LibGuides: Ancient Civilizations in Credo: Asia

India

Ganges River
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide Major river of India and Bangladesh; length 2,510 km/1,560 mi. It drains a fertile and densely populated basin, approximately a quarter of the total area of India, and is the most sacred river for Hindus.
Indus Valley civilization: Topic Page
Ancient civilization that flourished from about 2500 B.C. to about 1500 B.C. in the valley of the Indus River and its tributaries.
Sanskrit literature: Topic Page
Literary works written in Sanskrit constituting the main body of the classical literature of India.

China

Yangtze River (China): Topic Page
Longest river of China and Asia, and third longest in the world, flowing about 6,300 km/3,900 mi from Qinghai on the Tibetan Plateau to the Yellow Sea. It is a major commercial waterway and, with its tributaries, is navigable for 30,000 km/18,640 mi; Yichang is considered the head of navigation, but ocean-going vessels can reach inland as far as Wuhan.
China: Topic Page
Since the 2d millennium B.C. a unique and fairly uniform culture has spread over almost all of China.
Chinese Dynasties pre-1000 CE
From Chambers Dictionary of World History
Shang Dynasty (1766–1122 BC);Zhou (Chou) Dynasty (1122/1066–256 BC); Qin (Ch'in) Dynasty (221–206 BC);Han Dynasties (206 BC–AD 220); Jin (Chin/Tsin) Dynasty (AD 266–317); Sui Dynasty (581–618); Tang Dynasty (618–907); Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907–60)
Great Wall of China: Topic Page
Fortifications, c.1,500 mi (2,400 km) long, winding across N China from Gansu prov. to Hebei prov. on the Yellow Sea.
Warring States Period (BCE 403 - 221)
From Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations
The second half of the Eastern Zhou dynastic period witnessed emergence of about 170 city-states in north central China, ultimately reduced by war, conquest, and merger to fewer than ten, and then to one: Qin, which began the classical period of Imperial China.

Japan

Ainu
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Aborigines of Japan who may be descended from a Caucasoid people who once lived in N Asia. More powerful invaders from the Asian mainland gradually forced the Ainu to retreat to the northern islands of Japan and Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in what is now the Russian Far East.
Hokkaido: Topic Page
It is the second largest, northernmost, and most sparsely populated of the major islands of Japan.
Honshu: Topic Page
The largest of the four main islands of Japan, between the Pacific and the Sea of Japan; regarded as the Japanese mainland.
Japan: Topic Page
The divine design of the empire—supposedly founded in 660 B.C. by the emperor Jimmu, a lineal descendant of the sun goddess and ancestor of the present emperor—was held as official dogma until 1945.
Kyushu: Topic Page
An island of SW Japan: the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, with over 300 surrounding small islands; coalfield and chemical industries.
Shikoku
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Smallest of the four main islands of Japan, south of Honshu, east of Kyushu; area 18,800 sq km/7,250 sq mi; population (2000 est) 4,154,000.

Religion and Philosophy

Buddha: Topic Page
[Skt.,=the enlightened One], usual title given to the founder of Buddhism. He is also called the Tathagata [he who has come thus], Bhagavat [the Lord], and Sugata [well-gone]. He probably lived from 563 to 483 B.C.
Buddhism: Topic Page
Religion and philosophy founded in India c.525 B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. The basic doctrines of early Buddhism include the "four noble truths": existence is suffering (dukhka); suffering has a cause, namely craving and attachment (trishna).
Confucianism: Topic Page
Moral and religious system of China. Its origins go back to the Analects, the sayings attributed to Confucius, and to ancient commentaries. In its early form (before the 3d cent. B.C.) Confucianism was primarily a system of ethical precepts for the proper management of society.
Bhagavad Gita: Topic Page
Sanskrit poem incorporated into the Mahabharata, one of the greatest religious classics of Hinduism.
Hinduism: Topic Page
The Western term for a religious tradition developed during the first millennium and intertwined with the history and social system of India.
Mahabharata: Topic Page
Classical Sanskrit epic of India, probably composed between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200.
Shintoism
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Ancient native religion of Japan still practiced in a form modified by the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism.
Taoism: Topic Page
The philosophical system stems largely from the Tao-te-ching, a text traditionally ascribed to Lao Tzu but probably written in the mid-3d cent. B.C.
Vedas: Topic Page
The term Veda, derived from the root vid, “to know,” means “knowledge.” The Veda functions in Hindu traditions as an authoritative category that is ascribed the status of transcendent knowledge and has both textual and supratextual dimensions.
Vedic Religion
From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Ancient religion of India that was contemporary with the composition of the Vedas and was the precursor of Hinduism.
Yin and Yang: Topic Page
The Chinese concept that everything is explicable in terms of two complementary but opposing principles.

Subject Guide

Scott Sandberg

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Books

Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy by Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam
Covers the main traditions within Asian thought: Persian; Indian; Buddhist; Chinese; Japanese; and Islamic philosophy. Each section provides comprehensive coverage of the origins of the tradition, its approaches to, for example, logic and languages, and to questions of morals and society. Also contains useful histories of the lives of the key influential thinkers, as well as a thorough analysis of the current trends.
Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend
Provides accessible, informative and authoritative entries to answer any major question about Hinduism, its mythology, practices, customs and laws.