| A | B |
|---|
| Warlords | Military leaders who run a government |
| Korea | Peninsula located to the northeast of China; the people here broke away from Chinese rule to build their own separate civilization |
| Wendi | A general who declared himself emperor; reunited China and found the Sui dynasty |
| Economy | An organized way in which people produce, sell and buy things |
| Reforms | Changes that bring improvements |
| Empress Wu | The only woman in Chinese history to rule the country on her own |
| Monasteries | Where monks and nuns live, meditate and worship |
| Japan | Islands located to the northeast of China; Buddhism spread here |
| Porcelain | A substance made of fine clay and baked at high temperatures |
| Changan | The capital of China during the Tang Dynasty |
| Li Bo | One of the most popular poets of the Tang era; wrote “Still Night Thoughts” |
| Duo Fu | A poet who was a poor civil servant who had a hard life; wrote “Spring Landscape” |
| Calligraphy | To write in beautiful characters using brush and ink |
| Mongolia | An area north of China; home to the Mongols |
| Tribes | Groups of related families, loosely joined together |
| Steppes | Wide rolling grassy plains that stretch from the Black Sea to northern China |
| Gobi | A vast desert that covers parts of Mongolia and China |
| Genghis Khan | Temujin took this title; means “strong ruler”; he fought to conquer the lands beyond Mongolia |
| Terror | Violent actions that are meant to scare people into surrendering, or giving up |
| Kublai Khan | Genghis Khan’s grandson whom the Mongols named to be the new khan, or ruler |
| Karakorum | Capital of the Mongol Empire during most of the 1200s |
| Khanbaliq | Capital of Kublai Khan’s Mongol Empire, now called Beijing |
| Beijing | This modern city stands on the site of the Mongols’ Chinese capital |
| Marco Polo | One of the most famous European travelers to reach China; came from Venice, Italy |
| Zhu Yuanzhang | A rebel leader who became emperor; reunited China and founded the Ming dynasty |
| Nanjing | The capital of the Ming dynasty, located in southern China |
| Treason | Disloyalty to the government |
| Yong Le | The son of Hong Wu who became emperor and built the Forbidden City |
| Census | A count of the number of people |
| Novels | Long fictional stories |
| Zheng He | A Chinese Muslim and court official who led many overseas trade voyages |
| Portugal | The first European country to ever sail to China, and the first to have direct contact between China and Europe since the journeys of Marco Polo; located to the direct west of Spain |
| Barbarians | Uncivilized people |
