1. Government and Leaders
1.1. Shang/Zhou
1.1.1. Shang rulers stressed to importance of agriculture as fishing flourished through China.
1.1.2. The nobles who ruled these fiefs pretty much owned the farmers who inhabited them.
1.1.3. The Zhou broke the land up into Fiefs which were generally ruled by relatives of the emperor.
1.1.4. During the last Shang emperors rule(emperor Zhou) human living conditions declined as he would be overthrown by Wu prompting the Zhou dynasty to take over.
1.2. Sumerians
1.2.1. The government was a mix of monarchy and democracy with a king ruling and priests and religious leaders helping.
1.2.2. The government was formed out of neccessity because the people needed to be organized for projects and farming which led to leaders emerging.
1.2.3. Sumer was divided into city-states and ruled by a king who also created laws to make sure the people knew what was expected of them.
1.2.4. Laws were made and upheld by a 2 house legislature much like today except the upper house was made up of the elders and the lower house was males and soldiers also held assembly's where the king and others had to ask to do certain things.
2. Religion
2.1. Shang/Zhou
2.1.1. viewed the world as having many good and bad spirits.
2.1.2. During the Zhou dynasty the beginning of Chinese philosophy developed.
2.1.3. The Zhou and Shang had similar yet quite different religious beliefs.
2.1.4. They believed in 3 realms being Hell, Earth, and Heaven. They would give sacrifices to show respect to heaven.
2.1.5. Religious artifact.
2.2. Sumerians
2.2.1. Followed a polytheistic religion with deities representing mysterious forces in the world and that they protected the city-states.
2.2.2. Even to this day echoes of the Sumerians religion can be see in the religions of today through their temples, literature, etc.
2.2.3. Sumerians believed they were alive to serve the gods and when flooding or a natural disaster would occur that meant the gods were unhappy with them.
2.2.4. As their religion became more complex, the leaders of the villages also became the religious leaders and took on religious duties which led to them having more power and expanding territory.
2.2.5. religous artifact
3. Social Structure and Family
3.1. Shang/Zhou
3.1.1. At the top of the social hierarchy stood the king whom was referred to as Emperor.
3.1.2. Next in the hierarchy stood the prince who had to be direct family with the king and would be trained as the heir to the throne.
3.1.3. Family was extremely important and no matter the social status of the family the father was the head of the house.
3.1.4. If one member of the family made mistakes or was disobedient it would bring dishonor to the entire family.
3.2. Sumerians
3.2.1. Sumerian social structure was thought to be divided into 4 sections: nobles, commoners, clients, and slaves.
3.2.2. Men and women soon had distinct roles where the men held political power and made laws and women took care of the home and children.
3.2.3. Families were expected to support each other and for children respect the parents and not doing so was a grave sin.
3.2.4. Men had the power in the family and women were expected to stay at home and couldn't do certain things without permission first.
4. Arts and Education
4.1. Shang/Zhou
4.1.1. During the Zhou dynasty the school system was divided into state schools and village schools.
4.1.2. The first formal schools were established during the Xia dynasty which was replaced by the Shang dynasty.
4.1.3. People would make bronze jars for their ancestors and would write long scriptures to show their ancestors what they have done.
4.1.4. Lots of the art from the Zhou/Shang time frame was for ceremonial or religious purposes.
4.1.5. art.
4.2. Sumerians
4.2.1. The Sumerians developed the first writing system(cuneiform) which led to the change from prehistory to history.
4.2.2. Sumerians used arches, ramps, and columns commonly in their ziggurats or temples.
4.2.3. Most famous work of art were cylinder seals which had designs around the cylinder and were used for documents or to show ownership
4.2.4. Sumerian sculptures were statues with large, wide-open eyes, and small ivory objects
4.2.5. art
5. Geography and Agriculture
5.1. Shang/Zhou
5.1.1. The Shang dynasty's core resided alongside the Yellow River.
5.1.2. The Shang also heavily relied on agriculture but was more focused on fresh water fishing.
5.1.3. The Zhou dynasty can be broken up into 2 chunks, the western Zhou in which came to an end around 770 BC. Then caused the uprising of the eastern Zhou.
5.1.4. As the Zhou were forced to flee the east, the economy expanded through and improvement in agriculture.
5.1.5. geography of Zhou.
5.2. Sumerians
5.2.1. Over time the people advanced and developed ways to control the water and flooding which required organization and leadership which led to slowly led to civilization.
5.2.2. There were risks to farming in Mesopotamia such as the area received little rain, flooding was unpredictable and could wash away whole villages and if waters dropped too low crops dried and died out.
5.2.3. Every spring the rivers flooded leaving behind fertile soil to plant wheat and barley which led to excess food and in turn larger population.
5.2.4. The Sumerians were located in Mesopotamia in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which helped shape the civilizations.
5.2.5. geography
6. Science and Technology
6.1. Shang/Zhou
6.1.1. A very important technological advancement took place during the Zhou dynasty, the invention of cast iron. This allowed for better more durable tools.
6.1.2. Another invention during the Zhou dynasty was crop rotation which allowed for better, more efficient use of the land.
6.1.3. During the Shang dynasty China made great advancements in astronomy, such as the Oracle Scripts. These scripts contain logs of eclipses and other celestial happenings.
6.1.4. During the Shang rule the calender made improvements as they have shown signs of distinctions between odd and even numbers.
6.1.5. Ox plow.
6.2. Sumerians
6.2.1. They developed a math based on the number 60 which is still used today-hour is 60 minutes, circle is 360 degrees.
6.2.2. Sumerians also made a huge scientific advancement with the wheel which they used for pottery and vehicles.
6.2.3. Sumerians collected and wrote down a lot of medical knowledge and even performed basic surgery.
6.2.4. They also learned how to use geometry to create complex structures and irrigation.
6.2.5. science/math
7. Economy and Trade
7.1. Shang/Zhou
7.1.1. Trade and exchange became prevalent during the late periods of the Shang as people would trade silk and bronze items.
7.1.2. There was a lot of variation of created goofs among the Shang from artisan items to basic items for everyday life.
7.1.3. The economy of the Zhou was mainly based on the booming agriculture.
7.1.4. As agriculture and food production increased it aloud for people to chase other occupations such as merchants and traders.
7.2. Sumerians
7.2.1. Sumer lacked many raw materials like wood and metal so they traded with other villages with woven textiles.
7.2.2. The economy was based on agriculture and was boosted by technological advances.
7.2.3. They used small ferries on the rivers to trade and transport as the wheels they had invented would get stuck in the sand.
7.2.4. They had storage facilities and mills to store excess food used for trading and as a backup supply.