Geography & River Valleys
This river is called the “cradle of Chinese civilization” because early Chinese culture began along it.
What is the Yellow River (Huang He)?
This belief said the gods gave a ruler the right to rule, as long as he ruled wisely and fairly
What is the Mandate of Heaven?
This philosopher taught that society works best when people do their duty and show respect in relationships (like child/parent).
Who is Confucius?
Under Han Wudi, government jobs were given to people who scored highest on these.
What are civil service exams?
Trading goods directly for other goods, without money, is called this system.
What is the barter system?
The Huang He’s fertile yellow soil is called this, and it helped farmers grow lots of crops.
What is Loess?
This dynasty used the Mandate of Heaven to explain why they had the right to replace the Shang.
What is the Zhou Dynasty?
This is best described as the duty to respect and obey your parents and care for them as they age.
What is filial piety?
Even though the civil service was supposed to be open to anyone, it mostly favored these families.
What are rich/wealthy families?
In Han China, this explorer’s trip west helped China learn about lands and horses, encouraging Silk Road trade.
Who was Marco Polo?
The Huang He earned the nickname “China’s Sorrow” because it often caused this deadly natural disaster.
What is a flood?
Under the Mandate of Heaven, disasters like earthquakes or poor harvests were seen as a sign that this had happened.
What is the king/ruler had failed (to rule properly)?
This philosophy taught people to live simply, follow nature, and focus on “the Way” (the Dao).
What is Daoism?
During Tang and Song times, students studying for exams had to memorize these.
What are Confucian teachings (the Analects)?
This wasn’t one road — it was a connected system of trade routes stretching about 4,000 miles.
What is the Silk Road?
This is China’s longest river, where early farmers grew rice.
Chang Jiang (Yangtze River)
During the Zhou, the kingdom was divided into smaller areas ruled by aristocrats whose jobs were passed on to this person.
What is the (oldest) son?
Han Feizi argued people are naturally evil, so order needs these two things to control behavior.
What are (clear) laws and (harsh) punishments?
This new group of leaders (educated + government job) came to control Chinese thought and government for centuries.
What are scholar-officials?
This religion spread from South Asia to China, then to Korea before reaching Japan.
What is Buddhism?
These acted like “walls” around China, which helped it develop an isolated, unique culture.
What are mountains and deserts?
This long period of fighting between powerful states helped set the stage for China to be unified by a new dynasty.
What is the Period of the Warring States?
The Tang dynasty began these for choosing government officials, rather than passing the position to family or loyal aristocrats.
What are civil service exams?
How did the Mongols generally treat conquered peoples?
A. They made people’s traditional religion and customs illegal.
B. They destroyed conquered people’s art and culture.
C. They respected and admired the cultures of conquered peoples.
D. They enslaved or imprisoned many conquered people.
C. They respected and admired the cultures of conquered peoples.
Qin Shihuangdi introduced this to China, which everyone could use to trade goods easily, unifying China even more.
What is currency?