Ancient China

Xia dynasty

WE KNOW IT EXISTED BUT WE DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT. 

Shang dynasty

Theocracy. The king was the high priest. Worshiped di. Human sacrifice of slaves and captured people. Ancestor worship. First examples of Chinese writing. Oracle bones from turtle shells or from cow bones, important because it is the first example of Chinese writing. Bronze vessels. Yin and Yang, balance. Lived according to social class.

Fu Hao

Shang dynasty- married to Wu Ding. She was the warrior queen. We found her tomb. She led military campaigns, and she was also involved in leadership.

Zhou dynasty

 longest lasting of all of the Chinese dynasties. IMandate of heaven/ tian. First to introduce coinage to china. DYNASTIC CYCLE. Will end up splitting into east and west. Will decline because the control of resources gets away from them. Introduces feudalism

Mandate of heaven

the rulers were given by the gods the right to rule. Chinese divine right. Chinese have the right to rebel if the mandate is taken away.

Qin Dynasty

United much of china.

Ying Zheng/Qin Shi Huang

First emperor of china. Coinage. Calligraphy. He also cleans up the Chinese language. Begins the first great wall, a wall of 10000 li, 670 miles. Legalism. The tomb is called Mt. Li. Terracotta warriors found around there. Where the name China comes from. Civil war broke out after he died for 8 years.

Han dynasty

China takes control of the silk road. Creation of paper by cai lun. civil service exams. Han chinese

Liu Bang

Western Han- rewards family members and advisors with land. Leniency to those he rules. Re distributes land, lowers taxes, honeymoon period. He tried to expand China further to the north but got attacked and bought his own freedom.

Empress lu

Western Han- Married to Liu Bang. becomes very unpopular after a while. She was the backbone. Rules on her own through the use of puppet emperors. First woman to seize control of China. She began removing family members from office to replace her. She murdered all princes who could have possibly ruled. Period of stability.

Han Wudi

 Western Han- high point of the western Han dynasty. Known for expansion of china, he requires the land that a father owns to be divided among all of his sons, government monopolies did not believe in commercial trade, always short of cash so he sells government positions.

Wang Mang

Westen Han- Proclaims himself as emperor. He seizes power he has no right to, a usurper. He makes nobody happy. Not a legalist or confusionist. He was eventually arrested and beheaded. Said the han lost the mandate of heaven. 

Eastern Han

minor and ineffective because of generals having the power. The emperor does not control the army.

Eunuchs

Men who got their dihs cut off because then it would show that they cared about the good of china more than their women or family. 

Yellow turban rebellion

A failed rebellion against the leadership of the later eastern Han dynasty. Peasant rebellion that started because of famine. The generals put it down. The Han dynasty came to an end because of it

Sui dynasty

??

Sui Yangdi

Sui emperor- considered a tyrant, murdered his ftaher and brothers to take power. Sui grand canal, conncets the yellow and yangzi river. Still used today, worlds largest artificial waterway, some feel it was used to move soldiers. Tried to conquer korea, failed resulting in a more unified korea and sui yangdi lost power. He got assassinated because of it 

Shotoku Taishi

built a new capital city in japan that looked like the chinese capitals. Made first constitutions based on confusianism writings, introduced buddhism from china to japan. ACCULTURATION

Tang dynasty

ongoing struggle against barbarians.

Tang Taizong

Known for military sucess. Second emperor of the tang dynsty, his dad was the first, tang forced his dad out and then killed some of his brothers to seize power. Reforms of the government and his laws. Changes. Religous tolleration, china became really rich bc of him. Had an advisor who came to him with 200 problems he had w the emperor, he took the list to heart and started ,making changes. Had a 14 year old mistress who was also married to his son.

Wu zetian

she was a 14 year old who used to to laundry in the palace before taizong took her for himself. When he died she got w his son. Tried to put her kids on the throme but took them off bc she thought they werent competent enough. She kinda has a hatsepshut vibe in terms of having power. She favored buddhism. Some say she was the first empress instead of lu. A strong chinese woman. 

Tang xuanzong

 begins tang golden age, abolishes death penalties, betters the seas, constructs temples, reorganizzed the military etc. statue of buddah. Fell in love w someone who was married to one of his sons. She wated members of her family in important positions. His positive changes fall apart because of the stupid family in impoerrant positions. If given the nickname “the brilliant emperor” in sarcasm. Apex and beginning of the end.

Song dynasty

A peak time of confusiaism. Neo confusianism. Economically successful. introduced by Bi Sheng movable type printing press. A jump in the chinese population. New strain of rice champa rice from veitnam. Eventually, they lose portions of the silk road. They lose territory to nomadic civilizations from the north. Gun powder. They didnt use it for destruction it was originally for mining and fireworks. Foot binding. Oly fr upper class and elite. Another example of misogyny.

Wang anshi

emperor. Important because he is a reformer. He cut government expenditures in half, built schools etc. helped poor and lower classes. People disliked him because he wasn't making the rich happy. The rich had power. 

Zhongguo

translates to the center of the universe. What china called themselves. Why they dont associate with foreigners. They considered themselves superior to all others. The ancient greeks felt the same. Because of this they fall behind everyone else. Might be on the test.

Daoism

Means the way, sometimes called taoism. The way is nature. Nature is everything. Divinely established order of things. They reject anything to do with human societies like kings, armies and taxes. They are useless. Appears to lower social classes. Like Jainism in that sense. 

 Lao Zi wrote an influential text that was called the lao zi / daodejing.

Confucianism

human society is a reflection of the intended order of heaven itself. We must all sacrifice for the good of the group. Strong social order everyone has their role. Appeals to the upper class because there could be a ruler. 

Confucius

during a period of chaos he went around trying to find a government position but got fired so he became a philosopher and teacher. His book of teachings in called the analex

Filial piety

the concept of all children bending to the will of their father.

Mencius

adds other elements to confucianism. Greater emphasis on the natural goodness of human beings especially to the rulers. He expects them to behave well or they will be kicked out. Like the mandate of heaven.

Legalism

the emperor must make strict laws and punishments to keep everyone in line. Nepotism. Humans ar not inherently good but are weak and corruptible.

Li si

argued humans are not inherently good but are weak and corruptible

dynastic cycle

The old dynasty is out, the new one comes in, everything is really good, honeymoon period, low taxes, loyal officials, building roads and walls. Step 2, a new dynasty becomes an aging dynasty, things start to go wrong, people become corrupt, high taxes, walls decay, mandate of heaven starts to get lost but not fully. Step 3, no more mandate of heaven completely lost, rebellions, bandits, natural disasters floods famine earthquakes and droughts, a new dynasty claims the mandate of heaven and the cycle starts again. Start with the zhou.