China was isolated from other regions by physical barriers like mountain ranges and oceans. The Chinese referred to their land as "Middle Kingdom" and believed they were the center of civilization. Two important rivers, the Yellow River and Yangzi River, flowed through fertile regions in the heartland where most Chinese lived and farmed. The geography contributed to early Chinese cultures developing with little outside influence.

1. CHAPTER 3
Section 3 Notes

2. The Geography of China
 The ancient Chinese called their land
“Zhongguo”---Middle Kingdom
 China was isolated by long distances and
physical barriers---the ancient Chinese
believed that China was the center of the
Earth and the sole source of civilization

3. The Geography of China
 Physical barriers---
 West and Southwest---high mountain ranges
(Tien Shan and Himalayas)
 Southeast---thick jungles
 North---Gobi desert
 East---Pacific Ocean
 All of these physical barriers helped to
contribute to Chinese isolation

4. Himalayan Mountains

5. Himalayas

6. Mt. Everest (29,035 ft.)

7. Mt. Everest

8. Gobi Desert

9. Gobi Desert

10. The Geography of China
 The Chinese heartland lay along the east
coast and the valleys of the Huang He River
(Yellow River) and theYangzi River
 In ancient times as today, these fertile
farming regions supported the largest
populations
 The rivers provided water for irrigation and
served as transportation routes

11. Yangzi River

12. Yangzi River

13. Yangzi River

14. Geography of China
 Beyond the heartland are the outlying
regions of Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Manchuria
 China also extended its influence over the
Himalayan region ofTibet, which the Chinese
called Xizang

15. Tibet

16. Flag of Tibet

17. Dalai Lama

18. Tibet

19. Tibet

20. Tibet

21. Protests for a Free Tibet

22. The Geography of China
 Chinese history began in the Huang He
(Yellow River) valley, where Neolithic people
learned to farm
 The needed to control the flooding of the
river
 TheYellow River got its name from the loess
that it carries eastward from Siberia and
Mongolia
 Nicknamed the “River of Sorrows”

23. The Geography of China
 As loess settles to the river bottom, it raises
the water level
 Chinese peasants labored constantly to build
and repair dikes that kept the river from
overflowing
 If the dikes broke, flood waters burst over the
land, destroying crops and bringing mass
starvation

24. Huang He (Yellow River)

25. Yellow River (Huang He)

26. China Under the Shang
 The Shang dynasty ruled from 1650-1027BC
 Shang China probably more closely
resembled the city-states of Sumer than the
centralized government ruled by the
Egyptian pharaohs
 Shang society---royal
family, warriors, artisans and
merchants, peasants

27. Religious Beliefs
 Prayed to many gods and nature spirits
(polytheistic)
 The prayers of rulers and nobles to their
ancestors were thought to serve the
community as a whole, ensuring good
harvests or victory in war
 Many westerners saw this as “ancestor
worship”

28. Religious Beliefs
 The Chinese believed the universe reflected a
delicate balance between two forces, yin and
yang
 Yin was linked to Earth, darkness, and female
forces
 Yang stood for Heaven, light, and male forces
 The well-being of the universe depended on
maintaining balance between yin and yang
(they were not opposing forces)

29. Yin and Yang

30. System of Writing
 Writing, like religious beliefs, was an early
development that continued to influence
cultures in China throughout history
 The system used both pictographs and
ideographs
 Shang priests wrote on oracle bones
 The questions were addressed to the gods or the
spirit of an ancestor
 Priests heated the bone or shell until it cracked
and then interpreted the pattern of cracks to
provide answers or advice from the ancestors

31. System of Writing
 Written Chinese took shape almost 4,000 years
ago and it evolved to include tens of thousands
of characters
 Each character represented a word or idea and
was made up of a number of different strokes
 The Chinese have simplified their writing over
the years
 Chinese is one of the most difficult languages to
learn---students must memorize over 10,000
characters to read a newspaper!!!

32. Chinese Writing

33. The Zhou Dynasty
 Battle-hardened Zhou people overthrew the
Shang dynasty
 Last from 1027-256BC
 Used the Mandate of Heaven idea to justify
their overthrow of the Shang
 Mandate of Heaven---rulers got the divine
right to rule from the gods---if a ruler was
cruel or unjust Heaven would withdraw its
support for the rulers

34. The Zhou Dynasty
 The Zhou rewarded their supporters by
granting them control over different regions
 China became a feudal state
 Feudalism---system of government in which
local lords governed their own lands but
owed military service and other forms of
support to the ruler

35. The Zhou Dynasty
 China’s economy grew
 Iron axes and ox-drawn iron plows replaced
stone, wood, and bronze tools allowing
farmers to be more productive
 New crops such as soybeans
 Began to use money, built new roads, built
new canals
 Economic expansion led to an increase in
population and territory

36. Chinese Achievements
 Calendar was composed of 365 ¼ days
 By 1000BC, the Chinese had discovered how
to make silk thread from the cocoons of
silkworms
 Women did the laborious work of tending the
silkworms and processing the cocoons into
thread and weaving the threads into a
smooth cloth that was then dyed
 Only royalty and nobles could afford this silk

37. Silkworms

38. Processing the Cocoons

39. Spinning the Thread

40. Final Product (thread)

41. Chinese Achievements
 Silk became China’s most valuable export
 The trade route that eventually linked China
and the Middle East became known as the
Silk Road
 To protect their control of this profitable
trade, the Chinese kept the process of silk-
making a secret

42. The Silk Road

43. Chinese Achievements
 Under the Zhou, the Chinese made the first
books
 They bound thin strips of wood or bamboo
together and then carefully drew characters
on the flat surface with a brush and ink
 Among the greatest Zhou works is the Book
of Songs---many of its poems describe such
events as planting, harvesting, praise kings
and describe court ceremonies, and also
includes sad love songs!!!