Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi's Tomb: Site of Many Bodies

                                       Emperor’s Tomb, Site For Many Other Bodies

                                                        By: Christa Knell                       

                                                       China Times Staff           

XI’AN- The Great Emperor Qin is far into his project of building his magnificent tomb. His grand resting place is in the heart of the city of Xi’an. The tomb requires over 700,000 workers, many which have been reported missing, some even dead. A few eyewitnesses have reported that last week on June 18^th, 230 B.C, the emperor ordered that a large group of workers and artisans must be sentenced to death, for the safety of China.

        

Seventeen years ago, on May 7^th 247 B.C, Qin’s father, King Zhuangxiang died and the throne was handed over to Qin Shi Huangdi. Emperor Qin was only 13 when he had to take over the throne. Also at the age of 13 he started to plan and build his masterpiece. The tomb he planned was to be extremely elaborate and the perfect resting spot. After many years, workers have been working very hard to finish the tomb. The tomb has been said to be the home of many rare jewels and valuables. In order to keep the valuables safe and not to mention the emperor’s body, the emperor proposed that all of the artisans and workers must be killed in order to keep his valuables and body safe.

Close friend and Prime Minister to Emperor Qin is Li Si who others claim that he is the one who helped kill all of the workers. It has been said that they killed the workers by locking them in one of the gates in the tomb. Inside they were left with no food and water. Inside the gate were over 100 mercury rivers. We spoke to Li Si, who said “ I may have helped kill all of those hardworking men but I did it for a very reasonable purpose. The emperor is a very close friend of mine and I would do anything to protect him, and help him succeed.”

There are also many people who see this as a very serious crime. Li Li Kong is a women who lives about 2 miles from the tomb. It was required that all of the men over the age of 18 must be sent to go work on the tomb. Ms. Kong assumed that he would return home in under a year but almost 8 years later she realized that he husband may never returned home. “ There is so much I wish I could say, but that would risk my life.”

Lastly we spoke to a general who wishes to stay anonymous. “ No matter what happened what the emperor says, goes no matter how big his wishes are. Im positive that no one would appreciate the consequences that you could face is you denied the great emperor. The faith and power of Emperor Qin shall last for forever!”

Bibliography

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“The Compass and other Magnetic Innovations History of the Compass.” http://inventors.about.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2012. <http://inventors.about.com/‌od/‌cstartinventions/‌a/‌Compass.htm>.

“Emperor Qin.” http://www.chinavoc.com. N.p., 2007. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.chinavoc.com/‌history/‌qin/‌qinshh.htm>.
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“Qin Dynasty.” http://china.mrdonn.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://china.mrdonn.org/‌qin.html>.

modern pipa. N.d. http://www.philmultic.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. <http://www.philmultic.com/‌pipa.html>.
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“Qin Dynasty of China.” http://www.culture-4-travel.com. N.p., 2011. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.culture-4-travel.com/‌qin-dynasty-2.html>.

pipa (pre-Tang Dynasty or qin-pipa) . N.d. http://www.philmultic.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. <http://www.philmultic.com>.

“Qin Shi Huangdi, First Chinese Emperor.” http://www.enchantedlearning.com. N.p., 2011. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.enchantedlearning.com/‌subjects/‌greatwall/‌Emperor.html>.

Wikimedia. “Pipa.” www.wikipedia.com. wikimedia, 3 Feb. 2012. Web. 4 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/‌wiki/‌Pipa>.
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Up In Smoke: OP/ED

Christa Knell           Opinion/ Editorial Article             1/31/12

                                   

                                  Up In Smoke

                          

         Today the emperor has announced that he is planning to burn all of the Confucian books. The emperor does not believe in the beliefs on Confucianism. These books were a big threat towards the plan to unify China. These Confucian books were holding people back by slowly making them think that imperial rule was bad which would soon lead to revolution. Burning these books is the wrong choice! Many people in China love to learn new things. Burning these books will not change peoples thinking, but cause people to lose their prior knowledge.

         People all over the world will be learning lots of new education and beliefs, but China can’t because all of the Confucian books are gone! This will affect traders greatly because they will not be able to have the ability to understand the religions of other countries. Also Confucian beliefs say that there is a friend-to-friend relationship, without this a lot of people may not have proper relationships with one another. This is key to good relationships with one another.

         Considering that burning the Confucian books would help the emperor unify china, sooner or later people would realize that they need those books to learn all this information that might be important in the future. Some may disagree, and believe that burning these books was a good way to eliminate past future so the emperor could start fresh and new. But without the past there would be now present. Many of the inventions and ideas from the past have helped present day.

         China should spend more time thinking about the long-term affects of taking big risks like burning these books. With these biijs China will be able to learn so much more and have a deeper understanding of their past culture. Even though the emperor does not believe and support in it, that does not mean that the information and practices can’t be useful. Everything has a meaning and a purpose behind it. The emperor should rethink his decision and not burn those books.

Qin Dynasty Map: Large Boarders

Christa Knell                                                       2/5/12

Photo is from: http://homepages.stmartin.edu/Fac_Staff/rlangill/HIS%20217/HIS%20217%20Maps.htm

The Qin Dynasty(221-206 BC) were a little bit smaller than modern day China’s boarders. During the warring states period, China was broken up into 7 main states and a few smaller ones. Once Emperor Qin took power he unified China into one big land. The Qin land is actually slightly bigger than the warring states time. The Qin dynasty mostly controlled land in the northern half of the country. At the northern boarder of Qin was the Great Wall of China, which prevented the Mongols from the north to invade China. On the map there are two major rivers that run through China. they are the Yellow and the Yangtze Rivers. These rivers were very important because they were very larger and allowed lots of transportation by water. The capital of Qin was Xianyang, which was the home of the first emperor of China. At the time this was a very popular city and also had very fertile land. Even though modern day China’s boarders are bigger now, the Qin dynasty controlled a lot of Chinas imperial land.

Legalism: Obey Or Face The consequences

 

Christa Knell                                                                                    1/30/12

                                    Belief Systems in the Qin Dynasty

During the Qin Dynasty, people had to follow the legalism. Legalism is a belief system that has very strict rules and involves extremely harsh punishments. Legalists also believe that all people are evil. Han Fei Zi was one of the men who contributed in the idea of legalism. The Qin dynasty was first to use the idea of legalism. The big purpose for legalism was so that the dynasty could use strict and specific rules to create well rounded and behaved citizens. Emperor Qin like the idea of having full control of the government using legalism. Legalism in every day life affected the people living in Qin during this time because thousands of people were killed while legalism was in use.  The punishments were very strict and very specific, which made it awfully hard for people to follow. With legalism people were not allowed to critisize the government and if they did they might cut your hands off, boil you alive or burry you alive.

 In Han Fei’s book “ Basic Writings” he quotes “ remote fountains are little help to nearby fires.” Many of the quotes from the book represent the evil in people’s lives and how they must face the consequences that they will have to face. Thankfully once the Qin dynasty collapsed the Yuan dynasty no longer used legalism, and I’m sure people would be very happy about that.

The Compass: Leading the way!

Christa Knell                                                                                                                            2/7/11

                                          Amazing Chinese Inventions: The Compass


            The compass was invented during the Qin dynasty (221 B.C-206 B.C). Inside the compass is a magnetic element that is suspended freely, which then points to the four basic cardinal directions (north, south, east, west). Fortunetellers in the ancient times used the compass to help build their fortunetelling boards. Fortunetellers were one of the first people to use the compass. The magnetic needles that point to the directions are made out of Lodestone, which is composed of iron oxide. Many years later people started to realize that the compass could help them point to directions while doing other activities not just fortunetelling.
            The first model of the compass changed soon changed. The new model was carved out of rock into the shape of a square. They marked the rock with the four cardinal directions. The new model still contained lodestone, as the needle that would point horizontally towards the directions. Many years after the Qin dynasty fell, a man named Zheng He, was the first person to document and record his personal use of the compass. He took many voyages off of the Yunnan Providence in China. In his documents he talk about how the compass helped him sail the seas.
            The compass has been a very important invention, in the past and the present. Today, many people who endure in activities like hiking, fishing or hunting use the compass to help them get around while doing these activities. The compass is also a tools that can really save your life. If you know how to use the compass properly it can help you find your way if you are lost. This is one invention that really has changed the world in many ways.

Picture is from: http://www.historyforkids.org/crafts/china/compass.gif

Picture is from: http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/317038/317038,1294937115,2/stock-photo-chinese-antique-spoon-compass-68904469.jpg

Exclusive Interview with Li Si: Prime Minister Of Qin Dynasty

Christa Knell                                                                                        2/1/12

                                           Interview with Li Si

                                    The Man With A lot Of Input

1. What made you decide to take up politics as your career?

A: When I was a young boy I had a small job in the local administrative of Chu. The rest of the story is quite unusual, I was watching rats one day and I saw that the rats were hungry even though we feed them well. That’s when I realized that the values of people are really determined by their social status. So for me to be a successful it would mean that I might have high class.

2.Why did you come up with the idea to burn Confucian books?

A: If the emperor wants to be successful and powerful then you have to get rid of your enemies. The Confucian scholars and their books would over time try to change what we are doing with the government. That’s why I had the books burned and the scholars killed.

3. Did you ever believe you would be this powerful in the dynasty?

A: No, I did not but now that I am it feels great to have my input and ideas heard. Having this power makes me feel like im right up there with the emperor.

4. Did it ever occur to you that you were being too strict with legalism?

A: No, not at all. The government deserves great honor and respect and if people don’t give that then they deserve consequences. All people no matter how nice have some evil in them. We want to create model citizens and we can’t do that with a lightly ruled government.

5.  Do you think you've done a good job helping China change for the better?

A: yes I think we have done a lot in unifying China. But we have to overcome many obstacles but they are all worth it. Hopefully people see our dynasty in the future as the most successful because we have done a lot to make China better.