China from the 3rd century BCE to the 2nd century CE
In 221 BCE the ruler of the Qin state defeated the other kingdoms, united China and took the name Qin Shi Huang (“First Emperor of Qin”). He divided the country into 36 provinces and appointed officials to each. To protect the north from nomadic Xiongnu (Huns) raids he linked and strengthened older defensive walls — later known as the Great Wall of China; thousands of people were forced to work on it. A huge tomb was built for the emperor, and thousands of terracotta soldiers have been found beside it. After an uprising of peasants angry at heavy taxes and forced labour, the Qin dynasty was overthrown in 206 BCE; Liu Bang founded the Han dynasty. The Han state was strongest under Emperor Wu (141–87 BCE). Later popular uprisings (the “Red Eyebrows” in the early 1st century CE, the “Yellow Turbans” in 184 CE, 2nd century) and Xiongnu attacks weakened the Han; in the 3rd century CE it split into three kingdoms. China had a character-based script, written first on bamboo strips, then on silk; paper appeared in the 2nd–1st centuries BCE. The Chinese gave the world the compass, the seismograph invented by Zhang Heng (132 CE), and also porcelain, silk and tea.
“Build the wall”: children build a “wall” from cardboard bricks and discuss its role in defence.