Works Cited

 

"Ancient Chinese Inventions that Changed the World". iLookChina July 2010. April 25, 2013.
htttp://ilookchina.net/2011/07/24/ancient-chinese-inventions-that-changed-the-world/ .

Donn. " The Qin Dynasty, Ancient China for kids". 2013. http://china.mrdonn.org/qin.html.

"History of China". Crystalinks. March 2007. Apriil 11, 2013. http://www.crystalinks.com/chinahistory.html.

Nguyen, Dat. "Invention of the Compass". Culture-4-Travel. Copyright © Culture-4-Travel.com. All rights reserved. 2008-2013. http://www.culture-4-travel.com/invention-of-the-compass.html.

 "Qin Dynasty". TravelChina Guide. 2013. Travel China Guide. April 9, 2013. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/qin/.

Shan, Zang. "Invention of the Compass". The Epoch Times. April 2010. The Epoch Times. April 10, 2013. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/emperor-qin-shi-huang-part-1-44194.html. 

Tann. "Walking the Great Wall". Archaeology News Network. April 2011. The Express Tribune. April 10, 2013.http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/04/walking-great-wall.html.

 Travel China Guide. Social Studies School Services. April 25, 2013. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/qin/qin-dynasty-map.htm. 



 

 

 

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is hurting the people

 Sarah G.-Staff Writer

http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/04/walking-great-wall.html

     

The Great Wall of China was ordered to be built by Emperor Qin of the Qin Dynasty. Emperor Qin was trying to help protect the empire which is why he began building a wall surrounding the empire. However, Emperor Qin did not physically put the work into building the wall. Instead, his people had the tough labor of building the wall. Building The Great Wall of China was harsh and ended up taking part in the falling of the Qin Dynasty. The Great Wall of China is the longest structure ever made by man. The wall is around 6,000-kilometers-long. Walls that long do not take a few days to build. Walls 6,000-kilometers long take time and much effort to construct the finished project. The work load did not sit well with the people of the Qin Dynasty.
 

The Great Wall was built by the people who disobeyed Qin’s rules. His punishment for them was to help build the wall. Building the wall was a tiring and tough job. By Emperor Qin making them work on the wall, he was also making more people not like him. It was unfair for the workers to put in all the effort while Qin just watched and supervised the project. The labor had a negative effect on people. They began not liking Qin as emperor. Emperor Qin was actually hurting his empire by building the wall more so than helping it because he put so much people through pain. The Great Wall of China helped to protect the people of China, but the actual building of the wall caused a lot of damage to the people.

http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/04/walking-great-wall.html
http://china.mrdonn.org/qin.html

Day in the Life Journal Entry

Life During the Qin Dynasty

Sarah G.-Staff Writer

September 5th, 200 B.C.

Dear journal,

  It is 200 B.C. Life is not as exciting as expected since China is supposed to be "united". Today is like most other days, sunny and hot. This is the first I've been able to write in my journal in a long time. It has not been easy for my family. My father refused to burn his book on Confucianism and is now forced to help continue building the Great Wall of China. Every day he comes home aching from the work he had to do. I feel bad that I cannot help, but I am too young. At least he gets to come home to a meal cooked with the freshly picked vegetables and crops that my mother grows in the fields. I do not like the legalist system everyone has to follow. Emperor Qin is so strict and does not believe in education. My dream is to read, but I cannot do that because Emperor Qin burned all the books. Sometimes I just wish that I could live someplace where there are more opportunities for children like me.

               My mother tells me to stop complaining because if anyone hears and tells Emperor Qin, then I will get badly punished. I do not care if he finds out what I am saying. I could probably run the empire better. If I was King, even though I am a girl, I would be nicer to people. I would promote education and help with the learning of children. Everyone would be treated equally and there would be no legalism society involved. I technically should not be writing down my feelings because if anyone finds out, I will be in deep trouble. I have to look out and take care of my five younger siblings because both of my parents are busy. I am eleven years old and am already having to take on the responsibility of an eighteen year old. I have seen Emperor Qin's son before and I think about all the privileges he has. No one tells him he is doing something wrong besides his father. The food the royal family eats too, sounds big enough to feed my family of eight with left overs. However, I cannot change anything so there is no point fussing over it. Maybe one day my life will become better. If not I will get over it.

                                                                                                                          Sincerely,

                                                                                                                             Sarah G. http://china.mrdonn.org/qin.html

 

 

 





 



The invention of the compass

The Compass

Sarah G.-Staff Writer

http://www.culture-4-travel.com/invention-of-the-compass.html

 

The invention of the compass occurred during the Qin Dynasty. The compass that was created during the Qin dynasty was made up of a spoon. The spoon was made of lodestone. The spoon was placed on a bronze plate. The handle on the spoon always pointed towards the south. The bronze plate consisted of eight sections. These sections represented north, south, east, and west, southwest, southeast, northeast, and northwest. As time progressed the spoon was replaced with a magnetic needle. The compass was used to tell direction. The needle or spoon would move to the section in which direction a person was going.

 

The compass was invented during 200-206 B.C. When the needle was put on the compass in place of the spoon that is the when sailors stared using compasses. Sometimes when out at sea sailors would lose track of what direction they were headed. The compass allowed them to keep track of which direction they were going so that they would not get lost. China valued education over anything else. That is why the compass was most common in that region. Trade was a big way to make money. The compass was not found in any other parts of the world which is why the Chinese were able to sell their new device with something they needed from another area. As the compass began getting traded, around the 12th century, the device began to spread to Arabia. The compass was then spread to Europe, and eventually to the rest of the world.

 

The invention of the compass has improved people's lives. Before, people never knew exactly which direction they were heading. The invention of the compass changed that. The compass solved the problem of everyone getting lost. It allowed sailors to know which direction they were heading off to sea so that they would not end up stranded in the middle of the ocean. Even today, before GPS's were invented, compasses were used while hiking or any time when knowing the direction was needed. If it was not for the compass someone might have not created the GPS we use today. The compass was the starting point of where telling direction came from and if it was not for this invention, everyone might still be walking around not knowing which way they were going.

 

http://www.culture-4-travel.com/invention-of-the-compass.html

http://ilookchina.net/2011/07/24/ancient-chinese-inventions-that-changed-the-world/

 

An interview with the one and only Emperor Qin

The questions that we all want answered

Sarah G. - Staff Writer

Me: How did you get to be emperor?

Qin: Well you see my grandfather was the king of Qin. However, my father had twenty brothers which meant that Ying Yiren, my father, was not crowned prince. As a result Lu Buwei, a merchant, came to Ying and saw a great opportunity to help out Ying. Lu fought for Ying and between bribes and arguments was able to crown Ying prince. As you know I was named Ying Zheng after my father. When I was twelve he passed away which meant that the prince would become the new king. Since I was the prince I had to become king around twelve years old.

 Me: Good to know. What was it like becoming a king at such a young age?

 Qin: Actually, I was not scared. My whole goal was to gain power for the state of Qin. I wanted Qin to be the strongest it could possibly be. My mind was also focused on conquering the other six states and reuniting so that China would flow together and less problems would occur. From watching my father rule as king I picked up on the way he ruled. I was determined to strengthen China and make it one.

Me: How did you strengthen Qin?

Qin: My main goal was to strengthen Qin. The way I could do that was by conquering the other six states. Also I focused on the rule of law. I rewarded the people, such as farmers and soldiers, who helped build up the economy and military. As time went on I became very specific and detailed with my laws in order to keep my people in line. To conquer the other states, I befriended the ones far away, and attacked the ones close by. After ten years the states near Qin were conquered. A little while after, I was able to take control of the other six states. By 221 B.C., I had formed the largest dynasty in Chinese history.

Me: It is said that you are a legalist. Is that true and if so what are your beliefs?

Qin: I am in fact a legalist. As a legalist I basically believe that people are bad. I am very harsh when it comes to my people. I keep a very strict structure on and control my people's lives to keep them in line. When people break my rules or do something wrong, they get punished. When any one of my people does something good they were rewarded. This gets my people to behave and listen to me because they know I will punish them if they do not. My control over their lives has made them work harder in battle and in the fields. If anyone talks about having a problem with the way I rule or says my ruling can be improved, they are sentenced to a death penalty. I run my empire the way I do and it works for me, so no one should have a problem with it.

Me: Did you make any changes to your empire and if so what were some?

Qin: I did make some changes. I made changes in the law code, censorship, land, standardization, and peasants. For the law code I made a new one that applied to everyone. I also picked people for a huge law enforcement group that enforced the laws on the rest of the people. I do not believe in education. People should be farming instead of reading so many books. That is why I burned all books except for ones involving medicine, agriculture, or medicine. Anyone who does not burn their books is sentenced to death or is sent to go work on the wall. I took land away from the nobles so that they would not become more powerful than me. If they argue with me then they get killed or get sent to work on the Great Wall. To make the empire one I had only one system of measures, weights, laws, money, and written language. Every peasant was assigned the job as either a farmer or silk maker. If they refuse or are too slow then I send them to work on the wall. If anyone has a problem with my changes, they will be punished.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/emperor-qin-shi-huang-part-1-44194.html

http://china.mrdonn.org/qin.html

Map of the Qin Dynasty

Qin Dynasty 221-206 BC

Sarah G.-Staff Writer

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/qin/qin-dynasty-map.htm



The geography of the Qin dynasty played a big role in the protection and livability of the people. The Qin Dynasty is located in what is now called the China proper. The China proper is known where the agriculture, food, people, and culture are based. The Qin Dynasty contained most of the rivers in China. Some of these rivers included the Yangtze, Yellow, Xiang, and Li. These rivers provided not only water to drink, but a place to get water for farming. Living near rivers helped the livability of the Qin dynasty. Also the dynasty was located on the lower elevation land that did not contain many deserts, mountains, or plateaus. This made land easy to farm on and made it easier to start an empire. Also on the eastern side of the dynasty is water which makes it hard for enemies to attack. The land of the Qin dynasty made it a livable and safe place for the people.



 

Breaking News on Emperor Qin

Emperor Qin has just unified and Centralized China

By Sarah G.- Staff Writer

 
                                                                             http://www.crystalinks.com/chinahistory.html
                                                                                                                                   

As the first Emperor of China, Emperor Qin was the first to reunite China. Before becoming emperor he was ruling the state Qin during the Warring States Period occurring in 476 BC-221 BC.  The state of Qin was working on expanding. As a result Qin conquered the states around his state during 320 BC-221 BC. Han, Zhao, Wei, Yan, Chu and Qi were the six states that he conquered. His plan though was not to capture and destroy the other states. Instead he wanted to bring all the states together and create peace. When he conquered all the states he was able to stop all the commotion that was caused by the wars that lasted over 500 years.
                                                                           

     
      Qin then started the unification and centralization of China. Qin took control and contributed to the reforming of China. Improvements were made in the economy, politics, military affairs, and culture. He made it so that he was the only ruler over everyone. Qin restructured and reorganized so that everything was to his standards. He also made it so that only one coin was used and he standarized weights and measures. This made it so that everyone had to follow the same rules. Qin felt that building projects and farming works were important. He was the one who ordered the Great Wall of China to be built. This helped to protect his empire. Emperor Qin made his empire the way he felt was necessary in order to keep China unified and centralized.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/qin/