India and China, 3000 BCE to 500 CE

Early Civilization in India New Empires in India Early Chinese Civilizations Rise and Fall of Chinese Empire

Early Civilization in India

Objectives: 1. Describe how Indias earliest cities provided the foundation for the Aryans 2. Examine the caste systema set of rigid social categories in Indian society

The Land of India

The Indian subcontinent, isolated by the Indian Ocean, the Himalaya, and dense jungle *Himalaya, the highest mountains in the world *Ganges River, a chief region of Indian culture

The Indus River valley, a relatively dry plateau that forms the backbone of the modern state of Pakistan *Deccan, a plateau that extends from the Ganges Valley to the southern tip of India

*Monsoon, a seasonal wind pattern in southern Asia Throughout history Indian farmers have depended on these rains brought by the Monsoons to grow their crops

Indias First Civilization As in Mesopotamia and Egypt, early civilization in India and China emerged in river valleys Between 3000 BCE and 1500 BCE, the valleys of the Indus River supported a ourishing civilization The major cities Harappa and Mohenjo-Darothe Indus civilization

Harappa and MohenjoDaro

Harappa35,000 inhabitants; Mohenjo-Daro35,000 to 40,000 Walled cities and building made of mud brick; public wells, advanced drainage systems A system of chutes took household trash from houses to street-level garbage bins. Only a well-organized government could have maintained such carefully structured cities

Rulers and the Economy The Indus River ooded every year, providing rich soil for the growing of wheat, barley, and peas, the chief crops Much of this trade was carried by ship via the *Persian Gulf

The Arrival of the Aryans Who Were the Aryans? around 1500 BCE, a grouped of nomadic peoples known as the *Aryans moved south across the Hindu Kush mountain range into the plains of northern India

Aryan Ways of Life

Organized in groups, the Aryans were a pastoral people with a strong warrior tradition The introduction of iron, transforming regular farming The creation of the iron plow, along with the use of irrigation, made it possible for the Aryans to clear the dense jungle growth along the Ganges River and turn it into a rich farming area

Aryans had no written language by 1000 BCE, *Sanskritthe written language of the Aryans was developed Various Aryan leaders, known as *rajas (princes), had carved out small states

Society in Ancient India Indias Social System

The *caste system of ancient India was a set of rigid social categories that determined not only a persons occupation and economic potential, but also his or her position in society *caste (jati) In addition to the jati, Indian society was broadly divided into four major social classes called varnas

The priests and the warrior (the top varna); *Brahmans, priestly class; *Kshatriyas, warriors *Vaisyas, commoners (merchants or farmers) *Sudras, peasants (manual labor) *Untouchables, menial degrading tasks (trash, dead bodies, nonhuman)

The Family in Ancient India Equal-class marriage Arranged marriage Dowry Sutteerequired a wife to throw herself on her dead husbands aming funeral pyre

Hinduism
*Hinduism had its origins in the religious beliefs of the Aryan peoples who settled in India after 1500 BCE Early Hindus believed in the existence of a single force in the universeBrahman It was the duty of the individual self, the atman, to seek to know this ultimate reality *Reincarnation is the belief that the individual soul is reborn in a different form after death

*Karma, the force generated by a persons actions that determined how the person will be reborn The concept of *dharma, or divine law, ruled karmarequiring all that they do their duty Reincarnation provided a religious basis for the rigid divisions in Indian society

*Yoga, a method of training designed to lead to a union, or oneness, with God Hundreds of deities were included in Hinduismincluding the three chief deities: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer often seen collectively as the Brahman

Buddhism
In the sixth century, *Buddhism appeared in northern India and soon became a rival of Hinduism *Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha Enlightened One

The Story of the Buddha

The foothills of the Himalaya in c. 563 BCE to a ruling family Protected from pain and suffering, but suddenly encountered both In reaction, he followed the example of the *ascetics who practiced self-denial, but nearly starved to death Entered a period of meditation, through which he reached enlightenment

The Basic Principles of Buddhism

To reach *nirvana, one must believed the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path 1. Ordinary life is full of suffering 2. This suffering is caused by our desire to satisfy ourselves 3. The way to end suffering is to end desire for selsh goals and to see others as extensions of ourselves 4. The way to end desire is to follow the Middle Path

1. Right view: We need to know the Four Noble Truths 2. Right intention: We need to decide what we really want 3. Right speech: We must seek to speak truth and to speak well of others 4. Right action: The Buddha gave ve preceptsdo not kill, steal, lie, be unchaste, drink alcohol, take drugs 5. Right livelihood: We must do work that uplifts our being 6. Right Effort 7. Right mindfulness: keep our minds under control 8. Right concentration: we must meditate to see the world in a new way

Objectives: 1. Describe how Indias earliest cities provided the foundation for the Aryans 2. Examine the caste systema set of rigid social categories in Indian society

New Empires in India

Objectives: 1. Discuss why the Mauryan dynasty ourished under asoka 2. Summarize how the Kushan kingdom prospered 3. Identify the contributions of the Gupta Empire in the areas of literature, architecture, and science

The Mauryan Dynasty

India faced new threats from the west, rst from *Persia, which extended its empire into western India Alexander the Greats conquest into western India gave rise to the rst dynasty to control much of Indiaa consequence of external incursion leading to unication

The Founding of the Mauryan Dynasty Chandragupta Maurya drove out the foreign forces and established the capital of his new Mauryan Empire in northern India The king divided his empire into provinces, using large armies and a secret police that followed his orders

The Reign of Asoka The Mauryan Empire ourished during the reign of *Asoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya greatest ruler in the history of India Buddhism set up hospitals for both people and animals After Asokas death in 232 BCE, the Mauryan Empire began to decline

The Kushan Kingdom and the Silk Road

A number of new kingdoms arose along the edges of India in Bactria, known today as Afghanistan Nomadic warriors seized power and established a new Kushan kingdom The Kushans spread over northern India as far as the central Ganges Valley

The Kushans prospered from trade between India and the Mediterranean Sealargely through the *Silk Road (called so because silk was Chinas most valuable product) The Silk Road, which had arisen sometime between 200 BCE and 100 CE, from *Changan, through Mesopotamia, to the Mediterranean Only luxury goods were carried on the Silk Road, due to the danger and expense of travel silk, spices, teas, ivory, textiles, pepper, and porcelain

The Kingdom of the Guptas

The Kushan kingdom came to an end in the third century CE, when invaders from Persia overran it Samugragupta, expanded the empire into surrounding areas Eventually the new kingdom of the Guptas became the dominant political force throughout northern India The greatest of its culture was reported by Chinese traveler, *Faxian, who spent several years there in the 5th century

The Gupta Empire actively engaged in trade with China, Southeast Asia, and the Mediterranean Much of their wealth came from religious trade as *pilgrims from across India and as far away as China came to visit the major religious centers Beginning in the late fth century CE, invasions by nomadic *Huns from the northwest gradually reduced the power of the empire

The World of Indian Culture

Literature: A Lasting Legacy The earliest known Indian literature comes from the Aryan tradition in the form of the *Vedas After the Aryan conquest of India and the development of a writing system, the Vedas were written down in Sanskrit Indias great historical epics Mahabharata and Ramayana

The Mahabharata consists of over ninety thousand stanzas, making it the longest poem in any written language The most famous section of the book, the *Bhagavad Gita, is a sermon by the god Krishna The Ramayana is an account of the ctional ruler Rama, banished from the kingdom and forced to live as a hermit in the forest One of ancient Indias most famous authors was *Kalidasa, who lived during the Gupta dynasty

Architecture The desire to spread the ideas of Gautama Buddha inspired the creation of great architecture: the pillar, the stupa, and the rock chamber Many stone pillars were erected along side roads to mark sites related to events in Buddhas life A stupa was originally meant to house a relic of Buddha Early architecture was the rock chamber, carved out of rock cliffs in which monks lived

Science
Many recognized that Earth was a sphere that rotated on its axis and revolved around the sun *Aryabhata, the most famous mathematician of the Gupta Empire, was one of the rst scientists known to have used Algebra the concept of Zero (0) and the adoption of it by Arabs

Objectives: 1. Discuss why the Mauryan dynasty ourished under asoka 2. Summarize how the Kushan kingdom prospered 3. Identify the contributions of the Gupta Empire in the areas of literature, architecture, and science

Early Chinese Civilization

Objectives: 1. Characterize the rise and fall pattern of Chinese dynasties 2. Identify how the three schools of thought about the nature of humans and the universe emerged

The Geography of China

The *Huang He, or Yellow River, stretches across China for more than 2,900 milesyellow silt from *Mongolia to the Pacic Ocean The *Chang Jiang, or Yangtze River which empties into the *Yellow Sea Only 10 percent of the total land area is suitable for farming, compared with 19 percent of the United Statesthe rest being mountains and deserts

Geographical barriers mountains and deserts isolated the Chinese people from peoples in other parts of Asia Contact with the Chinese were often marked by conict. The northern frontier of China became one of the areas of conict in Asia as Chinese armies tried to protect their precious farmlands

The Shang Dynasty

Early Chinese civilization traditionally was founded by the *Xia dynasty four thousand years ago The second dynasty, the *Shang dynasty (c. 1750 to 1045 BCE), largely farming society ruled by an *aristocracyis an upper class whose wealth is based on land and whose power is passed on from one generation to another

Political and Social Structures

The king was also responsible for defending the realm, and he controlled large armies, which often fought on the fringes of the kingdom These kings communicated with the gods through the use of oracle bones The king and his family were at the top of Shang society supported by the aristocracyruling over the peasants

Religion and Culture under the Shang

The early Chinese had a strong belief in life after death. Remains of human sacrices found in royal tombs From this belief in an afterlife would come the idea of the veneration of ancestors ancestor worship The practice of burning replicas of physical objects to accompany the depart on their journey to the next world; It was important to treat the spirits well

The Zhou Dynasty

According to legend, the last of the Shang rulers was a wicked tyrant who swam in ponds of wine This led the aggressive ruler of the state of Zhou to revolt against the Shang and establish a new *Zhou dynasty (800 years) the longest-lasting dynasty in Chinese history

Political Structure The Zhou dynasty continued the political system of the rulers it had overthrown They fashioned an increasingly large and complex bureaucracythe king was seen as the link between Heaven and Earth

The Mandate of Heaven

The Zhou dynasty claimed that it ruled China because it possessed the *Mandate of Heaven Heavenimpersonal law of nature through which order in the universe is kept through the Zhou king The king was expected to rule according to the proper way called the *Daothe duty to keep the gods pleased to keep natural disaster It set a right to revolution to overthrow a corrupt or evil ruler

Each founder of a new dynasty would say that he had earned the Mandate of Heaven A continual cyclea new dynasty established its power, ruled successfully for many years, and then began to decline

The Fall of the Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou kingdom had been divided into several small territories, and some of these territories began to evolve into powerful states that challenged the Zhou ruler Iron weapons, more powerful than bronze weapons weapons, came into usecrossbow, a Chinese invention

Life during the Zhou Dynasty

The peasants worked on lands owned by their lord, but they also had land of their own, which they farmed for their own Trade in this period involved the exchange of local products that were used on an everyday basis

Economic and Technological Growth

Signicant economic growth and technological change Irrigation was in wide use and large scale water project were set in motion The use of iron had led to the development of iron plowshares, which made it possible to plow land that had not yet been used for farming One of the most important items of trade in ancient China was silk, found as far away as Athens, Greece

The Family in Ancient China The family served as the basic economic and social unit At the heart of the concept of family in China was the idea of *lial pietythe duty of members of the family to subordinate, a system in which every family member had his or her place Male supremacy was a key element in the social system of ancient China

The Chinese Written Language

The most important cultural contribution of ancient China to later Chinese society was the creation and development of the Chinese written language It was primarily pictographic and ideographic in form Characters and Ideographs are characters that combine two or more pictographs to represent an idea

The Chinese Philosophies

Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism Hindus and Buddhists focused on the human soul and rebirth, Chinese philosophers were concerned the immediate world and how to create a stable order

Confucianism
*Confucius, the First Teacher born in 551 BCEhe hoped to get a job as a political adviser A faithful band of followers revered him as a great teacher, recorded his sayings in the Analects *Confucianism fashioned around his teachings

China was faced with one basic question: how to restore order to this society Confuciuss interest in philosophy was political and ethicalnot spiritual The key to proper behavior was to behave in accordance with the Dao: duty and humanity Five relationships: parent and child, husband and wife, older sibling and younger, older friend and younger, ruler and subject

Daoism
a system of ideas based on the teachings of *Laozi, a contemporary of Confucius The chief ideas of Daoism are discussed in a short work known as Tao Te Ching Daoists believe that the true way to follow the will of Heaven is not action but inactionact spontaneously and let nature take its course by not interfering with it

Legalism
proposed that human beings were evil by nature harsh laws and stiff punishments Legalists believed that a strong ruler was required to create an orderly society People were not capable of being goodfear of harsh punishment would cause the common people to serve the interests of the ruler

Objectives: 1. Characterize the rise and fall pattern of Chinese dynasties 2. Identify how the three schools of thought about the nature of humans and the universe emerged

Rise and Fall of Chinese Empires

Objectives: 1. Describe the establishment of the strong central governments of the Qin and Han dynasties and why they became the basis for future dynasties 2. Summarize the technical and cultural achievements made during the Qin and Han dynasties, including the invention of paper and written literary classics

The Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE

400 to 200 BCE, China experienced bloody civil war In 221 BCE, the Qin ruler declared the creation of a new dynasty *Qin Shihuangdithe rst Qin Emperor

Changes under the Qin Dynasty

*The Qin dynasty changed Chinese politics. Legalism was adopted as the regimes ofcial ideology Books presenting ideas opposed to the ofcial views were publicly burned

Fashioning of a centralized state and the creation of a *censorate inspectors who checked on government ofcials to make sure they were doing their jobs which reported directly to the throne Qin Shihuangdi unied the Chinese world and was particularly aggressive in foreign affairsadvancing into Vietnam and extending the Chinese borders

The Great Wall

The Qin emperors major foreign concern was in the north A nomadic people known to the Chinese as the *Xiongnu lived to the north near the *Gobi desert The Xiongnu had mastered the art of ghting on horseback *Great Wall of Chinathe defense against the tribes to the North, constructed of loose stone, sand, or piled rubble

The Fall of the Qin Dynasty

Following Qin Shihuangdis death, a period of civil war erupted resulting in a new dynasty taking power

The Han Dynasty (202 BCE to 220 CE) One of the greatest and most long-lasting dynasties in Chinese history is the *Han dynasty founded by *Liu Bang, a peasant origin who became known by his title of Han Gaozu

Political Structure Confucian principles, rather than Legalism, soon became the basis for the creation of a new state philosophy The Han rulers also kept the system of local government that divided the empire into provinces and counties Under the Han dynasty, China was a vast empire whose population increased dramatically

Expansion of the Empire In addition to providing a strong central government, the Han emperor continued to expand the Chinese Empire *Han Wudi added the southern regions below the Chang Jiang into the empire

Technology in the Han Empire New technology added to the economic prosperity of the Han Era Textile manufacturing, water mills for grinding grain, iron casting, rudder and foreand-aft rigging Heavy cargoes to travel, particularly into the *Indian Ocean

The Fall of the Han Empire

Han Empire began to fall into decay Weak rulers amused themselves with the pleasures of court life, the power of the central government began to decline Nomadic raids on Chinese territory continued in the north Rebel armies sacked the Han capital in 190 CE; A general seized control but was unable to solidify power, leading to civil war

Culture in Qin and Han China

terra-cotta (hardened clay) soldiers a re-creation of Qin Shihuangdis imperial guard and was meant to be with the emperor on his journey to the next world Six thousand gures were found in the rst pit alone molded, red, and painted

Objectives: 1. Describe the establishment of the strong central governments of the Qin and Han dynasties and why they became the basis for future dynasties 2. Summarize the technical and cultural achievements made during the Qin and Han dynasties, including the invention of paper and written literary classics