Chinese Dynasties Unit 3 Vocab

Mandate of Heaven

The ________ established the idea that a ruler must be just to keep the approval of the gods. It was believed that natural disasters, famines, and astrological signs were signals that the emperor and the dynasty were losing the _________.

Well-field system

This nine-square system is a major system in Chinese history, and indeed a major type of landownership in world history.

Qin Shi Huangdi

Powerful and charismatic leader of the Qin Dynasty

Rites of Zhou

A collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods.

Analects

Written by Confucius; takes a detached, skeptical view of heaven and emphasizes the rational order of the universe

Confucius

Chinese philosopher whose ideas and sayings were collected after his death and became the basis of a philosophical doctrine known a Confucianism

Laozi

Founder of Daoism

Liu Bang

The emperor of the Han Dynasty

State Confucianism

A mix of legalism and Confucianism that said that civilized people are expected to observe proper rites. Only social outcasts are expected to have their actions controlled by law.

Civil service examination

These were a means for a young male of any class to enter that bureaucracy and so become a part of the gentry class of scholar-officials.

Silk Road

This was an ancient trade route, linking China with the West, that carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China.

Yang Jian

Emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Grand Canal

This was built to enable successive Chinese regimes to transport surplus grain from the agriculturally rich Yangtze and Huai river valleys to feed the capital cities and large standing armies in northern China.

Wu Zetian

Wife of two Tang emperors, she eventually became empress in her own right after her second husband fell gravely ill

Khublai Khan

After his father’s death, he finished the conquest of the Song dynasty, and established himself as the new Chinese emperor of the Yuan empire

The Way of the Tao

This teaches that all living creatures ought to live in a state of harmony with the universe, and the energy found in it.

Mencius

A scholar of Confucius, he refined his work and argued that people were innately good and that rulers should govern with compassion

Xiongnu

horse-riding nomad warriors

Firelance

A gunpowder tube that would ideally eject a stream of flames in the direction of the spearhead

Great Wall

Built by Qin Shi Huang-di, this surrounded the northern border of the empire to protect against the Xiongnu threat

Loess

a fine-grained, very fertile soil

Li Su

Qin Shi Huang-di's advisor, who was a prominent legalist scholar.

Yellow & Yangtze

What are the two major rivers in the Chinese empire?

Yellow

Which of the two rivers was more northern?

Yangtze

Which of the two rivers was more southern?

West

Where are the Himalayan mountains in regards to the Chinese empire?

West

Where are the Karakoram mountains in regards to the Chinese empire?

North

Where is the Gobi desert in regards to the Chinese empire?

Northwest

Where is the Taklamakan Desert in regards to the Chinese empire?

oracle bones

What is the oldest known archaeological evidence of the Chinese writing system still in use today?

Bronze-casting

What skill is the Shang dynasty best known for?

the Qin Empire

Under which dynasty did China establish its first unified empire?

to be a good wife and homemaker

What was the role of women in China?