The great wall of china mini dbq

1. The Great Wall of ancient China:
Did the Benefits outweigh the costs?
DBQ

2. BackGround Essay Questions

3. BackGround Essay Questions
1. What were the first two important wall-building
dynasties?
The Qin and the Han

4. BackGround Essay Questions
2. How many years did each of these dynasties last?
The Qin lasted 15 years, from 221 to 206 BCE.
The Han last about 400 years.

5. BackGround Essay Questions
3. Was there one Great Wall of China? Explain
There was not one continuous Great Wall. Different
dynasties built different sections over a period of
time...hundreds and hundreds of years.

6. BackGround Essay Questions
4. What is the connection between the wall and the
Mongols?
The Mongols lived north of China and the wall was
built to keep the Mongols out of China.

7. BackGround Essay Questions
5. What was the primary building ingredient of a
hang’t’u wall section?
Layers of pounded, or tampered, dirt

8. BackGround Essay Questions
Define: Emperor Qin
China’s first ruler, also the name of his dynasty or
administration.

9. BackGround Essay Questions
Define: terra cotta army
an army of 8,000 larger-than-life figures made from
ceramic clay that were buried by Emperor Qin when
he died.
These figures were discovered in 1974 by Chinese
farmers. There were also terra-cotta chariots and
horses. Many of these figures have yet to be
excavated.

10. BackGround Essay Questions
Define: Han Dynasty
A family that ruled for more than 400 years during
China’s “Golden Age”.

11. BackGround Essay Questions
Define: Xiongnu
The nomadic people who lived across China’s
norther border. They were probably the Mongols.

12. BackGround Essay Questions
Define: hang-t’u
A process of making dirt walls. “Hang” means
pounded, “t’u” means earth.

13. Understanding the Question &
Pre-Bucketing

14. Understanding the question & Pre-
Bucketing
1. What is the analytical question asked by this Mini-
Q?
The Great Wall of China: Did the Benefits Outweigh
the Costs?

15. Understanding the question & Pre-
Bucketing
2. What terms in the question need to be defined?
Terms will Vary....

16. Understanding the question & Pre-
Bucketing
3. Rewrite the question in your own words.
The Great Wall of Qin and Han China: Were the pros
greater than the cons?

17. Pre-Bucketing

18. Reason #1
Worth/Not Worth the Costs
Reason #2
Worth/Not Worth the Costs
Reason #3
Worth/Not Worth the Costs

19. Document A

20. Document A
1. Examine the map and list three bodies of water,
two deserts and three major trading centers.
Water: Yellow River, East and South China Seas
Deserts: Gobi, Taklimaken
Trading Centers: Dunhuang, Turpan, Chang’an

21. Document A
2. Many Chinese merchants traveled only as far as
Dunhuang on the Silk Road. Can you give two
reasons why?
The wall, and its protection, ended.
The Taklimakan Desert began

22. Document A
3. The information box says that the Han added
4,000 miles of wall. Refer to the mileage scale. How
can this be true?
A map of this large scale does not show all the twists
and turns made by the wall.

23. Document A
4. Judging from the map, how might China have
benefited from building the Great Wall?
The map shows that defense was needed from the
north to protect them from the Xiongnu (Mongolia)
The map also indicates that the wall was used to
protect the development of trade on the western edge
of China along the Silk Road. This protection made
China become wealthier.

24. Document A
5. Is there anything on the map that indicates there
may have been some costs involved in building the
wall?
The wall’s size shows that it would take great cost
(money & death) to keep it going.
The Watch towers indicate that China was constantly
under attack.

25. Document B

26. Document B
1. The Chinese notion of “barbarian” was anyone
who wasn’t Chinese. What characteristics of the
Xiongnu made them seem barbarian to Chao Cuo?
Chao Cuo said that the Xiongnu are nomads and
they aren’t farmers like the Chinese so therefore
they are more likely to attack China. They have a
suspicious diet and they have a wild look about
them. They also appear dangerous and are likely
to invade China.

27. Document B
2. What does Chao recommend to keep the
Xiongnu from invading?
Chao is recommending that military be set up to
protect China from the Xiongnu.
Also to move immigrant families to walled cities
along the frontiers of China.

28. Document B
3. What do you think would be more effective in
discouraging a Xiongnu invasion, wall or a large
Chinese population along the border? Explain your
answer.
Opinion: It is quite possible that a large
population may take the sides of the Xiongnu
and get along better than they do with the
Chinese. So constructing a wall with soldiers
protecting it would be more effective because
the soldiers have a job to do and that is to
protect the wall.

29. Document B
4. What benefits are suggested by the document?
If the immigrants were going to grow food for
themselves as well as the soldiers, they needed
protection from intruders. This wall offered
them protection and allowed the farmers to
grow the crops that China needed to survive.

30. Document B
5. What costs are suggested by the document?
The concept of building a wall was good in
theory, but could it really keep invaders out that
wanted entrance in China. These invaders could
go to a section that wasn’t protected by a wall. It
seems like this wall took a lot of time and money
as well as soldiers to keep it going.

31. Document C

32. Document C
1. According to the chart, who was giving what to
whom?
The Hans were giving silk to the Xiongnu, who
were the same people that the wall was trying to
protect China from entering.

33. Document C
2. Between 51 BCE and 1 BCE, what happened to
the amount of silk that was given?
The amount of silk given by the Han to the
Xiongnu Mongols greatly increased. The amount
of silk floss increased five times and the number
of silk bales more than tripled.

34. Document C
3. Judging from both the chart and the photo, how
can you use this document to argue that building
the Great Wall was worth the cost?
Even though the wall doesn’t look like it could
have kept the Xiongnu out of China, it was
probably used as just a border of where China’s
property began. The offering of silk by the Han
to the Xiongnu was a sign that they could all get
along without warfare.

35. Document C
4. Judging from both the chart and the photo, how
can you use the document to argue that building
the Great Wall was not worth the cost?
The first question is why build a wall if you are
going to give the enemy a tribute anyway? The Han
giving the Xiongnu silk was an indication that this
GREAT WALL was not working and the invaders
were able to get into China anyway. The Xiongnu
were probably putting pressure on the Han
throughout the years so that is probably why the
amount of silk tribute increased over the years.

36. Document D

37. Document D
1. The most important export from Han China was
silk. According to the chart, what trade items
might the Han have received in return?
The Han probably got Ermine fur, glassware
from Rome, rhinoceros horn, grapes, melons.

38. Document D
2. How far did the Han emperor Wu Di extend the
wall, and why?
Wu Di extended the wall 300 miles to the west,
and then added a chain of watch towers. Wu Di
knew that these watchtowers would protect the
traders/caravans along the Silk Road which
would only help China become wealthier.

39. Document D
3. How would you describe Wu Di’s attitude about
China’s relationship with the rest of the world?
Wu Di’s decision to protect traders along the Silk
Road indicates that he was very open to new
ideas and not fearful of new people coming into
his empire. He welcomed new ideas like
Buddhism.

40. Document D
4. How can you use this document to show the
benefits of building the Great Wall of China?
This wall allowed the traders/merchants to
enter China through the wall’s protection that
was offered to them while traveling along the
Silk Road. China’s economy benefited from the
exchange of goods as well as new ideas.

41. Document D
5. How can you use this document to argue that
building the Great Wall was not worth the cost?
Looking at the items that was coming into China
it doesn’t seem like these would help all of the
people in China. It would probably only help
those that were rich and not the common people.
Even the ideas like Buddhism or Persian
irrigation techniques would take a while to help
the common people in China.

42. Document E

43. Document E
1. Name two categories of people who worked on
the Great Wall.
Soldiers and peasants

44. Document E
2. According to the document, what evidence is
there that conditions were harsh for Qin soldiers
sent to the wall?
300,000 soldiers were ordered to build and
guard the wall until it was complete. Although
an exact number of deaths is unknown, many
soldiers died from hunger, sickness, and extreme
heat or cold.
Soldiers had to leave their families and
loneliness and boredom were a problem.

45. Document E
3. According to the document, what difficulties
were faced by Han soldiers sent to the wall?
The Han soldiers were also ordered to work on
the wall as well as protect it.
The Han soldiers also had heavy fighting with
the Xiongnu during most of the 2nd century
BCE. In fact, it was reported that 80% of Han
casualties were reported in one battle in 104
BCE.

46. Document E
4. How could you use this document to argue that
building the Great Wall was worth the cost?
Even though there were some casualties building the
Great Wall, there isn’t any evidence in this document that
explains the exact amount of loss that was lost due to
building and/or protecting the Great Wall. Even though it
wasn’t in this document, you do know that the Great Wall
protected trade along the Silk Road which brought great
advantages to China.

47. Document E
5. How could you use this document to argue that
building the Great Wall was not worth the cost?
The cost of human life in terms of suffering and lives lost
was too great. Families were separated and
peasants/soldiers at the Great Wall suffered sickness,
death and fighting the Xiongnu was the cost. However,
nothing was truly gained because as Document C states,
the Xiongnu still had to be bought off with silk.

48. Document F

49. Document F
1. What would cause Han cavalry soldiers to die
north of wall?
When the Xiongnu would try to enter the
Chinese settlements along the wall, the Han
soldiers would chase them out of China into the
northern sections that were not protected by the
wall. These pursuits or charges by the Chinese
soldiers would end in death because they were
no longer protected by the Great Wall.

50. Document F
2. What might explain why the rice in China is not
being harvested?
Many peasants who often worked the rice
plantations were either forced to join the army
or were killed. There weren’t enough peasants to
plant and/or harvest the rice which led to
starvation in China.

51. Document F
3. If the rices is not harvested, who is likely to go
hungry?
The soldiers faced starvation as well as probably the
peasants. Since there was little rice, hunger probably was
also felt inland because there wasn’t a surplus of rice.

52. Document F
4. Explain the line, “We sally forth at dawn, but do
not return at dusk.”
The soldiers go about their day in the morning hours, but
when they fight against the Xiongnu, many of the soldiers
die in battle and do not return when the sun sets.

53. Document F
5. How can you use this poem to argue that the
Great Wall was not worth the cost?
The loss of life with the soldiers protecting the Great Wall
that couldn’t even keep out the Mongols was sad. Also,
that the rest of China’s population suffered from
starvation because not enough of the rice was produced
because many of the peasants had to serve in the military
in order to protect the Great Wall.

54. Document Breakdown
Document A: Background of Qin & Han
Documents B & C: Security
Document D: Trade
Documents E & F: Human Death (Human Cost)