1. Social Structure and Family Life
1.1. Sumerians
1.1.1. Husband allowed to sell his wife and children into slavery.
1.1.2. Slaves are prisoners of war or people hopelessly in debt in their community.
1.1.3. Husband and father is the master of the household.
1.1.4. Women of the upper class have more freedom.
1.2. Shang-Zhou
1.2.1. Women were inferior to men.
1.2.2. The only ‘point’ of women was to bare children, to give birth to a beautiful son.
1.2.3. Kings expected their citizens to follow the rules and values of Confucianism.
1.2.4. Confucian beliefs starts with emperors above all, with scholars following at a close second, farmers before merchants, and merchants before slaves and women.
2. Government and Leadership
2.1. Shang-Zhou
2.1.1. China was ruled by a strict monarchy and they had to be under supervision at what they did so they could potentially be controlled.
2.1.2. Shang-Zhou had a centralizing government. Without it, there would be no agriculture. This is the whole fundamental aspect of all the ancient civilization.
2.1.3. They believed in the Mandate of Heaven which stated that their leaders were chosen by the gods.
2.1.4. Their government was based on a feudal system. They divided the land into feifs which were farms owned by the nobles.
2.2. Summerians
2.2.1. Their government was a combination of democracy and monarchy.
2.2.2. City-states were ruled by Kings and also assisted by priests, scribes, and nobles.
2.2.3. The priests were in control of canals for irrigation and trade.
2.2.4. The laws were made by two legislatures: the Upper House and the Lower House.
3. Religion
3.1. Sumerians
3.1.1. The people worshiped in temples and ziggurats. They mainly worshiped nature such as wind and water.
3.1.2. They regarded the universe as consisting of Heaven and Earth.
3.1.3. Their gods were human in form and maintained human traits. They were immortal and and all-powerful.
3.1.4. The people believed that their main role was to serve the gods. They devoted their time to prayer, worship, and sacrifice.
3.2. Shang-Zhou
3.2.1. They believed that their king was chosen by godly order. The kinds main job was to keep the gods happy.
3.2.2. They thought the gods were unhappy when there was a drought, bad storm, or natural disaster.
3.2.3. They were Polytheistic which means that they worshiped many gods.
4. Economy and Trade
4.1. Sumarians
4.1.1. Ships sailed up and down the Nile River, bringing goods to various ports
4.1.2. Traveled by caravan of donkeys loaded with fine textiles
4.1.3. grain was quite bulky and was best transported on a boat
4.1.4. Long-distance trade caravans were organized and supplied by the temple, and the traders were temple servants.
4.2. Shang-Zhou
4.2.1. the Zhou Dynasty had an economy centered on agricultural production
4.2.2. Shang rulers attached great importance to agriculture. Fishing began to grow as an industry as the people fished in the fresh waters.
4.2.3. Jade and tortoise shells are found here. These items come from areas hundreds of miles away to the south. They got the goods through trade.
4.2.4. The Shang were in the business of trading goods, and they had trade routes that extended far and wide
5. Science and Technology
5.1. Sumerians
5.1.1. Sumerians developed a math system based off the number of 60.
5.1.2. They used geometry to make buildings.
5.1.3. They also created the wheel for pottery and vehicles.
5.1.4. Sumerians also learned to make tools/ weapons out of bronze to make stronger tools.
5.2. Shang-Zhou
5.2.1. Pottery and ceramics were made and were used as decorations.
5.2.2. Architects found royal tombs that were made for practices.
5.2.3. Royal workshops made musical instruments like the drums.
5.2.4. They made tools of bronze.
6. Geography and Agriculture
6.1. Summarians
6.1.1. Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded usually at bad times like when the food is about to be harvested.
6.1.2. It barely rained in the civilization
6.1.3. Emmer wheat, barley, sheep, and cattle raised for the first time on a grand scale.
6.1.4. Harvested during the spring in three-person teams consisting of a reaper, a binder, and a sheaf handler.
6.2. Shang-Zhou
6.2.1. Located on the Yellow River in the north, and later the Yangtze in the south.
6.2.2. In the south, people grew rice along the Yangtze river, ate a good deal of fish, together with vegetables, especially water plants such as water chestnuts and lotus.
6.2.3. Along with dogs, pigs and cattle, people in the south had water buffalos to help work the soil. By the heavy use of human labor, the same area of land in the south could grow about twice as much food as in the north.
6.2.4. Eastern China are surrounded by deserts, vast steppes, high mountains and impassable jungles.
7. Sumerian Art
8. Shang-Zhou Art
9. Map of Shang-Zhou Civilization
10. Arts and Educations
10.1. Sumerians
10.1.1. Education for wealthy families, studied and worked from sun up to sun down.
10.1.2. Sumerians were praised if work was done well and accurate. If this did not happen, students were punished with lashes from a stick or cane.
10.1.3. Sumerians only focused on studying complex grammar, and practiced writing. Most, if not all sumerian students were male.
10.2. Shang-Zhou
10.2.1. Inscriptions found on bones or tortoise shells were the records of teaching and learning.
10.2.2. Nobles built schools to teach their children, as their offsprings would be the officials of the future.
10.2.3. They mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey, and fruit to use for paints.
10.2.4. Most art was simple pottery and sculptures.