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INDEX

About Ancient China People of Chinese Civilization Religion (Dynasties) Geography Town Planning Impact & Heritage Writing Cod of law Art and Architecture Famous Monuments Economy Discoveries & Inventions Decline of Civilization

Ancient China

River based civilization

One of the places with greatest number of monuments

A place with different emperors & rulers

A nature friendly ancient country

People`

Top group:-

Kings , queens &prines

Middle group:-

Designers , builders & artists

Bottom group:-

Goveronment, farmers , slaves & workers

Religion(Dynasties)

Chinese civilization had 4 main dynasties :- Shang dynasty (1570 to 1045 )bce .Capitial an-yang city.

Zhou dynasty (1045 to 256 )bce.capital city haojing.

Qin dynasty (221 to 206 BC)bce.capital city xianyang.

Han dynasty .(206 to 220)ce.capital city Chang-An.

Info……

Shang dynasty Ruled over a small area

Had outside walls for protection

Frequent invasions took pace

Rulers were very strong but had to fight much.

Zhou dynasty -ox-drawn ploughs began to be used.

Large-scale irrigation & water irrigation increased.

Horseback riding intoruced

Construction of road & canals improved communication within kingdom.

Qin dynasty Most powerful dynasty

Built great wall of china

Good government

Uniting different warring parts

Han dynasty Good administration

3 main ministers look after war,land & money matter

Improved agriculture

Money used in trade

Emperors built beautiful palaces out of timber

Name of Emperors

King Tang King Wu

Qin shi Huangdi Liu Bang

Geography

Yellow river

ONE OF THE MIGHTY RIVERS

Yangtze river ONE OF THE GREATEST RIVERS

HIMALYAN MOUNTAINS

THE PROTECTION BORDER OF CHINA

PROTECTED FROM NORTHERN THIEVES OF SOME PARTS OF MONGOLIA

DESERTS

Deserts

To the north west is gobi/talkamakan desert

Protected from northern invaders .

An important source of protection

One of coldest deserts

Town planning

Walled urban centers

for trade

For business

For transport

For politics

For services

Cultural perfomances

Eg:-forbidden city

How most cities were designed?

Under the emperor’s command.

Discussion among scholars, philosophers, builders

Combination of heaven, earth and humankind.

Feng Shui (maintain harmony), Ying guo (system of urban design and mgt), Feng li (neighborhood design).

Courtyards were used as common public space, gardening and natural landscape combined with bodies of water to enrich the environment.

Within the city, market on first floor and residential on the second floor.

Unity was reflected at all levels-the neighborhood faced a common internal courtyard- each created a nesting pattern.

“well-field system”

basic geometric and

legal module of urban-

regional planning.

DESIGN

PRINCIPLES

Impact & heritage

Unity of country

Famous administrations

Teaching of Confucius

The pictograms

Famous script writing

Writings

The earliest writing is from shang period.

Most decisions took time.oracle (signs through which gods answered)was conducted before it.

To scratch writing oracle animal&tortoise shell & bones were used.

Pictograms were used

Cod of law

Article IEvery man should most carefully carry out all the duties required by filial piety (respect for parents) and in accordance with the deference (obedience) owed by the younger brother to the elder ...

Article II One should always hold the family ancestors in the greatest respect ...

Article III ... quarrels and legal actions should be avoided as far as possible.

Article VI Care should be given to the efficient running of the public schools.

Article IX The people should often be reminded of the penal laws ...

Article XVI Outbursts of anger should be kept under control to avoid greater dangers ensuing.

Art & Architecture

Calligraphy - This is art of handwriting. The Ancient Chinese considered writing an important form of art. Calligraphers would practice foryears to learn to write perfectly, but with style. Each of the over 40,000 characters needed to be drawn precisely. In addition, each stroke in a character had to be drawn in a specific order.

Poetry - Poetry was an important form of art as well. Great poets were famous throughout the empire, but all educated people were expected to write poetry. During the Tang Dynasty poetry became so important that writing poetry was part of the examinations tobecome a civil servant and work for the government.

Painting - Painting was often inspired by poetry and combined with calligraphy. Many paintings were landscapes that featured mountains, homes, birds, trees, and water.

Porcelain

Fine Chinese porcelain was not only an important art, but also became an important export. During the Ming Dynasty blue and white vases became highly prized and were sold to the wealthy throughout Europe and Asia. There are many types of other potteries

Silk

The Ancient Chinese mastered the art of making silk from the spun cocoons of silkworms. They kept this technique secret for hundreds of years as silk was desired by other nations and enabled China to become rich. They also dyed silk into intricate and decorative patterns.

Lacquer

The Ancient Chinese often used lacquer in their art. Lacquer is a clear coating made from the sap of sumac trees. It was used to add beauty and shine to many pieces of art. It also helped to protect art from getting damaged, especially from bugs.

Ancient pagodas

A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves, built in traditions originating

in historic East Asia or with respect to those traditions, common

to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Burma and other parts of

Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas

were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist, and were

often located in or near viharas. In some countries, the term may refer to

other religious structures. In Vietnam and Cambodia, due to French

translation, the English term

Pagoda is a more generic term referring to a place of worship,

although pagoda is not an accurate word to describe a Buddhist vihara.

The modern pagoda is an evolution of the Ancient Nepal stupa, a tomb-like

structure where sacred relics could be kept safe and venerated.[1] The

architectural structure of the stupa has spread across Asia, taking on many

diverse forms as details specific to different regions are incorporated into

the overall design

Monuments

Great Wall Of China

Built :220-206 bce

Who :Qin shi huangdi

Height :16m

Area: 6,000 kms long

Silk Road

Built :206-221 ce

Who : liu bang

Area :6437 kms

ForBidden City

Built :1406 to 1420

Location :north china

Who:ming emperor

Forbidden City, Beijing Palace Museum, Chinese Imperial Palace. Lying at the city center and called Gu Gong in Chinese, it was the imperial palace for twenty-four emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties

Terracotta Army Museum

It is a museum in south east china

Displays ancient terracotta armies & soldiers

One of the biggest ancient museums

Has real & clay made armies

Ancient Chinese people traded salt, iron, fish, cattle, and silk.

Silk was traded for goods and services – Silk route

Through the famous Silk Route, they also traded externally: goods from China could wind up in Greece.

At the eastern end of the route, the Chinese traded with people from India, providing them with silk and getting lapis lazuli, coral, jade, glass, and pearls in exchange.

Fish, farmed and irrigated the land

The ancient Chinese first used cowrie shells for money in China as early as 1800 BC.

Then people used metal imitations of cowrie shells, and then metal strings of beads called cash.

Economy

Economy

• Cowry shells were used as the medium of exchange / money in the late Xia Dynasty (21st

century BC).

• Those from the Shang Dynasty usually had “teeth” on one side and a hole for stringing on

the flat polished other side.

• As natural cowries were limited in quantity, copies made of stone, other seashells, bone and

bronze were also in circulation.

• Bronze replicas of cowries became the first Chinese cast coins.

http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/china/china1.htm

inventions

Silk - Silk was a soft and light material much desired by the wealthy throughout the world. It became such a valuable export that the trade route running from Europe to China became known as the Silk Road. The Chinese learned how to make silk from the cocoons ofsilkworms. They managed to keep the process for making silk a secret for hundreds of years.

Paper - Paper was invented by the Chinese as well as many interesting uses for paper like paper money and playing cards. The first paper was invented in the 2nd century BC and the manufacture later perfected around 105 AD.

Printing - Wood block printing was invented in AD 868 and then moveable type around 200 years later. This was actually hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in Europe.

The Compass - The Chinese invented the magnetic compass to help determine the correct direction. They used this in city planning at first, but it became very important to map makers and for the navigation of ships.

Gunpowder - Gunpowder was invented in the 9th century by chemists trying to find the Elixir of Immortality. Not long after, engineers figured out how to use gunpowder for military uses such as bombs, guns, mines, and even rockets. They also invented fireworks and made great beautiful displays of fireworks for celebrations.

Boat Rudder - The rudder was invented as a way to steer large ships. This enabled the Chinese to build huge ships as early as 200 AD, well before they were ever built in Europe.

Other - Other inventions include the umbrella, porcelain, the wheelbarrow, iron casting, hot air balloons, seismographs to measure earthquakes, kites, matches, stirrups for riding horses, and acupuncture.

Discoveries

Porcelain

A far cry from the potentially life-saving seismographic invention of the Chinese comes the aesthetically

pleasing discovery of porcelain, which was a type of pottery made with kaolin clay. The fortuitous

discovery of how to make this type of ceramic material also probably came during the Han Dynasty. The

full form of white porcelain came later, probably during the T'ang Dynasty. Today porcelain may be

better known as a material used in bathrooms than crockery. It is also used in dentistry as a crown

replacement for natural teeth.

Tea

Tea has been so important in China that even the story of silk includes a probably anachronistic cup of it.

Legend says silk was discovered when a cocoon fell from a mulberry bush into a cup of imperial tea. This

is similar to the legend of the discovery of tea where an emperor (Shen Nung (2737 B.C.)) drank a cup of

water into which leaves from an overhanging Camellia bush had fallen.

Images

Inventions Discoveries

Decline

About 100 A.D. the Han started to decline. The bureaucracy became corrupt and the power of the central government

weakened.

Local landlords became more powerful as government control and supervision declined.

They increased the tax burden on the peasants and took many of their farms.

As peasant unrest grew, a revolutionary movement emerged called the Yellow Turban.

The Yellow Turbans were Daoists; their attempts at revolution failed.

Compounding this political weakness and peasant unrest was the effect of several devastating epidemics that wiped

out nearly half the population.

With all this internal turmoil,

the weakened Han dynasty could not fend off the advance of the Hun invaders.

Even though the Han fell and initiated a period of chaos, there was not a permanent disruption of Chinese civilization.

Briefly, the Sui dynasty ruled.Then in 618 the Tang dynasty emerged as one of the most glorious in Chinese history.

They reinstated Confucian thought and revived and improved upon the Han style of bureaucracy.

After the Hun invasions and the fall of the Han dynasty, the Chinese never had to reinvent their civilization

DONE BY :- DHAVAL , AUM V, SHYAM V , SHYAM K ,JENIL ,

DEVAM & TRISHAL

MAIN HEPLERS:-

&Trishal