Why China is Called China

China is the appellation of our country given by foreigners.

The porcelain china is the transliteration of the place name Changnan, which was the old name for the porcelain town of today's Jingdezhen (Jingde Town). In the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), people built their cave-houses and cut logs to make pottery. And in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), people combined the advantages of celadon from the southern Yue kiln and white porcelains from the northern Xing kiln, and with the high-quality earth of the Gaoling Mountain in Changnan Town they produced a kind of white & green porcelain. This porcelain was smooth and bright, and hence earned another name of artificial jade. It became famous both home and abroad and exported to Europe in large quantities since people there did not know how to make porcelain before the 18^thcentury.

In Europe, people regarded Changnan porcelain as something precious and delicate and would take proud in possessing one. As time passed, people in Europe forgot the meaning of Changnan and switched the original meaning of porcelain of the word 'china' to the place of its origin ― China. Therefore, Changnan in people's eyes represented porcelain and China. In the Jingde reign of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Emperor Zhenzong loved Changnan porcelain so much that he ordered to build official cave-houses to make porcelain of all kinds. And porcelains paid as tributes to the emperor were required to print with made in the Jinde reign at the bottom. From then on, Changnan Town became Jingde Town and it remained as such until today.

Dragon Has Nine Sons

As the legend goes, dragon has nine sons who are different from each other in terms of temperament, appearance and even jobs. In the ancient buildings and containers we can sometimes find the dragon's sons.

The eldest son looks like a turtle that always likes to carry big stonework on his back and hence is titled the turtle carrying the stonework.

The second son always likes to stand in a high place and watch afar. He is the one we see on the fastigium of palaces.

The third is very small and likes to yell a lot. We can see him on bronze bells.

The fourth looks like a tiger with great power. We can only see him at gates of jails.

The fifth likes to eat and is often seen on bronze containers for food.

The sixth likes to play with water and is often carved on bridges.

The seventh likes to kill and fight and is often carved on hilts.

The eighth is like a lion and likes firework. He can always be found on censers.

The youngest looks like a spiral shell and likes to be quiet. We can always find him on doors.

Folk Dragon and Royal Dragon

The largest stonework in the Forbidden City is 1.7 meters thick and weighs 250 tons. There are nine dragons playing in the clouds floating above the sea. In the feudal society, dragon was a symbol of imperial power.

Liu Bang, the emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-8AD) made up a story which said that his mother dreamed a dream that she united with a dragon and then gave birth to Liu. And it was even said that when Liu got drunk, his dragonhead would emerge. Therefore, Liu became the son of dragon. It was obvious that Liu intended to establish a high image of himself through the legend of dragon and thus to consolidate his position as an emperor. Subsequently, later emperors and those who dreamed to be emperors said that they were the sons of dragon.

After the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), dragon became the symbol of imperial power and represents the emperor. At that time, the body of the emperor was called dragon body, the face dragon face, clothes dragon robe, and even their offspring were titled dragon sons or dragon grandsons.

When it came to the Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, those dragons embroidered in emperors' dragon robes and carved in the palace walls all became five-claw. The five-claw dragon was forbidden for use by common people, and those who dared to use them for decoration would be sentenced to death. The emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties lived in the Forbidden City and therefore, the walls, windows, ceilings and steps were all carved with dragons.

The common people did not like the royal dragon that stood for the imperial power. They liked another kind of dragon which could bring them good luck and happiness. In festivals, people liked to wield dragon lanterns and dance the dragon dance. In the Dragon Boat Festival, people would hold dragon boat race. There are also many beautiful folk legends about dragon, among which last touch added to a drawing and professed love of what one really fears are very popular.

There are a lot of operas, music, paintings and artworks and idioms about dragon. And the names of mountains, rivers and places with the word dragon are countless in China. Dragon is also one of the twelve animals, which represent the twelve Earthly Branches and are used to symbolize the year in which a person is born.

Nowadays, dragon can no longer represent imperial power; however, it is still believed that it can bless people good luck. And Chinese dragon has a new connotation -- it represents Chinese spirit of diligence and striving upwards. Dragon has become the symbol of the Chinese Nation.

Stories about Dragon

Last touch added to a drawing

Once a famous artist Zhang Sengyou drew four dragons on the walls of the Anle Temple, Jinling, but he left the pupils of the dragons unfinished. Someone asked him the reason of the omission. In answer, he said that if he put the pupils therein the dragons would become alive and fly away. The questioner did not believe it and requested him to complete the work. The artist nodded assent. But as soon as the two dots were drawn, all of a sudden, there were thunder and lightning and the dragon became alive and instantly flew away, while the other three without pupils still remained there.

Based on this fairy tale, the last touch added to a drawing is said to be the act of adding pupils to a dragon; that is to say, the last touch in a masterpiece is the most important part of a drawing, or any other important business. And now it becomes a phrase to suggest adding a word or two to clinch the point.

Professed love of what one really fears

In the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), there lived in the Chu state a person named Chu Zhuliang, who addressed himself as "Lord Ye". It is said that this Lord Ye was very fond of dragons. The walls had dragons painted on them. The beams, pillars, doors and windows were all carved with dragons. As a result, his love for dragons was spread out. When the real dragon in heaven heard of this Lord Ye, he was deeply moved. He decided to visit Lord Ye to thank him.

You might think Lord Ye would have been very happy to see a real dragon. But, in fact, at the sight of the creature, he was scared out of his wits and ran away as fast as he could.

From then on, people knew that Lord Ye only loved pictures or carvings that look like dragons, not the real thing

Origin of Chinese Dragon

Dragon is a legendary kind of creature, which does not exist in the world at all.

Apart from China, many other countries also enjoy the image of dragon in their legends. For instance, the dragon in western legends has a lot in common with Chinese dragon: huge body covered by squama and shells all over, four legs with sharp claws, horns, and both can fly in the sky. The differences are: western dragons have more heads varying from three, nine to twelve, while Chinese dragons just have one; western dragons spray water while Chinese, fire; western dragons usually represent evils while Chinese, good luck or fortune.

Chinese dragon is of magic power. It can change the length of its body as it wishes, it can either fly or swim and it can even bring rainfalls. People in ancient China often offered sacrifices to Dragon for favorable weather and good harvest.

It has been at least 6,000 years since dragon came into being.

Dragon was one of the totem worship images in remote times when people liked to use the images of creatures or plants which they held in awe as symbols of their tribes. They believed that totem worship could bring them protection and good luck.

What does dragon come of? There are a lot of answers such as crocodile, snake, pig or even lightening. Now many experts agree on that dragon came of a totem mainly consisting of snake. It had snake's body, pig's head, deer's horns, bull's ear, goat's beard, hawk's claws and fish's squama. This view introduces a penetrating insight towards the life of ancient society: in remote times of clanship, the Huaxia Clan symbolized by snake totem in the Yellow River drainage area conquered other clans and then grew into a big clan union by integrating others together with their totems. That was how the totem of dragon came into being.

In 1987 a grave of the Yangshao Culture in 6,000 years ago was unearthed in Ziyang, Henan Province, where a dragon made of mussel shells was found beside the male dead. This was the earliest dragon we have ever known by far. A jade dragon of more than 5,000 years of history was dug out in Inner Mongolia with a slim body crooked like the alphabet C and a pig-like head.

During the Shang and Zhou dynasties 3,000 years ago, dragons often appeared on utensil made of bronze or bones. We can even find the Chinese character of dragon in the inscriptions on tortoise shells and animal bones at that time. There are over 100 styles of writing the character of dragon.

In the Warring States Period (475-221BC), dragon was often drawn in the painting on silk. And the dragon in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) looked much the same with today's dragons.

Alternative Names of China

1.Chixian Shenzhou (the Sacred Earth and Divine Land)

In the Chinese historical book Shiji-Biographies of Mencius and Xunqing, there was a man named Yanyan in the Qi State in the Warring States Period (475-221BC) who said that China was Chixian Shenzhou (the sacred earth and divine land). From then on, people sometimes called China Chixian Shenzhou. But people usually used this name separately to call China Chixian or Shenzhou.

2.Hua

In ancient times Hua meant flowers and denotes something beautiful and glorious. There are three interpretations of Hua:

Firstly, ancient people in the Central Plains regarded themselves as civilized people who dressed neatly and elegantly, so they named themselves asHua.

Secondly, Hua denotes the red color. People in the Zhou Dynasty (11^thcentury - 256BC) liked the red color so much that they took it as the symbol of blissfulness and so called themselves Hua.

Thirdly,Huais of a long history as the shortened form of the ancient nameHuaxiaof China.

3.Zhonghua

Before the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the Huaxia nationality named their motherland Zhongguo, and after that, it developed into a nation of various nationalities, and was then called Zhonghua Nation (known as Chinese Nation).ZhongdenotesChina and Hua is the Huaxia nationality for short. Zhonghua Nationis the collective name for all the nationalities in China.

4.Xia

In ancient times Xia meaned big and huge. The first slavery country in Chinese history was the Xia Dynasty established by Dayu (the Great Yu). After that China was frequently referred to as Xia.

5.Huaxia

In ancient China, the Huaxia nationality living in the Central Plains and other nationalities in the north and south all gave in to the Shang Dynasty (17^thcentury - 11 century BC). And later on China was referred to as Huaxia since it was largest nationality at that time.

6.Yucheng,Yunji andYudian

A historical legend has that once China was besieged by flood and a man called Dayu came out boldly and organized people to fight against the disaster. After that Dayu divided China into nine administrative divisions according to the skeleton map of China. As time passed, China is called Yucheng (the city of Yu), Yuji (Yu's footmark) and Yudian (Yu's administration).

7.Jiuzhou (known as the nine administrative divisions)

After Dayu's fighting against the flood in the Xia Dynasty (the 21^stcentury - 17^thcentury BC), China was divided into nine administrative divisions: Ji, Yan, Qing, Jing, Yang, Liang, Yong, Xun and Yu. According to the ancient bookHuainanzi-The Landform, China was divided into nine administrative divisions: Shenzhou, Cizhou, Rongzhou, Zizhou, Jizhou, Taizhou, Jizhou, Bozhou and Yangzhou. Hence Jiuzhou was used to stand for China and many other names derived from it: Jiuyu, Jiuyou, Jiutu and Jiuqu.

8.Hainei (within the seas)

The ancient people thought that China was surrounded by seas, so they named China Hainei(within the seas) and foreign countries Haiwai (overseas).

Origin of the Name of Zhongguo

In ancient China,Guo referred to city or state.Zhonguo (now it means China) meant the central city or the central state. According to historical books, Zhongguo had five connotations: fist, the capital city; second, the state ruled by the emperor; third, the Central Plains; fourth, the upland region and last, the region dwelled by Han and Xia nationalities.

Since the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), people often referred the state established by the Han nationality as Zhongguo; however, other nationalities also call their own states as Zhongguo. Neither of them would acknowledge other Zhongguo.

Strictly speaking, Zhongguo in ancient times was an adjective rather than a proper noun. None reigning dynasties tookZhongguoas their name, and they all had their own titles.

After the 1911 Revolution (the Chinese bourgeois democratic revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen which overthrew the Qing Dynasty), Zhongguo was taken as the shortened form of Republic of China. And in 1949, Zhongguo became the shortened form of the People's Republic of China.

Now, the only one Zhongguo in the world is thePeople's Republic of China with its capital in Beijing.

From[ chinaculture.org ]

Western Zhou Dynasty

Water Ding (19cm high and 16cm wide)

The Zhou Dynasty existed approximately from the 11thcentury BC to 221BC, lasting more than 800 years, with 34 kings. In the 11thcentury BC, King Wu of the Zhou vanquished the Shang Dynasty and established the Zhou Dynasty, founding the capital in Hao (southwest of Xi'an City in Shaanxi Province). In 256BC, the Zhou was conquered by the Qin.

The Zhou was originally a dependent state to the Shang Dynasty (17th-11thcentury BC). According to legend the ancestor of the Zhou tribe was Di Ku. The Zhou grew strong and extended its power during the reign of King Wen and King Wu. King Wu launched an attack on Muye, overthrew the Shang Dynasty and established the Zhou Dynasty, which is known as the Western Zhou in Chinese history.

Agriculture, economy, religion, education and art continued to prosper in the Zhou, especially the rites, which not only inherited that of the Shang but also had their own innovations. In the early Zhou, the ruler prohibited people from excessive drinking to put an end to the popularly extravagant practices of the late Shang. Bronze metallurgy continued to develop, but drinking vessels commonly seen in the Shang gradually vanished. The oracle-bone divination method was still popular in the Zhou. Unearthed oracle bones, which date back as far as King Wen, are similar to those of the Shang in shape and material.

Towards the end of the Western Zhou, the intensification of internal contradictions within the ruling class grew sharper and land and power was seized. Uprisings in the kingdom shook the ruling class to its very foundations. In 771BC, King You was killed by the Quan Rong tribe, sounding the fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

From[ chinaculture.org ]

Zhou Dynasty

Changxin bronze serial bells (8.5 to 48 cm)

The Golden Age of Wuding did not continue for very long after his death. In the subsequent reigns, especially when Diyi and Dixin were in power, internal social conflicts became more serious and neighboring states began to rebel. The last Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century BC) monarch, Dixin, more commonly known as King Zhou, was a despot just like King Jie of the Xia Dynasty (21st-17th century BC). Regardless of the instability of the state, Dixin ordered the construction of splendid palaces and gardens. He also used large numbers of armies to attack the Eastern Yi Tribe. As he devised and used cruel tortures to repress those who disobeyed him, social unrest soon became intense.
In the 11th century BC, a frontier state called Zhou gained prominence. Under the reign of King Wen, the kingdom of Zhou soon became powerful. When King Wen died, his son Jifa, known as King Wu, succeeded him. In 1122BC, assisted by Jiangshang and Zhoudan, King Wu launched a punitive attack against King Zhou of the Shang. Having suffered much during the reign of King Zhou, the Shang army led the Zhou army to the Shang capital. King Zhou committed suicide and the Shang Dynasty collapsed.

The Shang was followed by a new dynasty named Zhou. The Zhou Dynasty is traditionally divided into two periods: the Western Zhou (11th century-711BC) with Haojing as its capital, and the Eastern Zhou (770-221BC), when the capital was moved east to the present-day Luoyang.

The Zhou reigned over 800 years and was the longest-ruling dynasty in Chinese history. It was especially noted for its brilliant achievements in culture.

From[ chinaculture.org ]

Shang Dynasty

Script on animal bones and tortoise shells The Shang Dynasty (17th-11th century BC) is the second slave dynasty in Chinese history. With its first capital established in Bo. the Shang moved its center of activities several times. finally settling in Yin (present-day Xiaotun in Anyang County. Henan Province) under the king of Pan Geng. Hence. the Shang Dynasty is also called the Yin Dynasty. consisting of 31 kings who belonged to 17 generations.
The Shang basically followed the system of a hereditary monarchy with the younger brother succeeding the elder one at first. and gradually developing into the eldest-son succession system in the later period of the Shang. This laid an important foundation for the patriarchal clan system adopted by the following Zhou Dynasty (11th century-256BC).
Simuwu Rectangle Ding (110 cm long and 78cm wide) The Shang is very famous for its augury and the existing Jiaguwen (inscriptions on animal bones and tortoise shells) is the witness of augury of the time. The ruling area of the king was limited to a small central area. with surrounding areas belonging to princes of the royal family and other tribes. At that time. the centralization of state power had not yet been developed.
The Shang Dynasty inherited the tradition of astronomical phenomena observation. Many inscriptions on animal bones and tortoise shells discovered in Yin ruins record astronomical phenomena. including the description of the solar and lunar eclipses. stars. and the earliest record of new stars in the world.
Square Zun with the design of four sheep heads on four sides Based on the Xia calendar. the Shang used a lunar calendar that was combined with the solar year through the addition of an intercalary month once every few years to make up the difference between a year of 12 lunar months and a solar year. The number of days in a month was fixed at 30 for a long month and 29 for a short one. The intercalary month was added at the end of the year as a 13th month. This is the origin of an intercalary month in Chinese history. which laid down the foundation for the traditional Chinese calendar. Compiling calendars had since experienced many changes and the calculations have become increasingly exact.
Sets of musical instruments have been unearthed in the Yin ruins. including pottery Xun (an egg-shaped wind instrument). stone Qing (chime stone). copper bell. copper cymbals and drum. One big stone Qing with an embossment of a staring tiger was discovered in a tomb in Wuguan Village in Anyang of Henan Province. It is the earliest existing large musical instrument and also a piece of sculpture with high artistic value.

Xia Dynasty

Bronze Jue (a wine vessel) (22.5 cm high) As the first slave dynasty in Chinese history. the Xia Dynasty (21st-16th century BC) began with the reign of Qi. the son of the Great Yu. and ended with the fall of Jie. With its capital located in Anyi (north of Xia County in mid-west Shanxi Province). the Xia was ruled by the descents of the Xiahou tribe. Altogether. there were 16 kings in 13 generations.
Ding (a container to store food) with cloud patterns Formed on an alliance of a dozen closely related tribes led by the Xiahou tribe. the Xia Dynasty carried out a system of hereditary monarchy and nobility. Noble organizations at different levels kept their original consanguinity and were strictly restricted to different surnames. The king of the Xia practiced enfeoffment on lords. With the patriarchy clan at the core of the social system. the nobles were divided into different levels according to positions in the family hierarchy and close or distant relationships between clans.
Square tomahawk with cross patterns The Xia established its own army and penal code Yu Xing (penal code of Yu). The Xia also created a calendar. which is said to be China`s first calendar. using the Big Dipper to determine months. Xia Xiao Zheng. kept in Da Dai Li Ji (Book of Rites by Da Dai). is an important existing document of the Xia calendar. It recorded the movements of the sun. moon and stars in line with the 12 lunar months of the year and also the seasons of stockbreeding and farming accordingly. Xia Xia Zheng. to certain extent. reflects the development of animal husbandry and agriculture in Xia. leaving an invaluable record of the earliest scientific knowledge in ancient China.

A Kingdom Lost for a Concubine's Smile

King You. last ruler of the Western Zhou dynasty (11th century - 771 BC) had a penchant for beautiful women. One of the court sycophants. who wanted to curry favour with him. suggested ``The women of the court are becoming old. It`s about time we chose some younger ones from the neighbouring states``.
It happened that a very small vassal state named Bao. having failed to send in its tribute in time. was being attacked by Zhou troops. A compromise was arranged in which Bao provided ten beautiful women instead.
The most dazzling of the ten. whose name was Baosi. became the king`s favourite. He took her everywhere with him. even on hunting expeditions. Baosi had one strange characteristic. She never smiled. However. she let it be known that she liked to hear the sound of tearing silk. so the king ordered that every day a hundred bolts of silk be torn before her by strong housemaids. Still this did not bring a smile to her face. The king dethroned his queen and her son the prince and placed Baosi and her infant child in their stead. but still she did not smileOne day the king took Baosi on an excursion to the Lishan Mountains east of his capital Haojing (west of today`s Xi`an). There she showed interest in a beacon tower which was used to alert nearby vassal states to send troops to the aid of Zhou. Hoping to please Baosi. the king ordered the beacon fire lit. When the vassal troops gathered at the foot of Lishan they found no sign nor sound of battle. but only the music of lusheng pipes as King You disported with Baosi. The dukes of the vassal states were extremely angry. As they lowered their banners. muffled their retreat from the tower. Baosi let out a peal of laughter. King You was so pleased that after that he often took her to Lisahn and lit the beacon fire. Soon it became meaningless as an alarm.
In 771 BC Zhou rule was under attack from the Quanrong tribesmen in the north. In conspiracy with troops inside Zhou under the leadership of the brother of the dethroned queen. they approached the capital Haojing. King You ordered the beacon fire lighted. but the neighbouring dukes ignored it and the Quanrong captured Haojing. King You and Baosi were captured. The king was killed at the foot of Lishan Mountains and the latter given to the Quanrong king.
Editor`s Notes
A modern reader might well ask whether Baosi. resenting having been sent to the king. acted as she did for revenge. but ancient historians do not tell us this. In keeping with their anti-female bias. she was blamed for the fall of the dynasty.

The Death of the First Emperor

In July of 210 BC a grand procession started out from Pingxiang (in today`s Hebei province) and began moving slowly toward Xianyang. the capital city north of today`s Xi`an. It was a royal entourage. accompanied by eunuchs and guarded by many soldiers.
The centre of all this pomp was an elaborate closed chariot. Court retainers periodically took food to it and brought back orders. But the chariot`s sole occupant would never eat or issue orders again - it was the body of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. who had been ill and had died. The ruse was part of a plot by high officials to delay discovery of his death so that they could take power.

Qin Shi Huang is widely known today for the giant pottery army created by his order. excavated in the 1970s in the vicinity of his tomb near Xi`an in Shaanxi province. Historians recognise the extraordinary achievements of his 37 year reign. Succeeding his father as king of the State of Qin at the age of 13. he became in 221 BC the first great unifier of China by conquering and bringing under one rule the seven major states which had been fighting for hegemony for two and a half centuries. He built the Great Wall (by joining a number of smaller local walls). unified the currency and the system of writing and weights and measures.

But Qin Shi Huang`s contemporaries came to hate him as a tyrant. In his last days he became secretive and suspicious. fearing assassination and searching for an elixir of immortality. He had reason to fear. His enemies included those who resented his conquest of the other states and the families of the tens of thousands who had suffered and died working in labour gangs on the Great Wall and other grandiose projects.


His rule was also noted for the burning of the books and the burying of scholars. The emperor ordered these actions at the instigation of his prime minister. Li Si. who thus sought to silence opposition to centralised rule. In 213 BC. throughout the states. all histories and writings other than the official Qin history and books on topics such as medicine and agriculture were collected and burned. though copies were securely locked up in the imperial library.

Confucian scholars had been particularly active in opposing the emperor. using quotations from the classics. A year after the book-burning. the scholars themselves were rounded up. along with alchemists and makers of immortality pills. whose ineffectiveness had displeased the emperor. Some 400 persons were buried alive as a lesson to any who thought of speaking out against the regime. When the emperor`s eldest son Fu Su objected. he was banished to a border region.

Hence many had reason to hope for the end of this cruel emperor. One legend has it that the autumn before his death one of his attendants encountered an old man with a piece of white jade in his hand (signifying that he had immortal connections). The old man had a message for Qin Shi Huang: the Primal Dragon will die this year.

Others took more direct measures. One of those making an attempt on his life was Zhang Liang. from a noble family in the former State of Han (he later became an influential counsellor in the Western Han dynasty. founded in 206 BC). Zhang enlisted a man of extraordinary strength to make a heavy iron hammer and strike the emperor with it while he was on tour near Kaifeng in Henan province. The attack failed. and an imperial retainer was killed instead.

In his last years. the fearful emperor forbade anyone to mention the word death in his presence. Around his capital Xianyang he is said to have built 270 small palaces. many connected by covered passages and bridges. He moved from one to the other in secrecy. and no one was permitted to reveal where he was on penalty of execution.

One `security leak` brought harsh punisment. Seeing the retinue of Prime Minister Li Si on the road one day. the emperor commented on its size. Li Si received word of this through one of the emperor`s eunuchs and immediately cut the number of his attendants. When the emperor heard of it he was furious - undoubtedly someone had repeated his words. and he hated the idea. When no one would confess. he ordered everyone who had been with him on that fateful day killed.

A year before his death. a meteorite fell near Puyang in today`s Henan province. On it someone carved seven big characters implying that after the conqueror`s death the country would revert to separate states. Again. when no one in the district would admit the deed. he had all those questioned executed.

The secrecy and plotting that characterised his final years followed his body on its last long journey from Pingxiang to Xianyang. The weather was hot and the body began to decompose; baskets of fish were placed around it to hide the smell. The only ones who knew of his death were Prime Minister Li Si. the emperor`s second son Hu Hai. the powerful court eunuch Zhao and a few others. In part they feared an uprising in the former independent states. but they also wanted to further their own ends.

They destroyed a letter the emperor had written to his eldest son telling his to return to the capital. and instead forged documents charging Fu Su (and his ally general Meng Tian. who had supervised work on the Great Wall) with a serious crime and ordering their deaths. At the same time they forged a decree making Hu Hai successor to the throne.


When the party reached Xianyang. the death of the emperor was announced and Hu Hai was crowned Second Emperor. In the ninth month the First Emperor was buried in the magnificent tomb on Mount Lishan which he had built for himself by 710.000 conscript labourers.

The tomb was an underground palace and. according to the Historical Records of the later historian Sima Qian. included a banquet hall for a hundred officials. In the centre of the tomb chamber was a model of the topography of China. The rivers reproduced in mercury were. by some mechanical means. made to flow into the ocean. In them were waterfowl made of gold and silver. The ceiling reproduced the heavens with pearls set in as the sun. moon and stars. The tomb was filled with models of palaces and pavilions. precious stones and other rarities. In it burned lamps of salamander oil. thought to provide illumination for the longest possible time.

Hidden bows and arrows had been installed which would be triggered off automatically and kill anyone who disturbed the objects. Someone pointed out that the artisans and labourers who made the tomb might reveal what treasure was in it. so after the burial the gates were closed. imprisoning them inside. Hu Huai also ordered that the palace women who had not given birth to boys be shut in the tomb. Trees and grass were planted over the mausoleum to make it look like a hill.

Though adjuncts to it have been excavated. the tomb has not. It is doubtful whether all the fine things in it remain. for despite the elaborate precautions. it is generally believed to have been robbed.

It was Qin Shi Huang`s hope that his dynasty would be carried on for ten thousands years. Actually it lasted for only two generations. It was overthrown by a peasant rebellion begun in 209 BC by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. two conscripts for the Great Wall.

China

China, one of the countries that can boast of an ancient civilization, has a long and mysterious history - almost 5,000 years of it! Like most other great civilizations of the world, China can trace her culture back to a blend of small original tribes which have expanded till they became the great country we have today.
Chinese society has progressed through five major stages - Primitive Society, Slave Society, Feudal Society, Semi-feudal and Semi-colonial Society, and Socialist Society. The rise and fall of the great dynasties forms a thread that runs through Chinese history, almost from the beginning. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st, 1949, China has become a socialist society and become stronger and stronger.