Recap Questions

Page 155
1. What were the internal threats that the ancient Chinese faced?
Ans: They faced natural disasters like floods and famines, civil wars and rebellion like peasant rebellion and military rebellion.

Page 158
1. What were the internal threats that the people of ancient Southeast Asia faced?
Ans: The faced natural disasters like volcanic eruptions, they also faced succession disputes, warfare and rebellion, and piracy.

Page 161
2. What were the measures taken by the ancient people to cope with these threats?
Ans: In ancients China, the Chinese built dykes to control floodings while in ancient India, the Indus people were very persistent in rebuilding their homes.

Page 174
2. How did foreign rulers integrate into ancient Chinese society?
Ans: Many foreign invaders readily accepted Chinese culture and integrated into Chinese society. They adopted Chinese names, customs, dressing and used the Chinese language and script. Rulers of the monadic tribes were keen to integrate into Chinese society.

Page 177
1. What were the external threats that the people of ancient Southeast Asia faced?
Ans: They faced rivalry between kingdoms, foreign invasions, measures taken against external threats like diplomacy, building physical barriers and armies, weapons and patriotic rebellions.

Page 181
2. How different and/or similar were the people of ancient India, China and Southeast Asia in responding to external threats?
Ans: Ancient people built physical barriers and armies and invented weapons to protect themselves against invaders, rulers established friendships with other rulers, foreign invaders adopted the culture of the local people and the lessons from the past.

What inference can you make from studying the map (pg 126) about the Mauryan Dynasty?

The traders tralled to different towns and cities to trade different things froms the towns and cities.

Hinduism and Buddhism spread to SEA

Hinduism
About the 1st century CE, Hinduism came to SEA. It is believed that Hindu priest from India were invited to the courts of ancients SEA rulers to teach India culture. Many historians have conclude that this was because India was considered to be one of the the most advanced civilisations of the ancient world, Ancient SEAsian king thus wanted to learn from the Indians.

Buddhism
Buddhism came to SEA c. 300ce. It was brought by Indian and Chinese traders as well as the Buddhist missionaries who travelled with them.

Impact of Religions

Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam had a great impact on the way the people of Southeast Asia lived. These religions had guided many rulers in the way they governed. Meanwhile, rulers of island Southeast Asia adopted Islam and calles themselves sultans. Their kingdoms were called sultanates.

However, as in ancient China, the people of SEA did not entirely foloow the teachings of their new religions and abandon their older beliefs. Instead, they combined their older beliefs with the teachings of their new religions.

Today, the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam continue to shape the lives of people in SEA. Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei are countries where the majority of the people are Muslims while the people in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar are mostly Buddhists.

What happened c. 1150 BCE?

The last Shang king, Shang Zhou, committed suicide after his army was defeated by the Zhou people. Legends say that his army betrayed him because they joined the Zhou rebels in a decisive battle that took place.

The classical novel- Fengshui Yanyi is about the war between the Yin and Zhou. Each was favored and supported by one group of gods.

After Yin's collapse, the surviving Yin ruling family collectively changed their surname from their royal Zi (子) to the name of their fallen dynasty, Yin (殷). The family remained aristocratic and often provided needed administrative services to the succeeding Zhou Dynasty. The King Cheng of Zhou, through the Regent, his uncle the Duke Dan of Zhou, enfeoffed the former Shang King Zhou's brother Ziqi (子啟) as the ruler of Wei (微), in the former Shang capital at Shang (商), with the territory becoming the state of Song later in history. The State of Song and the royal Shang descendants maintained rites to the dead Shang kings which lasted until 286 BC.

Both Korean and Chinese legends state that a disgruntled Yin prince named Jizi (箕子), who had refused to cede power to the Zhou, left China with his garrison and founded Gija Joseon, and it would become one of the early Korean states (Go-, Gija-, and Wiman-Joseon).

Many Shang clans migrated northeast and were integrated into Yan culture during the Western Zhou period. These clans maintained an elite status and continued their sacrificial and burial traditions.

(Source: Records of the Grand Historian.)

Religion

The Shang worshipped the "Shang Ti." As this god ruled as a supreme god over lesser gods, the sun, the moon, the wind, the rain, and other natural forces and places, ancestor worship became a part of the Shang religion. Sacrifice to the gods and the ancestors were also a major part of the Shang religion. When a king died, hundreds of slaves and prisoners were often sacrificed and buried with him. People were also sacrificed in lower numbers when important events, such as the founding of a palace or temple, occurred.

The Shang king had considerable power over his subjects. Public works were built that needed many people. The capital at Zhengzhou, for instance, had a wall of stamped earth around it that was four miles long and up to 27 feet high in areas. Stamped earth walls were made by pounding thin layers of earth which is within a movable wooden frame. The earth then becomes as hard as cement.

From Google images and Religion at Shang Dynasty

What happened c. 1500 BCE?

There are many possible answers to the rapid end to the Indus Valley Civilisation. It might be the invasion of the Aryan and tried to bomb the area. Maybe there was a crisis like drought, famine, influenza, flood, earthquake and lots more. However, the reason why the Indus Valley Civilisation had to the end is not known, it is still a mystery. Historians are still trying to find more evidence to know the reason why.

From Wikipedia on Aryan invasion theory