Sunday, January 13, 2008
Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD)

The death of the tyrant Qin put the once most powerful empire into chaos as the people are already dissatisfied with the Qin rule. Power-thirst nobles and military leaders battled each other to occupy the mandate of heaven. Chaos lasted for four years when finally the divine light shined on the noble Prince Liu Bang of Han who defeated the Qin army in a major battle at the valley of Wei and reunified China. The prince made himself the emperor and established a new capital city of Chang An not far away from the Qin capital Xianyang in 202 BC. The Han Dynasty was separated into two periods, the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC – 9 AD) and the Eastern Han Dynasty (9 AD – 220 AD), which the capital is at Luoyang. The Han Emperors adopted the principles of Confucian as the basis to rule the empire.
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hand/hd_hand.htm#>
2. “Han Dynasty”. Minnesota State University Mankato. 11 Jan 2008
< http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/early_imperial_china/han.html>
Han Gaozu, the First Han Emperor
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/HanGaozu.jpg. 11 Jan 2008
The map of Silk Road
http://www.orexca.com/img/silk_road.jpg. 11 Jan 2008
1. “Han Dynasty”. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 11 Jan 2008
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hand/hd_hand.htm#>
2. “Han Dynasty”. Minnesota State University Mankato. 11 Jan 2008
< http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/early_imperial_china/han.html>
3. “Han Dynasty”. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty>
Ceramic Watchtower, Han Dynasty
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_1984.397.jpg. 11 Jan 2008
Technology and Education Accomplishments
The Han developed countless amount of technology. Paper, water clocks, sundials, seismometer were invented during this period. The improvement of steel smelting increased the empire’s military strength. The significance of education was highly elevated to the new level, as the Han emperor used the civil service exam to select the most clever person in the empire to be government officials with high status. The emperors also encouraged scholars to write encyclopedias. The most well known is the Book of Mountains and Seas, where all sorts of knowledge, for example, geography, culture, philosophy, myths, and biology up to that time are collected in hundreds of scrolls. Sima Qian, a Han Dynasty historian, wrote a history book called “Records of the Historian” which dates back to the beginning of the Shang dynasty. It was an important document.
Chinese Seismometer
http://digitalmedia.upd.edu.ph/digiteer/seismology/chinese_seis.jpg. 11 Jan 2008
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hand/hd_hand.htm#>
2. “Han Dynasty”. Minnesota State University Mankato. 11 Jan 2008
< http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/early_imperial_china/han.html>
3. “Han Dynasty”. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty>
Leaders of the Civilization
The Emperor Han Gaozu (r. 202-195 BC) The first emperor of he dynasty, borned as a peasant, he beated a very powerful military leader Xiang Yu who is far more superior than him in the Battle of Gaixia. He adopted Confucianism to the government and abolished Legalism which is far more cruel.
2. “Emperor Han Gaozu”. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Bang>
Emperor Han Wudi
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/HanWuDi.jpg. 11 Jan 2008
Notable Foreign Rulers
Julius Caesar (100 – 44 BC), the famous military and political of Rome lived in the time of the Han Dynasty. In his lifetime it was the period of changes in Rome as the Roman Republic is changing to the Roman Empire. He was later assassinated by his own adopted son Augustus. If we was not assassinated he would be the Emperor of Rome. He also had the notorious affair with Cleopatra VII.
1. “Julius Caesar”. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar>
Julius Caesar
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Giulio-cesare-enhanced_1-800x1450.jpg. 11 Jan 2008
Fall
However, all things have to come to an end including this dynasty. As the imperial family received too much wealth and they were still greedy. Peasant taxes were greatly raised creating discontent among the people. The rise of the Yellow Turban rebellion put an end to the glorious Han Empire in 220 AD. The Three Kingdoms period succeeded. They were later reunified by the Sui in the 6th century.
1. “Han Dynasty”. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 11 Jan 2008
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hand/hd_hand.htm#>
2. “Han Dynasty”. Minnesota State University Mankato. 11 Jan 2008
< http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/early_imperial_china/han.html>
Bibliography
1. “Han Dynasty”. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 11 Jan 2008
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hand/hd_hand.htm#>
2. “Han Dynasty”. Minnesota State University Mankato. 11 Jan 2008
< http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/early_imperial_china/han.html>
3. “Han Dynasty”. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty>
4. “Emperor Han Wudi”. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wudi>
5. “Emperor Han Gaozu”. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Bang>
6. “Julius Caesar”. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar>
Image Bibliography
1. "Han Dynasty Map". Minnesota State University Mankato. 11 Jan 2008 http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/images/hanmap.gif
2. “Han Gaozu”. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/HanGaozu.jpg.>
3. “The Silk Road”. Orexca. 11 Jan 2008 <http://www.orexca.com/img/silk_road.jpg>
4. “Ceramic Watchtower, Han Dynasty”. 11 Jan 2008<http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_1984.397.jpg>
5. “Julius Caesar. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Giulio-cesare-enhanced_1-800x1450.jpg>
6. “Han Wudi”. Wikipedia. 11 Jan 2008 <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/HanWuDi.jpg>
7. “Chinese Seismograph”. Digitalmedia. 11 Jan 2008 <http://digitalmedia.upd.edu.ph/digiteer/seismology/chinese_seis.jpg>
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Chi Chi Earthquake, Taiwan, 1999

Earthquakes are caused by the movement of melting rock called mantle under the earth's surface called tectonic plates. The areas around the boundaries between plates are more likely to have earthquake. The center of the crashing or movement between plates are called the "epicenter". The epicenter seds out seismic waves through layers of rocks to the top surface of the plate where human's structures are built. The severity of an earthquake is measured by the Richter scale, which varies from 1 to 10, having 10 as the most severe.
[Waugh, David. The New Wider World. The United Kingdom: Nelson Thornes, 2003. ]

Earth's Tectonic plates
Among one of the disastrous nature hazard ever occurred in the 20th century, The Chi Chi earthquake in Taiwan in 1999 is recognized as one of the most destructive earthquakes. The earthquake strucked on September 21st in ChiChi Township in the County of Nantou in central Taiwan. The damage caused by the earthquake is considered very severe. There were more than 2,400 deaths and people missing, about 11,400 severely injured, 44,000 structures destroyed, 40,000 structures severely damaged. The reason why this earthquake caused so much damage is that it occurred in the middle of the night, at 1.47am, while the people were not aware, and the epicenter is only about 100 km away from the capital city, Taipei. The severity was recorded at 7.0 Richter scale.
"Chichi (Taiwan) Earthquake".http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sato/taiwan/. December 2nd, 2007
Damaged building
"Damaged provincial government building in ChunHsingHsinTsun ". http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sato/taiwan/twpics/tw/tw043.JPG. December 2nd, 2007
Damaged buildings in Fong Yen
"Earthquake in FongYen". http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sato/taiwan/twpics/tw/tw014.JPG . December 2nd, 2007
Why and How ?
According to the tectonic plates of Taiwan, Taiwan is located along the boundaries of the Eurasian plate and the Philippines plate. The Eurasian plate is a continental crust, while the Philippines plate is an oceanic crust. When both of them moved towards each other, it creates a destructive margin. Destructive margin occurs when an oceanic crust moves toward a continental crust and is forced downward, which can triggers severe earthquake or volcanic eruptions. The earthquake destroyed the whole town of ChiChi, and its aftershock severely damaged five surrounding towns. The map below shows where the aftershocks occured. The blue star is the location of the epicenter in the center of ChiChi.
Map of the Aftershocks
[http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sato/taiwan/index.html]
Tectonic plate map of Taiwan
[http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sato/taiwan/images/twmap2.gif]
Effects on the Economy
Taiwan's central government has estimated the total financial and property loses from the earthquake at 10$-12 $ billion. The earthquake brought down Taiwan's gross domestic product (GDP) for 0.5%. The 3.4$ billion Taiwanese stock market plunged, but very soon recovered.
http://www.rms.com/Publications/Taiwan_Event.pdf
http://www.rms.com/Publications/Taiwan_Event.pdf
http://www.takenaka.co.jp/takenaka_e/rodin_e/structure/structure.html
Picture of the Seismic Isolation System
http://www.takenaka.co.jp/takenaka_e/rodin_e/structure/img/z_02.gif
[http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sato/taiwan/]
[Waugh, David. The New Wider World. The United Kingdom: Nelson Thornes, 2003. ]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/Chi-Chi_earthquake]
http://www.rms.com/Publications/Taiwan_Event.pdf
http://www.takenaka.co.jp/takenaka_e/rodin_e/structure/structure.html
Images Bibliography
[http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sato/taiwan/twpics/tw/tw043.JPG]
http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sato/taiwan/twpics/tw/tw014.JPG
http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sato/taiwan/index.html
http://www.rcep.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sato/taiwan/images/twmap2.gif
[http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=3537&rendTypeId=4]