DBQ On Ancient China

The Chinese were able to learn from their mistakes from the past and turn them into positives in order to better improve their economy for the future. With the opened ports and foreigners free to visit China, the educated citizens class was increasing in numbers. Many of these people were not happy with the progress of the Qing Dynasty and started to form groups in order to help find alternatives to certain situations. By 1912 the last Chinese emperor stepped down and the order that had ruled over China for two thousand years had finally fallen. This was a new start for the China. The rebuilding of China was very difficult, but using what they had learned, China was able to modernize themselves in many aspects, including military, improve their economy, and overall developed themselves into a superior country.

Before the arrival of western powers, China was very stable, agricultural, and ethnocentric. They had many factories that produced silk, cotton, and porcelain with their natural resources: salt, tin, silver, and iron mines. They had no interest of trade or interaction with foreigners. From the early eighteenth century, European and American Imperialism spread throughout China with a goal to extend their nation’s power. China was one of many territories that undertook the changes of New Imperialism. By 1912, the country was governed by outside nations: Great Britain (mostly), Russia, Germany, France, and Japan. Their influence on China resulted malignantly on the country’s economy, political ties, and lifestyle; in spite of the few

One of the greatest known dynasties in the history of the Chinese culture was the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty's primary influences were the teachings of Confucius. The Confucian influences had positive and negative impacts on the Chinese culture throughout the Han Dynasty and beyond.

Despite being the shortest ruling dynasty at fifteen years, the Qin dynasty served a vital role in the development of China’s civilization (51). The Qin dynasty was prefaced by a period of instability caused by an ineffective political system and war between several regions all vying to overtake the others. After the Qin kingdom rose as the victor, King Cheng established for himself the title of Shi huangdi, or emperor, and looked to create a political system that would prevent the empire from fragmenting again. To achieve such a centralized government, Shi Huangdi sacrificed his people’s intellectual freedom and lives and produced a connected and standardized China, whose efficiency and strength still impacts the vision

Classical Chinese Empires and the Roman Empire were massive Empires that both became some of the most well known Empires in the world. The Romans were set out to conquer the lands of Europe and take anyone out in their path. The Chinese Dynasties lasted for a 4,000 year span of many Emperors like the Zhou Dynasty, Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty. They both had a reason on why they lasted so long, Rome were very serious for their army because when you got to the age of 7 you were sent to an extensive army camp which you would stay until you are 18. China had their Innovation and trade. For example the Han Dynasty were lucky enough to use the silk roads which got them tons of silk to trade to other empires. The Qin Dynasty had some of the first modern roads so they can travel with ease.

Within the years of 221-206 BCE, the Qin Dynasty rose as a superpower. During this time period, the Warring States Era, Chinese civilization was impacted tremendously in almost every aspect. These hallmarks in history vary from the spreading of Legalism to the birth of the Great Wall of China. Through these countless contributions, the Qin Dynasty was able to revolutionize the Chinese civilization in such a short period of time.

Geography has the power to limit civilization connections from other cultures. For example, in the Physical Map of China (Doc 2), China is bordered by the vast Himalayas and the Taklimakan Desert. This geographical features prevented many ideas form other cultures to come into China from the west. Except for the narrow Silk Road, many Greek, Roman, Islamic, African, European, and Western ideas and inventions did not come into China in great numbers until the late 15th century enabling China to develop its own culture, free from other influences. In Mesopotamia and Egypt, many geographical features also prevented it from being reached by other cultures, such as China and India, as shown in Geography of the Ancient Middle East Map (Doc 5). The Zagros Mountains prevented many Chinese and Indian explorers from reaching Mesopotamia, with its elevation of 14,000 feet, while the Sahara Desert and the intense Nile River cataracts prevented many African explorers from reaching

As one rises, another falls. Civilizations undulated in historic times more frequently than waves in an ocean; however, most of them are forgotten to this day because of their insignificant impact. The Roman and Chinese Empires were established like any other civilization, but rose to power through proper governing of the people. They later became so successful that they emulated one another in different fields of culture. The Han Dynasty was one of many dynasties in ancient China and it was able to change the outlook on society because of its radical and novel ideology based on Confucianism. During the dynasty, the emperor Wudi pushed borders and trade like no other dynasty of its kind and conquered land past China's century long

Han dynasty was the most influential in Chinese history. First of all the Han lasted much longer than the fiveteen year of Qin rule. Instead of fighting they made many inventions listed above and other advances to help China become stronger and prosperous country. The contribution to the Silk road also helped China because of all the trade they began to do. The paper invention influenced literature that someone named Sima Qian created the first Chinese history book. In astronomy they recorded the first record of the solar system. They were also less cruel than the Qin dynasty but yet they were still power. All their inventions and all there practices and ways of doing things makes the

“ All our civilization is based on invention; before invention, men lived on fruits and nuts and pine cone and slept in caves “ - Reginald Fessenden. All major civilizations have a significant influence on mankind and the different inventions the civilizations produced. Although, it is evident that the Chinese Civilization has the greatest impact on the development of man out of all of the civilizations due to the innovation of gunpowder, and the discovery of the silk road.

Rome and Han China where very advanced for their time period. One thing that Han China and Rome where pretty advanced in was architecture some examples are the aqueducts in Rome and the great wall of China in Han China. The purpose of the aqueducts in Rome were to get water from one place to another the aqueducts helped meet the basic needs in a lot of place that would otherwise not get enough water the aqueducts also helped farmers water their crops on a regular basis and that would mean that crops were more likely to live. Han China was also very advanced in architecture they were the dynasty that built the great wall of China they built the great wall of China at first to keep enemies out of their territory it kinda of acted as a border between them and

The civilization of ancient China was the most successful civilization with their inventions,food,and religion. They had the best inventions like fireworks these were amazing because some inventions they’ve made are fireworks. Fireworks were used for many things in China, and now in many countries. reason we use them is for celebrations or 4th of July. China made fireworks around 2,000 years ago. people say that a chinese cook created it in a field kitchen and accidentally mixed, charcoal, sulphur, and saltpeter. Which he found in his kitchen all so commonly to make something so amazing that we use today.

The geography of China has affected its people for thousands of years. Rivers such as the Huang He and the Yangtze have benefited its people because they were able to trade, get food and water and settle down in this area. These rivers were beneficial because they helped to facilitate trade. (“The Study Of History”). The Chinese traded goods such as silk, salt, teas, sugar, porcelain and other luxurious goods (“Ancient China”). While this was beneficial to the Chinese there were also many negatives effects that the geography had in China. The Himalayan mountains had some negative effects on the Chinese. The Himalayas kept them isolated for a long time. This then meant that there was a lack of cultural diffusion which was occurring (“Himalayan Mountains Documentary…”). The Chinese weren’t able to trade goods and ideas because it was hard for them and other civilizations

In addition the Roman Empire gained Christianity but on the other hand the Romans begin to fail as they could not hold onto their empire and so the Empire's capital was moved to Byzantium by Constantine in which he granted the preaching of Christianity. On the other hand Imperial China also relied on agriculture to improve its civilization but it's Foundation was made because of its people who were always ready for labor . Also because of the periodic censuses which ensured a ready supply of labor for public workers and Public Works. The shin Dynasty established the first Empire and unified the Chinese civilization subordinating the individual to the state to standardize everything from laws to riding a standardization that contributed to the accomplishment of massive Public Works and so under the shin the Chinese civilization began strive but the Chinese civilization grew under the Han Dynasty in which in which religions like Taoism begin to gain more popularity with it's common people and so the shin and hun so huge technological

In china there has been no central rule in China for 70 years until the Song Dynasty created in 960. Things started to change in China, for example, the government started to aid the poor a lot more than what they have in the past. They were getting this money from the newly introduced income tax. This made a lot of people happy and everyone started to have more patriotism and pride. This pride gave the government a feel of legitimacy. Some of the major things the government is paying for is the roads, food, and education. Pottery at this time helps out the economy in China, because the pottery is so advanced that it was being exported for good money and it also led more people to come to China. Even though China was number one in the world for many things like technology and a sophisticated culture they were weak military wise (Holcombe p.127).