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the han dynasty by sierra the period of the warring states is over china is at peace once again our leader gaozu has just lifted the rule of banned books and is ordering the rewriting of confucian teachings we are now using both confucianism and legalism philosophies so that we will have the balance of the yin and the yang confucianism will represent yang and legalism will represent yin in other words to keep china in order we must have the light and the dark legalism will provide us with the strict rules and harsh orders and confucianism will provide peace and love to our country now we will forever be complete as one not only has this been a time of peace but a time of advances as well the fields of science art and culture have been the most productive since the han dynasty began the peace has allowed us to think learn and invent freely we are no longer progressing as individuals we are progressing together as china since the fall of qin we have invented many valuable tools including iron-tipped bamboo poles we can now use to drill out salt from thousands of feet under the surface we can now use wheelbarrows and pulleys to transport goods we also have bell0ows to pump air into our furnaces the astronomers have also been busy at work lately they have recorded broom stars moon the sun and the stars they have learned that the moon shines because of the reflection off of the sun we can even predict eclipses which occur when the moon blocks out the sun not only have we been studying the sky but the earth as well we have invented a dragon-and ­ toad seismograph that will alert us of an earthquake it is a bronze circular device with as pendulum in the center that will vibrate when an earthquake occurs the vibration will release a ball that falls in the direction of the earthquake this will allow us to track earthquakes form over a hundred miles away we have also discovered that a lodestone will align itself with the north and south poles based on the earth s magnetic forces with this knowledge we were able to create a device that will serve as a compass the scientists have carved a lodestone into a spoon and the handle will always point south the other advances in our country have been in the field of art the main one bring the creation of zhi we now have an easier less expensive writing tablet zhi is created from a mixture of silk fiber bamboo seaweed hemp and straw the mixture is then boiled into pulp which a screen is dipped into and then left to dry into zhi this creation has allowed more people to be able to write all of these wonderful innovations are helping us become a more advanced country we are working together as one country thanks to our new and improved government plan with both peace and law i expect more to come during the rest of our peaceful time period.

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oracle bones by sierra in china the shang kings consult their ancestors in order to predict the future through oracle bones to consult your ancestors a king must visit a holy man who will write the king s question on the side of a turtle shell or a shoulder blade of a cow then he will poke a hot needle into the side of the bone which will cause it to crack when the bone cracks the holy man or the king will study the pattern in which it cracked in order to read the ancestors reply the answers are generally correct the questions are normally about daily life or advice about how to run the dynasty an example of a question would be will the weather be nice tomorrow the reply may be something like rain at night and sun during the day another question a king might ask would be is tomorrow a good day for the hunt a reply may be yes there will be plenty of wild game on the plains tomorrow or is it right to go to war tomorrow the answer would be something like no the enemy is well armed and outnumbers our army we would lose greatly they may have asked should we build our city at the bottom of the mountain the ancestors may reply yes it is in a pristine location with fair weather and fertile soil another question might be are the crops ready for harvest yet the response may be no the crops are not yet ripened these oracle bones are the first uses of writing in china and as far as we know the shang will always be remembered as the first chinese to write we have already used more than a hundred thousand bones to speak to our ancestors and so far our ancestors are a trustworthy source for the answers to all of our problems qin s bureaucracy by sierra the new governmental system a bureaucracy and the new ruler have all made a huge impact on china qin shihuangdi has become our emperor since the beginning of his rule he has divided the country into thirty-six provinces and left each province with two districts he has assigned each province with two officials a governor and a defender he is trying to unify china as one he believes he can do this by telling each individual to spy on their neighbors and report in lawbreakers now everyone is involved he has also standardized the country in measurement money and writing again in attempt to unify the country the bureaucracy is set up so that each worker has a job and gets a salary he must follow rules answer to his superior and supervise all personnel below him 11 chamberlains manage the emperor s household 3 high officials or the three dukes hold the high government and military posts the government will now control the peasants for some this is good but for others it is bad it will put an end to

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lawless act but people will quickly lose respect for the government and they will feel like they are not free one of the emperor s advisors lisi a strong legalist who disagrees with all of confucius s teachings and laws has just passed a law that all books not about medicine agriculture or prophecy are banned authors and readers who refuse to give up their books are either being severely punished and put to work or buried alive there are few advantages to this system but it does keep the country somewhat in order some of the disadvantages include many people being punished and put to death unnecessarily also peasants lose respect for there leaders when they are not fair to them and their families there are a few people who are currently happy with our government and it is taking a toll on our country.

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chinese art there are many techniques involved in chinese art china is most well known for papermaking and printing the chinese use turtle shells to print or write chinese characters on before turtle shells were used the chinese carved on bones and shells and as chinese art is now advancing there printed characters are starting to look less like small pictures and more like symbols another important part about chinese art is papermaking but before the chinese invented paper they often used materials such as silk and bamboo the reason they then moved on to inventing paper was because although silk was easy to roll into a scroll it was much more expensive also bamboo was good for writing on but if needed to be put into a book it was very difficult use their bear hands to get water out to the crops except for the help from small wooden tools the other life style the chinese lived in was life in the city as with farming the people who lived in the city could be rich or poor the people who were poor and living in the city lived in houses that were small and tightly packed together compared to the houses of the rich they lived in huge houses nicely decorated with draperies and fine wool rugs these are the differences of the lifestyles of china letters to the editor dear editor i believe that the teachings of confucius are of great meaning and i agree that they should be followed correctly i work as a farmer and i am a father of two which is of great responsibility some of the reasons i believe in confucianism is because confucius feels that there should be peace in are society and that there should be a dedicated and educated leader to lead the teachings of the belief of confucius sincerely father wong daily life the daily life for the people who lived in china during the han dynasty could go in many different directions depending on the amount of money you have and the lifestyle you choose the living on a farm is very different from the life style of living in the city if you were to be a farmer you would experience a day to day schedule of harvesting watering and taking care of animals farmers could be rich or poor but the life of a poor farmer included much more labor poor farmers have to

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dear editor i have been following the teaching of confucius and am very pleased with the outcome one of the positive effects of confucianism has brought is peace and happiness throughout our society i am a female and i work as a writer which is an occupation that involves hard effort i thank confucius for bringing organization as well a peace to our families and loved ones sincerely wan dear editor i am a male and i work long hours in the fields i strongly disagree with the teachings of confucius my reason for this is because i believe that there should be equal love not just love shared between family i also believe that if this were to be followed by everyone many benefits would be received sincerely min dear editor i am a female artist and i disagree with the teachings of confucius confucius is strictly about the five relationships between family and i believe that there is much more to be acknowledged i also believe that people should live simple and free lives without the equality of confucianism sincerely ming

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china s geography by steven china s deserts and large mountain ranges have acted like natural barriers keeping china isolated from the rest of asia these barriers also separate china into different parts or regions the affect of isolation on the development of china is difficulty in travel and communication to other parts of asia and to also help protect one of the oldest civilizations dating back 4,000 years ago china has influenced its history by having natural barriers that make it very difficult to travel and communicate but its rivers have helped to link the regions together the rivers have also served as a way for farmers to send their crops down the river to the seaports easily and cheaply some advantages to geographic isolation are that no people from outside of china can thieve buildings and create war on foot easily also the rivers can bring rich soil to farmers after flooding its banks this allows the crops to grow with more nutrients and stronger stems some disadvantages to geographical isolation are that it makes travel and communication very difficult to other parts of asia.

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lay of the land by sean the shang dynasty was most known for making bronze the people of the shang dynasty lived in farming villages and some walled cities they were surrounded by a thirty foot tall and sixty-five feet thick wall of earth it would have taken ten thousand skilled workers eighteen years to build it they learned how to make bronze by mixing tin and copper together this excelled them greatly in technology they then were able to make pots plates spears chariots arrowheads ax heads and helmets much stronger than before the most valued gem was jade it was a bluish green that was very expensive with this they made fancy ornamental items such as necklaces and art enough money to pay the military and they lost soldiers then zhou attacked and overthrew them shang fell and the new zhou dynasty took over pictures of the past by sean some of the major contributions were the process of the bronze since the people of the zhou found out how to make bronze they excelled far in technology also the new religion of confucianism helped not to punish people for doing wrong but to reward them for doing good this same type of thing they applied to government the government had to be like a father rewarding and caring you had to get an education to get into what you wanted and not get to be born into it talking to confucius by sean confucius how do you plane to keep everyone in order well if everyone followed the rules of confucianism then we d all be peaceful and gentle to each other what are you trying to teach i am trying to teach people to be fair and kind to one another and to respect everybody and have a peaceful government also what are the most important relationships they made human sacrifices whenever a new royal house was to be built they also buried servants with their masters to serve them after death most of these people were slaves that were captured in battle and taken to buy slaves bronze jade and houses they had a currency of cowries cowries are shells of little sea snails that are taken out each cowry was about an inch long the shang dynasty fell when they had so much money they kept spending and they went into corruption while that was happening they didn t have

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they are ruler and subject husband and wife father and son older sibling to younger sibling and friend to friend do you like how the government is going its ok i do not believe in punishment only reward if we reward people then they will be more likely to do it again and then realizes it is a good thing to do what do you think your most important saying is i think it is `the gentleman first practices what he preaches and then preaches what he practiced this means that that you practice what you want then do what you had practiced

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bibliography armento beverly j and gary b nash the messages of ancient days boston houghton mifflin co 1991 boehm richard and claudia hoone ancient civilizations orlando harcourt brace co 2002 history alive palo alto teachers curriculum institute 2004

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