Key Vocabulary for China and Mongolia

Patriarchal

Male head figure

Mandate of Heaven

explained why rulers would gain power or get overthrown

Anyang

Capital city during the Shang Dynasty

Warring States

Period of conflict from 481 to 221 BCE (Zhou Dynasty)

Xian

Capital city during the Zhou, Qin, and Han Dynasties

Legalism

Strict laws

Confucianism

It is concerned with inner virtue, morality, and respect for the community.

Gentry

The social class created during the Tang Dynasty consisted of financially good people.

Pax Mongolica

treaty to allow merchants and other people safe passage through the Silk Road.

Silk Road

A road that hugely promoted trade and things

Khan

Leader

Genghis

Universal/widely known

Eastern Steppe

Where the Mongols lived, barren

Pastoralist

Herds domesticated animals