China’s Major Dynasties over Time

• S• Z• Q• H• T• S• Y• M• Q

Shang China • 1st Historically Proven

Dynasty • Starts c. 1700s BCE• Literacy

– Bridges dialect gaps

• Ancestor Worship – Not all powerful gods

more like helpful / nuisance neighbors

Zhou China • Around c 400s BCE• Mandate of Heaven

Theory • Confucianism

– Scholars as leaders

• Daoism

Qin China

• Short lived – after time of warring states

• Rise of Legalism • Start of Great Wall• Terracotta Soldiers • “strengthen the trunk

by weakening the branches”

Han China • Time of Rome and

Gupta Empires (c. 33 CE)

• Silk Road • Highly Structured /

Centralized Gov• Use Confucian ideas

in Gov• Emergence of

Barbarian Worldview

Tang / Song China

• Time of Middle Ages / Rise of Islam

• Introduction of Civil Service Exams

• Introduction of Buddhism

• Tech advancements – Printing / Gunpowder

• Rise of Footbinding • Division under Song

Mongol Conquest / Yuan China• Time of Crusades • Geog of Asian Steppe• Genghis Khan – Most

powerful man in the world at the time

• Kublai Khan – established Yuan Dynasty in China

• Period of Greatest Influence / Power

• Marco Polo

Ming China

• Time of Euro Exploration / Expansion

• Construction of the Forbidden City

• Highly Centralized • Return to Confucian

Models • Chi Golden Age

– Chinese have what the Euros want – but not vice versa

• Kowtow

Qing China

• Westerners were limited in China – Kowtow

• Opium was introduced by the British

• Opium Wars lead to Unequal Treaties– Like Treaty of

Nanking

Qing China

• Taiping Rebellion rages for 10 years

– Leads to More Western Control

• Spheres of Influence

• Boxer Rebellion Shows growing Nationalism

The Book of Marvels (ca. A.D. 1324)

• Description of the Great City of Kinsay, Capital of the Country of Manzi (i.e. China south of the Yellow River)

When you have left the city of Changan and have traveled for three days through a splendid country, passing a number of towns and villages, you arrive at the most noble city of Kinsay (modern Hangzhou), a name which is as much as to say in our tongue "The City of Heaven," as I told you before. ……………….

• Houses

The houses of the city are provided with lofty towers of stone in which articles of value are stored for fear of fire; for most of the houses themselves are of timber, and fires are very frequent in the city.

The People

The people are Idolaters; and since they were conquered by the Great Khan they use paper-money. Both men and women are fair and comely, and for the most part clothe themselves in silk, so vast is the supply of that material, both from the whole district of Kinsay, and from the imports by traders from other provinces. And you must know they eat every kind of flesh, even that of dogs and other unclean beasts, which nothing would induce a Christian to eat.

City Watch

Since the Great Khan occupied the city he has ordained that each of the 12,000 bridges should be provided with a guard of ten men, in case of any disturbance, or of any being so rash as to plot treason or insurrection against him. Each guard is provided with a hollow instrument of wood and with a metal basin, and with a time-keeper to enable them to know the hour of the day or night. And so when one hour of the night is past the sentry strikes one on the wooden instrument and on the basin, so that the whole quarter of the city is made aware that one hour of the night is gone. At the second hour he gives two strokes, and so on, keeping always wide awake and on the look out. In the morning again, from sunrise, they begin to count anew, and strike one hour as they did in the night, and so on hour after hour.

15th Century