Ch'in Dynasty Architecture
The Great Wall of China
The emperors of the very short Ch'in Dynasty, about 200 BC, united China under their rule. To show how powerful they were, the Ch'in emperors ordered many roads and irrigation canals all over their empire.
To protect China from invasions from Central Asia, the Ch'in emperors also built the Great Wall of China. Probably local kings had already built many small pieces of the wall in places that needed extra defences, so the Ch'in emperor could show that he had united the empire by building more walls to tie all these short walls together.
Lishan Mausoleum
The Ch'in emperors also built (or began to build) a big palace for themselves, the Epang Palace, and a big tomb, the Lishan Mausoleum. The Epang Palace is supposed to have been very big, and laid out a lot like the later Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty. But there are hardly any traces of it left anymore, if it was ever built at all. The Lishan Mausoleum is like the pyramids of Egypt, a big hollow hill. Inside the hill, the emperor had hundreds of clay statues buried, to be his soldiers and his slaves in the afterlife.
Ch'in Dynasty History
Ch'in Dynasty Art
Han Dynasty architecture
Main Chinese Architecture page
Main China page
To find out more about ancient Chinese architecture, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, by Jessica Rawson and others (1996). Rawson is a curator at the British Museum, and she uses the collection of the British Museum to illustrate this book. Library Journal calls it "easily the best introductory overview of Chinese art to appear in years".
Art in China (Oxford History of Art Series), by Craig Clunas (1997). Not specifically for kids, but a good introduction to the spirit of Chinese art. Warning: this one is not arranged in chronological order. Instead, it has chapters on sculpture, calligraphy, and so on.
