The Tang Dynasty

Introduction:

The Tang dynasty has started after the collapsed of the Sui dynasty. In this dynasty, it was the "Golden Age" of culture. Many famous poets and painters have lived during this dynasty. The Tang dynasty has developed a booming economics. In China's history, the Tang dynasty was the most progressive and flourishing due to the success of economy and culture. The Tang dynasty has been interrupted by some of the other dynasty as well such as the Zhou dynasty.

----------

When did the Tang dynasty start?

After the collapsed of the Sui dynasty at 617 AD, the Tang dynasty was established in 618 AD and lasted until 907. But in the year of 690-705, the second Zhou dynasty has taken over by Empress Wu Zetian.

Picture 1: The map of Tang dynasty (green shaded part)<<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Dynasty>>

----------

Reason for take-over

Picture 2: Li Yuan with his men in court
<<http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/tang/>>

After the collapsed of the Sui dynasty, the country became chaotic due to Emperor Yang's cruel governing. The rebellions among the peasants started to up rise. In the year of 617, Li Yuan, who was the chief officer, seized the capital with the army and overthrow Emperor Yang. Li Yuan announced Yung You to be the new monarch, but titled himself as the Prime Minister and King of Tang. Emperor Yung You got killed by his chancellor. Li Yuan saw this opportunity, therefore he took over the throne and claimed himself as Emperor Gao Zu. The Tang dynasty has started.

----------

Leaders of the civilization

There are 24 leaders during this civilization...more like 23 Emperors and 1 Empress. Therefore not all 24 leaders will be mentioning in here, but instead will appointed out the most important and influential.

1. Emperor Gao Zong (Li Yuan) was the first Emperor to start the Tang dynasty during the year of 618-626 AD.

2. Emperor Tai Zong (Li Shimin) was the second Emperor to reign during the Tang dynasty. He was the most successful and gain popularity among the citizens. He has formed the laws and replaced the old laws from the Sui dynasty. There were 500 codes, which all involved crimes and punishments. He reigned in the year of 627-649 AD

Picture 3: Emperor Taizong
<<http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Union/7050/tang.html>>


3. Empress Wu Hou (Wu Zethain) was the only female in Chinese history to rule the country. She has overthrown her two sons and start the Zhou dynasty again. But later she lost control and the next Emperor, Emperor Zhong Zong brought back the Tang dynasty. She ruled from 690-704 AD.

Picture 4: Empress Wu Zethain<<http://www.pocanticohills.org/womenenc/WuZetian.jpg>>


4. Emperor Wu Zong (841-846) was the most famous Emperor in the Chinese history, because he prohibited Buddhisms and people were punished severely.

5. Ai Zong (904-907) was the last Emperor of the Tang dynasty.

----------

A leader from another civilization

Emperor Uda of Japan was one of the most important monarch in spreading of Buddhisms with in Japan. Japan used to be in conflict with China, but in the year of 894 AD he opened the diplomatic relationship with China. Many Chinese monks have visited China, while Japanese monks also visited China.

Picture5: A part within the Buddhist temple that was built by Emperor Uda <<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Uda>>


----------

Accomplishments

Technology:

Most of the Technology in the Tang era was developed from the past. Zhang Heng and Ma Jun have invented the first escapement which allowed the clock to be develop. The most famous technology in this era was the wooden printing block. This invention allowed the books to be published and spread to the other people. Most books that used wooden printing block was the Buddhists texts and calenders.

Picture6: Buddhist texts priniting by the word-printing block<http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Dynasty>


Economy:

Economy in the Tang dynasty was very successful due to the increase of silk trade with another country such as the Arabs and Roman Empire. Many products were being trade such as paper-making, spices, toilet paper and sculpture.In the Tang dynasty, tea was very popular among the higher status.

Picture of Silk <<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chou_Fang_004.jpg>>

Picture of Tang horse<<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Dynasty>>


Social changes:

The Tang dynasty favored culture such as poetry, visual art and outdoor activities. In the Tang era, women were the most affected in the society. The women's rights were still being ignore. There jobs were to do sewing and house works, but women could become powerful as well by becoming Taoist priestesses and be a courtesans. Being Taoist priestesses allowed women to gain access to religious authority, while being courtesans allowed women to gain respect.

Picture of Tang women<<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chujutu.jpg>>

Government changes:

Confucianism was favored in the Tang era. To join the government, examinations must be taken in order to get select. In the previous dynasty, the examinations were only opened to the higher class people, but in the Tang dynasty the examinations were for everyone. The government also allowed people to record there own documents like a private contact for making a deal. During the first half of Tang dynasty, armies have a very important role since they were used to overthrow the monarch and seized power.

Picture of EmperorXuazong of Tang who got overthrow by military power <<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Dynasty>>


Current religion or philosophy:

In the Tang dynasty, the religion was Taoism and Confucianisms. But later in the Tang dynasty, Buddhisms started to spread. Buddhisms were the new ideology to everybody and also they part of a new culture. But later, Buddhisms were banned.

Picture of a Buddha that was built during Tang dynasty<<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Buddha_Leshan01.jpg>>

----------

Reason for fall

The Tang dynasty started to fall in the reign of Emperor Xi Zong (884-874 AD). Many rebellions started to up rise in the country, mostly from peasants. During his reign, many people suffered from starvation due to the weak economy and natural disasters. Emperor Xi Zong ignored the 'cry' of the people. Military took control, this chaos has been continue to the last emperor. Emperor Ai Zong was forced to designate his throne. That was the end of the Tang dynasty.

----------

Citations:

"Tang Dynasty." Tang Dynasty-Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 12 January 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 14 January 2008. <<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Dynasty>>


"Tang Dynasty." Tang Dynasty-Emperors. 25 May 1997. Yifan. 15 January 2008. <<http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Union/7050/tang.html>>


"Tang Dynasty, History of China" Tang Dynasty. 1998-2007. Travel China Guide website. 15 January 2008. <<http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/tang/>>

Avalanche

What is Avalanche?

An avalanche is the flow of snow down the mountain side. Avalanche is one of the biggest danger in mountains for both life and property. The speed of the avalanche depends on the quality of snow. If the snow is very wet, the speed of the avalanche will travel with great speed. The angle of the slope on which avalanche occurs is an important factor in causing variations of speed as well.

-------

(Picture 1: Avalanche falling down)

-------

What causes the Avalanche?

The causes of the avalanche is divided into 4 factors:

-Steep slopes of the mountain
-Heavyweight of snow
-The saturation of water within the snow
-Strong winds that blow on the snow

The steep of the mountain slopes are very important. The steep of the slope is the highest pressure that gravity "push" on. The slope with less than 22 degree is likely to have an avalanche. Not only the slope is being determine, but also the mass of the snow. This is common logic. Since the snow is on the mountain, the gravity will push pressure greatly on the high area. So if the snow is already heavy, the great pressure will cause the snow to fall down. The saturation of water can also affect the mass of the snow. Lastly, if the wind is very strong, it can eventually blow the snow to fall down.

(Picture 2: graph of the mountain slopes)

-------

What effect does the avalanche cause?

• death of the people
  
• destruction to many buildings and other facilities such as transportation, bridges, communication etc...
  
• Many trees are being covered or unroot by the snow
  
• Due to the destruction, a lot of money have to be use in order to fix the facilities


• Hunger can over come among the people, since the shops are close.
  
• damage of the crops

(Picture3: graph of the survival time when buried under the snow)

-------

Areas of the world that are affect:

(The pink area is where the avalanche happens)

Most areas that are affect by the avalanche are countries that have snowfall. This is the list of continents from the most mojority areas to the minority areas:

1) Asia (upper nothern hemisphere)

2) Europe

3) North America( Alaska and greenland)

4) South America (Peru)

5) Africa and Australia

-------

What can we do for prevention?

The government in countries have decided to try and come up with the prevention. First of all, there is a warning sign in different ski resorts to warn about the avalanch risk. The government has forbidden everyone to go near the mountain, when there is a warning of the avalanche that might likely to happen. The government has ordered that huge trees (many as possible) are to be planted near the mountaina, because the huge trees can prevent the snow coming down. Lastly, they built a snow net barrier, this can also prevent the snow coming down a bit.

Picture 5: the snow net

-------

LEDCs and MEDCs:

The worst avalanche that ever happen was in a LEDC country, Peru. It happened on 31 May 1970 when one of the strongest earthquake made the summit ice-cap on the lofty morth peak of Huascaran to collapse down. Thousands tonnes of rocks were displaced by the falling ice and as these crash down into the glacier, a gigantic debris flow was generated. This snow has swept the Rio Shacsha valley. This avalanche has caused 700,000 deaths. The problem for this might be because the communications were cut off. The building wasn't strong enough to stand the snow. Lastly, there wasn't any warning about the upcomin avalanche. After the avalanche, they were very desperate for money to build up the construction. It has cost them a fortune, therefore they got help from other countries. (UN)

One of the famous avalanche in MEDC country are Andermatt, Vals and Airolo, Switzerland in 1950-1951. This avalanche has caused Switzerland to pay 2.2 millino pounds to fix up all of the 650 facilities. There were a loss of livestock, the damage in agriculture, forest land, outlay in new buildings, communication and power lines. Overall deaths from these avalanches are 41 people.

Therefore, LEDCs country will be more effective than the MEDC because of money. LEDCs country are quite poor to provide better communication and protections againts the avalanche. The LEDC couldn't afford the amount that they have to pay.

Picture 6: Huascaran avalanche areas
Picture 7: Switzerland avalanche

-------

Why people live in hazard prone area?

In LEDCs country, people were too poor to move to another country. If they move they will not have any houses to stay, but in MEDc is a different story. Most of the people that got affected were tourists that going for the ski. Therefore, it is very sudden for the avalanche to happen. Most of the country in the MEDCs are wealthly country. For example: Alaska, Switzer, France etc... People didn't want to move because of that facts.

Picture 8: Ski resort

-------

Conclusion:

Avalanche might have been the least 'unconcern' to some part of the world, because the avalanche involved sonw only. But it actually has caused a huge impact to the world such as the lives of the people, damage to the properties etc... Therefore, we should consider that avalanche is one of the major disaster in the world!

Internet Sources: http://www.wikipedia.org/,

Book sources:

-FW. Lane. 1986. The Violent Earth. British Library. Italy. Pages 107-109

-Whittow,John. 1979.The anatomy of environmental hazards disasters. University of Geogia Press. Great Britain. Pages 137-140

Hey!!

Welcome to my Asian Studies tour!

Feel free to have the trip...

This is once chance in your life to learn something that you haven't know

Enjoy the ride!

Russia Propaganda Poster

What is Propaganda and What can we learn from it?

Propaganda is a specific type of message that spread the idea, doctrine or practice, which influence the people to believe. Propaganda is created by an organization and sometimes is use in the negative way. The selected information might occur to be a lied or fake sometimes. Propaganda is use in any form of public or mass-produced communication designed. We can learn the events from the past and what did the society believe in those times. Also we could learn the organization ideas and their goals.

Website: http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/10/tanner_birk.php

http://www.stentorian.com/propagan.html

All power to soviet...

The writing says "power to soviets! Peace to all nations! Land to peasants! Factories to workers! Lenin, holding the Pravda newspaper " In those time, Russia was having difficulty, because of the WWI. The peasants didn't have their own lands to work and grow their own food. As for factories, the workers could get wages from working in the factories and be able to support their family. This statement had been said in the Pravda. This poster made the people to believe that if they support Lenin. They could improve their lives and the problems of Russia. The red border represent communism. Lenin held the Pravda indicated determination and promise for the people, if Lenin got to be leader. As for the scripts layout, It was like the message from Lenin from his own speaking. The most effective about this poster is Lenin.

Website: http://posters.nce.buttobi.net/big/0347b.jpg


We will do everything...


The message says " We will do everything that the party wants. For the 12th 5-year plan. " This poster has influenced the people to support the 5 years plan that the government had created. The purpose of the 5-year plan was to develop Russia industrialization. That was why below the man, there is factories. Red color and the flag represent communism. The sickel, hummer and the star represent the workers. The man represent determination of the development of the industrial. Themost effective was about the poster was the man in working uniform.


Website: http://posters.nce.buttobi.net/big/0414.jpg

Every step of communist party...


The message says " Every step of Communist Party of Soviet Union is tied with Marx..." Before the Russia revolution, the country was governed by absolute monarchy, which the people didn't have any freedom and equality. Later Karl Marx spreaded the idea of communism, which said that the people would be equal. Most of the people started to believe and support Marx. So this poster had influenced the people to think that the Communist Party was trying to do what Marx had said and wanted the people to follow everything that the government had said. The red color of this poster represent the communism. The mable background was there to make MARX to be standout. As for Karl Marx position, His eyes were like " looking" towards the future of the country. And of course the most effective part of the poster was Marx.

Website: http://posters.nce.buttobi.net/big/0306a.jpg

I serve the country...


The caption is "I serve the country." People considered that fighting in the war was like serving their countries. In this poster, the government wanted the Russian to believe that if they worked in the factories .It was like serving the Russia. The government wanted the people to support the five-year plan, because that was what the government aimed to...industrialization. The color red represent communism. The army, the tanks, the boat, the aeroplane etc. represent people fighting in the war or serving the country. The sickle with hummer symbolize the workers. The hummer with the barrow etc. symbolize the factories or development of the country. The stars symbolize the goal or the sunshine. ( P.S If the people followed the plan, Russia would become better like the sunshine) The effective about the poster is the stars with the worker symbol and the development symbol in it, because that is what the government wanted to imphasize the people to notice.

Website: http://posters.nce.buttobi.net/big/0242b.jpg

Democracy means...

The caption is "Democracy means not only rights, it also means responsibilities, obligations, discipline." The poster tried to make the people think that Democracy is the same as Communism. The government tried to promote that Communism has rights, responsibilities, obligation and discipline. The red color of the poster represent communism. The logo symbolize the workers. The words written in white symbolize purity. The effective about this poster is the color of the poster, because the government wanted the people to support communism.

Website: http://posters.nce.buttobi.net/big/0403.jpg

The acceleration...

The caption says "The acceleration of the scientific and technologic progress is the long-time political direction of the [communist] Party " This poster tried to tell the people what the communist Party trying to do. Russia didn't have good industrial, which applied to factories, equipment and transportation. It was a good thing for the people, since it would make people lives easier and more convenient. The sickel, hummer and the star represent the workers. The color red represent communism. The "shadow" behind the worker symbol is like the future of Russia. Since the picture indicated the factories etc. The white color that support this "shadow" is like the sunshine to Russia. The picture and the words weren't straight because it tried to emphysized the future to the people. Of course the effective about this picture is the sickel,hummer, star and the "shadow". Since this is what the communist Party wanted!!!

Website: http://posters.nce.buttobi.net/big/0380.jpg


Conclusion:

Russia was in the difficult crisis or situation. The Russians wanted to have a better life. They wanted to have better jobs and they didn't want to be in poverty. They wanted money to support their families. These propaganda had influenced people to support communism, since if they did support the communism their needs would be provided. The communist party wanted people to have positive attitudes towards communism. I believed that the communist party wanted the people to support them so that their goals could be developed. But these propaganda posters provided some fake informations as well...

Overview of 1950s

The decade of confusion...

1950s were the years of good and bad time for the people. These years were the golden time for economy, since the people had made a lot of profits. But also they were the years of confliction, most conflicts had developed from women's rights, civil rights, and imperialism.Most of the people tried to avoid the conflicts.The effect of these social problems in 1950s had continue until the rest of the twentieth century.

website:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s

The important events

-Korean war
It was started from June 25, 1950 until July 27, 1953.The war hadn't officially ended, it had turned to a civil war between communist North Korea and republican South Korea.They had fought about, which government would taken over the whole Korean peninsula.Later the civil war had turn into the cold war, which was between the capitalist ( United states) and communist countries( Soviet Union ).

Korean war, which was fought between North Korea and South Korea
in 1950 until 1953. Website:http://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/history/timeline/origins/images/korea_full.jpg

-Cold war
The Cold War was begun, because of the economic struggle
between Soviet Union and the United States. They were a huge tension between these two nations, which affect the other wars such as Arms Race, the Space Race, McCarthyism, and the Korean War. Stalin's death in 1953 left an enormous impact in Eastern Europe that forced the Soviet Union to create more policies.The first country, which was ruled with a communist system was Cuba.

This is the famous image of the nuclear mushroom cloud.This bomb was drop in the cold war. Website:http://web.uccs.edu/history/student%20presentations/heidi/mushroomcloud.jpg

-Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis is also known as the Suez War or the 1956 War.They were a war which was fought in the Egytian territory.These war was fought between the United Kingdom, France and Israel, because they wanted to gain control of Egypt.( Imperialism) The United States also played a crucial role in this war.

The emergency of 1951-1954 in Suez Crisis. Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38501000/jpg/_38501943_suez300.jpg

website for the 3 important events: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s

Important people of the decade...

-Harry S. Truman
He was the Vice President of United States. He ordered his army to chase out the communist sympathizer from the government. He had ordered the atomic bomb to be use in the cold war against the Soviet.

(He was born in May 8, 1884 – died December 26, 1972)
Website:http://www.historyplace.com/specials/calendar/docs-pix/harry-truman.jpg

-Nikita Khrushchev
After the death of Stalin 1953, Khrushchev had continue the communist policies and took over the Soviet Union.He had changed some of the rules and created the new one. Most of the people hadn't agree with the communist system, which had cause 20 million people to be killed.

He was born in April 17, 1894–died :September 11, 1971. Website:http://countrystudies.us/russia/Khrushchev.jpg

-Fidel Castro
He was the first president ,that ruled Cuba under the communist system,after the cold war.Cuba was the first country, which was rule under the communist system.

He was born in August,13 1926. Website:http://www.abc-latina.com/personnalites/images/fidel_castro.jpg

Website for these 3 important people:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro( For Castro),http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev( For Kruschev) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman( For President Truman)

Important Technological Improvement of the decade:

-Spunik I

Sputnik 1 ( Russia) was the first artificial satellite to be put into orbit, on October 4, 1957. It was created during the Cold war.The satellite weighed about 83 kg. It had two radio transmitters (20 and 40 MHz) and is believed to have orbited Earth at a height of about 250 km.

Spunik I satellite, which was created during the Cold war. Website:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Sputnik1.png

-Computers

The mass production of the computer began in June 14, 1951 .It was built by the univac( Universal Automatic Computer). The development of the computer had created a huge problem for the company, but later on they decided to develop it.

The world first computer.Website:http://www.digicamhistory.com/UNIVAC%20first.jpg

Website for the technologies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1( For the Sputnik I), http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/mauchly/jwm11.html( For the computer)

3 Famous works of the 1950s:

-An important Scientific discoveries of 1950s

Polio vaccines was invented by Jonas Salk.It was tested in 1952 ,and was used in April 12, 1955. It was used to kill the Virus. In those time, they have been a few people, who got infected. Some of the people got the virus from the unhygienic needles.The polio wasn't as good as today in 1950s.

The stamp that showed the polio vaccine in 1950s. Website:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Stamp-ctc-polio-vaccine.jpg

Website for the polio vaccine information:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio_vaccine

-Famous Piece of Art

It is kind of hard in this period of time to find a famous piece of art, since there are a lot of "physical" events going on. It might not be that Famous,but it is still an art. This painting was painted by Ismail. This painting was about palestine people.It was a tradgic time for Palestine people.Since they have to move to diffirent camps. He was also the victim that was in that camp.He loved to sketch a view of Palestine.

This is the picture about the life that people suffer in Palestine.It didn't tell the finish date of this picture. But it stated that it was done during 1950-1959.This is the oil painting. Website:http://www.shammout.com/gifs/oil-ismail/22big.gif

Website for the information of Ismail's painting:http://www.shammout.com/oil-ism.htm

-A Popular Consumer product of 1950s

A famous product was from the company that called Aladdin.They had created many products before 1950s.The famous product of the Aladdin company in 1950s was school lunch kits in 1953. It had the pictures of trains and other technology on. It was quite popular in USA.

This is the sample of Lunch kits in 1953. It wa created in 1953. Website for this picture:http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/images/d8844-5.jpg

Website for the information about the Lunch kits:http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d8844.htm

Overall , I think that the Korean war was important from the three events, because it was the Korean war that linked to the other war at first.That's why the Cold war occured. I think that, Khrushchev was the most important people out of the three people, because he had related to the other war, and other important people. Without him continued the communist, the cold war would never occured and they will not be an Communist system in Cuba. The Spunik first had given the idea to the rest of the world about radio transmission. Without the polio vaccine discoveries, we would be suffer from the dangerous virus that killed people. I have named the 1950s, the confusion period, because the good events, like economy and discoveries, had taken occur, but at the same time it was these events that lead to war!!!

I hope that you have learned something from this information! Please review! Don't be afraid! And Thank you for taken your time on my blog

Welcome to my blog

I hope you enjoy it