The Civil War
The civil war takes place from 400 to 221 BC and it involved the seven warrior provinces. They try to overthrow the Zhou Dynasty and it ends with the centralization of power in the city of Qin.
Qin Dynasty
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Qin Shihuandgi was the first Qin Emperor. He was the one who managed to unify China's seven Warring States. The seven Warring States (provinces) were Zhao, Yan, Wei, Qi, Han, Chu, and Qin. The Qin Emperor improved the army, politics, transportation, the economic system, agriculture, and used centralized power to unify China. He established Legalism, a new currency, and created new roads.
Terracotta Soldiers
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The terracotta soldiers were an army of "clay" (terracotta) soldier statues created by Qin Shihuandgi. They had the purpose of protecting the emperor in the afterlife since he had made many enemies when unifying China. There is a total of number of 8,000 soldiers in the army and there were chariots, horses, archers, etc. The emperor had ordered that the statues were painted with different faces so that they looked unique and like a real army.
Great Wall
There are 67 watchtowers in the Jinshaning section of the Great Wall. This is one of the largest sections of the Great Wall, but it has never been restored. The part of the wall that is called the Gubeikou Great Wall, it is in a bad state, the towers are crumbling down, and on the paths many blocks and bricks are broken. It is 40 kilometers long and it has 14 beacon towers, 143 watch towers, 16 strategic passes and 3 citadels. The geography is very important regarding the design of the Great Wall because the wall is built on top of the mountains, without the mountains there wouldn't be a based to build the wall. If the wall had been built on flat terrain, it wouldn't provide much protection, but since it was built between the mountains they also make it harder for attackers or enemies to invade China or cross the wall. The Chinese planned the structure carefully and designed it so that the stairs would be on one side and on the other there would be small walls to provide protection for the soldiers or hide behind while shooting. This walls also separated sets of stairs, and gave the soldiers a place where to hide while attacking the enemy without getting hurt too much. The structure was made of bricks and they had a pointy brick at the top of each pile of bricks that looked like small roofs on top of each small wall. The Mutianyu Wall has twenty two watch towers in total. Three of the watchtowers are connected to each other by an internal pass. This wall is 2250 meters long and you can get there by a funicular.
Han Dynasty
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The Han Dynasty ruled China from 206 BC to 220 AD. Han Gaozu was the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. He changed the religion from Legalism to Confucianism; most principles were changed to Confucianism, but he still kept some of Legalism practices. Some principles that the emperor changed were placing the social interest before your own, the role of family (reunited it) because the Qin Dynasty had tried to separate it, there was no need for harsh punishments, etc. Other practices he kept like the separation of powers into military, civil service, and censorate. The civil service is a form of hiring workers for the government based on merit instead of birth. The local governments were divided into provinces and counties. The landholding regime that the Qin Dynasty had introduced was still kept but even though it was a prosperous time, the free peasants began to suffer. The redistribution of land gave each person only 0.4 ha. There was also a great demographic and geographical expansion. Han Wudi added territories from the south, north Vietnam, and to the north of the Great Wall. Trading was also expanded, mainly by using the Silk Road to trade with Italy (Roman Empire) and the rest of Europe. The Han also had great technological improvements and achievements, some which include: water mills, food, textiles, iron casting, improvements in navigation (rudder, fore and aft rigging), pottery, skilled in ceramics, etc.
Fall of Han Dynasty
There were many elements that contributed to the fall of the Anna Dynasty. The power of the Central Government declined, while the power of the noble families grew. There was official corruption and concentration of land. Northern limit was attacked several times by invaders. Lastly, a civil war takes place for the next 400 years.
Three Dynasties
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The Sui ruled from 561to 618 AD. They deactivated and improved the Grand Canal. This helped improve trade, but to build it they used forced slaves. The dynasty ended because of cruelty and rebellions. Most people were unhappy with this dynasty. The Tang Dynasty ruled from 618 to 907 AD and the Song Dynasty ruled from 960 to 1279 AD because from 907 to 960 AD there was a civil war.
The public infrastructure achievements accomplished by the Sui Dynasty were The Grand Canal, which linked the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, was completed. This was related to the unification of China because the people came together to build the canal they all wanted it and the dynasty to be successful, so they all contributed to the project. The is was important because trade grew and made a rise in economy.
Sui Yangdi was strong enough to reunify China was defeated because the people were united, he was cruel and made them pay high taxes, but he also had military failures and so he wasn't as protected and it was easier to murder him. The people were more powerful than him because they were more and they had the same goal in the rebellion.
Some of the strengths of the Tang Dynasty are that they created a more stable economy by giving land to the peasants, using civil service, and they brought peace to northwestern China and expanded China's control to the Tibet.
The Song Dynasty ruled during a period of prosperity and cultural achievements, but it also experienced some problems from the start. There were invasions from northern neighbors and they occupied large areas of the Chinese territory. They lost control over the Tibet, and at the end the dynasty was overthrown by the Mongols.
The importance of the Silk Route was that trade began again under the Tang Dynasty and the Silk Road was renewed. Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity spread along it. Knowledge like drilling wells, making iron, gunpowder, paper, silk, and the secrets of painting traveled from China to the West through the Silk Road.