Great Wall Completed

Mia recently went to China after the completion of the Great Wall. She spoke about all the horrible conditions Emperor Qin had forced upon the people building the wall. Emperor Qin ruled with an iron fist. He ordered over 300,000 thousand men and slaves to create the Great wall of China. The wall was 1,500 miles long and took less than ten years to complete. Over a million worker had to be housed, clothed, and fed. The conditions were horrible, hours were long, and food was meager. Roughly 400,000 workers died from hunger or exhaustion. Others were punished and killed if found napping, and the runners were hunted and killed. Many bodies have been buried in the Great Wall of China. Mia was horrified by what she saw. Many men were very thin and hungry. The workers had to carry stone and gravel, clay, and sand in baskets by hand. Qin had the wall made to keep Mongolians out of China. Mia enjoyed her trip to China, but was sad by the conditions of workers.

• Beacon towers to protect raiders from entering the country.
• The Great wall snakes through the mountains from norther china 1500 miles.
• Workers connected several existing walls to form one single massive wall.
• The Great wall is nearly 30 feet high and at most points it is wide enough to allow five horse to run atop it side by side.
• The Great wall was not a complete success because it never  really kept out invaders, and many workers died on the long  journey to the Wall.

A Standard Of Writing

The different dialects of the Chinese language posed a problem for the Qin empire. Because the dialects changed from place to place it made it very different for the people to figure out one way of writing. At first pictures were used for to represent words and two pictures could represent two words. The problem was in different parts of China pictures would be used to mean the same things. Secondly, the way people pitched their voices would vary in regions. So there would be different voice pictures for the same words. To solve the problem a common core vocabulary was written for all provinces for the people to use. In conclusion, even though the verbal Chinese language was written for some, it less difficult for all Chinese.

Qin Map

Qin Map 

Here is a map the Qin dynasty from 221-207 B.C. The Great wall shows the northern border of the Qin dynasty. The Qin dynasty occupied   most of eastern China. Although, modern China's boundaries are much longer than the Qin dynasty. The map shows why the great wall was built and where.

Qin Interview

Me: Emperor Qin, Were there any other methods of keeping people in or out you considered other than building a wall?

Qin: They would need A I.D or paper somewhere they could say that I live in China. Or you could need some person to say you belong there.

Me: What were you hoping to achieve by burning books?  Do you think it was success?

Qin: I burned the books because I didn’t want them to compare them to other leaders and find that I was not a good leader. I thought it was success because I kept out other ideas and I gave me more power.

Me: Why did you have a terracotta army in your tomb? Were they there to protect anything important?

Qin: I put it there to protect me and also to guard me. They were there to protect me and keep me safe and not steal anything.

Me: Was changing the many languages to on languages helpful for running provinces

Qin: It was helpful not to remember too many languages we removed witting symbols I made to easy to talk.

Me: Emperor Qin, why did you disagree with the Confucian scholars and what did you do about it?

Qin: I disagree with Confucian scholars because I don’t think the young minds of kids should be thought by that. And so I killed the scholars.

Invention: Coin and measures

The Qin Dynasty standardized their currency that helped their economy. For example, taxes and salary were often paid in grain or produce. Qin needed a system of weight and measures also. They solved this problem by having standard sized clay cups to measure liquid and grain. Next for money management two more coins were introduced copper and gold each having a square shaped hole in the middle. This characteristic made them different from any other coins. The round shape coin represented heavens and the square represented the Earth.

GONG Linna - Long de Yan - Qin song

Culture

Legalism is a political philosophy that did not ask higher questions like the purpose of life. It more has to do with being a government society. It’s a form of law; if someone does anything bad they have to be punished. And if someone does anything good they will be rewarded. This way rules and enforcements are set in place for people to follow. Legalism also shows guidelines for people to follow and obey in order for the Qin Dynasty to be strong and powerful. Since Emperor Qin was very powerful ruler, people had no other choice but to follow this philosophy of life.