Civilization of Early China - Vocabulary

20 cards·by jhanna@kgms.ca

Dynasty

Succession of rulers from the same family

Enlightenment

Seeing the light of truth

Alchemist

An early chemist

Hereditary

Passed on from generation to generation within a family

Interdependent

Mutually dependent, each is dependent on the other

Irrigation

Supplying water to land through artificial means

Mandate from Heaven

Approval from Heaven that an emperor is fit to rule

Monastery

A small community devoted to religious matters

Regent

A person who rules for a monarch who is too young, sick, or old

silk

Cloth spun from fibres made by silkworms

Silk Road

A path traders took to take silk to Rome

Tributary State

Country forced to make regular payments to a more powerful country for protection or peace

Buddihism

Belief that suffering existed when people were too involved in the physical world

Confucianism

Belief that people are basically good, but need to be trained to behave well

Daoism/Taoism

Belief that people should live in harmony with nature

Legalism

Belief that government was more important than the people and that it should be strong, not virtuous

Shang Dynasty

Developed system of writing with pictographs

Zhou Dynasty

Created the idea of the Mandate of Heaven

Qin Dynasty

Built the Great Wall of China

Han Dynasty

Ended civil war & reunified China