Sui Dynasty

The Sui Dynasty of China began in 581 AD and ended in 618 AD, existing for only less than 40 years. After the collapse of Han Dynasty in 220 AD, Sui Dynasty later became well-known for unifying China back together once more time. Emperor Wen or Yang Jian originated the Sui Dynasty and its capital city is at Chang'an. During this dynasty, there were many achievements and that's how Sui Dynasty became one of the Chinese most important dynasties.(www.archaeology.about.com) Not only this, Buddhism were also first to be supported by the Sui's rulers. (Microsoft Encarta 2007) With a great succeed on the economic, with great reforms and a overwhelming culture, some historians often compare the Sui Dynasty with the Qin Dynasty. (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/)

In 577 AD, the Northern Zhou Dynasty defeated the Northern Qi Dynasty. Knowing that they have a superb advantage in their hand, they face south and conquer their enemies. Wendi 's daughter later became the Empress Dowager of Northern Zhou, along with her stepson as the new emperor. During that time, there was a mutiny in the eastern provinces. Wendi had fifty-nine princes and the Zhou royal family killed, took power, regain his Han surname of Yang and claimed himself to be the emperor. His main focuses was to strengthen the empire and reunify China. He successfully conquered other two kingdoms; Ch'in and Han(http://www.chinaknowledge.de/%20History/Tang/sui-event.html)

In order to make himself more popular, he tried to make the government better than before in the course of the Three kingdoms. He also instructed the poor people outside of the city to pay less taxes than in the past. Men were also sent by him to all the provinces to calculate how much taxes that province ought to pay. Not only this, he also gave every man specific amount of land, and if a man reaches his 60, he would need to return the land, and then he wouldn't need to pay anymore taxes. When Wendi picks his government officials, he would use Han Dynasty way of picking to pick out the smartest and best educated men only. (http://www.chinaknowledge.de/)


During the Sui Dynasty, to the far west of China, there is one leader from a civilization with different culture, life style and appearance. His name is Heraclius (575 - February 11, 641) was a Byzantine Emperor of Armenian descent, who ruled the Roman Empire from October 5, 610 to February 11, 641. (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/)


There were many accomplishments in the Sui Dynasty, which had made Sui one of China's most important dynasties. In the category of technology and inventions, there were astronomy, mathematic, agirculture, medicine, geographical reports, architecture, ceramics, and invention of book printing. In the field of astronomy, they were able to calculate the paths of the sun, the moon, the ecliptic and the movement of different constellations. In the field of mathematic, Wang Xitong wrote a book called Oigu Suanjing, in which he explains the solution of third degree equations. In the field of agriculture, there were new technologies like a curved shaft ploughing, cultivating techniques, tea bushes, a sophisticated irrigation system, the Great Canal, which allows ship to travel form north to south, and many other books written about agriculture. In the field of medicine, there were improvement in dentistry, discovery of the blood circuit and the digestion system.The philosophy and anthology of Tang poetry was also a great accomplishment There were improvements in book printing and mapping. In architecture, there are improvements in preservation of wood material buildings and structure, and also a great improvement in ceramics. . (www.chinaknowledge.de)

During the Sui, the Chinese economy grew impressively. One of the main reason is because of misuse of the area south of the Yangtze River. A lot of huge and serious development had began there, causing millions of people from the north to settled here. In 587, there were competitions to see who would get to go work for the government. Men were tested on Confucian classics called the Xiucai (Examination System). During that time, land was the most important resource of wealth, so the Sui controls access to the land in order to decrease the space between the poor and the rich. (Microsoft Student Encarta 2007)


Among the nomadic peoples, men and women are traditionally more equal. Carpets, jewelries, and glass from Persia are the things that wealthy Chinese pay high prices for. The northern part and southern part are like two regions with a lot of difference. In order to unify the two regions together, the Sui emperors supported Buddhism. When China have finally been unified, China most important religion has become Buddhism. The Sui emperors also contributes in building or repairing places of worship, temples and giving lands. (Microsoft Encarta 2007)

Wendi died at an early age, he wasn't that old at that time and he might have been kill my his own son, Yang Ti. Yang Ti wanted to take his father's position and be the emperor himself, and he did become the new emperor of Sui. Because of his obsession of becoming a great emperor, he had set many important projects. (www.chinaknowledge.de) One of his best project was the Grand Canal project, connecting the Yangtze Rivers, Huai and Yellow River together. It resulted of a more convenient transportation from northern to southern China. One of his worst project was that he try to take control over Korean by attacking them. He recruited an army of over a million men, but they failed to defeat their enemy, and resulting of themselves running away. Yang Ti decisions and failure had made the army generals very angry and they killed Yang Ti. And this is how the Sui Dynasty ended, with the death of emperor Yang Ti by his own people's hands. (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/)

Bibliography

PICTURES

1. Heraclius. Wikipedia. 12 Jan 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Heraclius-coin.jpg>.
2. Microsoft Student Encarta. CD-ROM.2007 ed.
3. Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/1xarsui1.htm>.
4. Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sui_Dynasty>.
5. Microsoft Student Encarta. CD-ROM.2007 ed.
6. 12 Jan 2008 <http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/e/e2/220px-Mahayanabuddha.jpg>

TEXT

1.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/sui.html>.

2.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/sui/>.

3.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/dynasty/sui.html>.

4.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.yutopian.com/history/sui.html>.

5.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Tang/sui.html>.

6.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/imperial2.html>.

7.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.sacu.org/dynsui.html>.

8.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_22794.htm>.

9. Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sui_Dynasty>.

0.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=13969&coll_package=26209 >.

A Case Study: Afghanistan Earthquake, 1998

Right now, plate tectonic is probably moving beneath you. Each and every day there‘s movements of plate tectonics within the Earth, but the size of the movements are so small that we couldn’t feel it. Thousand of calm Earth movements occur each year, but once in a while, there is going to be this one movement that would create a significant earthquake resulting of deaths, damages to the environment and property. Plate tectonics can move away from each other, towards each other and sliding past each other. These movements are caused by the convection currents in the Earth’s mantle. (The New Wider World)


"ARC Science Plate Tectonics and Paleo Animation"

"Funny cartoon"

Afghanistan is a country in the middle-east, which has a size similar to Texas. Its position lies on a collision plate boundary where the Iranian and Eurasian Plates encounter. Both the Iranian and Eurasian Plates contain continental crust, resulting of the crust unable to be sink or destroy. So this factor has caused the rocks between the two plates to force up. The collision has been ongoing for fifty million years and it has form high mountains like the Hindu Kush which has a height above 7600 m. Within this area, a lot of earthquakes has happen, and often are destructive earthquakes. (Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Afghanistan: Earthquake, The New Wider World)

"Causes of Earthquakes in Afghanistan"

It is not surprising that Afghanistan has experienced many earthquakes, but the two earthquakes that hit Afghanistan in the same year in 1998 were huge and devastating. The two earthquakes occurred in the same region, at the foothills of the Hindu Kush Mountain. Afghanistan was already overwhelmed by civil war, and now they have to face two huge earthquakes. It was a dark period for Afghanistan. (Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Afghanistan: Earthquake)

"Epicentre of the Two Earthquakes"

On February 4, 1998, at local time 19:37 on Wednesday, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 measured by the Richter scale hit the province of Takhar, in the city of Rustaq (250 km north of the capital Kabul). The area was so remote, and communications and transportations were so defective that it took three days for the news to get to Kabul. On February 7, the news of the earthquake finally reached Kabul. At least 2,323 people were killed, 818 injured, 8,094 houses destroyed and 6,725 livestock were killed. Homes were mainly destroyed by the result of the landslides. They were many strong aftershocks and one of them occurred on February 8. (Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Afghanistan: Earthquake, Afghanistan: Earthquake - OCHA-04: 10-Feb-98, USGS Earthquake Information for 1998 )


Just four months later, on May 30, 1998, daytime, at 10:52 local time, another earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 measured by the Richter scale hit the same location as the February 4 earthquake. Unfortunately, this earthquake has caused more than 4,000 deaths, twice as much as the earthquake before. There are many thousands of injuries and people who are homeless, and over 30 villages were destroyed completely and another 70 were severely damaged. This earthquake is said to be the deadliest in 1998. (Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Afghanistan: Earthquake, Afghanistan: Earthquake - OCHA-01: 30-May-98, USGS Earthquake Information for 1998 )

"Damages from Earthquake"

Afghanistan is a poor developing country that had to face such a tragic natural disaster. Earthquake that occurs in LEDCs (the less economically developed countries) like Afghanistan tends to have more deaths and damages compared to MEDCs (the more economically developed countries). Why is this?

• The houses that were built weren’t designed to endure earthquakes, and most of it is built of mud brick with low foundation. Many villages were built on the unstable mountain slope and it’s easy to be destroyed by mudslides. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan)

• The area was so remote that it took the news three days to reach Kabul and later to reach the outside world. There were no telecommunications and many transportations routes were destroyed. Resulting of not being able to evacuate the people out of the area quickly, and a lot have died form injuries because of lack of medical treatment. And the aftershock that happened three days also killed more than 250 people. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan)

• Aids were slow to be reached into the remote area, because there are no airstrips, and only helicopters are able to reach the remote area. But then there were only three small United Nations helicopters, which also aren’t capable of carrying a lot of things. And the rescuers had to dig out the people under the collapse structure and under the mud with bare hands. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan)

• There were a lot of international aids after the first earthquake and the second earthquake. United Nations, USA, France, the UK, Iran, Turkey, Tajikistan, Russia and other countries contributed helps but they were too late, because affected areas weren’t able to be reached and transportation was inefficient. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan)

The United Nations introduced the Human Development Index in 1991, which are used to calculate the quality of life between countries, and Afghanistan was ranked at 171 out of 173 countries. After the disasters, Afghanistan still suffer from the affects of the two earthquakes, a number of years with severe drought, 9/11 terrorist attack on USA which resulted a war with Afghanistan. Afghanistan is currently so poor, having no money or technology to predict earthquakes and they have to rely on international aids. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, The New Wider World)

Why do the Afghans live in these hazard prone areas? Basically, the Afghans that live in these remote areas are so poor that they are unable to move. Life for them is already hard, and they couldn’t afford to move and have a new home and a new life. The opportunities for them to find a job in the urban city are so little that it’s hopeless. Only well-educated and English-speaking people have the chances of migrating to other countries, for instance the USA. (Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998, The New Wider World, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan, Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan)

Bibliography

Video:

1. "Science on a Sphere: Plate Tectonics and Paleo Animation." YouTube. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft-dP2D7QM4&feature=related.

Pictures:

1. Dinosaur
"A Shirt For Mo ." Fickr. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.flickr.com/photos/libbynix/1993174054/.

2.Causes of Earthquake in Afghanistan
The New Wider World. 2. Cheltenham: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 2003.

3. Epicentre of the Two Earthquakes
"Physical Geography and People." Google Book Search. 2 Dec 2007 http://books.google.com/books?id=pwfcyNE2Lz4C&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=a+case+study+afghanistan+earthquake+1998&source=web&ots=eChJTsAAdu&sig=y71Tz303Yhz-ZTN3yNghRcrRKWo#PPA14,M1.

4. Scale
"The San Marino Scale ." International Academy of Astronautics . 2 Dec 2007 http://www.setileague.org/iaaseti/smiscale.htm.

5. Earthquake Aftermath
"Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

6. Damage
"Physical Geography and People." Google Book Search. 2 Dec 2007 http://books.google.com/books?id=pwfcyNE2Lz4C&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=a+case+study+afghanistan+earthquake+1998&source=web&ots=eChJTsAAdu&sig=y71Tz303Yhz-ZTN3yNghRcrRKWo#PPA14,M1.


7. Landslide
"Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

8. Helicopter
"Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

9. Relief
"Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

10. Local
"Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

Text:

1. Ambraseys, Nicholas. "Earthquakes in Afghanistan." Dept. of Civil Engineering. 2 Dec 2007 http://cires.colorado.edu/~bilham/Afghan.pdf.

2.Wheeler, Russell. "Seismotectonic Map of Afghanistan." USGS. 2 Dec 2007 http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1264/pdf/OFR-1264.pdf.

3.The New Wider World. 2. Cheltenham: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 2003.

4."Disaster Response With a Difference Afghanistan June 1998." EMA. 2 Dec 2007 http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal/(85FE07930A2BB4482E194CD03685A8EB)~Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf/$file/Disaster_response_with_a_difference_Afghanistan.pdf.

5."Afghanistan: Earthquake - OCHA-04: 10-Feb-98." Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs . 2 Dec 2007 http://iys.cidi.org/disaster/98a/0025.html.

6."Afghanistan: Earthquake - OCHA-01: 30-May-98." Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs . 2 Dec 2007 http://iys.cidi.org/disaster/98a/0094.html.

7."Earthquake Information for 1998 ." USGS. 2 Dec 2007 http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/1998/.