Ancient Ancient ChinaChina古代中國古代中國

By: Daniel K and James S

Total area: 9,596,961 sq. km. (about 3.7 million sq. mi.)

Cities: Capital-Beijing. Other major cities-Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Harbin, Chengdu.

Terrain: Plains, deltas, and hills in east; mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west.

Highest Point: Mount Everest,8,850m(World’s tallest mountain)

Population:1,338,612,968.

Locate in Asia

MapMap

BackgroundBackground China is the oldest continuous major world civilization, the

first modern humans came to China are from Central Asia or India about 50,000 BC.

China fell apart into three medium-sized kingdoms in 220 AD, so people call this the Three Kingdoms period.

China is know for making pottery solider, the Forbidden City, its massive population, its ancient history, Chinese Cuisine, Hong Kong, and more.

China is also known for the Great Wall of China. The wall is about 5,500 miles long. The original part of the wall was built by the first Emperor during the Quin Dynasty in 221 to 206 BCE. It was finished during the Ming Dynasty.

Social StructureSocial Structure The social structure in Ancient China was divided up into six groups.

There is the Kings and other powerful leaders. Then comes the nobles, they were the next highest ranking people after the ruling family. They were very good to the king. They fought along side his army provided soldiers , equipment, one example was a chariot. Shang nobles lived in a life of luxury. One thing that the nobles did for pleasure was hunt . Next on the list was crafts people, they made up small social groups which included workers of bronze , jade ,potters, and stonesmen .The bronze workers had a really big job, they made swords and decorated containers for the King and the Nobals. The next people in the social structure were traders. The traders ranked below crafets people and above farmers . They traded goods but also used a shell called the cowrie as money . Next on the list were farmers. Farmers were the biggest social class they grew food like fruit wheat and nuts on a small section of land owned by the Nobles. They didn’t even get to keep

Social StructureSocial Structuremost of there crop most of it went to the

Nobles, they only got enough to feed themselves and their family. Next on the social chain were slave’s they were at the very bottom . They were slaved to the ruler or people who had lots of money.

HousingHousingMost of the people in Ancient China were not

very wealthy. They did not live in fully furnished extravagant homes simply just what they needed . The homes were made of mud brick which is simply rammed earth. These houses had thatched roofs and had a fire pit in the middle of the floor.

Wealthy Living PeopleWealthy Living People Poor people did not go to school, they worked on their

parents' farms, picking weeds and planting seeds. Even rich girls did not go to school, only boys from rich families did.

And of course, wealthy people have bigger house, and have a lot of slave. They worked as servants in rich people's houses. In fact, the Emperor owned hundreds of slaves, and some of them worked for the government, collecting taxes or building roads.

FoodFood The main method of cooking are pan-frying, flash-

frying, deep-frying, steaming, stewing, and stir-frying. They use black, dried Chinese mushrooms, sesame oil, pepper, cinnamon, star anise, wine, chili peppers, garlic, fresh ginger, and scallions.

Chinese food are mainly rice, because there are a lot of farms. People cooked rice by boiling it in water. Or they made it into wine. Rice wine has been popular in China for a long time.

Another famous food in China was tea, by about 3000 BC. Tea can classify into four categories, white, green, oolong and black

Family LifeFamily Life In Ancient China life was very different then it is in Canada.

If you were born a boy you were lucky, if you were born the eldest boy you were great . The oldest boy also became head of the household and had all of his siblings move in with him. A boy was expected to marry as soon as he came of age. Women on the other hand were definitely not treated like royalty , they had no say in what they did. They had to obey all men, especially their Father , then their Husband and then their eldest son. Sometimes if a family was poor they would sell one or more of their daughters, to become servants to the rich. I Ancient China the last name was written first and the first last ,this shows what family and heritage meant to the Ancient Chinese.

MarriageMarriage In Ancient China the marriages were not based

on if the couple loved each other it was if the parents thought it was okay . If there was a rich man he was not allowed to marry a poor women, the parents would set up the marriage and that’s the way it was supposed to be. The wedding were set up in a plan and had an order for each thing that occurred.

ChildbirthChildbirth In Ancient China it was believed that the

husband should carry his bride over a pan over burning coal to ensure a successful labored . People in ancient China believed that every thing a women thought a bought would affect the baby . She could not gossip laugh loudly, or sit on a crooked mat. They also believed that food had to be cut properly straight and neat or that would effect the baby and make it careless . Women had to read nice poetry for a good baby. The Ancient Chinese said that there was to be no construction done, because that could lead to birth defects and or miscarriage.

ChildhoodChildhood Kids in China don’t go to school, except rich

people’s son Chinese families traditionally valued sons far

more than daughters. Relationships within families were extremely

formal in Traditional China. A father could legally kill his children if they

disobeyed him. Marriages were arranged by parents, much of which were decided when the children were infants. Most brides and grooms did not see or know each other until the wedding day.

Ancient Chinese Childhood Ancient Chinese Childhood To Canadian Childhood To Canadian Childhood Canadian and Ancient Chinese childhood are

very different from each other. In Ancient China you did what the man said that is sort of what it was like in the thirties and forties but not as extreme. Women might have been just wives and mothers who cleaned up the house ,took care of the children and had dinner on the table by five but they were not dirt cheap. Women were respected they may not have been allowed to vote but they were not sold into slavery for money. Women in Canada also din not have to obey their eldest son boys were not as special as they are in Ancient China, they were just the same as boys.

EducationEducation

Most kids in ancient and medieval China never got a chance to go to school at all. They had to work hard in the fields, planting rice or millet, weeding the vegetables, feeding the chickens, or taking care of their little brothers or sisters. Except rich people’s son. And boys worked very hard in school, because school prepared you to take the government tests, and whoever scored highest on the tests could get a good job in the Chinese government. In order to give jobs fairly to the smartest men, only the test scores counted, they don’t care who your father was, or how rich you are, or how good a fighter you were.

GodGod In Ancient China the people did not just

believe in one god they believed in many. For example: Kwan Yin the goddess of compassion, Lei Kun the god of thunder, and Kuan Ti the god of war were just some of the many gods that the ancient Chinese believed in. These are some that they prayed to. They also prayed to their passed ancestors they believed that once their family members died they would turn into gods.

For example different people prayed to different Gods fishermen prayed to Sea God and farmers prayed to the Sun God.

ReligionReligion There were three ideologies that became

important in Chinese religion. They are Taoism , Confucianism and Buddhism.

Around 1200 AD a new multiculturalism came to China. There are some different faiths and encouraged Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Tibetan lamas to all come debate each other at his court in China.

Buddhism remains the largest organized religion in China since its introduction in the 1st century.

ClothingClothing People in China generally wore tunics, it is a kind of

long t-shirt. Women wore long tunics down to the ground, with belts, and men wore shorter ones down to their knees. In the winter, when it was cold, people wore padded jackets over their tunics, and sometimes pants under them. In early China, poor people made their clothes of hemp or ramie. Rich people wore silk.

Most people in China, both men and women, wore their hair long. People said that you got your hair from your parents and so it was disrespectful to cut it.

Art and MusicArt and Music Art and music was very important to children in

ancient China because most of the art was writing and for the children there they needed to write the complicated symbols which take a long time to learn. The art work documented the senery around them and the battles that took place.

People played music for the lovely sound it gave.

most of the time though people played for the king and what was interesting is it was mostly girls that played the music.

FestivalsFestivals There is only really one big festival in Ancient

China and in modern China as well, which is Chinese new year. All your member in the Chinese family will gather and celebrate from January to February by eating and celebrating with their families . Children were given red envelopes from family members containing money. The ancient Chinese would light off fire crackers to scare away the monsters. The Red simple in the top right was put on everybody's door wishing a better new year.

ConclusionConclusion Many things happened in ancient China some

things were separated by gender. Riches jobs. There were things that now if someone were to look at it we would say that they were crazy, like the husband married he would first carry his bride over a hot pan of coal for a safe labour, or that if a family was poor they would sell their daughter to rich people for servants. That shows you how they respected women.

Ancient China is really interesting, there are a lot of differences between other countries, and different culture.

Information BibliographyInformation Bibliographyhttp://www.historyforkids.org/learn/china/

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/18902.htm

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_the_social_classes_in_ancient_China

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/china/architecture/chinesehouses.htm

http://civilizations.tripod.com/family_life.htm

http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy/labor_birth/birthing_traditions/article/childbirth-traditions-china

Books

Blunden, Elvin. Cultural Atlas of China. Prints in Spain 1983. Revised Edition. By Fournier A. Graphics SA Victoria.

Larousse, Kingfisher chambers inc. The Ancient World. Prints in Hong Kong 1995.

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