a harsh desert that separates China from its neighbors

- also called the yellow river

- stretches for 3,000 miles across China

- sometimes called China's Sorrow, as when it floods millions have died

- also called the Yangzi River

- flows through central China from the mountians of Tibet to the Pacific Ocean

- Yu the Great is said to have founded

- firmly established in 1500 bc

- the social order became stronger under the Shang.(nobles, artisans, farmers, slaves)

-Made advances including China's first writing system.

-oracle bones were used to make predictions.