Chinese civilization

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1. CHINESE CIVILIZATION
Presented by:-
RUSHITA,JYOTI,RUCHI,POOJA,MANOJ,RAVI

2. GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE OF CHINA

3. GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS
•China Ranges from plateaus and Mountains in the west to lower
land in the east.
Principle river
•In the central-east are the Deltas of China's two major rivers, the
Hang He (yellow river) and Yangize in central
•North-East Aamur.
•Sometimes towards south pearl river, Mekong river, and
Brahmaputra.
•Chinese rivers are emptying into Pacific Ocean.
•In the East, along the Shores of the Yellow Sea.
•On the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north,
grasslands can be seen.
•Southern China is dominated by hills and low Mountain ranges.

4. CLIMATE OF CHINA
• The central zone has a generally temperate climate.
• The southern zone has a generally subtropical climate.
• The northern zone has a climate with winters of Arctic severity.

5. The Political Division of China

6. •Ancient Era
- Xia Dynasty (2100-1600 B.C.)
- Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.)
- Zhou Dynasty (1122-256 B.C.)
Spring & Antumn Period
Waring States Period

7. Ancient Times
•China in the Xia & Zhou dynasties
consisted of nine Zhou.
•Shang dynasty featured 31 kings,
the longest dynasty in chines
history.
•During the Zhou Dynasty, the
nation was rulled overall by the
“THE SON OF HEVEN”.
•The country was divided into
competing states Each with a
hereditary head, variously styled
“prince”, “duke” or “king”.
Shang Dynasty
Zhou Dynasty

8. •Imperial Era (221 B.C. – 1911 B.C.)
-Qin Dynasty
-Han Dynasty
-Southern & Northern Dynasties
-Sui Dynasty
-Tang Dynasty
-Five Dynasties & Ten Kingdoms
-Song Dynasty
-Yuan Dynasty
-Ming Dynasty
-Qing Dynasty

9. •Qin Dynasty
–The major contributions of the Qin include the concept of a
centralized government, the unification of the legal code,
written language, measurement, and currency of China.
•Han Dynasty

–Emperor Wu consolidated and extended the Chinese
empire.
–This enabled the first opening of trading connections
between China and the West, the Silk Road.
–Three states tried to gain predominance in the Period of the
Three Kingdoms. This time period has been greatly
romanticized in works such as
Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

10. •Sui Dynasty
–The Sui brought China together again
and set up many institutions that were
to be adopted by their successors, the
Tang.
•Tang Dynasty
–The Tang introduced a new system into
the Chinese government, called the
"Equal Field System.
–Chang'an (modern Xi'an) the national
capital, is thought to have been the
world's largest city at the time. The
Tang and the Han are often referred to
as the most prosperous periods of
Chinese history.

11. Five Dynasty & Ten kingdoms
•The period of political
disunity between the
Tang and the Song,
known as the Five
Dynasties and Ten
Kingdoms Period
lasted little more than
half a century, from 907
to 960.

12. Song Dynasty
•In 960, the
Song Dynasty (960-1279)
gained power over most of
China and established its
capital in Kaifeng, starting
a period of economic
prosperity,
•China's first permanent standing navy was
assembled and provided an admiral's office at
Dinghai in 1132 AD, under the reign of Emperor
Renzong of Song.

13. Yuan Dynasty
•Kublai Khan, grandson of
Genghis Khan, wanting to
adopt the customs of China,
established the
Yuan Dynasty.
•This was the first dynasty to
rule the whole of China from
Beijing as the capital.

14. Ming Dynasty
•Emperor Yong-le strenuously tried to extend China's
influence beyond its borders by demanding other rulers
send ambassadors to China to present tribute.

•A large navy was built, including four-massed ships
displacing 1,500 tons. A standing army of 1 million troops
was created. The Chinese armies conquered Vietnam for
around 20 years.
•The Grand Canal was expanded, and proved to be a
stimulus to domestic trade.

•During the Ming dynasty the last construction on the
Great Wall was undertaken to protect China from foreign
invasions.

15. Qing Dynasty
•Emperor Kangxi ordered the creation of
the most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever
put together at the time.

•The Manchus set up the "Eight Banners" system in an
attempt to avoid being assimilated into Chinese society.

•Banner membership was to be based on traditional
Manchu skills such as archery, horsemanship, and
frugality.

17. Modern Era
•With the proclamation of the People's Republic of China
on October 1, 1949, Taiwan was again politically
separated from mainland China and was continued to be
governed by the Republic of China.

18. CHINESE RELIGION

19. •Taoism
•Confucianism
•Buddhism
- Gods
- Buddhas

20. Taoism
•Started by Lao-Tsu,
who lived a little
before Confucius,
about 600 B.C.
•Tao means the ‘way’
or the ‘path’

21. Buddhism
•Gautama Buddha
taught the four
noble truths: that
there is suffering,
that suffering has
a cause, that
suffering has an
end and that
there is a path
that leads to the
end of suffering.

22. Buddha
•Buddha was born
around 565 B.C. in
Lumbini in modern day
Nepal
•They are the
characteristics of the
physical harmony and
beauty of a Great
Being, and are
described in Story of
the Life of Buddha
Shakyamuni.

23. I would be honored if you would




Join me in Meditation.
MEDITATION
•The dhyanas are followed
by four further spiritual
exercises, the samapattis
("attainments").
•They are described as:
•consciousness of infinity
of space;
•consciousness of the
infinity of cognition;
•concern with the unreality
of things (nihility);
•consciousness of
unreality as the object of
thought.

24. Confucius
•Born in a poor family in the
year 551 B.C., and he was
born in the state of Lu.
•Original name was K'ung
Ch'iu.
•Made many wise phrases
and theories about the law,
life, and the government.
•Philosophy is a kind of a
system of ideas and
thoughts that talk about the
human's behavior

25. Architecture Of China

26. -
Afive bayhouse inZheiiang Province

•Certain materials and
techniques, such as
pounded earth
foundations, timber
framing, and use of
bricks and tile were
present throughout
the country.
Architecture Introduction of the Houses of China.
•Chinese homes have survived from antiquity, using
archeological evidence.
•The basic principles of Chinese house design, such as
the emphasis on orientation, layout, and symmetry.

27. Orientation
•Zhou period settlements were also organized on a north-
south axis.

•Chinese domestic
architecture is the
practice of making
houses face south.
•Archeologists have
found that many
Neolithic-period
houses were
rectangular with a
south-facing door.

28. •The importance of orientation developed into the
practice of Feng-shui which literally means "wind and
water"
•Feng-shui concepts also
dictated the kinds of
material used in
buildings. Combined with
the location of the
building,

•The proper building
materials were thought to
re-direct beneficial energy
for the inhabitants.

•The most common
building materials for
houses in China are earth
and wood

Detail from a Ming
period manual showing
brick making

29. •The basic building block of Chinese architecture is the bay or "the
space between," which is the space defined by roof supports.
•Chinese houses almost always consist of an odd number of bays;
an even number of bays is considered unlucky. Therefore, three- or
five- bay houses are common.
A diagram of the supports for a three
bay house
A south-facing three bay house in Inner
Mongolia

30. •The Three-bay house can
be understood to be the
basic unit of Chinese
homes.

•Depending on the size and
the wealth of the family.
•One common extension of
the three-bay house was
the creation of a courtyard
dwelling.
Bird's eye view of courtyard house in
Beijing

31. •A notable feature of the
courtyard house is that the
complex is fully enclosed by
buildings and walls.
•There are no windows on the
outside walls, and usually
the only opening to the
outside is through the front
gate.
Ming dynasty woodblock print

32. •It was not easy to see what a
house contained by peeking
through the front gate.
•Courtyards were constructed so
that when one looked through
the first doorway of the house
only a brick screen was visible.
A doorway of a Beijing courtyard
house showing the screen wall

33. •The sizes of courtyard
houses vary greatly
depending on the wealth,
size, and the taste of the
family.
•Like the simple three-bay
house, the door of the main
building faced south.
•Doorways to the east or
west could open into a
garden.
-
Diagramofathree sided

courtyard

house                          
-
Diagramofafoursided

courtyardhouse

34. Uses of rooms in a typical two-courtyard house
•Main entrance
•Rooms facing the rear. The rooms facing
the back, those near the entrance to the
courtyard were reserved for the servants
if the family was well-off.
•First courtyard. Cooking was carried out
here, and the second courtyard was a
living space.
East and west-side rooms, for the sons
and daughters, or the sons' families.
•Inner Hall. Where the members of the
family greeted guests or where family
ceremonies were held.
• Main building. Living space for parents.
Small side rooms. These used for children
and extended family members.

35. •The courtyard was used
in the design of more
complex structures
such as palaces and
temples.

36. •Clay is a fairly common
material for making tiles for
roofing.
•In some areas, for poorer
people, thatch and bamboo
were also common material.

•Where wood was available
and affordable, it was used to
frame houses, providing
support for the roof.

Woodblock print from the Ming
dynasty Carpenter's Manual,
showing a carpenter at work
Roofs Designs and materials

37. Pillars-and-beams wooden roof support system, from a building in
the Beijing area
•Two main kinds of framing systems developed:
• pillars-and-beams (tailiang),
• pillars-and-transverse-tie-beams (chuandou).

38. •The function of the
cantilevered beam might be
replaced by complex, or
corbelled, brackets, shown
below.
•They are the layered green
pieces below the eaves.
Corbelled brackets and drip
tiles, Hall of Celestial Piety,
Forbidden City, Beijing

39. How Did They Decorate their Houses ?

•Walls and eaves are often decorated, but particular
attention is paid to doorways and windows because
these are places where good or evil spirits were
thought to enter.

•Elegant decorative schemes would also provide
ventilation or shading.
•Many openings would be covered with latticework in
an endless variety of patterns that "shape the wind" or
alter the way air flows into a home.

40. Doors in Sichuan Province

41. •One way to
summon good
fortune is to
invoke the
character fu, seen
on the wall to the
right.
•Fu can be
translated as
"happiness,"
"good fortune,"
"blessings," or
"luck."
"Fu" on wall in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province

42. •This character is often represented stylistically as
a backwards swastika, such as on the lattice work
to the left.
Lattice found in Sichuan Province

43. •To the left is a picture of a
tiger with the eight trigrams.

•This is often hung above
doors.
•The eight trigrams are thought
to ward off evil influences.

•In combination with the tiger's
fierce face, this image makes a
powerful amulet.

Atigerhanging above adoorin

Zhejing province 

44. THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

45. •The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen
fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained
between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to
protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire
during the rule of successive dynasties.

•Several walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China,
were built since the 5th century BC.

•The most famous is the wall built between 220 BC and
200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang;
little of it remains; it was much farther north than the
current wall, which was built during the Ming Dynasty.

46. TEMPLE

47. Temple of
Heaven
•Temple of Heaven , the
first of the five
sacrificial temples in
Beijing, is situated
south of Beijing city. It
was first built in 1420,
along with the
construction of the
Forbidden City.

•The Temple of Heaven
covers an area of 273
hectares. It is the best
preserved and largest
sacrificial building
complex in the world.

48. •Temple of Heaven
was the place
where emperors of
the Ming and Qing
dynasties (about
seven hundreds
years ago) came to
perform worship to
the God of Heaven
and pray for good
harvests.

49. •Lingyin Temple, or the Temple of Inspired Seclusion, was
founded in 326 AD by the Indian monk, Hui Li.

•During its turbulent history the temple has been
destroyed and then restored no less than sixteen times
with the current structures dating to the late Qing
dynasty (1644-1911).
LINGYIN TEMPLE

50. •"His belly is big enough to contain all intolerable things
in the world;
•His mouth is ever ready to laugh at all snobbish
persons under heaven."
It is believed that if you rub the belly of this Buddha, he will be able to
foretell your future and make your wishes come true.

51. Pagoda
•During Han times, the
idea of the pagoda
came to China from
India, along with other
goods and ideas, via
traders on the SilkRoad.
• The origin of the
pagoda can be traced
to the Indian stupa (3rd
century BCE).

52. THE YIN & YANG
•It shows how the YIN & the
YANG are intertwined with
each other.
• The YIN (The DARK side)
-The side of WOMEN,THE
MOON,COMPLETION &
DEATH.
• The YANG (The LIGHT
side)
-The side of MEN, THE
SUN, CREATION & BIRTH

53. •"I" means change. "Ching" means book.

•Therefore I Ching means 'The Book Of Changes'.
•The I Ching is a collection of predictions about the future.

•It's a fortune-telling book to help people predict what is going to
happen in the future.

•People wrote the first versions of the I Ching on silk cloth,
I CHING

54. People threw three yarrow stalks (yarrow is a kind of
flowering plant), and depending on how they fell they
used that pattern to choose which predictions to read.

55. •Chinese calligraphy (Brush calligraphy) is an art unique
to Asian cultures.
Chinese Calligrphy
•Shu (calligraphy), Hua (painting), Qin (a string musical
instrument), and Qi (a strategic boardgame) are the four
basic skills and disciplines of the Chinese literati.

56. Oracle bones
• People in China
began writing about
1500 BC .
• The earliest
writing that we
know of from
China was on
animal bones,
which are called "
oracle bones"
because they
were used to tell
the future.
Chinese oracle bone
(Shang Dynasty, about 1500 BC)

57. Chinese Script
•Cangjie created the
earliest written
characters.

58. Pottery
•The earliest form of art
we know from China was
pottery - clay pitchers
and bowls.
• Most of the best early
pottery comes from a
place called Ban’po and
it is named after that
place. This Ban'po
pottery was handmade.
Jar from Ban'po, 4800 BC

59. Pottery bowl from Henan in
Northern China,about 3500
BC (Musee Guimet, Paris)
Pottery jar from Gansu in
North-West China,
about 2500 BC