Friday, January 20, 2012

Front Page News Story

First Emperor King Wu Attacks Shang Dynasty

The Shang Dynasty is over and the Zhou has just began, King Wu the first emperor of the Zhou dynasty son of King Wen and Taisi.
King Wu has become king and is now wanting to defeat the Shang dynasty. He has gathered over eight hundred dukes from neighboring states. King Wu saw that the Shang dynasty was disrupted and not in good shape he decided that this would be the perfect time for his attack. King Wu was waiting for the right time to attack, and this seamed like a perfect opportunity.
He launched the attack on the Shang dynasty in 1046 BC. This marked the begin of the Zhou dynasty and ended the Shang dynasty. This also caused the death of King Wen Ding who was the Shang’s king at the time.
This event took place in the Shang dynasty. King Wu lead his 45,000 men across the yellow river to the Shang dynasty where they battled.
King Wu is the one who lead the and organized the attcked with help of many government officials and his army. He told us that he did this because it was his fathers dream and he wanted to do it for him.





Opinion/Editorial

There has been much discussion about the new Zhou dynasty. It is great to see this new dynasty has begun and hope that the King Wu makes many good changes for China. Many people are mad that the Shang dynasty is over but I think it is a good thing. China needs a fresh start and that is what King Wu is going to do. The Shang dynasty only made China worse and now I am ready to see the Zhou dynasty turn things around and make
China better than ever. I know that there are only good things to come!

MAP

                

             This map is of the Zhou dynasty, it last from 1050BC to 221BC. The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any of the other dynasties. In the picture above it shows all of the dynasty's, the one labeled number one is the Zhou dynasty. The Zhou dynasty was one of the smallest dynasties but it lasted longer than any of the others. The Zhou dynasty had to leave the capital Xi’an on the West side of china because the Zhou king was killed and it was surrounded by many tribes that made it unsafe for them to stay there. When the Zhou king died his son took the throne. They moved and settled in the capital of Luoyang on the Eastern side of China where it was much safer. The Zhou dynasty beat the Shang dynasty which helped them conquer a large amount if territory and land. The Zhou was surround by the Zheng, Wei and Jin states.

Interview with a "Famous" person from your dynasty

What was the mandate of heaven?
The mandate of haven was a Chinese philosophical concept. It was first used to overthrow the Shang dynasty and to help the rule of the kings in the Zhou dynasty. A ruler could rule as long as they had the mandate of heaven and right when they lost it they would be overthrown. It was considered to be that the right to rule and it was granted to you by heaven and could be taken away at anytime that the people were not happy.

Why did the Zhou dynasty last long than the others?
The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any others because it was separated into four different sections. It also had over fourteen very good emperors . Another reason why it lasted the longest is because the Zhou dynasty defeated many other countries which kept them very powerful.


What was Confucianism?
Confucianism was developed by Confucius and It focuses on the human relationships. It is the belief that all human are teachable. Confucianism  does not belive in supernatural things or in a personal god.

Why/How did the Zhou Dynasty in China end?
When it separated in four sections a war broke.They Zhou dynasty started to fight against each other and the Qin dynasty thought it was the perfect time to take over and created there own dynasty. The Qin dynasty were successful with conquering the Zhou dynasty with caused the Zhou dynasty to end and the Qin to start.

Inventions

The Zhou dynasty lasted the longest and made many accomplishments and inventions. One invention was there medication. Medicine in the Zhou dynasty was founded by a group of people. When medicine was first invented it was used to treat illness and used before surgery. Also there are many healing methods such as acupuncture that are still used today. Even though technology has changed a lot since medicine was first invented it still is used for the same things as it was back then .Without the discovery of medication in the Zhou dynasty we might not have had it today.  

Religion/Culture

There are many interesting facts about the Zhou dynasty's culture and religion.One fact about there culture is that people in the Zhou dynasty were very close with there families and as many as one hundred of them lived in the same house. This shows that they cared a lot about there family and that they spent a lot of time with them. In a normal household during the Zhou dynasty the oldest male family member that lived in the house ruled the family. He was in charge of everything that had to do with the family. Women in the Zhou dynasty were not considered to be a valuable as men were and did not have the same opportunities as men did. 

Additional Option- Major Events, Culture, or Geographical Features

The Geographical Features of the Zhou dynasty are very interesting. The Zhou dynasty was separated into two  called the Western and the Eastern parts. 
The Western part was at the beginning of the Zhou dynasty and had two capital they were Hao and Luo. The Western part was located on the Yellow River basin. King You was killed which cased the end of the Western part of the dynasty and the beginning of the Eastern part. 
The Eastern part was during the end of the Zhou dynasty. The new capital was Luoyang. After the move there everyday life still included warfare but not as much as the other capital on the Western side.