This is a brief overview of the earliest civilizations in Chinese history -- the Xia, Shang, and Zhou -- also dubbed the "River Dynasties".

1. CIVILIZATIONS:
CHINA
Araling Panlipunan 8

2. NOTES ON USAGE
Last updated: November 24, 2016
This teacher-made slideshow presentation
was intended for high school students in a
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Use.

3. EARLY CIVILIZATIONS

5. NATURAL BARRIERS
East:
Yellow Sea
East China Sea
Pacific Ocean
Mountain Ranges
Desert
West:
Taklimakan Desert
Tibet Plateau
Southwest:
Himalayas
North:
Gobi Desert
Mongolian Plateau

7. RIVER SYSTEMS
Huang He or Yellow
River
loess
Yangtze or Chang Jiang

8. LOESS Definition
yellowish silt deposit
which is rich and fertile
Word History: Patterns of
Interaction

9. ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
o Huang He’s floods
could be disastrous.
“China’s Sorrow”
o relative geographic
isolation, trade was
difficult
o natural boundaries did
not completely protect
settlers from
outsiders, invasions

11. PEKING MAN
o Southwest China,
fossil remains dating
1.7 million years ago
o Homo erectus “Peking
Man” in northern
China river valleys
dated to 500,000
years ago

12. RIVER DYNASTIES

13. DYNASTY Definition
Ruled by a king/queen
(emperor/ empress) who
comes from a continuous
ruling family Crash Course

14. DYNASTY Definition
Crash
Course

15. XIA DYNASTY Yu
His flood control and irrigation projects helped tame the Huang
He and its tributaries so that settlements could grow.
engineer
mathematician
Based on legend, and most likely fictional

16. SHANG DYNASTYFirst dynasty to keep historical records, considered to be
the first dynasty in China

17. SHANG DNYASTY
earliest writing is found on oracle
bones

18. Anyang
capital
SHANG DNYASTY
Wu Ding
Fu Hao
Wu Ding was one
of the emperors
during the Shang
Dynasty

19. SHANG DNYASTY
Fu Hao
• a consort (one of the
wives) of Wu Ding
• a wife, military leader,
politician and shaman
Fu Hao’s tomb has yielded over a hundred
weapons. This is very unusual for a woman’s
tomb, and shows her status as a military leader.
In all there were around 2000 items buried with
Fu Hao. Among these there are 468 bronzes,
750 jades, 560 of bone and over 110 of stone
and semi-precious stone. Over six thousand
cowrie shells were buried with her also – these
would have served as currency in the Shang
period.

20. ZHOU DYNASTYstarted the Classical Age of China
transition to the Iron Age
mandate of heaven
by acting in a virtuous manner, a person could gain
Heaven’s rewards; for emperors, heaven would bless
them with the right to rule

21. ZHOU DYNASTY
Hundred Schools of Thought
Name given to philosophers and
schools that flourished during this
period

22. QIN DYNASTY
• first imperial dynasty (empire + dyna
• united the different states under one

24. REFERENCES
Beck, Roger B. (2009). World History: Patterns of Interaction.
Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell.
The British Museum. “The Tomb of Lady Fu Hao”. The British Museum.
Retrieved from
http://www.ancientchina.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg7/bg
7pdf.pdf