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298859153 | Huanghe river | river flowing from the Tibetan plateau to the China Sea; its valley was site of early Chinese sedentary agricultural communities. | 0 | |
298859154 | Ordos bulge | located on the Huanghe river; region of fertile soil; site of Yangshao and Longshan cultures. | 1 | |
298859155 | loess | fine-grained soil deposited in Ordos bulge; created fertile lands for sedentary agricultural communities. | 2 | |
298859156 | Yangshao culture | a formative Chinese culture located at Ordos bulge ca. 2500 to 2000 B.C.E.; primarily an intensive hunting and gathering society supplemented by shifting cultivation. | 3 | |
298859157 | Longshan culture | a formative Chinese culture located at Ordos bulge ca. 2000 to 1500 B.C.E.; based primarily on cultivation of millet. | 4 | |
298859158 | Yu | A possibly mythical Chinese ruler revered for the construction of an effective system of flood control along the Huanghe River valley; founder of Xia kingdom. | 5 | |
298859159 | Xia | China's first—possibly mythical—kingdom; no archeological sites have been connected to it; ruled by Yu. | 6 | |
298859160 | Shang | 1st Chinese dynasty; capital in Ordos bulge | 7 | |
298859161 | vassal retainers | members of former ruling families granted control over the peasant and artisan populations of areas throughout Shang kingdom; indirectly exploited wealth of their territories. | 8 | |
298859162 | extended families | Consisted of several generations, including the patriach's sons and grandsons with their wives and children; typical of Shang China elites. | 9 | |
298859163 | nuclear households | husband, wife, and their children, and perhaps a few other relatives; typical of Chinese peasantry. | 10 | |
298859164 | oracles | shamans or priests in Chinese society who foretold the future through interpreting animal bones cracked by heat; inscriptions on bones led to Chinese writing. | 11 | |
298859165 | ideographic writing | Pictographic characters grouped together to create new concepts; typical of Chinese writing. | 12 | |
298859166 | Zhou | originally a vassal family of the Shang; possibly Turkic-speaking in origin; overthrew Shang and established 2nd Chinese dynasty (1122-256 B.C.E.) | 13 | |
298859167 | Xian and Loyang | capitals of the Zhou dynasty. | 14 | |
298859168 | feudalism | The social organization created by exchanging grants of lands or fiefs in return for formal oaths of allegiance and promises of loyal service; typical of Zhou dynasty and European Middle Ages | 15 | |
298859169 | Mandate of Heaven | the divine source of political legitimacy in China; established under Zhou to justify overthrow of Shang. | 16 | |
298859170 | shi | probably originally priest; transformed into corps of professional bureaucrats because of knowledge of writing during Zhou dynasty. | 17 | |
298859171 | Chinese Dynasties | Shang Zhou Qin Han Sui Tang Song | 18 |