Ancient China

These flashcards cover key vocabulary terms related to Ancient China, including historical figures, concepts, and geographic features.

Ancestor

A person from whom one is descended.

Oracle

A person thought to be a source of wisdom or prophecy.

Philosopher

A person who seeks wisdom or enlightenment; an expounder of a theory in a certain area of experience.

Warlord

A leader of an armed group.

Missionary

Someone who attempts to convert others to a particular doctrine or program.

Peasant

A poor person who lives on and farms the land.

Confucius

Chinese philosopher, administrator, and moralist; his social and moral teachings, collected in the Analects, tried to replace former religious observances.

Mandate of Heaven

Chinese religious and political ideology developed by the Zhou to grant power to the Ruler of China.

Yin and Yang

The concept that describes two opposing and, at the same time, complementary aspects of any one phenomenon or the comparison of any two phenomena.

Legend

A narrative handed down from the past, containing historical elements and usually supernatural elements.

Virtue

The quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong.

Loess

A fine-grained unstratified accumulation of clay and silt deposited by the wind.

Jade

A light green color varying from bluish green to yellowish green.

Silk Road

An ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean Sea extending some 6,440 km and linking China with the Roman Empire.

Huang He

Also known as the Yellow River; stretches across China for roughly 2,900 miles and provides yellow silt called loess.

Chang Jiang

Also called the Yangtze River; stretches 3,400 miles, the longest river in Asia.

Dynasty

A powerful family or group of rulers that maintains its position or power for some time.

Silk

A fabric made from the fine threads produced by certain insect larvae.