A Letter Home

     Dear Mom and Dad,

   My time in the city has been great! I have met so many interesting people and have seen so many amazing sights. One of the first people I met was one of the most powerful people in China. Sima Qian! He was outside just walking around like a normal person so I walked over to him and we had a conversation that I will never forget. We talked about all of his work and  he even asked my opinion on some of his developing stories and how he could make them better! We exchanged addresses and he said he would send me his new stories that I helped him with. It was fantastic, but this was just the beginning. From there on the trip just kept getting better and better.
   The next thing I did was go to see the Great Wall of China. I can honestly say that the Great Wall is one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen in my life. It is huge and stretches for as far as the eye can see, over mountains and forests. Its not even describable; you have to see it to believe it, if only I could draw it for you. I will describe it the best I can, The Great Wall of China is like seeing the sun when you come out of a deep dark cave. The overall presence of Wall is spectacular, it is huge and unlike anything else you will ever see. When you are on top of the wall you can see for miles and you feel as if you are on top of the world. The colors and the views all around you are heart stopping. Even if it was built to stop invaders it is still an unbelievable sight. This was the best part of my trip but the next part of my trip was very different than a usual day out.
   The last part of my trip was also very cool, but in a different way. I got to see, help make, and even use one of the new crossbows! The crossbow is a new and improved bow and arrow, it shoots much more accurately, and goes farther, and faster then the previous bow and arrow. The crossbow could be the next military breakthrough and completely change warfare. With the crossbow on your side, you have a long range weapon that is very powerful and intimidating. The crossbow will give you a long ranged killing machine that brings fear into the eyes of the enemy. The tip of the arrow can even be lit on fire to send them flying into the enemy's camp. This trip has been life changing and I would really like to stay longer to see more of the city and the places it hides.
                                      Love, Luke

Culture

     In the Han Dynasty culture was very important. There were many architectural feats and art advances.  The most important part of Han culture was architecture: huge palatial complexes, towering gateways, and city walls were built as symbols of power and pride as well as for defense. Architecture was important for many reasons, it could be used as defense like the Great Wall or used as a sign of power. There were watch towers, large walls, huge arches and much more. The Great Wall and other defense towers were very important to the Hans success. The Great Wall held off the Mongol invaders from the north for a long time. It is much harder to climb over a huge wall or walk all the way around it then to walk right threw with no wall. The Great Wall at least gave the Hans time to regroup and fight. The Great Wall was the start of a new era and gave way to many new architectural and defensive advances. Since its success many other empires started to build large walls around their large cities to protect them. Walls are still used today to protect cities from the sea or other outside forces.
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The Picture above shows the Great Wall of China as it spans over a massive range of mountains. The Great Wall was finished in 200 B.C. and was built on the upper portion of the Han empire border. It was used as a defensive wall against the Mongols cavalry men.
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This was one of China's many defense towers. These were used as high points to see invaders coming, they were also useful in defending a city because it had many floors and rooms causing invaders to get confused and lost. As this happened Chinese gaurds would easily navigate through the towers killing inva

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      This is a picture of the extent of the Han empire. The Han empire ruled over about half of present day China but were still very powerful. The whole upper part of the empire was lined with the Great Wall. The Great Wall was built to keep the Mongol invaders from the North out of the empire.



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In the picture above Chinese women are making a scroll. The Chinese invented paper which contributed a lot to the ancient world. Writing on paper was much easier then writing on stone and it also took much less time. Paper was very helpful while writing long scrolls like the one above. These scrolls had messages on them and were delivered from person to person.

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"Sima Qian perhaps was Chinese first world-famous professional historian in ancient times. Widely known for his masterpiece----The Records of The Grand Historian, Sima Qian was highly acclaimed as the father of Chinese historian, and his representative works also became the No.1 of Chinese ancient 24 official-compiled historical books," /simaqian.htmlrfare-china.weebly.com

wahttp://www.seeraa.com/china-literature

The Han Dynasty made many advancements in weaponry especially in long ranged weapons. The crossbow was especially helpful in war because it gave the Hans a long ranged weapon that was very effective. The crossbow was much more powerful then a regular bow and arrow.

 

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 The opening of the Silk Road was one of the Han Dynasty greatest achievements. The Silk Road connected China to the rest of the world and it increased trade greatly. Also, the Silk Road was the biggest trade route the world had ever seen causing China and the Han Dynasty to gain much power.

Works Cited Page

Department of Asian Art. "Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hand/hd_hand.htm

Totally History. Yellow Turban Rebellion. copyright 2012. http://totallyhistory.com/yellow-turban-rebellion/

Hooker, Richard. "The Chinese Empire: The Former Han". November 2001. http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CHEMPIRE/FORMHAN.htm

    

Rause, Vince. "The Han Dynasty: The World Comes to China". Secrets of the Great Wall. November 2001. http://www.discovery.com/stories/history/greatwall/han.html.

simaqian.htmlrfare-china.weebly.com

 
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www.chinatravel.com

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www.seeraa.com

    wahttp://www.seeraa.com/china-literature

 
 people.hofstra.edu

  www.crystalinks.com

 www.gracechinatours.com

Han Dynasty Opinion

Han Dynasty Opinion

By: Luke The Han Dynasty Extraordinaire

    The Han Dynasty was a truly great time of invention, prosperity, and economic stability. The Han Dynasty was one of China's golden ages for many reasons. One, the most famous historian in Chinese history, Sima Qian, lived during this dynasty. Second, two of China's greatest inventions, paper and porcelain, were created during this time. Third, the Han empire expanded there borders into central Asia which was much farther then the Qin Dynasty ever got. Lastly, one of if not the greatest achievements the Han Dynasty made was the opening of the Silk Road. The Han Dynasty was one of the most prosperous empires that China ever saw because of its major impacts on China and the world. The Han Dynasty should be remembered to this day for its contributions to the ancient world and its secure prosperous state.
     Throughout the Han Dynasty people faced little troubles and prospered greatly. "The Chinese economy grew rapidly and by the 2^nd century AD the population had reached 58 million. Trade and industry flourished, cities grew, and Chang'an and Luoyang became important cultural centers, attracting the best writers and scholars from all over China." http://www.china-tour.cn/Chinese-History/Han-Dynasty.htm. According to this quote China became a huge empire with a lot of trade and economical strength. With this stability and then the opening of the Silk Road trade grew to an all time high.
      Another reason why the Han Dynasty should be remembered today is because of two inventions that revolutionised China and the rest of the world. "Technological advances also marked this period. Two of the greatest Chinese inventions, paper and porcelain were developed during the Han Dynasty." http://www.china-tour.cn/Chinese-History/Han-Dynasty.htm. Paper and porcelain were huge inventions that impacted the Chinese way of life greatly. Paper made writing and recording events much easier then ever. To make the invention even more important both of these inventions are still used today. The Han Dynasty was a great contributor to ancient China but also to present day and this is why they should always be remembered as one of the greatest dynasties of ancient China.

Map Of Han Dynasty

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     During the Han Dynasty the empire grew to a fairly large size. Their empire was mainly concentrated in what we call today China proper. China proper is on the east coast of China and is the lowest part of the area with the most rivers. This was the most hospitable place for ancient Chinese people to live because it had lowlands with rivers for farming, and the ocean for a source of food and protection. The ancient Chinese also had protection due to the large mountain ranges from the west and the Gobi desert to the north. This eastern coast of China is still its major point of agriculture and prosperity.

Yellow Turban Rebellion

Yellow Turban Rebellion

By: Luke the Han Dynasty Extraordinaire

     In this months news (184 A.D.) our wonderful emperor is having a lot of trouble with the farmers from the north. The northern farmers are coming into the south to find a better life and better farming conditions. As we know there is much poverty and famine going on in our beloved country so the northerners are coming to the south to try to make a better life for themselves. Since the northerners have come our rich upper class citizens have been taking advantage of them. They are making these farmers pay large taxes and are exploiting them. Today these peasant farmers have started to revolt because of the high taxes and poor working conditions. They are all wearing yellow scarves around there heads and this revolt is starting to be called the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
     The rebels are beginning to get stronger and have three main forces. The first force is right above the Yellow River. This group is led by the Zhang brothers. Another area is in the You Province particularly in Guang Yang and Zhuo. Ying Chuan and Nanyang is the third area which the rebels are focusing their forces. These rebels are starting to post a large threat to the beloved Han empire. If the rebels are not stopped soon things might get a lot worse for our already weak empire.