Written as a reference for students in Mr. Bruha's 6th grade Social Studies classes, these notes are intended for review. Students are expected to hand-write these into their Social Studies notebooks to help them mentally process and re-learn what is covered in class.
Chapter 5: Ancient China
1. Geography
A. Mountains (Himalayas)
1. Barrier to travel and invasion
2. Mt. Everest and other dangerous mountains are found here
B. Deserts
1. Gobi
2. Tian Shan
A. Hot and dry
B. Barrier to travel and invasion
C. Ocean (Pacific)
1. Barrier to travel and invasion
D. Rivers
1. Chang Jiang
2. Huang He (Yellow River)
A. Filled with loess (a soft, sandy, yellow soil)
B. Provided soil and water for early farming
C. Also called "China's Sorrow" due to floods that destroyed homes and people
2. The Shang Dynasty
A. Lasted from about 1766 BCE to about 1122 BCE (about 600 years)
1. Started by Tang the Successful
A. He conquered more than 1800 villages before this time.
2. The Shang where the first to use bronze weapons
3. Ruled by 31 kings over the years
B. Religion
1. Believed in many different gods
A. Most were nature gods
1. wind, rain, fire, and more
B. Some were gods of the different directions
1. north, south, east, and west
2. Believed their ancestors (deceased relatives older than their grandparents) could talk to the gods for them
3. Used oracle bones (carved bones used to foretell the future) to learn the wishes of the gods
C. Writing
1. Started using pictographs that eventually changed to characters (written symbols)
2. Later expanded to include over 50,000 characters
3. Much like Egyptian hieroglyphics
4. Each city-state had its own style of writing
A. Shang writing couldn't always be understood from place to place
D. End of the Shang Dynasty
1. The last Shang king (Zhouxin) was said to be a tyrant (one who rules through cruelty)
A. He made laws that were cruel to peasants and slaves
B. He favored certain nobles
2. The king was overthrown by Wu, leader of the Zhou tirbe
A. The Zhou believed Wu was told by Heaven to take over
1. This was called the Mandate of Heaven
mandate (the right to rule)
B. They thought a leader should be virtuous, and care for his people
3. The Zhou Dynasty
A. Lasted from about 1122 BCE to 256 BCE (about 900 years)
1. Began when Wu conquered the Shang Dynasty
B. Social Classes
1. the king and his family
2. noble families
3. peasants (common people who farmed the land)
A. peasants also served in the armies
C. Feudalism (political system of exchanging land for loyalty and protection)
1. peasants did not own land
A. they farmed the land owned by the nobles
B. paid nobles with goods and services (basically, they rented the land)
C. were protected by the nobles from outside attackers
2. nobles owned land
A. they got their land from the king
B. were expected to provide the king with military support and other services
D. Warring States Period
1. Nobles gained independence, weakening the Zhou dynasty (lost authority)
2. During the last 150 years of the Zhou dynasty, fighting took place daily
4. Confucius (551 BCE - 478 BCE: 72 or 73 years old)
A. one of ancient China's most important philosophers (thinkers).
1. earned the title of Kong Fuzi (Confucius), meaning "Great Master Kong"
2. remembered as a great teacher
B. spent decades thinking of how to improve society and restore order to China
C. his teachers were later recorded in a book called (in English) the Analects.
D. believed filial piety helped society can could be used to run the government
1. filial piety (duty to parents: showing them respect, following their wishes, and caring for them in old age)
2. thought this could be applied to kings as well, with the king showing parent-like love and caring for the people
E. he was mostly ignored in his own time, but his ideas later spread widely after he died