PERSIAN Chart
AP World History
Culture/Civilization: Imperial China Date: 9/12/10
POLITICAL· Leaders, Elites
· State Structure
· War
· Diplomacy, Treaties
· Courts, Laws / -Qin and Han governments demanded that peasant families supply men for labor and military service.
-Census was held periodically.
-Warring States Period (480 – 221 B.C.E.)
-Qin unified China because of the ruthlessness of Shi Huangdi and his prime minister Li Si. The Qin also had experience in mobilizing large amounts of manpower.
-Qin established strong centralized state (Legalist).
-Qin suppressed Confucianism, eliminated rival authority, eliminated primogeniture and slavery, made a rural economy of free land-owning tax-paying farmers, standardized weights and measures, built roads to link the empire, and constructed the great wall of China.
-Death of Shi Huangdi in 210 B.C.E. led to rebellion and eventual overthrow of the dynasty.
-Liu Bang (peasant) defeated all contestants for control of China and established Han dynasty.
-Han dynasty had a political system that drew on both Confucian philosophy and Legalist techniques.
-Emperor Wu (Ruled 140 – 87 B.C.E.) expanded territory of dynasty.
-Central government run by two chief officials and numerous ministers.
-Local officials collected taxes, drafted men for labor, and settled local disputes.
-The Xiongnu were a group of nomads that were the Han’s main problem.
-Han dynasty fell due to financial problems, rebellions, nomadic attacks, corruption, and the break down of military enlistment.
ECONOMIC
· Type of System
· Technology, Industry
· Trade, Commerce
· Capital/Money
· Types of Businesses / -Most important resources were agriculture and labor.
-Agricultural production taxed by government.
-China advanced from bronze to iron around 500 B.C.E.
-Chinese used molds instead to make cast iron instead of wrought-iron.
-Han dynasty brought invention of the crossbow, cavalry, watermill, and the horse collar.
-Also invented courier system and canals for water transportation.
-Main export was silk, leading to the naming of the silk road (most important trade route)
RELIGIOUS
· Holy Books
· Beliefs, Teaching
· Conversion
· Sin/Salvation
· Deities / -Teachings of Confucius were a source of values for family, social, and political organization.
-Confucius placed absolute authority with father
-Confucius also regarded hierarchy as natural.
-Confucius believed that people would fulfill their roles if they were correctly instructed and imitated good role models.
-Believed in nature spirits.
-Unusual natural phenomena were ill omens.
-Fengshui (geomancy) = the idea that the placement and orientation of buildings and graves determined amount of fortune.
SOCIAL
· Family
· Gender Relations
· Social Classes
· Inequalities
· Life Styles / -Family was basic unit of society.
-Ancestors were routinely consulted, appeased, and venerated.
-Women were to cook, take care of household chores, and obey husbands.
-Marriages were arranged and the wife had to prove herself by working hard, obeying, devoting, and bearing sons to the husband.
-Chang’an elite lived lavish lifestyle.
-The commoners in Chang’an lived a basic lifestyle in very condensed communities.
-Emperor was supreme in state and society. Regarded as Son of Heaven. Any wrongdoing of the emperor could mean that they could lose the mandate of heaven because of misrule.
-Gentry = class of moderately wealthy and educated local landowners.
-Gentry adopted Confucianism.
INTELLECTUAL
· Art, Music
· Writing, Literature
· Philosophy
· Math & Science
· Education
ARTS
· Art, Music
· Writing, Literature
NEAR: GEOGRAPHY
· Location
· Physical
· Movement
· Human/Environment
· Region / -China was diverse ecologically, topographically, biologically, and climatically.
-Yangzi Valley was most productive region.
-The Han expanded at expense of other ethnic groups.
-Han Capital was at Chang’an during the Western Han period (202 B.C.E. – 8 B.C.E.)
-Capital went to Luoyang during Eastern Han period (23-22 C.E.)
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