4.3.3

Rise of Civilization in China

Geography Influences Civilization

**Geographic Barriers Set China Apart** To the west and southwest of China, brutal deserts and high mountain ranges—the Tian Shan (tyen shahn) and the Himalayas—blocked the easy movement of people. To the southeast, thick rainforests divided China from Southeast Asia. To the north awaited a forbidding desert, the Gobi. To the east lay the vast Paciﬁc Ocean.

Despite these formidable barriers, the Chinese did have contact with the outside world. They traded with neighboring people and, in time, Chinese goods reached the Middle East and beyond. More often, the outsiders whom the Chinese encountered were nomadic invaders. Such conquerors, however, were usually absorbed into the advanced Chinese civilization.

**China Includes Varied Regions** The earliest civilization in China grew along the Huang River. This river carries loess, or ﬁne windblown yellow soil, which raises the water level. People suffered from the river’s frequent ﬂoods. The need to control the water likely led to the rise of government.

China Begins to Take Shape Under the Shang Dynasty

**Formation of Government** The Shang dynasty began about 1766 B.C. Kings ruled along with princes. The princes were probably the heads of clans, or groups of families claiming a common ancestor.

**Social Classes Develop** Shang warriors used leather armor, bronze weapons, and horse-drawn chariots. They may have learned of chariots as they interacted with other Asian peoples.



The Zhou Dynasty Further Defines China **Receiving the Mandate of Heaven** The Zhou people overthrew the Shang in 1122 B.C. They promoted the Mandate of Heaven, or divine right to rule. This idea later expanded to explain the dynastic cycle, or rise and fall of dynasties. If rulers became corrupt, heaven would withdraw support and dynasties would fail.

**Establishing a Feudal State** The Zhou established feudalism, where lords governed their own land but owed military service and support to a ruler.

**Spurring Economic Growth** In the 600s B.C., iron tools made farming more productive and the population increased.

**Zhou Dynasty Ends** By 256 B.C., the Zhou dynasty ended when ﬁghting feudal lords could not be controlled.

Religious Beliefs Develop in Early China During the Shang dynasty, the Chinese prayed to many gods and nature spirits.

 Two Major Belief Systems Take Root in Zhou China During the Zhou dynasty, two great thinkers emerged: Confucius and Laozi.

**Confucius Spreads His Wisdom** Confucius developed a philosophy, or system of ideas, that greatly inﬂuenced Chinese civilization. Confucius was concerned with social order and good government.

**Five Relationships Shape Behavior** Confucius emphasized ﬁve key relationships between people. He stressed ﬁve key relationships: ruler to subject, parent to child, husband to wife, elder brother to younger brother, and friend to friend. Filial piety, or respect for parents, was everyone’s highest duty.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Daoism Teaches Harmony With Nature** Laozi founded Daoism. It emphasized that people should live in harmony with nature. They should look beyond everyday cares and focus on the Dao, or “the way.”

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Achievements Abound in Early China

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Discovering the Secret of Silk-making** One great achievement of early China was silk-making. The Chinese kept the technique a secret for many years.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Establishing a Complex System of Writing** They also developed a system of writing at least 4,000 years ago. Questions were written on oracle bones. After heating the bones, priests interpreted the answers. Later, a writing system evolved that included thousands of characters, or written symbols. The Chinese then turned writing into an art called calligraphy.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Strong Rulers Unite China

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Shi Huangdi Unifies China The Qin Dynasty began in 221 B.C. when the leader of the Qin took over the Zhou and declared himself Shi Huangdi, which means First Emperor.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Legalism Establishes Harsh Rule** Shi Huangdi focused his power by adhering to Legalism, a philosophy that stated that strength, not goodness, was a ruler’s greatest virtue and ability. He tortured and killed anyone who stood in his way.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Unity Imposed** Shi Huangdi replaced feudal states with 36 military districts ruled by loyal ofﬁcials. To promote unity, he standardized weights and measures, coins, and Chinese writing. In order to strengthen the transportation system, workers patched and extended canals and roads.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Constructing the Great Wall** Under Shi Huangdi’s orders, thousands of people worked to connect many shorter walls to form the one Great Wall to protect against invaders from the north. This showed the emperors’ ability to generate China’s vast resources.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Qin Dynasty Collapses** In 206 B.C., Qin’s power collapsed because of forced labor, anger over heavy taxes, and brutal policies spreading into revolts. The Han Dynasty started in 202 B.C.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The Han Dynasty Strengthens China

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Emperor Wudi Makes Improvements** The most famous Han emperor, Wudi, ruled from 141 B.C. to 87 B.C. Instead of Legalism, Wudi made Confucianism, the ofﬁcial belief of the state. He improved transportation, controlled prices, and made a government monopoly on iron and salt. His belief in expansionism increased the land ruled by the Chinese drastically.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**China Selects Scholar-Officials** Han rulers chose Confucian scholars as government ofﬁcials and civil servants.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Founding the Civil Service System** Young men could advance in government through skill, instead of family inﬂuence. They might be tested on their knowledge of the Five Classics, a collection of histories, poems, and handbooks compiled from the works of Confucius and others like him.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Han Empire Overthrown** As the Han dynasty continued to age, emperors could no longer control upstart warlords, which were local military rulers. Peasants rebelled as well. The last emperor was finally overthrown in A.D. 220, which was after more than 400 years of rule by the Han.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Achievements of the Han Golden Age The Han dynasty was a golden age for Chinese culture and industry.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Advancing Science and Medicine** Han scientists wrote texts on chemistry, zoology, and botany. The Han invented the seismograph to measure and detect earthquakes. Medical treatment included acupuncture to relieve pain or treat illness.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Forging Ahead With Technology and Engineering** Han China was the most technologically advanced civilization in the world. The Han invented the suspension bridge, rudder, and paper from wood pulp as well. Some of these ideas slowly headed west, reaching Europe later on.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Expanding the Arts** Artisans created products from jade, ceramics, bronze, and silk. Poets and historians wrote about the wonder and beauty of Han cities.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The Chinese Accept Buddhism Buddhism had spread from India to China by about A.D. 100. It became increasingly popular during times of crisis that came after the fall of the Han, and by A.D. 400 it had spread throughout China completely.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> Two Golden Ages of China

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The Tang Dynasty Reunifies China After the Han dynasty collapsed, China broke apart. During the Sui dynasty (589–618), the emperor Sui Wendi reunited north and south. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**The Tang Build an Empire** In 618, the general Li Yuan and his son Li Shimin led a revolt and established the Tang dynasty. Eight years later, Li Shimin compelled his aging father to step down. Li Shimin then took the throne under the name Tang Taizong. Later Tang rulers conquered many territories and forced Vietnam, Tibet, and Korea to become tributary states, or self-governing states that sent tribute.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**The Government and Economy Grow** Other Tang rulers, such as Empress Wu Zhao, restored the Han system of uniform government. Tang emperors also undertook land reform in which they redistributed land to peasants.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**The Tang Dynasty Declines** However, the Tang eventually weakened. In 907, the last Tang emperor was overthrown.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The Song Dynasty In 960, Zhao Kuangyin founded the Song dynasty. The Song ruled for 319 years. They faced the constant threat of invaders from the north. Nonetheless, the Song period was a time of great achievement. A new type of faster-growing rice was imported from Southeast Asia. The rise in productivity created food surpluses, freeing more people to pursue commerce, learning, or the arts.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">China's Ordered Society Under the Tang and Song, China was a well-ordered society. At its head was the emperor.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**The Gentry Value Education** Scholar-officials had the highest social status. Most of them came from the gentry, or wealthy, landowning class.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Peasants Work the Land** The vast majority of Chinese were poor peasant farmers. Drought and famine were a constant threat, but new tools and crops did improve the lives of many peasants.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Merchants Have Lowest Status** Merchants had the lowest status because their riches came from the labor of others.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**The Statues of Women** Women had higher status during this period than they did later. However, when a woman married, she could not keep her dowry, the payment that a woman brings to a marriage. She could also never remarry.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The Tang and Song Develop a Rich Culture The Tang and Song developed a rich culture.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Artists Paint Harmony** Song landscape painting was influenced by Daoist beliefs.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Architecture and Porcelain** Buddhist themes influenced Chinese sculpture and architecture. The Indian stupa evolved into the Chinese pagoda. The Chinese also perfected the making of porcelain.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Chinese Writing** Among the gentry, poetry was the most respected form of literature. Probably the greatest Tang poet was Li Bo, who wrote some 2,000 poems.