Chinese Dynasties

Chinese Dynasties: 1. Shang: Also called Yin, dynasty that was China's earliest historically verifiable state 1766 B.C. to 1122 B.C. A. Reason's for Rise: Unlike the early accounts of history by the Chinese, there is archaeological evidence of the Shang, who built their cities in northern China around the eastern parts of the Yellow River. For this reason they are called the Yellow River civilization. They were a bronze age people; bronze-working seems to have entered China around 2000 BC (about one thousand years after its invention in Mesopotamia). B. Territorial Location & size at height of power (map): The Shang ruled the area from the North China Plain northward into present-day Shantung Province and westward to the tip of Honan Province. C. System of government & rule & names of noted rulers and their accomplishments: A city-state confederation with a three-fold structure of king, officials, commoners. D. Major Religious beliefs & practices: The Shang worshiped the earth and other nature deities to whom they offered human sacrifices. They communicated with the supernatural by writing messages on oracle bones. E. *Major Accomplishments, Achievements, and contributions: The Shang society was many agricultural. They had a large army. Bronze casting was highly developed and a writing system had evolved. There commerce was highly developed and they used cowrie shells was used as currency. Shang art consisted of Bronze, pottery, and jade ornaments. Writing: The singular aspect of Shang civilization is their invention of writing. Almost all the written records of the Shang have disappeared, for the court records were kept on strips of bamboo. However, inscriptions on bronze and on the oracle bones still survive so we have specimens of the very first Chinese writings. The writing system was originally pictographic, that is, words were represented by pictures that fairly closely resembled the meaning of the word. The picture for "sun," for instance, looked much like the sun. This pictographic writing eventually developed into the more complex ideographic writing that we are more familiar with. Chinese writing is one of the only contemporary writing systems that still prominently bears traces of its pictographic origins. Religion: The Shang worshipped a figure they called "Shang Ti," or "Lord on High." This supreme ...

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...locally developed. This was especially true in China, with its ancient and vast bureaucracy. While Genghis Khan was still living, he divided the empire between his four favorite sons. Tului, the youngest, received the original Mongol homelands and parts of northern China. Ogadai received western Mongolia and part of northwestern China. Chagatai was given most of Turkestan in Central Asia. The oldest son, Juchi, received southwestern Siberia, western Turkestan, and Russian lands stretching north of the Black Sea. A fifth section of the empire was later added when Hulagu, a son of Tului, conquered Iran, Iraq, and Syria in the 1250s. D. Major Religious beliefs & practices: E. *Major Accomplishments, Achievements, and contributions: The largest empire ever seen F. Major reasons for decline and fall: Genghis Khan and his eldest son, Juchi, both died in 1227. At a convocation of Mongol leaders, Ogadai was appointed supreme khan. Juchi's lands in the west were inherited by his son Batu. Ogadai made his capital at Karakorum in central Mongolia. He immediately set out to add more of China to the Mongol conquests. By 1234 all but the southernmost region of China had been incorporated.