East Asia, Australia, and Oceania: Land and History 681

The ancient Chinese developed acivilization that has lasted longerthan any other on Earth.

China’s very long and relativelystable existence has helped it tobecome one of the most powerfulcountries in the world.

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW

Foundations of Chinese CivilizationSilk is just one of the many inventions for which the ancientChinese are known. Over the course of thousands of years, theChinese have built the longest-lasting culture in the world.

As early as 5000 B.C., Chinese people lived in the fertileriver valley of the Huang He. Sometime in the 1700s B.C.,their lives changed drastically when invaders, called theShang (shahng), entered their valley. These invaders estab-lished China’s first permanent, organized civilization.

TERMS & NAMESdynastyGenghis KhanKublai KhanConfuciusbureaucracyTaoismLao Tzu

THE IMPERIAL PALACE, CHINA, 2700 B.C.—Our

14-year-old Empress Si Ling-chi has made an

amazing discovery. While walking in the palace

gardens, she noticed that caterpillars, which

just a few days before were eating mulberry

tree leaves, had spun themselves into cocoons.

These cocoons hung from branches, within easy

reach of our empress, who plucked one and

took it home to examine. When she dropped

it into boiling water, it unraveled into a tangle

of threads.

The empress immediately sent her maids to

gather more cocoons. Soon she had enough

thread for weaving, and she produced a shining

fabric she called silk. Plans are now underway

to begin manufacturing huge quantities of this

wondrous fabric.

Ancient ChinaAncient China

Human-Environment Interaction • Many

Chinese women will work to twist

the thin silk strands together to make

thread thick enough for weaving. �

TAKING NOTES

Geography

Government

AncientJapan

AncientChina

Use your chart to takenotes about East Asia,Australia, and Oceania.

For most of China’s historysince the Shang takeover, thecountry was ruled by dynasties,or families of rulers. Dynastiesrose and fell in succession—some lasting only 15 years,others continuing for hundredsof years. Look at the chart tothe right to learn the namesand dates of each dynasty.

Mongol Rule In the A.D. 1200s,China’s greatest fear came to pass—foreign invaders conqueredChina. In 1211, the Mongols invaded China. They were led byGenghis Khan and later by his grandson Kublai Khan. In 1279,Kublai Khan conquered China’s Song (sung) Dynasty. In itsplace, he founded the Yuan Dynasty. He also established a capi-tal at Ta-tu.

The Ming Dynasty Warfare eventually broke out among theMongol leaders, weakening the Yuan Dynasty significantly. Thedynasty that took over was called the Ming. Because of his greatmilitary success, Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang (jooyoo•ahn•jang) was called the Hongwu emperor—meaning “vastmilitary power.” In his battles, he won from the Mongols theYunnan province. With this piece of land in his charge, he uni-fied the region that is China today.

682 CHAPTER 23

The Tomb of Shih Huang-ti In 1974, farmers near Xi’an(shee•ahn) made a spectacular discovery. While digging anew well, their shovels hit some broken bits of pottery.Digging deeper, they found not water but a headless claybody. What they had uncovered was the tomb of China’sQin emperor Shih Huang-ti (sheer•hwahng•dee)—filled with an army of about 8,000 life-sized clay soldiers andhorses (shown at right).

The foot soldiers, charioteers, and archers were buried 22 centuries ago to guard the emperor in death just as his realsoldiers had in life. Although the soldiers’ heads and bodiesare all similar, their eyes, ears, noses, lips, and hairstyles vary.Among the 8,000 soldiers, no two faces are the same.

ShangZhouQinHanSuiTangSongYuanMingQing

Dynasty Dates

1700s–1122 B.C.

1122–221 B.C.

221–206 B.C.

206 B.C.–A.D. 220A.D. 581–618A.D. 618–907A.D. 960–1279A.D. 1279–1368A.D. 1368–1644A.D. 1644–1911

The Dynasties of China

SKILLBUILDER:Interpreting a Chart1. Which dynasty

ruled China inA.D. 1?

2. Which was thelast dynasty torule China?

A. MakingInferences Howmight life in Chinahave changedwhen foreignerstook over?

When the Hongwu emperor died, one of his grandsons tookpower, naming himself the Yongleemperor—meaning “eternal con-tentment.” He is famous for re-building the Yuan capital, whichhe renamed Beijing (bay•jihng).He ordered a huge palace complexto be constructed in the capital.This was called the ForbiddenCity because only the emperor,his family, and some of his offi-cials could enter it.

The Ming Dynasty came to an end in 1644 at the hands ofinvaders from northeastern China, called the Manchu(MAN•choo). These attackers established China’s last dynasty,the Qing (chihng), which ruled China until 1911.

Religion and PhilosophyChina’s dynasties are known for particular achievements—somemilitary, some artistic, some technological, and some spiritual.Several of the world’s most influential philosophies and religionsarose during the thousands of years of Chinese history.

Confucianism Toward the end of the Zhou Dynasty, a mannamed Kongfuzi—later called Confucius (kuhn•FYOO•shuhs) byEuropeans—developed a new philosophy. Confucius taught theimportance of moral character and of individuals taking responsi-bility for the state of their society. He also taught that a ruler, like agood father, should take care of his people and be kind to them.

The teachings of Confucius were not widely known during hislifetime. Only after his death did his students succeed in spread-ing his philosophy.

East Asia, Australia, and Oceania: Land and History 683

Location •The ForbiddenCity is thelargest complexof buildings ofits age in theworld. �

A VOICE FROM CHINA

If you are personally upright, things get done without anyorders being given. If you are not personally upright, no onewill obey even if you do give orders.

ConfuciusB. Forming andSupporting Opinions Whatdo you think ofConfucius’ opinion of how asuccessful rulershould behave?

The Impact of Confucianism In 121 B.C., the Han emperor Wudi established Confucianism as the official philosophy guid-ing the Chinese bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is the administration ofa government through departments, called bureaus. The appointedofficials that staff the bureaus are called bureaucrats. The Hancalled their bureaucracy the civil service and staffed it with scholarsof Confucianism. The civil service gave the government capableofficials and contributed to the stability of the culture.

Taoism The Zhou period also gave rise to Taoism (DOW•

IHZ•uhm). This philosophy was developed in the 500s B.C. byLao Tzu (low dzuh), who wrote the main Taoist book—the Tao-te Ching (DOW• duh JIHNG). Lao Tzu described a force thatguides the universe, though it cannot be seen or named. Hecalled this force the Tao, which means “way of nature.” The great-est achievement for any person, in Taoist belief, is to find har-mony with the Tao and, therefore, with nature.

Buddhism in China During the A.D. 200s, whilethe Han Dynasty was beginning to collapse,Buddhism made its way to China through tradersfrom India and other areas in Asia. During theTang Dynasty, Buddhist teachings of how toescape suffering appealed to many Chinese. How-ever, Buddhism did not replace Confucianism orTaoism in China.The Chinese belief system todayincludes elements of all three philosophies.

Achievements of the DynastiesChina has also given the world some importantinventions. Around 2700 B.C., the Chineseinvented silk cloth and a new system of writing.In the first two centuries A.D., the Chineseinvented paper and a type of pottery calledporcelain. In the A.D. 1200s, Chinese navigators began using the compass. Theseinventions helped shape the civilizations of Asiaand, through trade, Europe.

Silk The ancient Chinese were able to keep the secret of how to manufacture silk from foreigners for centuries, although others did eventually learn the Chinese method.

684 CHAPTER 23

Gunpowder One Chinese inven-tion had an explosive impact on theworld—gunpowder. The Chinesehad invented the first gunpowder,called black powder, by A.D. 1000.They used it originally not in guns(which were invented in SouthwestAsia in the 1300s), but in fireworksused in warfare.

By the 1300s, people in the West were using gunpowder topower weapons, such as guns and the medieval Belgian cannonshown below. By the 1600s, Euro-peans also began using it for more peaceful tasks like mining and road construction.

Culture •This statueshows Taoism’sfounder, LaoTzu. �

Vocabulary

scholar:specialist in agiven subject

Cas

pia

nSe

a

BlackSea

Mediterranean

Sea

OCEAN

Persian

G

ulf

Istanbul

Rome

Alexandria

Luoyang

HI M A L A Y A S

KAZAKHSTAN

R U S S I A

TURKMENISTANUZBEKISTAN

ARMENIA

GEORGIA

UKRAINE

BELARUS

MOLDOVA

LITHUANIALATVIA

RUSSIAESTONIA

AZER.

KYRGYZSTAN

TAJIKISTAN

MONGOLIA

C H I N A

NEPAL

I R A N

POLAND

GERMANY

FRANCE

FINLAND

T U R K E Y

ROMANIA

BULGARIAGREECE

SYRIA

JORDAN

CZECHREP.

ITALY SLOV.HUNG.

IRAQ

SAUDIARABIA

KUWAIT

OMAN

SUDAN

EGYPT

LIBYA

ISRAEL

LEBANON

ERITREA

AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN

I N D I A

40°E 80°E 120°E

20°N

Tropic of Cancer

N

0

0 500 1,000 kilometers

500 1,000 miles

Silk Road

Sea route

The Route of the Ancient Silk Road

GEOGRAPHYSKILLBUILDER:Interpreting a Map1. Location • What city

was at the easternmostpoint of the Silk Road?

2. Movement • How didgoods travel to Romefrom western points onthe Silk Road?

Vocabulary

kiln:high-temperatureoven used to bakeclay until it hardens

C. Clarifying Ifthe Silk Road wasso dangerous, whydid the Chinesecontinue to use it?

As long as no one else understood the process, however, Chinaearned all the profits of the silk trade. Caravans carried the preciousfabric for thousands of miles to cities in Europe and SouthwestAsia, along a trade route named for the fabric—the Silk Road.

The Silk Road The first records of travel and trade along the SilkRoad date to the Han Dynasty, around 114 B.C. On the mapbelow, you can see the route of the 4,000-mile long Silk Road.Along it, the Chinese carried not only silk but also much-desired items such as porcelain, tea, incense, and spices.Travelers on the Silk Road faced many natural hazards—extreme heat, lack of water, sandstorms in the desert, andblizzards and altitude sickness in the mountains. Also, rob-bers lurked on the trade routes. Nevertheless, the Silk Roadstayed in use until sea routes to Asia proved safer and untilthe Ming Dynasty decided to limit foreign trade.

Porcelain People often refer to fine pottery as china. The termactually refers to porcelain, a delicate but strong type of ceramicthat the Chinese made from a kind of clay called kaolin(KAY•uh•lihn). When fired in a kiln, the clay changes into a hard,glassy substance. As with silk, the Chinese kept the method forproducing porcelain secret for many years after its invention dur-ing the Tang Dynasty.

Movement •Porcelain was an importanttrade item thatthe Chinese carried along theSilk Road. �

Writing During the Shang Dynasty, theChinese developed a written language. As incuneiform, the Chinese system at first usedpictograms to represent objects or ideas.Later, they simplified the pictograms intosymbols, called characters, that do not lookexactly like what they represent. About50,000 characters exist in the Chinese writ-ten language. Most words are made up of

compound graphs—two or more characters usedtogether. Both the Japanese and Koreans useChinese characters in their writing systems.

The Great Builders The ancient Chinese builtlarge construction projects like the Great Wall.Many emperors ordered the building of canals.The most important of these was the GrandCanal, which allowed grain from fertile river val-leys to be carried more easily to the cities.Construction began on the first segment of the canal in the 600s B.C. Today, it extends formore than 1,000 miles to connect the northerncity of Beijing with the southern city ofHangzhou (hahng•joh).

686 CHAPTER 23

Imagine you lived in ancient China. Write a journal entry describingyour experience with one of the religions that developed in China.

SECTION ASSESSMENT

Using Graphics2. Make a time line like the one

below to show the dates ofChinese inventions.

Main Ideas3. (a) How did the Chinese incorpo-

rate Confucianism into theirgovernment?

(b) Why did the Chinese try tokeep their process for makingsilk secret?

(c) In the Chinese writing system,what do characters stand for?

Critical Thinking4. Drawing Conclusions

More than just goods for tradetraveled along the Silk Road. Whatelse did the Silk Road bring to thepeople living along it?

Think About◆ the different cultures that existed

along the Silk Road◆ the people and ideas that traveled

along the Silk Road

Terms & Names(a) dynasty (b) Genghis Khan (c) Kublai Khan (d) Confucius

(e) bureaucracy ( f ) Taoism (g) Lao Tzu

The Longest Wall Stretching forabout 1,500 miles across northernChina, the Great Wall is the world’slongest structure. Constructionbegan in the 600s B.C. with a num-ber of fortified walls to keep outinvaders. Later, a series of emperorsordered the walls to be connected.In the 1400s, damaged sectionswere rebuilt and new portions wereadded, giving the Great Wall itspresent form.

Building the Great Wall requiredthe labor of thousands of workersusing pounded earth, bricks, andstones. When the wall was finished,over a million soldiers stood guardin its watchtowers. Today, touristsfrom around the world come to seethe Great Wall, which symbolizesChina’s long history. (See photo-graph on pages 662–663.)

Culture • Chinesecharacters likethese are drawnwith brushesdipped in ink. �

2640 B.C.INVENTION OF SILK

1. Explain thesignificance of: