Chapter 2 outline I. Early china 2000-221 b.c.e A. Geography and resources 1. Isolated by formidable natural barriers like the Himalaya mountains. 2. Most of asia is covered with mountains making overland travel and transport difficult. But the river systems of eastern china, however are their tributaries. 3. In the eastern valley there are dense populations that practiced intensive agriculture 4. The eastern river valleys and north china plain contained timber stone, scattered deposits of metals and above all. It was a productive land 5. The cultivation of rice required a great outlay of labor. The field where rice is grown it must be flat and surrounded by water channels to bring and lead away water according to a precise schedule B. The Shang period 1750-1045 b.c.e 1. evidence shows that the Neolithic population of china grew millet. They raised pigs and chickens and used stone tools. 2. Little is known about how the shang to dominance ca.1750 b.c.e since written documents only appear towards the end of shang rule. 3. The shang ruler has direct access to his more recent ancestors, who have access to earlier generations. 4. The king was often on the road, traveling to the courts of his subordinates to rein enforce their loyalty, but it is uncertain how much territory in the north china plain was effectively controlled by the shang. C. The zhou period 1045-221b.c.e 1. In the mid eleventh century the shang over thrown by the zhou whose homeland lay several hundred miles to the west, in the valley of wei river. 2. Much more is known about the early centuries of zhou rule than the preceding shang era because of the survival of written texts , above all the book of documents a coolection of decrees letters and folksongs etc. 3. War fare was a persistent feature of the period and there were important transformations in the character and technology of war. 4. Another significant development was the