| A | B |
|---|
| Huang He River | Flows from mountains in China to the Pacific Ocean. |
| loess | soil carried downstream by the river |
| Chang Jiang River | Flows west to east to East China Sea |
| China's Sorrow | Huang He floods often and has killed many |
| Yangtze River | Another name for Chiang Jiang River |
| Longest Chinese River | Chiang Jiang (only Nile and Amazon Rivers longer) |
| channel | a canal, a narrow body of water between two landmasses |
| warlords | military commander exercising leadership by force in limited area |
| aristocrats | upper class, usually hereditary nobility |
| pictograph | symbol in writing based on pictures |
| ideograph | writing symbol that represents an idea or thing |
| ancestors | a person who someone is descended from |
| bureaucracy | group of non-elected government officials |
| hereditary | having title or job related to birth |
| Mandate of Heaven | belief that Chinese kings right to rule came from the gods |
| Dao | system of beliefs describing how a king must rule |
| Daoism | long life and living in harmony with nature |
| legalism | stressed importance of laws |
| Confucianism | belief system based on Confucius |
| filial piety | responsibility to respect, obey and care for parents |
