Key Terms in Chinese History and Culture

Loess

a deposit of yellow silt

Steppe

a dry treeless grassland

Terrace Farming

Growing crops in terraces dug into a hill or mountain

Dialect

A way of speaking

Heritage

A set of ideas passed down by generations

Character

A symbol that represents whole words

Oracle Bone

An animal bone or turtle shell used by the ancient Chinese to find out about the future

Diviner

A person who could talk to the gods and ancestors

Mandate of Heaven

An order given by the god Tian to the Zhou kings to rule over China

Virtue

A good quality

Feudalism

A political system of exchanging land for loyalty and protection

Filial Piety

Treating parents with honor and respect

Confucianism

The ideas of the Chinese philosopher Confucius are used as a guide for the way people should live

Legalism

A way of governing that gives absolute power to the rule

Bureaucracy

A network consisting of appointed officials

Province

An administrative region of a country

Standardization

Making systems such as money, weights, measures, and writing the same for everyone

Civil Service

A part of bureaucracy that oversees the day-to-day running of the government

Ambassador

A government representative

Silk Road

The most heavily traveled trade route that stretched 4000 miles from the Han Capital through the deserts and high plains of Central Asia to the Mediterranean sea