Post on 16-Jan-2016
transcript
Ancient India vs. Ancient China
India Geography North ChinaSouth Asian Plain of Indus Huang He (Yellow River)
Periodic flooding=renewal of fertile soil
Humid subtropical climate=difficulty storing food
Himalaya Mts.=shielded from winter cold and invasions
Monsoons and snowmelt=abundant water supply and maritime trade (later)
Passes in northwest=contact with Middle East
Floods carry loess=renewal of soil fertility
Much mountainous and semidesert land=settlement only along rivers
Violent flooding=dike building for control
Mountain, desert, and jungle barriers=cultural isolation=unique/homogeneous culture
Climate split between arid, cool north and wet, warm south
India Political Patterns China
Centralized gov’t evident in prominence of logically planned cities with public buildings and services
Small feudal kingdoms later unified by Zhou Dynasty
Expansion from ShangZhouQin
Highly centralized autocracy and unification later under the Qin Dynasty
Dynastic Cycle and idea of Mandate of Heaven
Mandate of Heaven
India Social/Economic China
Trade with Mesopotamia, South India, and Afghanistan
Uncertainty about how society was organized; small republics, rule by priests, or early form of caste system(Minimal evidence=little definite knowledge)
Undecipherable writing
Elaborately planned cities, standardized weights and measures, architectural design
Unlike other civilizations, it produced no palaces, temples, elaborate graves, kings, or warrior class
King, aristocratic ruling class, and bureaucracy made up of warrior families
Peasant farmers and slaves
Artisan/craft workers
Merchants
Patriarchal
Impressive cultural continuity into modern times
India Religious China Importance of
fertility=worship of mother goddess
Clay tablet images of gods=prototypes of Hindu deities?
Clay animal figures=great respect for livestock such as cows?
King worshipped as mediator between people and gods=ruler was “son of heaven”
Early written language with oracle bones as early documents
Early worship of dead royalty set pattern for ancestor veneration
Confucianism=secular belief in ethical conduct and social harmony
Taoism=philosophy focusing on living in harmony with laws of nature
Interactions/technologyDecline of Indus valley due to change in geographic patterns
shifted people east
Aryans migrate from Central Asia into northwest India (modern day Pakistan) bringing language and cultural traditions including the Vedas, caste system, and beliefs that would become Hinduism
China is isolated due to geography=lack of outside contact=self-sufficiency, unique culture, ethnocentrism (middle kingdom)
Gradually populations move to warmer, wetter climates that can sustain bigger populations on rice
Crossbow, horses and the chariot from Central Asia will become essential to military victories
Bronze used in weapons and religious vessels