Chapter 20 study guide 19,20,23,24
In ancient times, what limited settlement in the Chang Jiang Basins?
Rainforest vegetation may have limited the space for farming.
What do Shang artifacts reveal about this civilization?
Shang Government Shang kings were powerful rulers who inherited their power and kept it through family ties and military might.
What do Shang artifacts reveal about this civilization?
Shang Religion, Writing, Arts, and Technology The Shang practiced ancestor worship and, sometimes, human sacrifice. Their writing used logographs as well as pictographs. Shang artisans excelled in working with bronze and jade. The bronze weapons they created enabled the Shang to stay in power.
What do Shang artifacts reveal about this civilization?
Shang Social Classes Shang society can be divided into six social classes: the king's clan, nobles, artisans, traders, farmers, and slaves.
Shang warriors wore helmets like this one. What technology did the Shang use to make strong helmets?
Shaping a mixture of copper and tin
A traveler is going from Dunhuang to Kashgar on the northern route of the Silk Road. What physical feature might the traveler see to the left (south)? What physical feature might the traveler see to the right (north)?
Taklimakan Desert; Tian Shan Mountains
Because rice requires warm, wet weather, where did the ancient Chinese develop rice fields?
The Chang Jiang Basins
What made silk valuable in the West?
The Chinese were the only ones who knew how to make it.
How did the Silk Road promote an exchange of goods and ideas?
The Eastern Silk Road The Eastern Silk Road connected the capital of China to Kashgar. Travelers formed camel caravans for protection from bandits and the harsh conditions of desert travel.
What do Shang artifacts reveal about this civilization?
The End of the Shang Dynasty The Shang ruled in the valley of the Huang He for some five hundred years. They traded widely and grew wealthy. But constant warfare, lavish spending, and corruption in the ruling class may have led to the dynasty's downfall. Around 1045 B.C.E., the Shang were defeated by the Zhou.
How does the Qin dynasty compare to the Han dynasty?
The Han dynasty lasted much longer
What is one factor that may have made east-west travel easier than north-south travel within Inner China in ancient times?
The Huang He and the Chang Jiang ran west to east, allowing people and goods to travel by boat.
How did the Silk Road promote an exchange of goods and ideas?
The Opening of the Silk Road The Silk Road was opened during the Han dynasty and remained a major route of trade for more than 1,000 years. The eastern and western parts of the Silk Road presented many dangers and hardships for those who travelled along with it. To make a profit from trade, goods had to be valuable and easy to carry. Silk and ornaments travelled from China to Rome, India, and central Asia. Gold, horses, cotton, and spices travelled back to China.
The modern Chinese word for "merchant" is Shang ren, which means "Shang man." What does this suggest about Shang culture?
The Shang traded a great deal.
What have scholars concluded from the large number of wild animal bones found at Shang sites?
The Shang were active hunters.
How did the Silk Road promote an exchange of goods and ideas?
The Western Silk Road From Kashgar, the Western Silk Road crossed mountains and a desert on its way to Mediterranean ports like Antioch. Travelers faced high, slippery mountain trails and dangerous desert wildlife, such as tigers and lions.
Why did fewer people settle in Outer China than in Inner China?
The climate was more extreme in Outer China
Ceremonial cooking vessels were marks of status in Shang society. What suggests that the owner of this one may have been high in status?
The cooking vessel is very intricate and beautiful. It would have taken the artist a long time to make, so it was probably quite expensive.
Why did people in China want horses from Central Asia?
The horses were larger and more powerful than Chinese horses.
At the time of the Han dynasty, which people particularly threatened China from the north?
The huns
List three events from the timeline that relate to thought, learning, and science:
The imperial university established; Buddhism enters China; seismograph invented
Why did ancient people on the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau herd yaks rather than grow crops?
The region was to cold for crops
What do the three items pictured below have in common?
They all came to the West from China.
How did the Han emperors gradually change the way China was ruled?
They moved from Legalism to Confucian ideals
. How may the Shang king and his nobles have weakened their economy?
They spent too much on their palaces.
What often happened to people the Shang captured in wars?
They worked on construction, as slaves
Why is Zhang Qian often called the Father of the Silk Road?
This explorer opened the way for trade with western cultures.
The major rivers of ancient China flowed down from what region?
Tibet-Qinghai Plateau
. For what purpose would a Shang leader most likely use an oracle bone made from a turtle shell?
To ask advice from the ancestors
How did the Silk Road most affect the spread of Buddhism?
Travelers carried Buddhist beliefs from India to China.
Which shape best illustrates the structure of the Han bureaucracy?
Triangle
In what ways did the Han dynasty improve government and daily life in China?
Warfare and Government New weapons helped Han emperors succeed in war and expand their empire. They organized the government into a bureaucracy. Civil servants who were chosen for their ability worked in the bureaucracy.
Merchants used camels to move goods on the Eastern Silk Road. What animals carried goods on the Western Silk Road?
Yaks
Of all the countries in the world, China has the most what?
People
How did the natural vegetation of the Northeastern Plain affect the lives of ancient settlers there?
Prairie grass provided for horses sheep
How did Zhou, a frontier state, most affect the Shang dynasty?
Rebels from Zhou overthrew the king.
. What made the Taklimakan Desert one of the most dangerous deserts in the world?
Sandstorm and shifting dunes
What do the Turfan Depression and the Chang Jiang Basins have in common?
They are both lower than many other parts of China.
How did scholars learn that the Shang dynasty was real and not just a myth?
They found artifacts.
Which tool did ancient Chinese scribes use for writing?
a brush
What change made silk production more efficient?
an invention that wound fibers onto a large reel
What protected Inner China from invasion from the northwest?
barren deserts
The chain pump increased harvests by helping farmers do what?
bring water up to their fields
What kind of metal is this artifact made of? Explain your reasoning.
bronze: Bronze was important in Shang civilization. The Shang did not yet have iron, and other metals like copper,used alone, would not be strong enough.
What led archaeologists to conclude that the Shang believed in life after death?
finding food and weapons buried with kings
Why is the North China Plain sometimes called the "Land of the Yellow Earth"?
Limestone silt from the Gobi Desert covers the soil.
What new technology most helped the Han in warfare?
Advances in working iron
What do Shang artifacts reveal about this civilization?
A Shang Capital City The ruins and artifacts found at Anyang show that the Shang believed in an afterlife. Kings were buried with goods, people, and animals that would be useful to them in their life after death.
What event does the timeline suggest was most likely the cause of the relocation of the capital city?
A period of unrest
In what ways did the Han dynasty improve government and daily life in China?
Agriculture and Industry Several inventions improved production in agriculture and in the silk and salt industries. Farmers used the chain pump for irrigation and iron plows. Workers used foot-powered reeling machines to make silk thread, and they used iron-tipped bamboo drills to mine salt.
How did several groups of invaders from the Northeastern Plain traveled to Inner China?
Along the coastal plain
In what ways did the Han dynasty improve government and daily life in China?
Art, Medicine, and Science The invention of paper advanced the art of calligraphy and changed the way people communicated. Healers learned about the human body and developed techniques that are still used today. Chinese scientists made careful observations of the heavens and invented the seismograph and the compass.
Shang weapons were especially strong because skilled artisans made these objects from what material?
Bronze
. How did the Huang He most influence settlement near its banks?
By fertilizing the soil, it attracted communities of farmers.
If two nobles from distant parts of China met during the Shang dynasty, what would be the easiest way for them to communicate?
By writing, because they wrote with the same characters
As shown on the map, the Great Wall offered some protection to travelers between what two cities?
Chang'an; Dunhuang
During the period when the Han dynasty was expanding its empire beyond the borders of present day China, where was the Han capital and who was the ruler of the empire?
Chang'an; Wudi
How did the Silk Road promote an exchange of goods and ideas?
Cultural Exchanges Along the Silk Road Many goods were exchanged along the Silk Road, including both silk from China and glassware from Rome. In addition to new products, ideas and knowledge were exchanged. In this way, trade brought cultural changes to both East and West. One of the most important examples of cultural diffusion was the introduction of Buddhism to China.
How did geography affect life in ancient China?
Different Regions and Ways of Life Because of a lack of farmland, most settlers in Outer China were nomads and herders. In Inner China, people farmed and raised animals in permanent settlements. Farmers in the Chang Jiang Basins grew rice.
How did geography affect life in ancient China?
Early Settlement and Isolation Archaeologists have found remains of what may be the first inhabitants of China. These hunter-gatherers lived in caves more than 500,000 years ago. Later, farmers established the first permanent settlements on the North China Plain, near the Huang He, or Yellow River. Harsh geography and vast distances isolated these early inhabitants.
Which of these facts relating to the Silk Road is an example of cultural diffusion?
Europeans learned how to produce silk.
In Inner China, which natural events enriched the soil?
Floods
What was one of the most important Roman products that trade along the Silk Road brought to China?
Glassware
Why did the Western Silk Road end at Mediterranean ports such as Antioch?
Goods could be loaded there onto ships to be taken to other lands.
How would the handles and legs make this artifact easier to use for cooking?
Handles would make the container much easier to carry, especially if it were hot. Legs could be helpful for cooking because one could simply build a fire directly under the vessel, without the need for a device to hold it above the fire.
Why would a person most likely be hired for the Han bureaucracy?
He did well on the exam
What is the likely reason why the Roman emperor told Romans not to wear silk?
He worried that buying silk was taking too much of the empire's gold.
What three natural barriers, shown on the map, helped protect Inner China from invasion?
Himalayas; Tibet-Qinghai Plateau; Taklimakan Desert; Turfan Depression; Gobi Desert, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea (any three)
In which area of China, as shown on the map, did the Shang dynasty rule?
Huang He Valley
How did geography affect life in ancient China?
Inner China This area includes two regions in the southeastern part of modern China: the North China Plain and the Chang Jiang Basins. The plain has the best conditions for farming.
According to the map, what is one reason that Kashgar became a major trading center?
It is about halfway along the Silk Road Several different routes came together there It was accessible to Persia, india, and China.
What might be the significance or purpose of the face on the artifact?
It might be an image of the owner's ancestor, turned into a god or supernatural being.
In the Shang civilization, why was Anyang was an important city?
It was home to many skilled artisans, it was where the king lived, and many royal tombs are located there.
Why is the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau called the "Roof of the World"?
It was very high above sea level
Later in Chinese history, which of these geographical features made governing China as a unified state most difficult?
Its large size
What Han invention would the Chinese use to complete the items on this list? -Send messages from one part of the army to another -Frightening the enemy with the noise it made
Kite
The Silk Road split into a northern route and a southern route. What was one advantage of taking the northern route?
Oases were closer together
How did geography affect life in ancient China?
Outer China This area includes three regions in the western and northern parts of modern China: the Tibet-Qinghai, or Tibetan, Plateau; the Northwestern Deserts (the Taklimakan and the Gobi); and the Northeastern Plain. This area's features—high mountains, a cold and rocky plateau, and large deserts—isolated Inner China.
How is the Gobi Desert different from the Taklimakan Desert?
Pebbles cover most of the surface
What was one effect of the invention of the drill?
more wealth from trade
How did the Han emperors keep civil servants from doing special favors for their Friends?
placed them away from their home districts
Why did ancient Chinese healers used the technique of acupuncture?
rebalance the forces of yin and yang
Travelers carried Buddhist beliefs from India to China.
sacred texts from India
What did the Chinese write on before they invented paper?
silk and bamboo
What discoveries did the Chinese make, more than a thousand years before people in Europe did?
that blood circulates through the body
Which part of the Silk Road exposed travelers to the dangers listed below?• Lack of oxygen• Narrow passes• Steep cliffs• Snowstorms
the Pamir Mountains
The Chinese invented the magnetic compass to show which way was south. What was their earliest reason for wanting to know directions?
to position buildings correctly for good fortune
What was the most important reason why traders formed long caravans to cross the desert?
to protect each other
What most helped Shang kings stay in power?
use of a powerful army
