Ancient Chinese

Civilization

Mohammad Morad Hossain Khan

Asia in the World Map
China
China during the Shang Dynasty
Shang Dynasty Bronze Objects
 China
Total area 9,640,821 km (actual administered
territory) or 9,676,801 km (including claimed
territory of Taiwan), it is the world's third or
fourth largest country in terms of total area.
Chinese longest river Yangtze River about
6300 km.
The Hwang Ho is about 5464 km long.
It changed its courses 26 times in history.
 Chinese Civilization
The northern boundary of China
was not so well protected;
therefore a great wall was built to
keep out different invaders in the
ancient times.
Chinese civilization developed in
the Hwang Ho Valley.
 Chinese Civilization
Some mentionable dynasties are Shang
Dynasty (1766-1122 BCE), Chou Dynasty
(1125-225 BCE), Han Dynasty (206 BCE
221 CE), Wu Ti (140-87 BCE), Tang
and Shang Dynasties.
The name China comes from Chin, the
province over which Shih Huang-Ti (221-
210 BCE) ruled.
 Shih Huang-Ti
Shih Huang-Ti who was sometimes
called the first emperor of China was
one of Chinas greatest rulers.
He is called as Chinese Napoleon in
Chinese history, as he established a
strong centralized government in
China.
For the betterment of rule, he divided
China into forty parts.
 Shih Huang-Ti
During the reign of Shih Huang-Ti
the building of the Great Wall of
China was begun.
Later this Great Wall was enlarged.
Now it is about 6700 kilometers
long through 5 provinces.
This Chinese Wall is one of the
seven wonders of the ancient
world.
View from the Great Wall
Great Wall of China stretches across
northern China.
China during the Han Dynasty
(206 BCE-220 CE)
 Han Dynasty
During the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220CE),
Confucianism was the philosophical basis
of government. For the first time in Chinas
history, a persons qualifications began to
play an important part in the selection of
public officials.
Overland trade routes were expanded into
Europe, and Chinese culture became an
influence in neighboring countries.
Chinese Philosopher Confucius
 Confucius
Like Socrates, Confucius (551-478 BCE) was a
great teacher in world history.
He was from poor family and lost his father at
only three years old. So he learnt the lessons
of self-reliance, and had to earn his own living.
He married at the age of nineteen.
He was also a storekeeper and afterwards
superintendent of the parks and herds of the
state, Lu.
 Confucius
At twenty-two he started a sort of
college where he taught young men
self-discipline and the art of good
leadership.
At the same time Confucius carried on
his work as an official of the state of
Lu and soon he became famous for
his honesty and his energy in
improvements.
 Confucius
However, at the age of fifty-two, Confucius
was appointed to the important post of
Chief Justice.
He showed his wisdom and efficiency so
clearly in his office that he was soon made
Prime Minister, and in a few years Lu had
become a model state under his rule.
But after only four years of service as
Prime Minister, he had to resign.
 Confucius
Confucian teachings are known as Li
(moral religion).
He emphasized on the building of
character and manner of citizens.
Confucius divided duties under five
heads; those of ruler and subjects;
husbands and wives; fathers and
children; elder and younger brothers;
and those of friends.
 Confucius
He made no claim that he was divinely
inspired: like the Buddha, he refused
to deal with questions concerning
God, the life after death and the
unseen world.

While you cannot serve men, he

said, How can you serve spirits?
Confucius
Confucius
Following his death in 479 BCE, Confucius was
buried in Ch-fu in Shandong province, China.
Lao-tse
 Lao-tse
. He was critic of the ideas of Confucius. He
wrote a book named Tao Te King, where he
criticized.
His doctrines became known as Taoism, which
was dominated by a priestly class.
But Taoism was broken down, or at least
submerged, by Buddhism, which was
introduced into China from India in the 1st
century of the Christian era.
Mencius
 Mencius
Mencius (372-289 BCE) was second to
Confucius indeed.
The Book of Mencius is recognized as one of
Chinas philosophical classics.
He preferred a monarchy to a democracy
because of the impossibility of educating the
masses.
Like Plato, he mentioned an ideal king or ruler
in a state.
 Mencius
A disciple of the great Chinese
philosopher Confucius, Mencius
lived during the latter half of the
Zhou dynasty (1045?-256 bc). A
book of his teachings, the
Mencius, is one of the four major
books of Confucian learning.
Many parts of the Mencius text consist of
dialogues between Mencius and his
students or other philosophers.
The Mencius (Book of Mencius) is one of the
classic texts of Confucianism, an important
system of thought in China. In these excerpts,
probably recorded by his followers in the third
century bc, Chinese philosopher Mencius
declares that human beings are by nature
good and have an innate sense of
compassion, shame, courtesy, and the
difference between right and wrong.
 Laozi
The fundamental Daoist text, the
Daodejing (Tao-te Ching, Book of
the Way and the Virtue) is
traditionally attributed to Laozi, the
legendary founder of Daoism.
However, scholars today date the
Daodejing to the 2nd or 3rd century
bc, several centuries after Laozi
supposedly lived.
China during the Ming Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
 Yuan Dynasty
During the 13th century, Mongols swept
through China from the northwest. Mongol
leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan
dynasty (1279-1368) in China. The Yuan
dynasty was part of the great Mongol
Empire, which was one of the largest land
empires in history. It was during this time
that China became known to Europeans
through the accounts of Venetian traveler
Marco Polo.
Genghis Khan
Kublai Khan
 Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis
Khan, ruled the Mongol Empire in the late
1200s. From this empire came the Yuan
dynasty that ruled China from 1279 to
1368. He established the empires capital
at Khanbalik, which is now Beijing. Marco
Polo, the Venetian explorer, met Kublai
and worked in his diplomatic service
while in China.
Marco Polo
 Marco Polo
Famous Italian traveler Marco Polo
journeyed to the court of the Mongol ruler
Kublai Khan in 1275, where he quickly
became a favorite of the khan. He traveled
throughout Asia on diplomatic missions for
the khan, returning to his native Venice in
1295. His account of his explorations is
considered one of the most famous travel
guides in history.
Kublai Khan and Marco Polo
 Genghis Khan
In the late 12th and early 13th centuries,
Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan created one
of historys largest land empires, which
stretched from the Caspian Sea in Russia to
the South China Sea. Genghis Khan
succeeded his father as a Mongol chief when
still a child, and faced many challenges to his
position. He defeated these insurrections,
and through his military genius united the
nomadic Mongol tribes and turned them into
a disciplined fighting force.
Hulagu
 Hulagu
Hulagu, a grandson of Mongol conqueror
Genghis Khan, founded the Il-Khanid
dynasty of Persia (present-day Iran) after
capturing the Persian capital of Baghdad
in 1258. This illustration from a medieval
Persian manuscript shows Hulagu taking
possession of a conquered city during
his campaign of conquest in Southwest
Asia.
Horse Roundup in Mongolia
Tomb of Qin Shihuangdi
 Shihuangdi
These life-sized terra-cotta figures of
the Imperial Guard were produced for
the tomb of the first emperor of China,
Qin Shihuangdi (Chin Shih-huang-ti).
The tomb site, which lies near the
Chinese city of Xian, was excavated in
1977. Xian is one of Chinas oldest
cities.
 Four Great Inventions
Gunpowder
Paper
Printing
Compass
Chinese Box Compass in 11th century
Dunes in the Gobi
The Takla Makan desert
Train Travel, China
 Train Travel, China
Chinese railroad engineers overcame
significant geographic obstacles to
extend train travel to most parts of the
country. This train in Gansu Province
is on level land, but in many places
railroad tracks cut over hills, through
mountains, and across deep rivers.
First Opium War
 First Opium War between the British
East India Company and the Qing
Dynasty in China from 1839 to 1842
with the aim of forcing China to import
British opium.
Second Opium War was a war of the
U K and France against the Qing
Dynasty of China from 1856 to 1860.
Treaties of Tianjin was imposed on
China.
Technology Meets History
 Technology Meets History
Symbolic of the contrasts in modern
China, a Beijing pagoda shares the
skyline with modern communications
equipment. Since the early 1990s the
Chinese government has taken
several steps to restrict the free flow of
information in the country. But this
runs counter to efforts to modernize
the economy.
Silk Road
 Silk Road
Beginning in about 100 bc, a network of overland trade
routes developed to carry goods between Asia and
Europe. The earliest, most direct, and most heavily
used route came to be known as the Silk Road, for the
precious Chinese cloth that was traded abundantly on
it. The routes waxed and waned over the centuries with
changing political and environmental conditions. After
the discovery of a sea route from Europe to Asia in the
late 15th century, the land routes were gradually
abandoned in favor of ocean-borne trade.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen
(November 12, 1866
March 12, 1925)
was a Chinese
revolutionary and
political leader often
referred to as the
"Father of Modern
China".
Chinese Communist Party Congress
Chinese Communist Party Congress
The National Party Congress of the
Chinese Communist Party gathers in the
Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The
party meets once every five years to
formulate policy and select delegates. The
hammer and sickle signify the union of
industrial and agricultural labor in a
Communist system.
Chiang Kai-shek
(October 31,
1887 April 5,
1975) served as
Generalissimo of
the national
government of
the Republic of
China (ROC)
from 1928 until
his death in 1975.
Statue of Mao Zedong
Zhou Enlai
Long March Route, 1934 to 1935
Long March Route, 1934 to 1935
In 1934 Chinese Communists broke
through a Kuomintang (KMT) encirclement
of their base in southeastern China.
Pursued by KMT forces, the Communists
trekked 9600 km (6000 mi) across rivers,
mountains, and swamps in an escape that
became known as the Long March. From
their new base at Yanan in northern China,
the Communists eventually defeated the
KMT, winning control of China in 1949.