Video Gallery

From Dynasty to Destiny- Ancient China

Go to Video Gallery Added Apr 30, 2015 •

Copy this URL:
Embed code:	<iframe class="edlio-embed-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="360" src="//www.mykla.org/apps/embed/?v=79800" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Change dimensions

Go HD

Continue taking notes on your 7 themes organizer in your text of the week notebook.

Show Transcript

Craigslist gong XI fat Cai happy new it's February 14th 24 also known as the year 4060 in China everyone in the capital city of Beijing getting ready for the big New Year's celebration  in her home near the brand new ever is hella a girl named Lynn prepare for the holiday family getting ready for days and now my parents just gave me the best gift I've ever gotten my very first Journal mother says I should use it to write down my story  what should I write about first  well to begin with we are about to celebrating New Year here in my hometown of Beijing mother says we live in the most wonderful city on Earth but we didn't get here overnight China's one of the oldest civilizations in the world with a very interesting story the story of great leaders secret invention and plain old hard work it's my story and the story of my ancestors I think I'll next year everything begins with our ancestors people who thousands of years ago kind of like our great great great great great great great great great grandparents  life very different for them back then they didn't know how to write or make porcelain or self they didn't live in fancy houses like we do today Village in small villages along the banks of China's to Mighty River and Yellow River in the North and the Yangtze River eventually The Villages grouped into kingdoms  powerful families let the kingdom and rule for men family pass control of the land from father to son or nephew for hundreds of years  because Dynasty there are a lot of dynasties in China's history one of our earliest dynasties was the Song Dynasty mother said the song hold more than two thousand years before my time  but then everyone believed that Shaun King communicated directly with the gods and the ancestors this communication is so important that the Sean people invented two new things to help the king play messages the first were beautifully designed Franz containers Shaun King wanted to give special offerings to their gods and ancestors but not any bowl with you for such an job  so some craftsmen created elaborate bronze vessels  father said that the king we're valuable than gold  they would even compete to see who won the fanciest bronze bowls  the Trashmen became very creative  they develop special moves to make all kinds of intricate shapes  later someone happy idea to make bronze Bell  he's created a different kind of offering  beautiful music to entertain the ancestors we needed to be just right  can you spell how to have an exact size and shape perfect pitch can I take an very hard to make these  I'm sure the ancestors were please other great song invention was writing father says it all started because Kings have a really hard job they have to make lots about big and small things in their Kingdom and who do they go to for help with these decisions the ancestors of course  the song developed a special way to after ancestors for advice  here's how it works  what did the king wants to know if the grain arrive on time  kid by the scratches the question on to a large Ox bone  then hits the bone until it crack the tiger studies the crap which reveal and sisters response to the king he's crashed bring good news the Harleysville downtime these are called Oracle bones and the questions scratched into them are the earliest known Chinese writing the words on the Oracle bones look a lot like pictures this means boy here's the word for fields figure that looks like a man standing under a flag means leader  the song people thought these bones were magical because they could speak to the Past I think they're magical because they speak to us so far in the future here we are thousands of years later and we can read what the song rethink is there yesterday we haven't stopped writing sense  Richie brackets for a government can I treatments for sick people and send letters to each other most of all right our history  it's a good thing because we have too many stories to remember in our heads hundreds of years after the Song Dynasty thing for really difficult for our ancestors  father calls it the Warring States period for 100 years seven different kingdoms fought each other to rule the lands finally one strong leader emerged he want a lot and took control over all Seven Kingdoms  he had pretty high self-esteem and he even gave himself the title Pinscher monkey which means first magnificent emperor Emperor Qin was a powerful ruler stop fighting each other he said that there should be just one kind of money and one kind of writing he even said that all the should be made the same size so we could travel the same roads got everyone in China working together  but he had a Pad Thai too  he didn't trust people and he would let anyone disagree with him  maybe even Burns a lot of books that he didn't like mother says that we gained a country but lost a lot of history when temperature in world  but there is one project that he started what's the biggest thing anyone has ever made or seen father says it is one of the most impressive accomplishments of our people the earliest days in China we've had trouble with the people who live outside our borders father says we mostly fight Temple how to use the land remember how most of our ancestors were farmers who settled along the river well some of the neighboring people a move from place to place looking for good grassland for their animals  Ezra fine unless there was a drought been known as loser animal moon to the farming areas  but I Farmers didn't want to share their field a lot of times that you it's ended up fighting each other for the land  eventually we started putting up wall to keep out the nomads  wee footballs around houses and walls around our town in fact the Chinese character for city is the same as the character for wall Brentford she decided that we should protect our entire country with a wall that would really keep the nomads out raw stretched 4000 miles along the northern border of China and he had it built in only 12 years  Chihuahuas made by for practice we still use today it's called rammed-earth it's an easy and fast technique and it makes a really strong wall that's one of the reasons that she was able to carry out his gigantic project  the other reason is that chin is such a power roller chick forced thousands of men to leave their family and travel hundreds of miles to work on his wall it was extremely hard work one of our most famous story is about that time long ago in a village far from the Great Wall black not surprised mom's Young new in her garden and her soldiers had come to take her husband away to work on the Great Wall no one argued with the emperor throughout the village men were rounded up and marched away from home  mom's pack finally one night long dreams are husband came to her deers wife he said I am cold can you help me the next day Mom gathered warm clothing and left the village in search of her husband  it was a hard journey and Mom never been away from home before she walked for miles and miles across desert Through Rivers and over mountains after many weeks she finally reached the Great Wall the sight of the thousands of workers astonished chart how would you ever find her husband here  finally a man approached her and I knew your husband he said he was a good but this work was too hard for him I'm sorry to tell you that he died  mom was overcome with sadness she cried and she cried so many tears that they washed away 200 miles of The Emperor's Great Wall she was Furious when he heard what happened why have you destroyed my wall he shouted mom told him of her dream but all the emperor noted how beautiful she was now that your husband is dead you should marry me and she declared pretend to be honest I will what happened to as you asked if you would bury my husband as a prince with a Royal Funeral the emperor was eager to have mom as his wife so he agreed but on the day of the funeral my face damper thank you for honoring my husband but I will not Marry You My Heart Belongs only to him  when she skate Dancer by diving into the ocean and swimming away  today thousands of tiny silverfish gather at that very spot reminding us of the loyalty and tears of mom John knew my father love me today we're going to sound years after mom's time we are still having problems with the Nomad so we are adding to the wall in the whacked when it's finished this section will cover more than 6,700 my that's going to take a lot of time and effort so we have the Great Wall to thank for many centuries of p and we are up to the challenge of building it temper chin many other dynasties have ruled China mother said that not every Emperor was perfect but great leaders who helped us to grow strong and powerful  great after chin died a new dynasty was started by peasant name Bonk  in the new Han Dynasty the emperor Wanted only the smartest and hardest working people to help run his government it didn't matter what family you were born into it matter how smart you are and how well you studied and that time on and is the Pats special school all over China boy study for years and the techs are really hard to pass but those who do path get it job helping to run our country the system of finding the best people for the job is called a meritocracy I just have one problem with this plan girls don't get to go to school we supposed to stay home and do other things like help our mothers around but that never stopped my mother she learned to read and write at home and she was my age and she's making sure I do the same thing the time to light the lanterns I need to stop and get ready for a special New Year's dinner I can't wait to tell you even more very next chance I get

Uploaded by Josh Hamler.

Video Gallery

From Dynasty to Destiny- Ancient China

Popular Videos