Imperial China Overview

Complete the sentence: In 1750, the Chinese Empire stretched over ____from East to West

9000km

How much of the world’s population was found in China?

a quarter

how much of Earth’s land was found in China?

10%

Was China involved with the rest of the world?

No

What did the emperor and court see China as?

a superior civilisation with little foreign contact

How long did the Qing Dynasty rule?

268 years

When did the Qing Dynasty rule?

1644-1912

list the classes in order of respect

emperor, scholar officials, peasants, artisans and craftsmen, merchants, the classless

what was the emperor’s right to rule called?

the Mandate of Heaven

What was the emperor also called?

Son of Heaven

How would an emperor lose his Mandate of Heaven?

If he governed poorly or if bad things kept happening

True or False
Emperors were mostly men

True

what were scholar officials experts in?

Confucianism

How could you become a scholar official?

sit through rigorous examination

how much of the population were peasants?

80%

What did the peasants do?

produced food and worked in government projects without pay

Why were peasants seen as important?

they produced food

List some other occupation that came under the artisans and craftsmen class?

doctors, architects, priests, brewers, tea producers, silk makers

How was the skill of artisans and craftsmen spread across generations?

skills were passed down from father to son

why did the artisans and craftsmen have less rights and status than peasants?

because they didn’t own land which means they didn’t pay taxes

Who had more status: artisans/craftsmen or peasants?

Peasants

who were below artisans and craftsmen?

merchants

who were below peasants?

artisans and craftsmen

who were below scholar officials?

peasants

who were below the emperor?

scholar officials

why were the merchants looked down upon?

they exploited people for profit which was against Confucius’s teachings

could merchants be wealthy?

yes

Who did merchants trade silk and tea with?

Europe

What did merchants trade with Europe?

silk and tea

Who were below all the other classes?

the classless

Where were the classless in the social ladder?

they were outside the social ladder

Who did the classless consist of?

prostitutes, actors, slaves

What were the classless labelled as?

“mean people”

Were the classless allowed to marry “good people”?

No

How much of the population were apart of the classless?

about 1%

What were most daughters referred to as?

daughter 1, daughter 2…

True or false:
Most women were only given first names

False, they weren’t given first names

Was female infanticide common?

Yes

Who was seen more important: women or men?

men

Who were the three people women were expected to obey across her life?

father, husband, son

what widespread practice was performed on many girls and women in the Qing Dynasty?
Hint: it was essential to marriages

Foot binding

What were small feet seen as?

a sign of beauty

who didn’t commonly get their feet bound?

the very top or very low

when did the feet binding process start?

at the age of 5

how did the feet binding process start?

cloth strips would be wrapped tightly around the feet

complete the sentence about feet binding:
For the next ___ years, the strips were worn ________ ________

10, all day, everyday

Complete the sentence about feet binding:
by the age of ___ the feet became “_______ ______” and were about ___cm

15, golden lilies, 10

What would cause gangrenes in feet binding?

bindings cutting off circulation

What would cut off circulation in feet binding cause?

gangrenes

What did feet binding do to the feet?

deforming your feet bones with four minor toes bent underneath the sole of your feet

Who’s family did a wife belong to?

her husband’s family

Were dowries expected to be paid by the groom’s family?

No, the bride’s

Could a widowed woman remarry?

No

was divorce legal?

No

Were concubines legal?

Yes

what were the five virtues of Confucianism?

Integrity, humanism/altruism, righteousness, etiquette/propriety, knowledge

Was Confucianism a religion or philosophy?

humanist philosophy

did the Qing Dynasty support Confucianism? Why?

Yes, it was a more practical belief system

What was a major aspect of Confucianism?

Filial piety

define filial piety

deep respect for elders/superiors and kindness toward inferiors

list the five relationships with filial piety

Ruler (benevolent) and subject (loyal)

Father (loving) and son (obedient)

Older brother (gentle) and younger brother (respectful)

Husband (good) and wife (attentive)

Older friend (considerate) and younger friend (deferential)

what religion was founded by Laozi?

Daoism

Who founded Daoism?

Laozi

Where was Laozi from?

China

When was Daoism founded?

6th century BC

How did Daoism get its name"?

“Tao” is a Chinese word that means way or path but is best understood as a force that runs through everything

Is Daoism a religion or philosophy

religion

What is the major belief in Daoism?

World is connected and must be kept in balance, which is a concept represented by the yin-yang symbol

Did the Qing Dynasty support Daoism? Why?

No, they were highly suspicious of it because it was native Chinese

When and where was Buddhism founded?

India during the 5th century

When did Buddhism come to China?

during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)

Why did Buddhism grow in popularity and with who?

with ordinary folk since it offered new opportunities for younger sons who wouldn’t be likely to own land

Did the Qing Dynasty support Buddhism? Why?

Buddhism fared better than Daoism as the Manchus had already shown interest in Tibetan Buddhism

What are the main beliefs of Buddhism?

reincarnation, karma, harmless

Complete the sentence:
Imperial China was predominantly an ____________ society with ___% of population living and working in _____ areas

agricultural, 90, rural

how did households boost their income?

weaving silk or cotton, or making handicrafts for sale at local markets

when did paper money begin in China?

13th century

what form of currency were used for everyday transactions?

copper coins

what form of currency were used for large transactions and taxes?

silver

what were copper coins used for?

everyday transactions

what was silver used for?

large transactions and taxes

why was selling produce/goods for money important?

taxes were paid using money

Finish the sentence:
Everyone paid taxes at a…

fixed rate

what did money changers do?

provided credit, particularly within local market communities and developed into the earliest native Chinese banks

what did remittance banks do?

take cash deposits from a merchant in one place and give him a remittance certificate, which could then be exchanged for money or be used to pay someone

What problems did remittance banks address?

problem of carrying large amounts of coins

When did remittance banks originate?

the Qing Dynasty

Complete the sentence:
Imperial China did not have advanced industries like __________ or the ____, however some _______________ did occur

Britain, US, industrialisation

Complete the sentence:
by the _____ ______, a small proportion of workers could be classed as __________ workers

late 1800s, industrial

when did China’s economy struggle?

second half of the nineteenth century

Complete the sentence about economic stagnation:
China’s population more than _________, swelling to over ____ ________ between _____ and _____

doubled, 400 million, 1750, 1850

Complete the sentence about economic stagnation:
__________ ___________ and the lack of __________ _____________ meant that China’s _______ production was only just keeping up with the needs of the population

increased population, technical development, food

What happened to destitute people as the population increased?

they began to move around the country in search of work

When did Christianity come to China?

7th century

which dynasty expelled the Christians?

Ming

What did the Ming Dynasty do to Christians?

closed down all the monasteries and expelled the Christians

when did missionaries return to China?

During the Qing Dynasty

who were the first European visitors to China?

Jesuit missionaries

what did Johan Adam Schall von Bell do?

he was appointed to the court of Emperor Shunzhi and built churches, converting 150 000 Chinese to Catholicism

who made the first Chinese-English Dictionary?

Robert Morrison