Global Unit 1 Test (Shang-Song Dynasties)

Chinese Dynasties, Shang-Song

How is China similar to the U.S. in terms of physical geography?

North & South: similar climate patterns, also both countries are similar in size and latitude

Continentality (shang)

It is dryer in the middle of a continent

Where did most of China’s population originally develop and why?

On the East Coast, b/c a combo of continentality and the Himelayas makes large area of dry, arid climate

Who are the Han people?

The largest group of people in China: 92 % of the population

What were some sources of isolation in Ancient China?

-Natural boundaries (ex: gobi desert), isolation by choice (ex: great wall)

What were/are sources of unity in China?

-continuous civilization

-strong sense of identity

“Middle Kindgom” (shang)

What they called themselves; China is between heaven and earth

What are the three major rivers?

• Huang He (Yellow)

• Chang Jiang (Yangtze)

• Xi Jiang

Double cropping (shang)

a practice that farmers used to get max amount of food production (2 diff crops on same field)

When did the Shang Dynasty begin?

about 1600 BCE

Why were rivers important to China’s growth?

Yellow and Yangtze rivers= core regions

flooding helps agriculture, provides food, larger populations

Loess (shang)

Special sediment washed by the Yellow River from the Loess Plateau that was easy to farm and helped agriculture

China’s Sorrow (shang)

Frequent destructive flooding from the Yellow River

What did the Shang’s political organization look like?

• agriculture focused

• leaders focused on war and resource control

• Leading system: King ruled w help form counselors and chieftains

• Religion: Belief in supernatural forces intervening IRL

Oracle Bones (shang)

a way that the Shang communicated with heaven/the gods

• Evidence of religion and writing/language

Veneration of Ancestors (shang)

much respect for dead ancestors

• Connection w/, and honoring of, the ancestors

Social Structures (shang)

• Villages organized by clans

• social classes

  • aristocrats primary landowners

What was the Shang Dynasty known for?

• Development of civilization

Wade-Giles vs Pinyin

British translation vs Chinese version