Ancient China-Bob Jones University World History Course

Ancient China in one blog post, now way so here is an abbreviated version of a few interesting facts.

~China is one of the oldest civilizations dating back to (ca. 100 BC).

The Yellow River

~The ancient Chinese civilization was built along two main rivers, the Yellow River (Huang He) which is in the north and the Yangtze which is in the south.  This is in the Neolithic Era timezone.

~Ancient China was rather isolated which left them with little contact to the outside world.

~We can thanks the Ancient Chinese people for a number of things which include printing, gunpowder, the compass, paper, kites, chopsticks, the bow and arrow, fireworks, acupuncture, toilet paper, tea, ice cream, making silk from silkworms, badminton, dragon boat races, the decimal systems, the concept of blood flowing through the body, wheelbarrows, paper money, dominoes, and porcelain dishes.

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~It is widely believed that there is evidence that humans were in Ancient China more than a half a million years ago.  The reason for this is because paleontologists discovered the "Peking Man" in the Zhoukourdian cave in China.

~The Ancient Chinese had three major religions which include Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daosim.

Yin and Yang

~Another amazing fact is that it is believed that giant pandas existed in China around three million years ago.

~Ancient China was governed by dynasties.  A dynasty is the type of government that is ruled by a family with close ties to each other.  These dynasties were often cruel to the people of Ancient China.

~Unbelievably, the last dynasty was the Ch'ing Dynasty which was overthrown in 1912.  1912?  That was not that long ago.

~Here is a list of the major dynasties.
Xia (2205 to 1575 BC) - The first dynasty in China.
Shang (1570 to 1045 BC) - The Shang Dynasty which ruled from Yellow River.
Zhou (1045 to 256 BC) - The longest ruling dynasty.
Qin (221 BC to 206 BC) - This is when the empires began.  This is also the same time period that The Great Wall of China was started. 
Han (206 BC to 220 AD) - The Han dynasty wanted to create a more civil government.
Six Dynasties (222 to 581 AD) - This is the time that Ancient China was not united under one specific leader. 
Sui (589 to 618 AD) - More expansion of the Great Wall during this dynasty.
Tang (618 - 907) - The Tang Dynasty brought a little peace to Ancient China and a little more wealth.  This is also know as the Golden Age of Ancient China.
Five Dynasties (907 - 960) - This dynasty included a group of peasants which rebelled against the Tang Dynasty.  
Song (960 - 1279) -During the Song Dynasty, China became a world leader the fields of technology and science.
Yuan (1279 - 1368) - And now enters the infamous Kublai Khan-the leader of the Mongols.  Nice fella he was.
Ming (1368 - 1644) - It was during this dynasty that the Great Wall was completed and the Forbidden City was built.  The Forbidden City was a massive palace built for the emperor.  The Mongols were also defeated during this time period.

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~It is interesting to note that chopsticks were created because in Ancient China, they would cut their food into small pieces for faster cooking giving us chopsticks.

~I am pretty sure everyone has heard of the Great Wall of China but why was it there?  The Great Wall initially started out as small walls with no connection to each other in north China.  This was to protect China from nomadic tribes.  These tribes would often raid the villages in Northern China.   That changed during the Qin Dynasty and changed further during the Ming Dynasty which led to the Great Wall of China being connected thus forming one great wall.

So that is what we learned about.  I think that is a lot of interesting info.  Thank goodness for Ancient China.
Look at the amazing inventions they have provided us all.

Ancient China on Pinterest
Ducksters
Kids Konnect
My other blog post on China and Ancient China can be found here.

goodbye