Chinese Dynasties Unit 3 Vocab

The ________ established the idea that a ruler must be just to keep the approval of the gods. It was believed that natural disasters, famines, and astrological signs were signals that the emperor and the dynasty were losing the _________.

This nine-square system is a major system in Chinese history, and indeed a major type of landownership in world history.

Powerful and charismatic leader of the Qin Dynasty

A collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods.

Written by Confucius; takes a detached, skeptical view of heaven and emphasizes the rational order of the universe

Chinese philosopher whose ideas and sayings were collected after his death and became the basis of a philosophical doctrine known a Confucianism

Founder of Daoism

The emperor of the Han Dynasty

A mix of legalism and Confucianism that said that civilized people are expected to observe proper rites. Only social outcasts are expected to have their actions controlled by law.

These were a means for a young male of any class to enter that bureaucracy and so become a part of the gentry class of scholar-officials.

This was an ancient trade route, linking China with the West, that carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China.

Emperor of the Sui Dynasty

This was built to enable successive Chinese regimes to transport surplus grain from the agriculturally rich Yangtze and Huai river valleys to feed the capital cities and large standing armies in northern China.

Wife of two Tang emperors, she eventually became empress in her own right after her second husband fell gravely ill

After his father’s death, he finished the conquest of the Song dynasty, and established himself as the new Chinese emperor of the Yuan empire

This teaches that all living creatures ought to live in a state of harmony with the universe, and the energy found in it.

A scholar of Confucius, he refined his work and argued that people were innately good and that rulers should govern with compassion

horse-riding nomad warriors

A gunpowder tube that would ideally eject a stream of flames in the direction of the spearhead

Built by Qin Shi Huang-di, this surrounded the northern border of the empire to protect against the Xiongnu threat

a fine-grained, very fertile soil

Qin Shi Huang-di's advisor, who was a prominent legalist scholar.

What are the two major rivers in the Chinese empire?

Which of the two rivers was more northern?

Which of the two rivers was more southern?

Where are the Himalayan mountains in regards to the Chinese empire?

Where are the Karakoram mountains in regards to the Chinese empire?

Where is the Gobi desert in regards to the Chinese empire?

Where is the Taklamakan Desert in regards to the Chinese empire?

What is the oldest known archaeological evidence of the Chinese writing system still in use today?

What skill is the Shang dynasty best known for?

Under which dynasty did China establish its first unified empire?

What was the role of women in China?