China

Seminar by Ms. Gluskin The Great Wall

Map of Modern China

China today

Chinese Civilization and Geography

Oldest continuous civilization Geography: northern plain

fed by the Yellow River Later settlement grew along

the Yangtze River Isolation: mountains, desert,

steppes of Central Asia, Pacific Ocean

Internal boundaries: mountains and rivers

Overall: isolated and regional (rivalries between areas)

Shangdynasty

Ming dynasty

2 Evan Hadingham. PBS. Nova: Ancient Chinese Explorers. 2001. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ancient-chinese-explorers.html (Nov. 9, 2011).

2

Topography

Mountains and deserts

Columbia University, East Asia in Geographic Perspective, N.d., http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/geography/element_a/ea1.html (Nov. 15, 2011)

Topography, con’t

3-steps of elevation from east to west

Yellow River

Yellow River really is yellow in some parts due to loesse soil it picks up

Facts and Details, Land and Geography of China, 2010,

http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=400&catid=10&subcatid=64#01 (Nov. 15, 2011).

Steppes

Inner Mongolia

University of Washington, Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization, Outer China, N.d., http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/geo/outer.htm (Nov. 15, 2011).

Difficult Terrain

Terracing is a way of getting more farm land where there is little arable land

Economy

Farming is the basis: wheat in the north, rice in the south (mostly self-sufficient)

Traded in East Asia (Japan, Korea) and along the Silk Road

Imported luxuries Exported silk, copper,

porcelain (Song dynasty)

Porcelain

Maritime expeditions in the Ming dynasty went to Southeast Asia, and through the Indian Ocean to the African coast and Arabia

Led by Zheng He Stopped suddenly when

China closed itself off from foreign contact in the 14th century AD

Foreign Expedition

China As Sea Power

Evan Hadingham. PBS. Nova: Ancient Chinese Explorers. 2001. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ancient-chinese-explorers.html (Nov. 9, 2011).

Silk Road

Traders from Rome and the Middle East came to China for jade, gold, spices, horses, precious gems and silk

Beginning in Han dynasty The Silk Roads

Beliefs

Crossover between religion and philosophy

From the earliest time Chinese people practised ancestor veneration (respect for the spirits of dead ancestors)

Tian = heaven, is an old concept:not a god, but a force guarding China and the imperial family

Emperors came to be known as Sons of Heaven

Emperors ruled with the blessing of Heaven, called the Mandate of Heaven

Natural omens would warn an emperor he was doing something wrong; if he ignored it, Heaven would see that the people rose up and got rid of that emperor

Dynastic Cycle

Confucianism

During a time of internal disorder (5th century BCE), a bureaucrat and teacher named Kong Fuzi created a philosophy based on ORDER

Kong FuziHistoryWhiz, Confucius, 2008, http://www.historywiz.com/historymakers/confucius.htm (Nov. 15, 2011).

Yin-Yang

The Chinese had a concept of the forces of nature called Yin-Yang

This symbol is the Taiji or great pivot

Yin=female, dark, cold, passive

Yang=male, light, hot, active

Together they are complimentaryThe Pivot

Taoism

Taoism incorporated the idea of Yin-Yang into the philosophy of being one with nature

The Tao = the wayTaoists thought

Confucianists were too focused on morality rather than nature

“Humans model themselves on earth, Earth on heaven, Heaven on the Way, And the way on that which is naturally so.”

Art

Taoism con’t

“Do nothing and nothing will not be done.”Wu-wei: action through minimal action“It is the practice of going against the stream

not by struggling against it and thrashing about, but by standing still and letting the stream do all the work.”

“We place our trust and our lives in the Tao, that we may live in peace and balance with the Universe, both in this mortal life and beyond.” Lao Tse

Buddhism

Came to China later from India (first century CE)

Also coexisted with Confucianism and Taoism

Brought the idea of salvation and an end to suffering (during a difficult time)

Buddha

Social Structures

ClassesGENTRY:

Imperial Family Scholar Officials

Nobles Landowners

COMMONERS: Peasants, Farmers, Artisans

MerchantsServants and Entertainers

Gender

PatriarchyOnly males can

perform ancestor veneration

Some female empresses

Foot binding for women and children (made the shape of the foot resemble a lotus flower)

Lotus shoes

Record Keeping

Writing evolved over time, much like Cuneiform (picto to ideograph)

Used characters rather than an alphabet (similar characters in Japan and Korea)

Calligraphy styles highlighted the beauty of the characters

High value placed on education and written over spoken language

Paper and printing enabled the spread of learning

Chinese Characters

Chinese characters began as pictograms

Monuments

Great Wall of China started by the First Emperor (Shi Huangdi) as as a defense against invasion (tamped earth)

Built up in sections over time

Renovated and strengthened by Ming dynasty (bricks)

Stages of the Great Wall

The First Emperor

Shi Huangdi was the first to unite the Chinese states into one empire

He was a tyrannical figure and the first Qin emperor

He used conscript labour to build the Great Wall

He was very strict, trying to centralize and standardize everything in China including thought (burnt books)

His tomb included 7000 terra cotta warriors and horses- took 36 years to build and 700 000 labourers

First Emp-eror

Terra Cotta Warriors

The First Emperor wanted to be well protected in his tomb.

The Wall Didn’t Stop the Mongols

The Mongol invasion was traumatic because foreign rulers took over

They overran the Chinese with their skilled horsemanship and brutal methods of warfare (catapulted diseased human and animal corpses; armour made of horsehide hardened in animal urine)

Their rule was called the Yuan dynasty

The Ming dynasty overthrew them and gave the Chinese confidence in their own abilities and fear of foreigners

Mongol Archer

Culture

Architecture: homes of the wealthy had courtyards and gardens

Religious architecture included pagodas, temples decorated with symbols such as the dragon, lion, the number nine

Imperial architecture included palaces such as the Forbidden City in Beijing

Literature: classics, history of dynasties, poetry, Analects of Confucius, Tao te Jing

Art: landscape painting, calligraphy

Technology: What China gave the West

teagun powderporcelainpaperwheelbarrowpaper moneyblock printing

compassseismograph (simple)chopstickswok lacquerwareefficient iron

productionsilkacupuncture, Chi inoculation

Before the West

Making silk

Paper money

The first book, 868 CE

China...

the oldest continuous civilization