rice as they worked atrice paddies. Meat was rareand the poor mostly ate thecrops they grew which wererice, millet, wheat and barely.


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Peasants

Common peasant clothing were

made of materials that were cheap

and readily available with

materials such as straw, cotton,

wool and plants. The peasants

never wore silk as it was too

expensive and also a sign of

wealth. When the children were

able to walk they wore smaller

versions of their parents clothes.

Their homes are built half

underground for warmth and made

out of mud and straw. There is a

pit in the middle of the house for a

fire that is used for warmth in the


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Upper Class

It was very easy to differentiatethe peasants from the upperclass. They had colorful clothesand wore jewelry of jade andgold.

Only the emperor was allowedto wear gold clothes withdragons on it as it was a

symbol of power.

They ate much better than thepeasants as they could affordit. They ate the better half of

the crops the farmers grew andalso were able to buy and eat


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Foot Binding

Many women of high status or girls whowere born into wealthy families practicedthe custom of binding their feet.

The practice possibly originated from

court dancers in Imperial China andspread to commoners in the lowestclasses.

Foot binding became popular becausemen thought it attractive and the effectof the lotus gait where the women hadto balance on their heels and walkingwith tiny steps to ensure balance and toreduce the pain of walking on bindedfeet.

It also meant that commoners could

marry into wealth and secure theirfuture, as men in that time only wanted


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Process of Foot Binding

The process usually starts at a young

age, 4-7 years old, as the bones are

softer and easily broken.

The feet are soaked in water or animal

blood with herbs in it. After soaking the

feet the toe nails are clipped and thengiven a foot massage.

Next every toe is to be broken except

the big toe. Then the feet would be

bent/snapped at the arch to create a

high arch.It would then be binded in bandages,

every couple of days the feet would be

unwrapped and wrapped.

The perfect size or the golden lotus

would be 7cm but the average length

would be 4 inches long or around


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Natural Landmarks

Yangtze River

The Yangtze River is the third longestriver in the world and the longest inAsia, but is the longest river in asingle country.

In ancient China the Yangtze riverdelta was a source of food and jobsfor many people it was also used as amode of transportation and used bythe Emperor for military purposes.

For example the battle of theSouthwest of Xiakou between theallied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Beiand Cao Caos army was placed onthe Yangtze River.

The river was rich in minerals and thefarmers along the banks had very


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Man-made Landmarks

The Grand CanalTotal Length of the canal: 1,776 km (around 1200 miles)

The canal was built section by section in different areas andtimes before it was connected by the Sui Dynasty (581-618AD) in 604 AD, Emperor Yangdi of the Sui Dynasty moved

the capital to Luoyang and ordered a large-scale expansionof the canal.

Because the building techniques and tools were primitivethe project stretched over six years. Approximately half thepeasant builders (about 3,000,000) died of hard labour(whipping and such) and starvation before it was finished.

This project was thought to have been wasteful ofmanpower and money, which resulted in the downfall of theSui Dynasty.

The Grand Canal connected the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe,Haihe, and Qiantang Rivers and flowed through Beijing,Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang with

Hangzhou at its southernmost end. The Grand Canaloffered transportation of foods and goods from the south to


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Man-made Landmarks

The Great Wall of China

Like the Grand Canal the Great Wall of China is

not one continuous wall but a collection of short

walls joined together.

The first walls built were meant to offerprotection from the Mongols. The walls were

built by building wooden frames then packing

dirt, mud and boards on top of each other in the

Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE). It was not until the

Ming Dynasty (1388-1644CE) that the wallswere modified, forts and watch towers and also

guard stations were added.

The length of the finished wall was 21,196 km or

13,171 miles (after reconstruction due to

unstable areas) it mostly spreads over what wenow know toda as Bei in .


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Bibliography

http://library.thinkquest.org/20443/g_way_of_life.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8966

942

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_binding http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/chinas-grand-

canal/johnson-text

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_(China)

http://geography.about.com/od/specificplacesofinterest/a/greatwall.htm

http://www.mapsofworld.com/travel-destinations/great-

wall-of-china.html

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