Mongols take China

In 1200 Mongols came out of Asia trying to conquer anything that they could.  At that time, Mongols normally would fight with eachother, but a man united these people and decided to take over China.  These men that were picked were a highly skilled army, some of the best horsemen in the world at that time.  They were tought how to use cannons so that they could take down any type of Empire.  When the Mongols took over China, they, for some reason, would respect scholars, artists and artisans, they would listen to China’s religion, and they would try to establish peace.  They took control of the silk roads and made trade once again be very powerful.  People, once they were ruled by the Mongols, could really do most things as if they were, in a way, free. 

Some cultural exchanges were increased; like food, tools, inventions and ideas that were spread among the trade routes.  Mongols would give people gun powder, porcelain, playing cards and paper in exchange for other products.  Only Northern China was clamed until another 70 years when Kublai Kahn finally conquered south China, which in turn took over the Song Empire in 1279, and changed its capital Beijing.  This is important because the Chinese found a sense of freedom in their lives and they got to keep their changes.

Source: "The Mongol and Ming Empires." World History A. (2010): Print. 

Zheng He

 1441 A.D.
 My friend Zheng He was powerful during his time.  He told me of his tails before he died, and I wish to share some history with you.

Zheng He was pretty powerful in the government.  He told me he did this by helping Zhu Yuanzhang defeat the Yuan Dynasty.  In return, he would boast, he would get rewarded with an official post in the government.  He helped Zhu Di gain the throne and he was given command of the Chinese navy.  In 1405, early Ming rulers would send Chinese fleets into waters far away to show its glory of the government and for trade with other Countries, says he.  Zheng He was sent and he had a goal: to promote trade and collect things from people weaker than China.  When Zheng He died in 1435, the Ming decided to ban the building of ships, and ships with 2 masts were for some reason outlawed which was costly and didn’t produce profit because they spent so much money making this.  Confucian scholars didn’t like oversea adventure; they wanted to stay inside China. It was a bad idea because China weakened, and I heard it will probably be taken over sometime later.
This was important because Zheng He was such an important person in the Chinese world, and he helped the Chinese trade.

"Zheng He." China Culture. China Culture, 01 Jan 2003. Web. 20 Oct 2010. <http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_22644.htm>.
Source: "The Mongol and Ming Empires." World History A. (2010): Print.

Sung Dynasty

1000 A.D, I am here to talk about the Song Dynasty, as it was called.  So here I go!
    In 960 A.D, Zhao Kuangyin reunited China and founded the Song Dynasty.  This Dynasty did many things for China such as making a better way of life.  The Song Dynasty made, somehow, fast growing rice, so there would be two crops of rice per year.  That’s a good thing because now there was a surplus of food, so people could get money and help China.  Even though that the Grand Canal was built long ago, the Song Dynasty helped it reach its peak by encouraging internal trade and transportation.  The extra food that was grown could be shipped to the capital in the north.
    They helped China in more ways like helping the economy by making trade better, and having Merchants arrive from India, Persia, and Arabia.  They also helped the economy by making the use of paper money so people could use paper for money instead of coins and other currencies. The effect on China was that it was once again ruled by people, and all the things that the Sung/Song Dynasty did for China, effected them.

Source: "Two Golden Ages of China Power Point Notes." World History A. (2010): Print.

Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty: 618-907 A.D.  the Tang Dynasty kept all the land that the Han Dynasty made, such as Vietnam, Tibet and Korea which are now tributary states.  During this time Buddahism spreads, and learning and arts become part of culture.  Some outside invaders actually decided to keep Chinese traditions.  The Tang's decided to keep the Han's way of living, based on Confucius, but they weakened power land owners and actually added on taxes to the Chinese.  Sadly, in 907 A.D, declines.  What happens is that Arab invaders take over China, there's corruption, high taxes make people mad, there's drought, famine and rebellions; all of this makes the Tang Dynasty end. This was important because the Tang Dynasty helped China expand

"Two Golden Ages of China Power Point Notes." World History A. (2010): Print. 

Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty, a 400 year Dynasty, from 206 B.C to 220 A.D.  I will tell you all about them.
The Han Dynasty wanted a Legalist and a Confucius way of living.  In a Legalist form of living, you would get rewards for doing something right, and punishment for doing something wrong, such as a hit by a paddle.  The Han wants to expand China, the expectations for this expanding is that they want to take over Vietnam, Korea, and Asia.  The Han will hopefully do much with this expansion, I've heard that they wanted to trade with Asia and build something that they call the "Silk Road", something about a road traveling from Asia to China to make trade easier.
The Han Dynasty made something called an encyclopedia; many were made.  One of these encyclopedias is named, "Book of the Mountains and Seas" which gave us Chinese great detail of geography, animals and plants, and popular myths.  Another of these encyclopedias was named, "Records of the Historian" (Shiji) by Sima Qian.   In the future, we hope that historians will look at these books and learn about our past and our history.  Sadly, there is plan of a rebellion by us, and some of us hope to end this Dynasty. This is important because China was ruled for 400 years and all of the amazing things that came out of this.

Source: "Han Dynasty." Minnesota State University Mankato. Minnesota State University , 21 May 2002. Web. 20 Oct 2010.

Buddhism comes to China

213 B.C
       The Han Dynasty is in power, and they introduced a new concept of religion: Buddhism.  It was founded when people would travel the silk road, they traveled to Central Asia and India; who's main religion was Buddhism.  I heard that a man who went by the name of Chang Ch'ien, heard of a place, India, and all the teachings of the Buddah, and he spread the word of the Buddah to the people of China.  Also, another way that I've heard Buddah traveled to China, a very famous story.  What happened was that the Han emperor, Mingdi, had a dream. I don't know the exact dream, but he said he saw a "Golden Figure", who just happened to be the Buddah.  "Cai Yin returned after 3 years in India and brought back with him not only the images of Buddha and Buddhist scriptures but also two Buddhist monks named She-mo-teng and Chu-fa-lan to preach in China. This was the first time that China had Buddhist monks and their ways of worship." (Silk-Road).  This is important because Buddhism finally came to China. 
 

"Buddhism and Its spread along the silk road." Silk-Road. Silk Road, 01 Mar 2009. Web. 19 Oct 2010.

Great Wall

220 B.C
      The Great Wall, not just one wall, but many walls that is said to extend to about 5,500 miles long.  I have to build it, the Qin Dynasty, well actually Shi Huangdi, wants to build this wall to keep people like invaders, or people who would love to take China, out.  That's not the only reason, the next reason is that he wants to keep China in it.

206 B.C
      A few years after the awful building of the "Long Graveyard" or the Great Wall, a man by the name of Liu Bang, who is part of the Han Dynasty, wants to extend this wall.  Currently, the population of China is 50,000,000 (50 million) people, so obviously, Liu wants China to be safe and not to wonder into another territory. The effect on China was that they built this amazing and advanced way of defense.

Sources:

Weller, Peter, Perf. Engineering an Empire. Perf. Weller, Peter. Discovery: 2007, Film.

Confucius

Confucius: A very powerful person.  Who is he? Well as a very close friend of his, I shall tell you. Born in 551 in Northwest China, he was part of the Chou Dynasty.  When he was only 3 years old, Confucius was left to live in poverty with his mother.  When the Chou Dynasty was ending, there was fighting, executions, wars and he saw people, soldiers or civilians being used. He disliked this very much, so he had an idea: Goodness. He wanted it to hold society together.  He purposed: when society is in harmony, everyone is doing their duty, and if the rulers of China are good, people will follow them and be good.  He built Confucianism: His ideas and China ideas, making one big sort of religion. He also made 5 traditions: Jen (relationship between people), Chuntzu (Superior person humanity at its best), Li (way things should be done), Te (power by which men are ruled) and Wen (arts of peace)  Everyone liked this idea, he's making people stuff they can do; not stuff they can't.  All of this is important because when Confucius died, the Han Dynasty used Confucianism as main religion. 

Source:
Foltz, Richard. Religions of the Silk Road. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.
"Confucius Powerpoint Notes." World History A. (2010): Print.

Unification of China

221 B.C, Qin Dynasty unifies China.
       How did this come to be? Hello, I'm Kng-Song, follower for the Qin Dynasty. What I do is follow what the Qin Dynasty does for their Dynasty.  Some 7 years ago, the Qin Dynasty came into China during The Warring States time.  I saw them come with horses and foot soldiers, which easily broke through every other Dynasty that wanted to get into power.  A boy by the name of Ying Zheng (Qin Shi Huangdi), a personal friend of mine, came into power along with his most trusted advisor, Li Ssu, who told Ying Zheng to conquer and unify all Northern Kingdoms.  In 221 B.C, it was done. As I could see, all of China was unified together for the first time. 

  
  

Source:
Hooker, Richard. "The Unified Empire: The Ch'in." Ancient China: The Great Unification. Washington State University, 06 06 1999. Web. 18 Oct 2010. <http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CHEMPIRE/CHIN.HTM>.

Lao Zi and Taoism

Good Day Friend,
My name is Pau Ting, We, China, are in the "Era of Warring States".  Currently, there's about 5 kingdoms, all trying to take China under its control. I'm going to teach you about Taoism. Made around 4th Centery B.C,  I've heard that's it's called Taoism (Tao-chia), literally meaning: "The Way".  A state religion, it was founded by Lao-tzu, it seems to be a very powerful religion.  I cannot teach you much about Taoism because it's undefiniable; you must experence it.  The main point of Taoism is its opposites and the harmony in which they share.  For example, there can't be any love without hate, there can't be light without dark, there really can't be one thing without its opposite. In literal terms, it's Ying and Yang.  The effect of this on China is that it became a huge religion in China, and parts of North America.

Source:

Robinson, B.A. "Taoism." Taoism. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 30 Jun 2010. Web. 18 Oct 2010.