| A | B |
| loess | fertile yellow soil |
| silt | fertile soil carried as sediment in river water |
| calligraphy | artistic form of writing used by the chinese |
| oracle bones | bones used by chinese priests, who wrote questions on the bones and then interpreted answers to the questions from cracks that develope when bones were heated |
| mandate of heaven | right to rule claimed to have been granted to ancient chinese rulers by the gods |
| autocracy | form of government in which the ruler hold total power |
| civil service | system that administraters the government on a day-by-day basis |
| the annalects | a record of the words and acts of the central Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius and his disciples |
| the five classics | the most important works of chinese literature |
| acupuncture | treatment of pain or disease by inserting the tips of needles at specific points on the skin |