Ancient+China

**1750BC-170AD**  By: Austin & Cole

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."- Confucius
** One important thing about China is its geography. The land ranges from mountains and deserts to cities and farmland. The Ancient Chinese used the mountains to their advantage by using them as protection from invasion by other groups. China also has many rivers like the Huang He, or yellow river, that stretches across China for more than 2,900 miles. It's called the yellow river because it carries a yellow silt called loess which is basically the dirt off of the river bottom. Although mountainous terrain and deserts cover most of the land, about 10% of China is suitable for farming crops. ** ** Some of the religions in Ancient China were Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. Confucianism means, "System of Confucian ideas", and it was created by a man named Confucius. Trying to restore order in China, Confucius made the Five Constant Relationships. Basically, they were duties one had to the partner in the relationship. The relationships were: parent and child, husband and wife, older and younger siblings, older and younger friend, and ruler and subject. On the other hand there was the religion of Daoism. Daoism is the teachings of Laozi. In a nutshell, Daoism is the belief that the true way to follow the will of Heaven is not action but inaction, so basically just let nature take its course and the world will be in harmony. And lastly, Legalism is the belief that human beings are evil and the only way they could be controlled is by terrible punishments and harsh laws. They believed people were not capable of being good and since they were punished so badly then maybe they would follow the law. **  **The Ancient Chinese civilization had some pretty amazing acheivements including the building of the Great Wall of China, the invention of paper, and the terra-cotta soldiers. The Great Wall of China was first built by the Qin Empire, but was later made larger and sturdier by the Han Empire 1,500 years later. The wall was known as, "The Wall of Ten Thousand Li"(a li is about a third of a mile). Thousands of people worked to build the Great Wall and many of them died in the process. A few years later, during the Han dynasty, the invention of paper was made. Who knows if we would have paper today if the Chinese wouldn't have invented it? And lastly, one of the most famous acheivements by the Ancient Chinese was found in 1974 by farmers attempting to dig a well. They discovered an underground pit full of terra-cotta soldiers, which is hardened clay shaped in the form of a soldier. It was estimated there used to be 6,000 soldiers in the pit, but most of them were destroyed.**

__**5 Famous People in Ancient China:**__
 * 1) ** Confucius: ** Known to the Chinese as the First Teacher; Invented Confucianism which is the belief that the duties of human beings is to work hard to improve life on Earth.
 * 2) ** Laozi: ** Called the "Old Master" and scholars don't know if he actually existed; Invented the belief in Daoism which is where the people just let nature take its course.
 * 3) ** Qin Shihuangdi: ** Ruler of Qin dynasty; Had lots of ambition and killed lots of men to stay in rule and was the dynasty's only ruler.
 * 4) ** Liu Bang: ** Founder of the Han dynasty; Came from a peasant family and created a dynasty that lasted for more than four hundred years.
 * 5) ** Han Wudi: ** One of the Han rulers; Drove the Xiongnu (Nomads to the North) back to Mongolia and after his death China had about 150 years of peace.

media type="custom" key="11370616"

__**5 Terms for Ancient China:**__
 * ** Aristocracy: ** Upper class whose wealth is based on land and whose power is passed on from one generation to another. The aristocracy was know as the Warlords.
 * ** Mandate of Heaven: ** Direct authority from heaven to rule used by the Zhou Dynasty. It was the the thought that rule was granted to the wise and just.
 * ** Analects: ** Sayings of Confucius written down by his followers who then spread his message. The Analects were collected by his students and recorded.
 * ** Censors: ** People who watched over officials and reported to the throne if there was any wrongdoing.[[image:worldhistorycbad/ancient21.jpg align="right" caption="The Great Wall of China"]] They were the "Eyes and ears of the emperor".
 * ** Regime: ** The government in power at the time. The Regime was based on legalism and used very strict rules to mantain order.

media type="custom" key="11434240"

Ancient China Information This link has some great information on the geography of China and Ancient Chinese writing. Ancient Chinese Religion Here is some information on the religions in Ancient China. Including Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Ancient Chinese Architecture This is good info about how Ancient Chinese buildings were constructed and creatively designed. Ancient Chinese Dynasties This link will let you take a look at all of the different dynasties during the Ancient Chinese times. Some of them include the Xia, Shang, and Zhao dynasties. Ancient Chinese Cities Here is some of the cities in Ancient China. Some of them include Xian, Yangzhou, and Beijing.



**__ Ancient China Timeline. __**

 * 4000BC- ** Chinese Civilization starts.
 * 4000BC- ** Xia Dynasty begans.
 * 1750BC- ** The first historical dynasty, the Shang Dynasty, begans.
 * 1122BC- ** The Zhou Dynasty begins.
 * 551BC- ** Confucius was born.
 * 512BC- ** Sun-tzu writes The Art of War.
 * 400BC- ** Buddhism is introduced in China.
 * 403BC- ** The Period of Warring States begans.
 * 221BC- ** The Qin Dynasty begans.
 * 202BC- ** The Han Dynasty begans.