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Who's
Who in Ancient China?
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Ancient China covers 11,000 years of history! Fortunately,
it's divided into big blocks of time.
Still, it can be frustrating sometimes
because different people refer to the same blocks of time by different
names. That's not very helpful.
For example, someone might say "in
Shang times" or "in Han times", or they might say "in
the Bronze Age" or "in the Age of Division".
They might say
in the Chou Dynasty (when the Chou family ruled) or in the Zhou Dynasty
(when the Zhou family ruled). But, the Chou and Zhou Dynasties were the same
dynasty, only spelled differently.
You can see why this might be confusing!
So, before we get into daily life, we need a cheat
sheet of who's who in ancient China.
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Cheat Sheet: Who's Who in Ancient China
| Time Period |
Dynasty |
Quick Glimpse |
Early
10,000-1500 BCE |
Xia(Hsia)
|
Lungshan
people, the great engineers
Silk, potters wheel, baked brick houses, flood control, irrigation
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Bronze
Age
1500-600 BCE
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Shang
Chou(Zhou)
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Classical Age
600 BCE-
200 CE |
Late Chou
Ch'in(Qin)
Han |
|
Age
of Division
200-600 CE |

A bunch of
dynasties
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Hu
the Tiger (who reminds me of Jaba the Hut in Star Wars!)
Invention of gunpowder
Tea! (Confucius probably never tasted tea, and it really didn't become
popular until T'ang times, but this era is when it first started
to be enjoyed.)
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Early Medieval Period
600-900 CE |
T'ang |
The Golden Age!
Furniture, ceramics, spoons, amber, turquoise, gold, silver,
goblets, teacups, sports, games, music, dancing, even a kind
of football, and a neat form of air-conditioning. Fancy hats,
silk robes, jade belts, Buddhism
Tea was
used as barter with areas in Mongolia for horses in an
exchange called the "Tea and Horse" Policy. |
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OTHER
KEY TOPICS |
Free
Presentations in PowerPoint format
Free Games
Free
Video Clips
Stories about Ancient China
Wang
the Peddler
Loawnu
the Wise Woman
The
True Story of Mulan
Dragon
Lore
Ancient Chinese Stories
Free
Clipart
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Templates
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