Bibliography

Works Cited

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Informational Guidelines Paragraph

The encyclopedia, one of the major inventions of the Ming Dynasty, was an influential aspect of daily life and education. The encyclopedia is a book or set of books giving information on many subjects or on many aspects of one subject and typically arranged alphabetically. One way the encyclopedia changed life in China during the Ming Dynasty was by spreading cultural and political influences while giving out these books to increase the knowledge of China and where everything was located. During previous times, the encyclopedia was written to teach others about China's location, it's use, it's trade and it's religion. The civil service system was improved during the Ming Dynasty and then became classified; almost all the top Ming officials entered the bureaucracy. They had to pass a government examination. This soon led to improvements and hypothesis that soon ended up creating the encyclopedia. The encyclopedia had also changed the way people traveled in China and what they believed was happening throughout China. People could use the encyclopedia to direct themselves to certain landmarks or palaces. Also reading the encyclopedia improved learning on Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and a few other religions. From the creation of encyclopedia's to passing them out to readers worldwide, the Encyclopedia had been an invention that had a major impact on China during the Ming Dynasty.

Religion Paragraph

The Ming Dynasty had many religious beliefs. These included Taoism (Daoism) and Buddhism. In Taoism, Chinese believed in mostly nature. Scriptures and many other practices are completed in temples to achieve the harmony of nature. They are thankful for the nature of air and water they are provided with. Although, pollution is a bother and they are trying to stop this from ruining earth. Taoism is defined as a belief system based on the writing of a Chinese wise person or sage, named Laozi. He taught rulers to make fewer laws and some Han rulers adopted it. Anyways, what the Ming dynasty had done is they had created the "fourth Daozang." This had risen the rituals and practices of magic/sorcery powers. This is important to the Ming dynasty because Taoist beliefs had become a popular ritual in the Chinese culture. These include ceremonies, morality scriptures and physical cultivation. The second belief/practice of the Ming dynasty is when Zhang Daoling made the Way of the Celestial Masters, also known as the Way of Orthodox Unity, the first organized Daoist religious system.Textbooks were spread worldwide to display the different beliefs of China. This is an important practice/belief because this was near the "medieval time periods" and people understood China's belief systems and a better and more organized manner. Now about the religion of Buddhism. Buddhism was a relaxed religion. Everyone was free and did not have to worry about anything. If you wanted to end up in a good place when you die; heaven, then you had to be a good person and perform excellent deeds. Everyone was friendly to each other because that is also what everyone believed was the right thing to do in a Buddhist religion. Everyone had known to lay back and relax. No one had been stressed and no one had fought. In the Buddha religion, Buddhist's believed in Buddhist and Daoist gods. They would pray too these gods for salvation and help with other needs. These were also followed in Chinese schools. These schools had become more popular in places such as Japan. Buddha’s life and  teaching is where Buddhism had originated. Buddhist scriptures are important for understanding how Chinese built their religious beliefs. Guatama Buddha was the founder of the religion. Buddha and his followers left no writings, but his rules and beliefs were memorized and passed down through generations until about the second century BC when the first Buddhist scriptures were written. The oral tradition had diminished. Shortly after this, the first scriptures were brought to China. Overall, China had many different beliefs during the Ming dynasty and this had impacted the way everyone lived.

Inventions

Porcelain

      Porcelain was invented in China during the Ming dynasty. This was an important invention of the time period because it was a beautiful form of pottery that traders all over the world admired. Porcelain was expensive and many people enjoyed receiving it. Porcelain is the finest ceramic and is a designed piece of art. Chinese artists are inspired to create porcelain and add new designs to each piece they create. Every year, the emperor orders around 10 thousand pieces of porcelain to use for special events he has planned. Porcelain is called China in English languages since porcelain had been originated in China.

      Porcelain was created by the Ming dynasty emperor, Hongwu and was first used for important daily life items such as water jugs, plates, cups, stools, etc. Porcelain had not been decorated. Porcelain had been made out of kaolin, which is very white and almost translucent looking. Cobalt had also been used which created foggy lines which didn't make the porcelain look very appealing. Eventually, cobalt had been experimented with. It had been concluded that if manganese was added with the cobalt, the lines would form neater patterns and the color dulled more. Prior to the invention, people wanted more porcelain that had been decorated with different patterns and colors. Colors such as blue, had been added when designing porcelain which makes it look more artistic and unique. Different beautiful designs form on the porcelain.

      Porcelain has really changed people's lives in many ways. For example, it was a huge part in Chinese culture. Porcelain has been exported worldwide to everyone and has been traded by China. This influences new culture from outsiders and economic and cultural exchange occurs between China and outsiders of China. Porcelain has been used for daily life importance and is also used for display. Porcelain is a huge product for China that has exploited throughout the world.

Interview

 Interview with Emperor Hongwu

Reporter- Hello and welcome Emperor Hongwu. We appreciate your presence and have some questions for you to be answered.

Emperor Hongwu- No problem. I would be happy to answer any questions you have for me.

Reporter- Great! Let's get started. So Emperor Hongwu, what was the importance of the Forbidden City and how has it impacted China.

Emperor Hongwu- Well, the Great Wall of China was an imperial palace built that was the home of the most recent 24 emperors. We had a city located in Nanjing and we had then created the Forbidden City which was created in Beijing. No common people were allowed inside or they would have a curse set upon them. This was so we could show the respect for the last emperors who had ruled and this shows the respect we have for them. When an emperor died, they were buried here and were protected by the terracotta army that had been built. The Forbidden City impacted China in many ways. First off, people had governed China by holding important ceremonies and court sessions here. Also the Forbidden City indicates that their are important bodies inside that are representing China. The Forbidden City is a home to them and this gives them a way to stay connected to China.

Reporter- That sounds very interesting. But you had mentioned something about a terracotta army? What is the terracotta army, what was it used for and what was it's importance?

Emperor Hongwu- The terracotta army consists of over 8000 army men and horses that protect the emperors that are buried in the Forbidden City. These statues had been discovered while work was being put into action. The army was first used when Emperor Qin had died that signified in ancient beliefs that he was still in reign in the afterlife. Now this is used for all the emperors that are buried in the Forbidden City. The terracotta army consists of life sized figures and the army is set up as if they were ready for battle. The army is placed in order of when it was discovered. The terracotta soldiers had been made out of clay. Their are thousands of clay soldiers that had been found. When they were first dug up, it was noticed that these soldiers were positioned in order of their rank. They had unique expressions that were carved on their faces. On some of the soldiers their are patches of some paint that show the bright colors that they had once been painted in the tradition of the Qin dynasty.

Interviewer- Wow, we learn something new every day! Thank you for clarifying that. Time for your next question. Emperor Hongwu, what are the struggles you face with the Ming Dynasty?

Emperor Hongwu- There are many hardships I face during this journey. One struggle would be trying to prevent any uprisings to occur. If there are any peasant uprisings then I lose my role as emperor. Also the Mandate of Heaven can be a struggle. The Mandate of Heaven is a belief that if any natural disasters occur then it means I am not doing a good job as emperor. Therefore, I also lose my job as emperor. Also creations can be hard to lead although it is a great accomplishment to me when I help to create an importance for China. It takes lots of courage, time and hard work. But in the end it always pays off. Another hardship that I faced is when the invention of paper occurred. Later on after paper had been created, someone got the idea of creating paper money. I thought it was a way to encourage my workers and soldiers to finish their jobs. I would reward them with money but I never understood inflation but now I have learned. Inflation is when the amount of money increases and is given out all the time, it becomes less valuable. If people are receiving tons of money in one day, they won't see money as valuable because they already have a lot and they know it is easy to get. Whereas, for example diamonds are rare because they are extremely hard to find so it is very valuable. Anyways, since paper money became not as valuable, people had switched back to coin money. The issue was that we had not created enough because we had been too busy working on making more paper money. There was an increasing need of coin money during the growth of trade which led to the coin money also losing it's value.

Interviewer- That is very amazing to hear. That really does sound like a struggle. If I were in your shoes I wouldn't know how to handle a job like that. Emperor is a tough job to handle it sounds like. Let's hear more of how you did it all. Emperor Hongwu, what was the importance of the Great Wall and how has it affected China?

Emperor Hongwu- The Great Wall of China was a wall that I instructed to be built. The Great Wall is a structure built for defense and military bases. In other words, it helped protect China and everyone felt safer. Pieces of the wall had been created in earlier dynasties but when the Ming Dynasty ruled, I had my workers and soldiers work to connect all the pieces together to form one long wall. The Great Wall of China is the longest wall in the world. The wall is important to China in many ways. First off, the wall is important because the wall blocks off outsiders from entering through China. Also if a Mongol tried to steal an item, they would mostly likely be caught because the wall made it more of a struggle to get away. The wall is also important because it protects the terracotta army. The wall is approximately 50,000 kilometers. The wall took over 200 years to build and was very tough and took long to build. What wasn't so good was that 2 to 3 million people had died just by working on this wall. But all the hard work had payed off.

Interviewer- 2 to 3 million people is a lot that had died. That must have taken many people to build the wall then. I didn't know so many people were needed to build the wall. That sounds very fascinating. Thank you for joining me in this interview We very much appreciate it.

Emperor Hongwu- I am pleased that I could help. Thank you for having me participate.

Opinion Editorial

                                                          New City, New Benefits

                      
                           The emperor has informed us that a city has been created. This is an imperial palace built in Beijing that is the home of the most recent 24 emperors. The Forbidden City has been named this since common people were not allowed to enter and if they did then they would have a curse set upon them. This was a great idea. This would show the respect that China has for their leaders. It will show how much appreciation everyone has. The Forbidden City had been built beside a mountain and the mountain was used for protection. This would help protect our emperors from putting them in danger. The front area of the palace consisted of three halls used for important ceremonies. The back of the palace provided three large residential palaces and imperial gardens. These can be used when emperors are discussing important events for China. The "Meridian Gate" is what you enter through to get into the Forbidden City. Although some people believe that they should have a right to walk inside the palace they should think about the privacy they would want and how it would make their emperors happy if they obeyed their leaders. It isn't easy to rule a dynasty and the ones that do should get credit for what they have done. When an emperor dies they get buried inside the palace with the terracotta army. This shows the strong leadership they provoked. If we didn't have this palace, China wouldn't be unified how they are now because they would not have that communication that their emperor provides them like Hongwu does for us. Hongwu has worked very hard to instruct the building of the Forbidden City and it is a great piece of China. China would be lost with the City and would not have anything else to resemble the bright colors, the statues and the emperors. The Forbidden City brings the society together and resembles what China has been through so far in daily life.

Map of Ming Dynasty

                      This is a map of the Ming Dynasty. (1368-1644) The blue lines are representing the Great Wall of China. The shaded red represents the Ming Dynasty and where it's land is. The dotted lines show the current borders that surround China and Mongolia. On this map it locates where Bejing is. Bejing is the capital of China and is around the area where the Great Wall had been built. The Ming Dynasty had achieved the goal of creating the Forbidden city which is found in Bejing. The Ming Dynasty had the largest military group with the help of the Ming emperors. The Silk Road is used to trade with others although it was dangerous. The Grand Canal is very important to China. It connects fro the north of China to the south of China. The Grand Canal is the longest Canal in the world. The Grand Canal made exporting goods easier. Overall, in China now a days, the Forbidden City is still in China and is important to China and it's land.