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• Emperors came on top. Everyone else came below the emperor in the following order:
• Nobles.
• Officials.
• Altogether, Peasants, Artisans,    and Merchants.

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This was one of the emperors of Ancient China. He was known as Wu and was the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty. He was said to have organized flood control projects that "mastered the waters and made them to flow in great channels." (Strayer, 67).

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• The Zhou Dynasty ruled with a Confucian Social Hierarchy. Confucianism came to popularity during the Zhou Dynasty and the kings expected their citizens to follow the rules and values of Confucianism. The social structure of the Confucian beliefs starts with emperors above all, with scholars following at a close second, farmers before merchants, and merchants before slaves and women.

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• Started growing rice in 6500 B.C.E. in the Yangtze Valley. Later in 5800 B.C.E. people living near Huang He began to all grow soybeans and millet grain and soon in 3000 B.C.E also took up rice farming as well. (Strayer, 67).

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The Ancient Chinese were some of the first people to begin to farm ever, and took up agriculture very quickly.

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• During the Zhou Dynasty, it was the time that the Chinese political ideology had emerged which was around 1046-771 B.C.E. (Strayer, 67).

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• The Shang were polytheistic, which means they believed in several different gods controlled by the forces of nature.
• For example, they had included gods of the sun, moon, clouds, and wind.

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One of the gods of the Shang Dynasty known as Shang Di.

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A picture showing the Chinese people taking a higher interest in it's leaders which was part of the political ideology.

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The timeline of Ancient China through the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasty's and their major events. Click to view full screen or it will not be readable, aha.

All timeline dates are in the following order and read the following!

START OF TIMELINE.

• The first dynasty to have existed, the Xia Dynasty, comes into the world. (2070 B.C.E.)

• Legendary monarch Wu of the Xia Dynasty organizes flood control. (Sometime in between 2070-1600 B.C.E.)

• The second dynasty known to have existed back in Ancient China, the Shang, is established. (1600 B.C.E.)

• The bronze metallurgy reaches China, spreading fast during the Shang Dynasty time, strengthening the Chinese state. (1200 B.C.E.)

• Oracle Bone Script created. Pictographs created during the Shang time that was their newly made writing mechanism. (Sometime in between 1600-1046 B.C.E.)

• The third dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty, established. (1046 B.C.E.)

• Burial of thousands of sacrificial victims for the afterlife during the Zhou time. (Sometime in between 1046-771 B.C.E.)

• Tombs created for the rulers of China during the Zhou time. (Sometime in between 1046-771 B.C.E.)

• Chinese political ideology emerging during the Zhou period. (Sometime in between 1046-711 B.C.E.)

• Qin takes over the Zhou Dynasty when the city of Chengzhou is caught. (256 B.C.E.)

END OF TIMELINE.

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• Most of the people in the Shang Dynasty were peasants, but most of them worked at skilled craft, making pottery, carving jewelry from ivory and jade, and crafting weapons, tools, wheels, and other items from bronze, for a living.

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The Ancient Chinese were skilled in the art of pottery and the image below shows a few examples of Chinese pottery

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• While the Chinese would do lots of silkworm farming, the explanation for this was for business reasons. Economically, silk was  highly valued for clothing, therefore, something everyone would want to buy. Very popular.

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A piece of art depicting noble Chinese women in expensive silk clothing.

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• Many changes had happened after the Zhou Dynasty:

Iron age came to be.

Iron was stronger and cheaper than bronze.

Weapons strengthened the Zhou army.

Catapult used in China for first time.

Creation of China’s first cavalry.

90% of peasants lived on farms in family compounds.

New iron tools increased harvest, food surpluses.

Which led to population growth under Zhou.

Silk was their most important product.

New Roads, canals allowed better transportation, communication.

Introduced coins, use of chopsticks.

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An Ancient Chinese coin! Dating back to when Ancient Chinese coins were first introduced.

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• The Shang had developed a written script of pictographs, or graphic symbols.

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A photo showing how the pictographs of the Ancient Chinese looked like.

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• When the Zhou dynasty took power over the Shang dynasty, the Mandate of Heaven (Son of Heaven) had began, it had the idea that the normal and appropriate condition of China was one  of political unity.

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A picture showing an artist's vision of Mandate Heaven, which was one of the things that came up along with the ideology of politics that there was a son of heaven from the mandate heaven and things, centering the emperor.

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• In between 2070-1600 B.C.E. during the Xia Dynasty time, a legendary monarch known as Wu set up many plans for flood control in China successfully.

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The great flood in China is what the picture indicates.

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• Because of the Chinese traditions, silk productions arose in 3000 B.C.E. with silkworms that fed on leaves of mulberry trees in the area.

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A depiction of silkworm farming during the Ancient Chinese times.

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• The Xia Dynasty came to be from 2070-1600 B.C.E. The Shang Dynasty came to be from 1600-1046 B.C.E. The Zhou Dynasty came to be from 1046-771 B.C.E. and after that time the Qin took over and it was all over. During that time the Chinese were just starting out, and quickly learnt writing and had many emperors whom were all men.

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A photo showing the times of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The Xia came before that and the Qin and Han are also included.

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• China was usually always united by one emperor or empress, (However during these three dynasties there were no empresses until C.E.) and those usually ruled over smaller kings. Under the kings were less powerful lords and the lords controlled the farmers  under them and collected  taxes from them. These taxes were then split to the kings and the kings split these to the emperor. Farmers were always at the bottom of the whole thing.

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This picture shows how Confucianism looked like in Ancient China.

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• Peasants were the poorest of the Chinese citizens. They comprised the majority of the population, and were limited to farming and selling crops for profit. Archaeological findings have shown that masses of peasants were buried with aristocrats, leading some scholars to believe that they were the equivalent of slaves. However, other scholars have countered that they may have been similar to serfs. Peasants were governed directly by local aristocrats.

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A depiction of the peasants during the Ancient China time working the fields.

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A map of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties.

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A map showing the world map during Ancient China in Chinese.

Note: There were no other suitable images with Ancient China and the world for some reason so I hope this will do.

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A picture showing the farmers in the beginning of times. They were always at the very bottom of the social classes.