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Nomad Press - Lance Kramer

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136 pages

English

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Great Ancient China Projects You Can Build Yourself explores the incredible ingenuity and history of ancient China with 25 hands-on projects for readers ages 9 and up. Great Ancient China Projects covers topics from porcelain pottery, paper, gunpowder, and dynasties, to martial arts, medicinal healers, jade carvers, and terracotta warriors. With step-by-step activities, kids will learn how to construct a house with proper feng shui and create a simple Chinese hanging compass. Historical facts and anecdotes, biographies, and fascinating trivia support the fun projects and teach kids about this innovative society and its continued influence on modern culture.

Sujets

Ancient World

Ancient history

Asia

Informations

Publié par	Nomad Press
Date de parution	01 juin 2008
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781619300842
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0600€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Nomad Press is committed to preserving ancient forests and natural resources. We elected to print Great Ancient China Projects on 30% postconsumer recycled paper, processed chlorine free. As a result, for this printing, we have saved:
24 Trees (40’ tall and 6-8" diameter)
8,654 Gallons of Wastewater
586 Kilowatt Hours of Electricity
1,111 Pounds of Solid Waste
2,085 Pounds of Greenhouse Gases
Nomad Press made this paper choice because our printer, Sheriden, is a member of Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit program dedicated to supporting authors, publishers, and suppliers in their efforts to reduce their use of fiber obtained from endangered forests.
For more information, visit www.greenpressinitiative.org
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Copyright © 2008 by Nomad Press
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
The trademark "Nomad Press" and the Nomad Press logo are trademarks of Nomad Communications, Inc. Printed in the United States.
ISBN: 978-1-9346700-2-6
Illustrations by Steven Weinberg
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CONTENTS

Timeline
Introduction
A Civilization Like None Other
Cities and Architecture
Paper
Writing and Education
Warriors and Weapons
Jade and Silk
Merchants and Trade
Explorers and Sailing
Healers and Medicine
Farming
Food
Time and Space
Music
Chang Heng’s Seismograph
Numbers
Glossary
Resources
Index
TIMELINE

Most historians break China’s history up into the following dynasties, or periods of time, when a family or group of people ruled over China. BCE after a date stands for Before Common Era and counts down to zero. CE stands for Common Era and counts up from zero. These are non-religious terms corresponding to BC and AD.
SHANG DYNASTY - 1600 TO 1046 BCE The emergence of the earliest formal Chinese state. Writing is established and a military developed. Shang settlements are constantly at war with neighboring peoples and villages. Archaeologists have discovered wheels in China dating back to at least 1500 BCE.
WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY - 1046 TO 771 BCE The Zhou kings conquer the Shang state in the middle of the eleventh century BCE.
EASTERN ZHOU DYNASTY - 770 TO 256 BCE Small sections of fortified walls are built by various feudal states. Once armies adopt the idea of a cavalry from the nomads, military strength grows to over 100,000 men.
SPRING AND AUTUMUN PERIOD - 770 TO 476 BCE Confucius, one of the most important thinkers in Chinese history, lives from 551 to 479 BCE. His teachings influence much of Chinese education and many beliefs and customs even today. In the sixth century BCE, Sun Tzu writes the famous war philosophy text, The Art of War. Kites are invented in China during the fifth century BCE. The Chinese invent the farming hoe between the fifth and sixth centuries BCE.
WARRING STATES PERIOD - 475 TO 221 BCE Bronze coins from ancient China date back to the fifth century BCE. Relief maps are used for records and navigation as early as the third century BCE.
QIN DYNASTY - 221 TO 207 BCE Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, or the "First Emperor," takes power in 221 BCE. He begins to join together existing city walls and construct the Great Wall along the empire’s northern borders. The emperor unifies Chinese script and tears down walls between states. The Terracotta Army is buried with Emperor Shi Huangdi between 210 and 209 BCE.
WESTERN HAN DYNASTY - 206 BCE TO 23 CE The Han Dynasty expands the roles of the emperor and creates a permanent army. Ts’ai Lun, an official in the imperial court, is believed to invent paper in 105 BCE. By 200 BCE, the crossbow is a common weapon used by Chinese soldiers. The Han Dynasty is the first to standardize weights and measurements. The Chinese astronomer Keng Shou-Ch’ang invents the first armillary sphere in 52 BCE to help measure the stars and planets.
EASTERN HAN DYNASTY - 25 TO 220 CE By the end of the second century CE, China already has more than 22,000 miles of roads. The wheelbarrow is first used in China in the first century CE. The first Chinese junk, or sailboat, is developed around 200 CE. In 132 CE, scientist, inventor, mathematician, and royal astronomer Chang Heng invents the first seismograph to predict earthquakes.
THE THREE KINGDOMS - 220 TO 265 CE After the Han Dynasty collapses, three rival kingdoms take control and create great unrest.
THE PERIOD OF DISUNION - 265 TO 618 CE Around 600 CE, the city of Xi’an has more than one million people living inside its walls, making it the largest city in the world. Around 350 CE, farmers begin to cultivate tea.
THE TANG DYNASTY - 618 TO 907 CE The first experiments with fireworks take place in 850 CE. During the seventh century, the Chinese begin construction of the Grand Canal, the largest ancient canal in the world.
THE FIVE DYNASTIES - 907 TO 960 CE The Chinese invent gate locks, making travel along canals much easier and more efficient.
NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY - 960 TO 1126 CE In 1041 CE, a man named Bi Sheng makes the first moveable type apparatus. By the eleventh century, Chinese coins are used as a common currency throughout Asia. In 1040 CE, the first magnetic compass is invented. Su Song invents his famous mechanical clock in 1092 CE. Changes in government policy and advances in printing technology lead to better education, literacy, and access to books.
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY - 1127 TO 1279 CE The naval technology of the Song Dynasty helps defend the empire from foreign invasions, especially the Mongols, for a century.
YUAN (MONGOL) DYNASTY - 1279 TO 1368 CE After many bloody and violent battles, Mongolians take control of China and divide the country, often based on ethnicity. Beijing becomes the new capital of China when Khubilai Khan, the first Mongol emperor, builds his imperial city there.
MING DYNASTY - 1368 TO 1644 CE Most construction of the Great Wall takes place between 1368 and 1644 CE. The Forbidden City is built in Beijing between 1406 and 1420 CE and serves as the imperial palace until 1912 CE. The great Chinese explorer Zheng He is born in 1371 CE. Zheng travels to Asia, India, the Persian Gulf, Arabia, Africa, and the Americas with a fleet of ships and crews of more than 20,000 men.
INTRODUCTION
In today’s world, teachers in the United States and Europe usually teach only one subject. Your science teacher might only teach science. Or your history teacher might only teach history. But in ancient China, the best scholars, or wise people, had more than one specialty. It was not enough to be an expert in history or science. A wise person also had to be able to paint, to write in calligraphy, and maybe even play a musical instrument.

Some scholars wrote poetry while others trained to become expert archers. Some were even warriors who understood military tactics. And there was also a good chance they knew about farming techniques. It sure took a lot to rise to the top of ancient Chinese society and get some respect!

Chinese compass from 200 BCE
This book will show you how to become a modern "wise person." You’ll explore the many different parts of ancient China. You’ll learn about each of the major dynasties throughout its history. You’ll find out what it was like to be the ruler of the whole Chinese Empire. And you’ll learn about important Chinese thinkers, such as Confucius. Even more than 1,000 years after his death, Chinese people today still follow his ideas. You’ll discover how people made things like bronze casts and porcelain pottery. Finally, you’ll read the amazing stories behind some of ancient China’s most important inventions, such as paper, moveable type, the magnetic compass, gunpowder, and even the world’s first kite.
Many of these inventions changed the world. But they did not come from famous inventors, such as Thomas Edison or Leonardo da Vinci. Usually, inventions came from ordinary people who wanted to solve an everyday problem. For example, nomads invented stirrups because they spent most of their time traveling on horseback. They were just looking for a way to make riding a horse easier! A printer invented moveable type because he wanted a way to make his job go more quickly.

Throughout this book, you will have the chance to build your own version of lots of these inventions. For most projects, you won’t even have to go to the store to buy materials. Instead, you will be able to use things you can find right in your home. You’ll learn to appreciate the amazing creativity of ancient Chinese thinkers. You’ll discover many things about different parts of Chinese history and culture. And, best of all, you’ll have your own working models of some of the most famous Chinese inventions. These inventions may even inspire you to think of ideas that can improve things in your own life and the world around you.

WORDS TO KNOW
calligraphy: the art of beautiful writing.
Confucius: a wise man and one of the most famous thinkers in ancient China. He lived from 551 to 479 BCE.
nomads: people that move from one place to another, instead of living in one place.
A CIVILIZATION LIKE NONE OTHER
About 1.3 billion people live in China, out of the 6.7 billion people alive in the world today. Think about it. This means that almost one out of every five people in the world live in China. China is about the same size as the United States, but there are more than four times as many people living there!
China is one of the largest and most important countries in the world. It’s also one of the oldest. Chinese history began at least 5,000 years ago and continues right up to today. Other an