| A | B |
|---|
| dialect | A way of speaking. |
| basin | A bowl-shaped area of land surrounded by higher land. |
| loess | Yellow silt. |
| legend | A story handed down from earlier times to explain the past. |
| oracle | A person who gives wise advice. |
| oracle bone | A shell or bone that contains ancient Chinese writing. |
| character | A symbol used in writing. |
| ritual | A set way of conducting a ceremony. |
| ancestor | A deceased relative who lived longer ago than a grandparent. |
| contour line | On an elevation map a line that connects all points of equal elevation. |
| elevation | The height of land. |
| philosopher | A person who studies the meaning of life. |
| virtues | A good quality. |
| Confucianism | The ideas of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, which became a guide for the way people live. |
| Mandate of Heaven | The right to rule; the ancient Chinese believed a god they called Heaven (Tian) gave it to their emperors. |
| filial piety | Kind treatment of parents. |
| heritage | A set of ideas that have been passed down from one generation to another. |
| province | A political region of a country. |
| standardization | The practice of making all things of a certain type alike. |
| legalism | Chinese teachings that express a belief in the strict following of laws and in the use of bureaucracy. |
| Daoism | A religion and philosophy that teaches that the key to long life is to accept life as it is. |
| import | To bring in goods for sale from other places. |
| Silk Road | A trade route that stretched from China to the Mediterranean Sea. |
| civil service | The part of a bureaucracy that oversees the day to day business of running a government. |
| ambassador | A representative of a government. |
| caravan | A group of traders. |
| export | To send goods for sale to other places. |
| profit | Money gained in business. |
