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Home , Filial piety

The First Chinese trto Civilieations &c.-a.o.2OO

Thinking on Your Own Readthe FocusYour Readingquestions and the vocabulary words.Write the vocabularywords in your notebook"Discuss the possiblemeanings with a partner.As you read,write the meaningsnext to the words.Then use eachword in a sentence that shows the word's meaning.

ike early civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indian subcontinent, How is early Chinese the first civilization in China civilizationsimilar to early civilizationsin other world e? began in a river valley. The regions? Huang He Valley is in Why are the Xia and Shang ns eastern China. It was here Dynastiesimportant? I that farming began in China. What was the Mandateof ou Like the Tigris, Euphrates, Heaven? rd Nile, and Indus Rivers, the What was the traditional Chinesefamilv like? Huang He River flooded. When the river returned to its banks, it left rich ancestorworship soil behind. mandate Like other people, the dynasticcycle Chinese had to learn to build dikes to control the river. extendedfamily They also learned to dig irrigation systems to water their fields. Every few years, the floods of the Huang FIe were very destructive. There was so much water that the dikes could not hold back the river. The river roared out of the dikes and over the land. Thousands of people and farm animals drowned. Flouses, tools, and crops were destroyed. The Chinese beean to call the Huane He the "river of sorrows."

Early ChineseCivilizations 157 rhe First Dvnastig=:.I11, 3..:lr"::" ,n" i;;; * 1i*!'l1']':tJ;3.H"" "",',,LiJ,',l;" from *::t!;'mli"'#;n'."r''=,".':":'l;l'.",1'"Ti:1:i:around'ttul^"^i'^'#;;;";;*n aboutthe Xia comes no written recoro' ;; i"{,. u''t'r---:' +Loir .'iwilization in il"T:TT"":H#il*"o^'was based*::"::H:il"on rarming' :l:;ffi';:'ff;';'* some of Ho*".r""-at least cities' the peoPle lived in to The Xia knew how make bronze tools' also Archeologists have and large found. Pottery tombs. Tang' Legend saYs that the leader of the Shang (sH,tHxc) PeoPle' Xia overthrew the last the ruler. Tang established Shang DYnas{r around Xia' 1750 r,'c' Like the were farmers' the Shang W )GaDYnastY lived in But manY PeoPle lW Sh""gDYnasqY Like large, walled cities' Zhou DYnastY knew th" Xit, the Shang how to make bronze' impacton futurl,Eeln'::tT *,J:fHffi"'*";;.The Shangleft their ],:r,T :T::"::: J";;na' *'ii'is'n":-, " what^rsl"^'lH :*T3::1il;" Th" Shtt'g also began ".?tt"t. tt" of a familywho "t"rnlers Like other early hrt" ftt"a and died' theShang. o*:*1 t f""nr", ]lT,*T"dead J""lrl'. Theyburied the t c.zzoo-1750 e.c. the person Dynasty with things that { xiu the afterl*: might needin t c. 1250-1tzls.c. that i6"" slr""t alsobelieved 1 shangDvnastv dead could either help s.c. the rrl[r , i ro4s-256 them oao the living or bring tr zrrouDynasty ' ''re living luck. As a result' tr a

o U) o began to offer sacrifices to their ancestors. This form of religious worship continued for thousands ofyears.

The Zhlu Dynasty and the The Zhou (.loH) people rebelled againstthe Shang rn 1045 e.c. The Zhot set up their F own dynas$z and ruled in central China. To explain why they overthrew the Oracle script, Shang, the Zhot developed the principle shown of the Mandate of Heaven. A mandate here on a tortoise is a command. The Zhou said that the shell, is the oldest deities in heaven ordered the Zhou to '[he writing in replace the Shang ruler. Zhou WrittenChinese first China. used this principle to justify, or developedduring the support, their overthrow of the Shang. ShangDynasty English is ti basedon a 26letter According to the Mandate of Heaven, alphabet.To read English, the king-and all later emperors- a personhas to learn ruled by divine right. Their power those26 lettersand their # came from the eods. 43 phonetc sounds. In time, the Chineseis basedon characters,not letters. Chinese expanded Eachcharacter stands for the theory. Rulers TheChinese language a pictureof somethingor usescharacters or did not always act in an idea.There are groupsof characters the best interests of thousandsof charactersin to makewords. With a the people. Then the Chinese.An elementary parher,think of six Mandate of Heaven schoolstudent knows at you wordsthat could gave the people the Ieast1.500 characters. makeby drawing right to rebel against pictures.Three of the their ruler. The result wordsshould be persons,places, or was the development things.Three should of the d;rnastic cycle. This is the rise, rule, beideas. Draw your and then fall of a dvnastv over a number of charactersand under years. Over time, the Mandate of Heaven eachone write its became the basis for the way the Chinese in English. changed their rulers.

Early ChineseCivilizations f5t- OId DYnastY mucn New DSmastY o taxes PeoPIe too o brings Peace o stops Protecting PeoPle . (re)builds infrastructure )> r lets infrastructure decay land to unlairlY . gives Peasants Generations go bY' . treats PeoPle . f,rotects PeoPle New Dynastlr becomes"" OId DlmastY loses New D5rnastY claims Mandate of Heaven Mandate of Heaven

The ImPortance iamilY in China of the and the *it of Chinese socieqy *t" th"i"ti" The had a duty and member of a family most imPortant' E;; This dufy was known to responsibility "J"'V "tlt"r-meTber' famrly the relationships among filial ft g"t'"t""a as Piety' obey their ' were to members. So"t tid

, parents, children'- , ,and . The oldest male member of an extended Chinese famrlY might have been a great-great- grandfather'

l Putting It All Together r:::f.:ffi"jj;t::::":.':laPartner ljlscuss Lltt! ''trvvr "-:; J'*u ffiil:'ffiil;il" *^ ^^toto,e"**''o'o uand .^,r contrast^^ntvrqt theth€ paragraph to compu:* Then writewrtte ao u**"'^::*^** --* *^,{arn family'f*'i China,-'*'t'" to vouryc modern extenOeOfamily in ancient

ChaPter5 Chinese ,t"; Philosophies 8'c--a.o.2oo

Thinking on Your Own To help you study thjs lesson,create a three-columnchart. Label the columns"," "Daoism," and "Legalism."As you read,take bulletednotes about each of theseChinese philosophies.

y A.D.100, Buddhism had spreadto China. Over the next 500 years, many Chinese What are the Five Constant adopted Buddhism. Buddhism Relationships? in turn adopted teachings of What was the lasting effect of Confucianism? the Chinese. One of the features that it adopted was How is Daoismdifferent from Legalism? filial piegz. By then, filial piegz had become an important part of a known Confucianism civil service as Conf,ucianism. philosophy Daoism Philosophy is the search religion Legalism for knowledge about the world. It studies the natural world, human behavior, and thought. Philosophy is not the same as religion. Religion is the belief in and worship of a divine or superhuman power. Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism are religions. Confucianism was a philosophy.

The Teachings of Confucianism was based on the teachings of Confucius. He was a wandering scholar who lived from 551 to 479 e.c. Confucius tried to interest the rulers of local Chinese states in his ideas. He never succeeded with the rulers. But his ideas impressedother Chinese. A group of students began to gather around him. They collected his teachings and began to teach others. Chooseone of the five relationshiPsthat Confucius was not interested in studying Confuciuslisted. Do or religious questions' He wanted to spiritual you think Confucius and order-to this bring harmony-peace was right about how role in his world. Filial piety played an important to createa good plan for maintaining harmony' Confucius taught relationshiPbetween that duqy to the family and the communiqr was thesetwo PeoPIe? ideas more important than a person's own nteds and TaIk over Your with a Partner.Then wants. Confucius illustrated his idea of duty with write two or three the Five Constant RelationshiPs: paragraphsto exPlain o and why you agreeor o and disagree. older or and younger brother or sister a friend and friend a ruler and subiect Except for friendship, each relationship involved one person with authority over the other' Flowever' an friendship was between equals unless there was . to make how PaPer-around person was a.o. 100. This knowledge sPread to age difference. Then, the older to lndia in the 700s. It then sPread superior to the younger Person' In the Europe in the I100s. "on.id."r.d or person of . how to grow silk worms and weave other relationships, the older person silk cloth rank was superior' Men were always on a . iron blades for plows to break uP higher hard-packed dirt higher level than women' . wheelbarrow . compass.-a device to find direction Confucius taught that the higher ranking Person . to rig sails on shiPs so new ways for the lesser ships could sail against the wind had a loving responsibilrty to care . rudder-a device to steer shiPs The lesser in turn, had a dufr to . ''a way to treat disease person. Person, acupuncture If using needles give loving obedience to the higher person' eve{yone lived by his or her dut;r, then harmony would rule the family and the communit;z'

Influence of Confucianism head of a family' confucius thought the rirler of china was like the turn, the ruler was All chinese owed the ruler loving obedience. In The ruler responsible to heaven for the well-being of his subjects. become weahhy' must provide peace and order so the people might

Chapter 5 If the ruler failed, heavett would allow his subjects to overthrow him.

I The ruler had to be of eood moral u2so &q-e.p 200 character and be an example to his CiviI servarus subjects. This was also true of the officials who ran the government had to that public officials had to be moral pass an under the ruler. Confucius believed exam and well-educated. Their only goal was the well-being of the people. during The Yin Yang the Han ideals came to control China's symbol Dynasty. In time, Confucianist represenrs government. During the Han Dynast;r, the rulers set up a school an ideal of balance of to train men who wanted to do government jobs. They had to the forces in narure. pass a test known as a civil service examination. Civil servants work for the government. This system was the way public officials were chosen in China for 2,000 vears.

Daoism and Legalism Between 500 and 200 e.c., two other important philosophies developed in China. One was Daoisrn and the other was Legalism.

The name Daoism comes from the word dao rneanrng "the way." Daoism is based on the teachings of Laozt (t ow.ozuH). He probably lived at the same time as Confucius. Laozt taught that the way to happiness was to live in harmony with . One could not control it nor describe it. A person simpfr had to "be" in nature. In terms of government, a good ruler was one who did little.

Legalism was very different from both Confucianism and Daoism. It began with the teachings of Hanfeizi (HRHN.nnv.DZtrE)who lived in the 200s B.c. I-egalists believed that people were naturally bad. A strong ruler, a long list of laws, and harsh punishments were necessany.This was the on\r way to bring order to socieSr.

Putting It Atl Together Do you agreeor disagreewith the Legalists'viewpoint about people and government?To answerthe question,talk with a partner.Then write a paragraphexpiaining your ideasabout Legalism.

Earlv Chinese Civilizations