Chapter 3—China in Antiquity

ESSAY

1. How did geography and climate influence the early development of Chinese civilization? Were those influences greater than those of governmental and economic developments?

2. Why has the Shang Dynasty traditionally been referred to as "China's Mother Culture"? How is this tied to the diffusion hypothesis? What recent evidence has caused the traditional position to be questioned?

3. What supernatural beliefs did people hold in the early stages of Chinese civilization? How did they compare with those held by the people of Egypt? Support your views with specifics.

4. What were the major tenets of Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism, and what role did each play in political and philosophical debates during the Zhou Dynasty? What innovative contributions to Chinese political, economic, and social development were made by the Zhou Dynasty? Give specific examples.

5. Comparing China with India, what were the factors that led to Chinese political unification for much of its history in contrast to India, where fragmentation was more often the norm?

6. What is meant by the term "hydraulic societies"? How is it tied to the idea of Oriental despotism? Why is the term specifically applicable to the Qin Dynasty? What recent arguments have been put forth challenging this assumption?

7. Compare and contrast the concepts of Confucianism and Legalism. Why did the latter become so important in the Qin dynasty? Would the Qin have survived longer if it had followed the Confucian path? Why or why not?

8. "The Chinese follow Confucianism in public and Daoism in private." Discuss, pro and con.

9. "The Qin Dynasty, although brief, marked a major departure from the ideas, policies, and condition of China during the last centuries of the previous dynasties." Discuss, pro and con.

10. Did gender and class significantly influence one's life opportunities in ancient China? Would you have preferred to be a male or a female? Show why, giving examples.

11. What was especially notable about ancient Chinese language? How did it retain its earlier form and still serve to unify the elite in the various parts of China?

12. "Without Confucius, China would not be China." Discuss critically.

IDENTIFICATIONS

Instructions: Identify the following terms.

1. Yellow and Yangtze Rivers

2. Fu Xi, Shen Nong, and the Yellow Emperor

3. Gobi Desert and the Tibetan Plateau

4. Yangshao and Longshan cultures

5. Xia Dynasty

6. Shang Dynasty

7. Anyang

8. Xinjiang corpses

9. veneration of ancestors

10. oracle bones

11. Diffusion Hypothesis

12. "the old hundred names"

13. Zhou Dynasty

14. Xian

15. Mandate of Heaven

16. silk

17. the Silk Road

18. Rites of Zhou

19. "well field system" and "big rat"

20. "the Hundred Schools"

21. Tian or T'ien

22. yang and yin

23. Yi Jing/Book of Changes

24. "human-heartedness"

25. Confucius

26. the Analects

27. Mencius

28. Legalism

29. Lao Tzu

30. Daoism

31. Dao de Jing

32. wu wei

33. Period of Warring States

34. Qin Dynasty

35. Qin Shi Huangdi

36. Xianyang

37. Sima Qian

38. Xiongnu

39. Great Wall

40. eunuchs

41. the five relationships

42. filial piety

43. the Bao-jia system

44. Hydraulic Societies

45. "loess"

46. Nu Wa

47. Fu Xuan

48. Xian's terra-cotta army

49. blast furnaces and cast iron

50. Confucian Classics