Ancient Chinese Culture Essay example

The earliest forms of civilizations were said to be located on the three river valleys of the Tigris-Euphrates River in ancient Mesopotamia, the Nile River in ancient Egypt and the Huang He and Indus River in ancient India and China. These three river valley civilizations had many differences yet still lived common life styles. Although the civilizations are located on different continents, they share similar social, political, and economic beliefs from their intellectual developments to types of government to religious beliefs and trading systems.

Although early river valley civilizations developed in four separate places, they seem to have more similarities than differences. This essay will compare and contrast the ancient Egyptian, Harappan, Chinese, and Sumerian civilizations.

Description: Advanced Placement Chinese Language and Culture (commonly known as AP Chinese Language and Culture or AP Chinese) offers high school students an opportunity to earn credit for Chinese courses at the college level. Like other College Board programs, it is available to anyone worldwide who wishes to participate.

Time after time throughout history we see civilizations succeeding by rivers such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley and the Yellow River. One of the things the rivers provided in Mesopotamia was the “ground is extremely fertile”. The Mesopotamians used the river for irrigation and the rich soil to produce and abundance of resources to support a large population.

The Next piece is an image form Guo Xi who was a master from the Northern

    Earlier this week we focused on ancient eastern China during the Han Dynasty and the east asian philosophies that arose during this time period. We reviewed three great asian philosophers, Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Buddha. In class we also picked from a list of quotes from these three philosophers a quote they said that really resonated with us and wrote a descriptive essay on it and shared it in class for extra credit.

Three areas of philosophy emerged amidst the chaos and constant warring of the Zhou era. The three were called Confucianism, Daoism, and legalism. They were Chinese philosophies that were thought to be the best ways to rule and achieve order in the society. Confucianism believed that a ruler 's job was to set a good example, and not order. Since people were thought of as naturally good, they would following the right path based on their own conscience. Legalism was a more harsh way of ruling, led by Hanfeizi. They thought people were evil, and needed strict laws and punishment to keep them in line. Daoism was very different from either of the other two. It was led by Laozi, who taught that the best kind of government was one who governed

Ancient river valley civilizations are one of the earliest societies in the world. The rises of these ancient river valley civilizations started the first cradle of civilization. The Indus Valley Civilization, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, and Ancient China are the earliest civilizations that were successful enough to make enough food for everybody. Every one of these civilizations had three things in common: they all had a special relationship with the river, they created their own writing system, and they all relied on trade.

The Indus Valley was located along the Indus and Ganges Rivers. The Yellow Valley was located along the Huang He (aka Yellow) and the Yangtze Rivers. 11) Fertile land/soil aided the agricultural production of the RVCs. Page 1 of 5Page 2 of 512) Egypt was located in the Fertile Crescent. 13) The Code of Hammurabi helped Hammurabi to keep order in a society. This was developed in Mesopotamia. 14) A Ziggurat was a tiered, pyramid­shaped structure that formed part of a Sumerian temple.It was similar to a pyramid. 15) The "Miracle of the Nile" was yearly flooding that brought fertile soil which allowed sedlements to grow. 16) Two significant features of the Indus Valley citites of Mohenjo­Daro and Harappa was that they both had advanced plumbing and sewage and advanced city planning. 17) The Caste System was the social class pyramid of Ancient India. 18) The Huang he is also known as the Yellow River because huge amounts of yellowish Silt is deposited when it overflows it's banks 19) The Mandate of Heaven in Chinese history was the divine approval thought to be the basis of royal authority. The Dynastic cycle was the historical pattern of the rise, decline, and replacement of

The region of China is extensive and profound. “In China lay people did not belong to an institutionalized sect, nor did their religious life have anything to do with signing articles of faint. Religion in China was so woven into the broad fabric of family and social life that there was not even a special word for it until modern times, when one was coined to match the Western term” (Thompson, 1). In China, Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are all blended. In the earliest period, Shang Dynasty (2000 BC), people in China had worshipped a lot of different gods (polytheism) such as weather god, river god. People in the Shang Dynasty believed that their ancestors become like gods after they died, so people worshipped their

These early civilizations experienced similar environmental situations that contributed to the shaping of their societies because both societies were built around two river valleys. Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates river, but their river valley societies were surrounded by a desert that was easy terrain. While the first Chinese civilization developed along the Huang he (Yellow) and Yang Zi rivers, but this society was isolated from the rest of the world. Ancient China was surrounded by various environmental barriers; deserts from the north and west, the surrounding oceans from the east, and mountainous valleys from the south limited this societies interaction. Even though these civilizations had different environmental surroundings, they both had to adapt to their situations. These societies were located in fertilely rich lands that were great for agricultural lifestyles,

Ancient China is one of the oldest and longest lasting civilizations in the world. The Ancient Chinese have thrived for thousands of years because of the geography, their skills, and their talents. Throughout history, rivers such as the Yangtze and Huang He rivers made China thrive for thousands of years. While other features such as deserts and mountains like the Gobi, Himalayas, and the Taklimakan isolated the Chinese and kept other civilizations from culturally diffusing into Chinese lifestyle and culture.

The Yellow River is located in Qinghai, China. In the present day it is not very dense in population. It is a very high-altitude called the Tibetan Plateau. It is place of strong Tibetan and Mongol cultural traditions in present day China. The Yellow River is known by all Chinese people as the “mother river” (Wu). It is also agreed upon by almost all Chinese people that it is the cradle of Chinese civilization and the spiritual home of the Chinese people (Zhou). The Yellow River is the symbol of the Chinese nation, the spirt of the Chinese people, but most importantly civilization itself.

Chinese Dynasties: 1. Shang: Also called Yin, dynasty that was China's earliest historically verifiable state 1766 B.C. to 1122 B.C. A. Reason's for Rise: Unlike the early accounts of history by the Chinese, there is archaeological evidence of the Shang, who built their cities in northern China around the eastern parts of the Yellow River. For this reason they are called the Yellow River civilization. They were a bronze age people; bronze-working seems to have entered China around 2000 BC (about one thousand years after its invention in Mesopotamia). B. Territorial Location & size at height of power (map): The Shang ruled the area from the North China Plain northward into present-day Shantung Province and westward to the tip of Honan

China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.