I. China in the Classical Period: 1000 b.c.e – 500 c.e. 1. Time Line of Events: 1600-1100 b.c.e- Shang =>
1100 b.c.e- Decimals created =>
1029 b.c.e-Creation of Zhou Dynasty =>
551 b.c.e - Confucius is born =>
500 b.c.e. - Editing of 5 classics, Laozi (Daoism) =>
478 b.c.e. - Death of Confucius =>
450 b.c.e. - Development of Calendar =>
400 b.c.e. – Crossbow used =>
402-201 b.c.e. - Era of Warring State =>
275 b.c.e. – Cast Iron Process =>
221 b.c.e. - Qin begins, Great Wall Begun, Single Language => 220 b.c.e. - Ox Plow, Horse Collar, Water Mill =>
202 b.c.e. – Fall of Qin =>
202 b.c.e - Rise of Han =>
141 – 87 b.c.e. – Wu Ti - Bureaucracy, Confucianism, Exams => 125 b.c.e. - Negative Numbers used =>
86 b.c.e. - Crop Rotation used =>
100 c.e. – Wheelbarrow invented =>
100 c.e. – Buddhism Spreads in China =>
105 c.e. – Paper invented =>
200 c.e. – Silk Worms imported to China =>
220 c.e. - Fall of Han =>
250 c.e. – Earliest Algebra Book Written =>
271 c.e. – Earliest Compass invented =>
485 c.e. – Tsu Chung Chi accurately calculates pi =>
220 c.e. - 589 c.e. – Era of Warring States
2. Old Stuff – Foundations A. Shang China
- Developed around the Hwang Ho River
- Controlled Northern China, with a strong military
- Very little contact with the world and considered themselves to be the center of it (surprise! not)
- Developed Ethnocentrism, considered China “All under Heaven”
> Viewed all other civilizations as Barbaric
- Traded with Mesopotamia only
- Family extremely important, multiple generations in one household - Patriarchal Society
- Ancestor Worship
- Ideographic Symbols
- Interested in Art and Music
China 1
- **Little is known because historians threw in a lot of Mythology when telling the stories of the Shang** 3. Back to the Classics
A. Zhou Dynasty - 1029 – 258 b.c.e.
-Wu Wang ousts the Shang Dynasty by means of introducing the “Mandate of Heaven”
- Ruled China for nearly 900 years
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