Xi'an

One day in the early 1970’s a farmer was on his land in Lintong the Shazznxi province digging a water well when he discovered a mass grave of statutes. As the mass graves were unearthed the magnitude of this tomb housed more than seven thousand statues of chariots, horses, and soldiers. Some of the soldiers were high ranking while others were infantry units. There were four main pits that were found east of the burial mound of first emperor Qin Shi Huang as if they were protecting him in the…

The Terracotta warriors were soldiers made by laborers for the emperor Qin Shi Huang. The laborers started building them when he was thirteen years old. The warriors were made to protect him from the afterlife. Villagers that were digging wells discovered them in 1974. When they were digging they first found hands and legs, and told more people, they kept digging and found statues, they had they had dug over seven feet they found blue brick. They were made from terracotta or yellow earth…

In the beginning of time, there is a central idea that religion shaped all areas of life. Literature and art shaped life in China as the rise of many emperors began to occur. An accurate view of the past provides a clear explanation as to how countries from centuries ago still thrive today. Early Chinese history is shaped by major events that occurred amongst four dynasties. Invaders changed life in India and affected their cultures and values. Different religions began to rise from invaders…

The reign of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, in the third century BCE is known for its unprecedented unity of Chinese lands and for the establishment of the Chinese imperial system. While the 221 BCE unification of the Warring States into a single Chinese state may seem like the natural progression of events in hindsight, it and the subsequent unity in the Qin dynasty was not an inevitable outcome and required active effort to accomplish. Qin Shi Huangdi had to take many measures beyond…

Over, the course of this class we have watched how Chinese art has changed throughout history. We first witnessed the bronze ritual vessels of the Shang and Zhou Dynasty. Then we examined the different Hu’s of the Han Dynasty. We also watched the progression of Buddhist sculptures in the 3rd and 4th century. With the course ending we see the collapse of the Tang Dynasty in the 10th century, and the emergence of Chinese Landscape painting. The past couple weeks, we were introduced to a variety of…

Centuries later, Earth was forgotten. Its people hadn’t known what their early ancestors had gone through. The Smirx was supposed to stay hidden, but was recovered by local archaeologists mining for ancient artifacts. The archeologist was Brett Herman, a graduate at Harvard University who recovered other ancient artifacts around the Earth. Brett revealed it to the world; everyone was astounded. Since he was so rich, he lived in a huge mansion in Italy that even the president couldn’t afford…

The Astonishing Tombs of Sipán Around 100 to 800 A.D., there was an ancient civilization that thrived on the north coast of Peru. This ancient civilization was called “Moche”. The civilization was believed to be a normal ancient civilization, but in 1987, artifacts of the Moche started showing up on the art market illegally. Later it was discovered that a group of grave robbers had looted these ancient royal tombs. With the help of the Peruvian police, Walter Alva set out to find these…

For instance, I live in Xi’an, China, a small city that did not develop very well in the past few years. However, Xi’an has obviously changed over several years: more and more tourists visit Xi’an, foreigners invest more such as the “Samsung City,” and colleges there become famous such as the “Xi’an Jiaotong University.” These changes were made by the people who were born there but now study and work in other places. Actually, they know more about what Xi’an really needs to develop because…

The Silk Road should be called The Silk Road because one of first high retail forms of commerce and trade was silk. It was invented by Empress Xi Ling during the Qin dynasty, she was drinking tea when a cocoon dropped for a mulberry tree, as she pulled it out of her cup, the cocoon unwound and became a single shimmery strand of silk. Xi Ling then gathered more cocoons and wove it into a cloth, creating the first silk item, a silk cloth. The start of the Silk Road began in China therefore it is…

gather at my age. These unique perspectives came about after multiple trips abroad. At the age of thirteen, my family and I traveled to China. We visited a number of enlightening places including the following: the bustling cities of Shanghai and Xi’an, The Great Wall of China, and the agricultural area near Dongying. These were some of the most memorable experiences of my life. This trip gave me culture shock and a newfound gratitude for what we are blessed with in America. Seeing the millions…