The Qin Dynasty first unified China under one government and standardized the written script, while the Han Dynasty built upon this foundation and further developed agriculture, trade, and cultural artifacts along the Great Wall. However, both dynasties faced rebellions due to their harsh policies of high taxes and forced labor used in construction projects. Additional primary sources like diaries or letters from ordinary citizens could provide insight into how these policies impacted daily life and shaped cultural attitudes.

1. Document 1
(Book)
Source: Bentle, Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditions & Encounters: A Global
Perspective on the Past. 3rd. ed. New York, NY: Mcgraw-Hill, 12/14/04. Print
Before the Qin dynasty, al regions of China used scripts derived from the one
employed at the Shang court, but they had developed along different lines and had
become mutually unrecognizable. In hopes of ensuring better understanding and
uniform application of his polices, Qin Shihuangdi mandated the use of common script
throughout his empire. The regions of China continued to use different spoken
languages, as they do even today, but they wrote these languages with a common
Document 2
"Weapons of the Qin and Hand Dynasty." Cultural China. Web. 9 Dec
2010. <http://history.cultural-china.com/en/58History4621.html#>.
(Primary)

2. Hutchinson, Leslie. "The Great Wall of China." Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil
Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 1: 2,000 B.C. to A.D. 699. Detroit: Gale, 2001.
340-342. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 7 Dec. 2010.
The most famous early wall construction is attributed to the first Chinese emperor,
Qin Shihuangdi. Scholars generally credit him with the restoration, repair, and
occasional destruction of earlier walls, and ordering new construction to create a
structure to protect China's northern frontiers against attack by nomadic people.
In 214 B.C., to secure the northern frontiers, Qin Shihuangdi, ordered his general
Meng Tian, to mobilize all the able bodied subjects in the country to link up all the
walls erected by the feudal states. This wall became a permanent barrier separating
the agricultural Han Chinese to the south and the nomadic horse-mounted herdsman
to the north. According to historical records, the Great Wall of Qin Shihuangdi was
completed in about 12 years by the 300,000-person army, conscripted labor of nearly
500,000 peasants, and an unspecified number of convicted criminals. Local earth,
stone, timber, and bricks were the primary materials used to build the wall during the
Qin dynasty.
Agricultural production along the Great Wall developed quickly. The once barren land
was turned into a flourishing agricultural zone with irrigation and the use of the
traction plow. Weights and measures, as well as coinage and writing, were
standardized.

3. (n.d.): Image Collection. EBSCO. Web. 7 Dec. 2010.
Brown, Claudia. "Textiles, Chinese." Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion. Ed.
Valerie Steele. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 291-296. Gale Virtual
Reference Library. Web. 7 Dec. 2010.
Han tombs have yielded a variety of silks, including plain weave, gauze weave, both
plain and patterned, and pile-loop brocade similar to velvet. More than twenty dyed
colors have been identified. Embellishment of woven fabrics included new techniques
of embroidery incorporating gold or feathers, as well as block-printing, stenciling, and
painting on silk. Later Han silks include a striking number of woven patterns with texts,
usually several characters with auspicious meanings. From pictorial representations,
scholars have deduced that Han weavers used treadle looms.

4. Document 3
Document 4
Document 5
Document 6

5. Source: Hutchinson, Leslie. "The Great Wall of China." Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil
Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 1: 2,000 B.C. to A.D. 699. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 340-342. Gale
Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.
The impact of the first Great Wall continues to be researched and discussed. The
imperial system initiated during the Qin dynasty set a pattern that was to develop
over the next two millennia. Steeped in myth and legend the history of the Great
Wall of Qin became a rich legacy and a blueprint for subsequent generations of
Chinese people.
Though much of this first Great Wall has disappeared as a result of centuries of
natural and human-inflicted damage, remains of compressed earth, sand, and
stones can be seen. The second "ten-thousand li long wall" was built during the Han
Dynasty, the third was built by the Jin Dynasty that made peace with the Mongol
invaders, and the fourth was built by the Ming Dynasty beginning in 1368. This
Document 7
Source: Part 2: Asia: ASIA--A Brief History.” Africa & Asia Resource (2004): 58. Middle
Search Plus. EBSCO. Web. 7 Dec. 2010.
Dominating the eastern region, China has been the center of world
civilization for over 3000 years. Ruled by various feudal kings for
centuries, China established an empire in 221 BCE under the Qin
Dynasty.

6. Document 8
Source: "Great Wall of China's strength 'comes from sticky rice'." The Telegraph .
Web. 10 Dec 2010. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7785842/
Great-Wall-of-Chinas-strength-comes-from-sticky-rice.html>.
Document 9

7. Source: "Qin dynasty." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School
Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2010. <http://www.school.eb.com/eb/
article-9024119>.
“These harsh methods, combined with the huge tax levies needed
to pay for their construction projects and wars, took their toll, and
rebellion erupted after Shihuangdi's death in 210 BC. In 207 the dynasty
was overthrown and, after a short transitional period, was replaced by the
Han Dynasty (206 BC–AD 220).”
Document 10
Source: Bentley, Jerry. Traditions Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past . 3rd ed. . New
York, NY: The McGraw-Hill, 2006. 1167. Print.
“During the early days of the Han dynasty, Li Bang attempted to follow a middle
path between the decentralized network of political alliances of the Zhou dynasty and
the tightly centralized state of the Qin. Zhou decentralization encouraged political
chaos, he thought, because regional governors were powerful enough to resist the
emperor and pursue their own ambitions. Liu Bang thought that Qin centralization
created a new set of problems however, because it provided little incentive for imperial
family members to support the dynasty.”
Prompt
Using the documents, analyze similarities and differences of the Qin and the Han
Dynasty’s cultural influences in China. Identify an additional type of document and
explain how it would help in assessing China’s actions and reactions.

8. Historical Background: Both the Qin and the Han Dynasty helped construct the Great
Wall of China between 220 and 206 B.C. The wall was a center of economical and
political trade, but also many cultural factors were gained and lost because of this wall.