Building the
Great Wall of China

Introduction:
This is a lesson to be used to supplement or enhance a unit on China. Students, through research, will broaden their knowledge about the various dynasties of China. It will provide supplementary information for survey courses that do not do an in-depth study of ancient China. It will also provide background information for future study of China if the course and text are done chronologically rather than by culture.

It is designed to be used with students in grades 7-10. It will cover the people, achievements, and events of each of the major Chinese dynasties. The teacher does not have to have any specialized knowledge of the development of the nation of China to teach this lesson. The lesson should take 4 to 5 lesson periods based on a 45-minute period. Students should do some of the work on their own time, such as designing their bricks.

The lesson is designed to be taught either at the beginning of the study of ancient China or the conclusion of the Chinese dynasties before modern-day China begins. If it is taught after the dynastic reigns, it should be used as enhancement material.

Standards:

Standards in Historical Thinking:

These can all be found at www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/standards

Standard 3: Analyze and interpret

B. Consider multiple perspectives of various peoples in the past by demonstrating their differing beliefs, motives, interests

Standard 4 Students conducts historical research

b. Obtain historical data from a variety of sources

Standard 5: Historical Issues: Analysis and decision making

A. Identify issues and problems in the past
B. Identify relevant historical antecedents

World History Standards:

Standard 2: Early civilization and the emergence of pastoral people

2A. The student understands how civilization emerged in northern China in the 2nd millennium BCE

National Geograpy Standards 1994 Published by Geography Education Standards Project:

4. The meaning and significance of place and region
4.3 How relationships between humans and the physical environment lead to the formation of places and to a sense of personal and community identity
6. How culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions
9. The characteristics, distribution and migration of human populations on earth's surface

Objectives:

1. Students will become familiar with Chinese names and the pronunciation of same
2. Students will investigate the leaders of the various dynasties that ruled the Chinese territories to
    understand how modern day china came to be.
3. Students will gather information on events in the long history of China's development.
4. Students will be able to accumulate, assemble and depict data to make a cohesive history
   of a country consisting of various ethnic groups
5. Students will learn to prioritize information and report it in concise terms.
6. Students will demonstrate a new way of presenting a time line of a country's history.
7. Students will be able to analyze how minority groups and the majority race developed
    from the different groups that ruled China
8. Students will investigate how the culture of China evolved and changed
    from its very early beginnings to the 20th century.

Materials Needed:

Blackboard, chalk, and 9 different colors of construction paper. (You should have enough construction paper or colored paper to make a minimum of 4 bricks ( 4"x 9" ) per person. If you have a small class you will want to give each student more bricks. Even in a large class, do not limit the amount of information to be gathered. Each student should find a minimum of four items, markers, large roll of newsprint, glue or tape to attach bricks to new print. I used 18 feet of newsprint paper. This provided 2 feet of vertical space for each dynasty. Newsprint comes in different widths. The larger the class, the wider you should have the newsprint. Not all dynasties will be the same height, but I am sure that the Great Wall is not even throughout. Whatever your school allows you to use to attach items to the wall. You will attach the newsprint to the wall.

Web sites for Ancient Chinese History:

www.cohums.ohio-state.edu/deall/jin.3/c231/handouts/h8.htm
www.crystalinks.com/china.html
www.usc.edu/isd/locations/ssh/eastasian/toqing.htm
www.chaos.umd.edu/history/toc.html
www.asterius.com/china/
www.central.k12.ca.us.akers/china.webquest.html
www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/ChinaHistory/CHIN.HTM
emuseum.mnsu.edu/prehistory/china/early_imperial_china/han.html
www.central.k12.ca.us/akers/dynasty.html
campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/China/Ming.html
www.crystalinks.com/chinadynasties.html

Books:

Cotterell, Arthur. Ancient China. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1994
Demi, Hitz. Chingis Khan. Henry Hold and Company, New York, 1991
Lazo, Caroline. The Terra Cotta Army. New Discovery Books, New York, 1993
Major, John S. The Silk Route: 7000 Miles of History. Harper Collins, 1995
Mc Lenigham, Valjean. Enchantment of the World: China, A History. Children's Press, Chicago, 1949
Nancarrow, Peter. Early China and the Wall. Cambridge University Press, Lever Pub., Co., Minneapolis, 1980
Williams, Brian. Ancient China. Viking Press, New York, 1996
Blunden, Caroline, & Elvin, Mark. Cultural Atlas of Facts Co., 1983.n File, Inc. N. Y., 1983
Debaine-Frankfort, Corinne. The Search for Ancient China. Discoveries, Harry W. Abrams, Inc. N. Y.. 1998
China's Buried Kingdoms, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA, 1993
Lister, R. P., Genghis Khan, Stein & Day, N. Y., 1969
Rossabi, Morris. Khubilai Khan, His Life & Times. U. of California Press, Berkeley, 1988.
Fairbanks, John King. China, A New History. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1992
Hibbert, Christopher. The Emperors of China. Treee Communications, Inc., Stonehenge Press, Inc. 1981
Huang, Ray. China, a Macro History. M. E. Sharpe, Inc., N. Y., 1988
Huntington, Madge. A Traveller's Guide to Chinese History, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1986
The Mongol Conquest: Timeframe A.D. 1200-1300, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA., 1989
Rodzinski, Witold. The Walled Kingdom, A History of China from Antiquity to the Present. The Free Press, N. Y., 1984
Wang, Shou Chi, China and Her Great Men, Chinese Association for the Advancement of Science, Taiwan, 1960
Yong, Yap and Arthur Colterell, The Early Civilization of China. G.P. Putnam & Sons, N. Y., 1975
Cass, Victoria, Dangerous Women: Warriors, Grannies and Geishas of the Ming Rowman & Littlefield Pub., London, 1999

Teacher Preparation:

Check the school library or have the librarian pull all the reference books on China so they are available for student use. Also check the local library for books on China. See bibliography for possible books to look for in the library.

The teacher needs to have a list and the dates of the dynasties to present to the students.

As the teacher is gathering library material on China, do a quick skimming of sections and marking them for students to save time when the students are gathering material, There are lots of web sites that have information on the dynasties of China for added background material. The teacher will need to have the list of the dynasties. *See bottom of lesson plan for list.
The teacher should have all of the physical things (paper, markers, etc.) ready the first day.

Student Handout:

The list of objectives should be typed for the student. These along with the following would make up a student packet to be handed out at the beginning of the lesson. The list of dynasties, given above, a time line of when activity needs to be accomplished, bibliography of available books, web sites, copy of the grading rubric, and a list of items the teacher wants the student to bring to class: e.g. markers, glue sticks, ruler, crayons, highlighters.

Anticipatory Set:

Ask the students what they know about China. List all of their answers on the board. Do not edit answers. They should include people, places, events, language and physical aspects of the country.

Process:

Divide the class into nine groups of two to three people each. The size of the class will dictate the size of the groups. Larger classes may have more than three. Teacher decides on how the groups are formed. Each group will choose one of the dynasties to research.

Get together within the group and decide what type of media each person will use.

Do the research. Each group needs to have a minimum of three (3) different sources. (Previous web sites were listed. Google is an excellent search engine for finding information). Search entering either the individual dynasty name or "Ancient China Dynasty" for best results). If they are using printed material from the library, they need to take notes. Information that is downloaded those fits the categories they need to highlight information pertinent to the areas of research.

Each student needs to find information in five different categories. This information needs to be different for each student. Each student will receive five bricks of the same color on which to write their information. They can decorate their bricks anyway they want. If you have a creative class, just give them pieces of construction paper and let them design their own rocks to use to build the wall.

Categories:

A: Ruler who had a significant impact in the history of China
B: Significant contribution to society. This can be in the area of fine arts, politics, invention, and literature. Etc.
C: Important Event during the dynasty
D: Important Person other than the ruler

Each group needs to have a brick telling about the significance of the ethnic group that ruled or evolved during their dynasty. (This is the fifth brick)

Once they have all of the information assembled, they can choose a color for their bricks. Using a narrow marker, and their best penmanship, they are to write no more than 2 sentences telling about what or whom they have chosen and the importance of their choice. In other words, they need to incorporate as much information as possible into those two sentences. This is testing their skill at summarizing. Suggestion: Have the students practice their sentences on scrap paper first, edit and then put on the colored paper. This could be part of a homework assignment. They should check also for spelling and grammar.

Once they have their brick done, they need to glue them to the newsprint to form their wall. At the top of their section they need to write the name of their dynasty and the years it lasted.

The following is a three-part assessment that can be used either in its totality or any of its separate parts.

1. The first part the teacher is the sole assessor of the quality of work done by the students.
2. The second past is student driven assessment of their peers. They are to choose information
    that their fellow students considered important. The students in making their assessment decide
    whether or not they consider it new and important.
3. The third part involves both students and teachers. If the students can find all of the answers located
    on the bricks, the students have covered the five areas requested. The teacher then assesses the
    student's ability to find the requested information.

Assessment:

Grading Rubric for each student

10 points for each brick that was completed

Ruler ________
Event ________
Contribution ________
Ethnic group ________
Famous person ________

10 Points for completeness and conciseness of information. ________

8 points if information is not complete or too wordy ________

5 points for spelling and grammar ________

4 Points if words are misspelled and evidence of poor grammar ________

5 points for neatness and creativity ________

4 Points for lack of neatness or creativity _______

10 Points for oral presentation _______

TOTAL (80) _________

The second assessment will involve written work by the students. They need to take notes during the oral presentation of the information. Out of the information given they need to list 4 new facts that they learned about China.

The third part of the assessment will be a scavenger hunt among the Great Wall. Using the bricks on the Great Wall the students should be able to find the information to the following questions.

1. What dynasty's ethnic group is the major ethnic group in China today? _______________ (Han)

2. What dynasty gave China its name?__________________ (ch'in)

3. What dynasty was the first to rule all of what is known today as China?___________ (Yuan)

4. What was the ethnic group who ruled during that dynasty? ____________ (Mongols)

5. It was the Golden Age of literature and art. Block printing was invented during this dynasty __________________ (Tang)

6. The Uighur empire was defeated during this dynasty.______________ (Tang)

7. The first Europeans traveled to China during this dynasty ___________________ (Yuan)

8. What ethnic group tried to rid China of Western influence during the Opium War? ____________________ (Manchus)

9. During what dynasty did the Opium Wars take place? ________________ (Qing)

10. This dynasty established its rule around the eastern parts of the Yellow River.____________ (Shang)

11. The Tubo are known today as what nationality? _______________ (Tibetans)

12-14 These three writing during the Zhou Period form a set of important Chinese beliefs and foundation of the Chinese Civilization
________________________________________________________ _________________________________
(Book of Songs, Book of Changes, Book of Documents)

15. Using a Mandate from Heaven this dynasty overthrew the Shang Dynasty___________ (Zhou)

16. During the Ming Dynasty the Chinese did not like this ethnic ruling group because they spoke a different language, worn a different clothing and had bad manners.____________ (Mongols)

17. & 18. This Mongol leader ___________________was the grandson on Genghis Khan and established the first alien dynasty ____________to rule all of China. (Kublai Khan, Yuan)

19. This dynasty left a legacy of records on "oracle bones". ____________________ (Shang)

20. He was the last of the Mongolian rulers of the Yuan Dynasty __________________ (Kublai Khan)

21. This Chinese philosopher lived during the Zhou Dynasty and his writing established the foundation for Chinese familial and societal behavior. ___________________ (Confucius)

22. The Opium Wars occurred during this dynasty. ________________ (Qing)

23. During this dynasty the Chinese, due to advances in their technology, had large trading cargo ships plying the ocean as far west as Sri Lanka. ______________ (Ming)

24. This man was the founder of the Mongolia Empire and became known for his harshness. _______________ (Genghis Khan)

25. This Chinese philosophy means "Way" and it had origins in the 6th century BC China. ___________________________ (Daoism)

26. This dynasty is often referred to as the Chinese Renaissance because it was a rebirth of Chinese culture and thought. _________________ (Song)

Extended Activities:

Language Arts Classes

A couple of ideas for extending the study of China and ethnic Chinese literature would be any of the following:

Literature:

Buck, Pearl, The Good Earth
Buck, Pearl, China Sky

Falk Tales from the Web:

www.pitt.edu/~dash/china.html. This hyperlink has several ethnic folktales. There are many more that can be found on the Internet. Go to the search engine www.Google,com and enter "Chinese folktales".

Writing:

Using the information the students obtained while researching the dynasties the student would keep a week-long diary of what it would be like to live during that time period. Reference should be made to the ethnic group that is ruling and whether they are part of that group or another group. If they are a minority, they could write about what might have happened to minority groups, their reaction to the ruling family. Reference should also be made to some important event that occurs. They need to write about the members of their family, occupation of father, where they live, living conditions of the time and a celebration that they have.

Another writing experience would be, after reading several of the ethnic folk tales, to compare and contrast them with American and European folktales they have read such as Cinderella, Hanzel and Gretal, King Midas, etc.

FACS or Live Skills Class:

Many junior high or middle schools have a FACS or life skills class in which the students are taught the fundamentals of cooking, sewing along with other skills they will need to make it in the real world and to help they make it through high school. High schools offer a FACS class in which cooking is taught.

A unit on Chinese cooking could be developed. There are many ethnic Chinese dishes that can easily be prepared. Hunan, Cantonese are just two that the student may already be familiar with. Chop Suey may be the only dish students have seen in the lunch line at school.

Another activity that could be done as a field trip or a homework assignment would be to visit the local grocery store or if the community has a Chinese grocery story, to find canned items that are imported from China. This could also be part of the social studies trade assignment and be included in the items they find in their homes from China..

Cookbook/Websites

Chinese Cooking Class Cookbook, editors of Consumer Guide, Published by Beekman House of New York.

The following hyperlink will provide some Chinese recipes members.tripod.com/~pnieves/

Social Studies:

An enrichment assignment for extra credit or just as an assignment would be the following:

The U.S. has trades with China since it declared its independence from England. During the age of the clipper ships, trade flourished with China and companies would race to see how many days they could shorten their trips. Today, China has "Most favored Nations" trade status with the U. S.

The student should investigate how many items they can find in their home are from China. Items to be checked would include electronics, clothing, knick-knacks, furniture, bedding and towels, automotive, food , toys, etc. Click on the following hyperlink for examples of trade between the U. S. and China. www.census.gov/foreign-trade/sitc1/1999/c5700.html