Revised Essay

Standard

Having an afterlife, especially a comfortable one is an important belief throughout ancient Chinese history. Families did not want their deceased loved ones to suffer in the yellow springs; a fictional location of immeasurable graves and where spirits congregated.[1] They brought along objects with them to their deathbed so that they are able to continue having them in the other world. The objects specially crafted and placed in tombs are known as tomb art. It ranges from bronze vessels, ivory, jades to clay figures.[2] Before the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)[3], real sacrificial beings such as concubines and servants, and tiny figures no bigger than 5cm were found in the tombs.[4] However, this all changed when Qin Shi Huang, First Emperor of China and the ruler of Qin dynasty, started his conquering quest, spreading even to the underground.

 

The mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang built around 256BC[5], with an area of 56 sq. km, was planned and placed carefully in a strategic location. There are waters in the north and mountains in the south and west, leaving the thousands of terracotta warriors in the east, to protect the tomb[6]. With more than 1400 figures excavated to date, the tomb is estimated to house around 8000 figures in total such as the generals, infantrymen, cavalrymen, archers, chariots, horses along with armours and weapons.[7] In this essay, I compare two of the terracotta warriors, the cavalryman (figure 1) and the gongcheng(figure 2). Although they both are represented in life size, each with great attention to postures and facial features, the differences in size and clothing illustrate the different ranks of the warriors in the army.

[1] Wu Hung,. 2010. The Art Of The Yellow Springs. London: Reaktion Books, 1

[2] Wu Hung,. 2010. The Art Of The Yellow Springs. London: Reaktion Books, 11

[3] Portal, Jane, and Hiromi Kinoshita. 2007. The First Emperor. London: British Museum, 13

[4] Lai, Guolong. 2011. Terracotta Warriors. Singapore: Asian Civilisations Museum, 25

[5] “British Museum – Qin Shihuangdi – The Rise To Power”. 2016. Britishmuseum.Org. Accessed March 17 , 2016.

[6] Gray, Richard. 2015. “China’s Terracotta Army Swells As 1,400 Clay Warriors Found Buried”. Mail Online. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3070079/China-s-terracotta-army-new-recruits-1-400-clay-warriors-horses-chariots-buried-near-emperor-s-tomb.html.

[7] Lai, Guolong. 2011. Terracotta Warriors. Singapore: Asian Civilisations Museum, 9-16

 

 

And also, I have a very important question, May i know what tense our essay should be in?

Introduction for Essay

Standard

Q1: What is Chinese Tomb art? Compare 2 bronzes from the Shang dynasty or compare 2 terracotta figures from the Qin dynasty.

Thesis statement:

Qin Shi Huang’s strict rule did not degrade the quality and variety of the figures produced, instead kept the quality and variety consistent even with mass production.

 

 


 

Having an afterlife is one important belief throughout the ancient Chinese history. Families didn’t want their deceased love ones to suffer in the yellow springs, they “brought along” things with them to their deathbed so that they are able to continue have them in the other world. The objects specially crafted and placed in tombs are known as tomb art. It ranges from murals, bronze vessels, jades to clay figures. One important archaeological discovery was of Fu Hao’s tomb which had jades and small statues buried together. Before the Qin dynasty, real sacrificial beings such as concubines and servants, and small figures no more than 60cm are found in the tomb. However, this all changed when Qin Shi huang started his quest of conquering, even the underworld.

 

Qin Shi Huang attained the throne at a young age of 13, it was said that he started building his tomb as soon as he attained his throne. Despite conquering and ruling the vast lands, he wanted to be a ruler of the universe, hence the building of his netherworld palace. The mausoleum an area of 56sq km was planned and placed in a strategic location. With protection from water in the north and mountains in the south and west, the terracotta warriors protected his only vulnerable east[1].

 

A comparison with two terracotta figures, the armoured general and acrobat strong men, it shows that even with the mass production of the terracotta figures, the quality of the figures has not been hindered.

[1] The first emperor. Page 124 (rough citation)

Revised Proposal

Standard

Introduction:

-What is chinese tomb art.

-about Qin dynasty (when Qin shi huang got his throne)

-short intro about Qin Shi Huang

– why did he plan to build this tomb

-the reason behind him about his placement of the tomb.

 

-The terracotta warriors pits are purposely placed facing the east, guarding the emperor against his possible “enemies”

 

  • overall introduction about this tomb. (56sq km etc)

 

Compare between a cavalry/infantry soldier (?) VS a entertainment figure.

 

One is created with more live,fluidity while the soldier has a more stoic position.

2nd para:

both are found in the pits, but in different pits.

Visual analyisis on the soldier

What is the use (the position in the army)

what is it doing

-they used different methods to make the figures look different.

With different hair and accessories

 

 

3rd para:

the entertainment figure: prominent difference.

Visual analysis.

Look lifelike instead of the stiff look

-have a sense of motion

 

Conclusion:

 

 

 

Rough essay plan

Standard

My very initial rough essay plan

Q1: What is Chinese Tomb art? Compare 2 bronzes from the Shang dynasty or compare 2 terracotta figures from the Qin dynasty.

 

Introduction:

-the year/when/what period

-what is chinese tomb art? What are considered tomb art.

-what objects are usually found?

-where is it found?

-some examples of it?

-prominent examples? Difference between royalty/rich ppl and normal ppl?

 

 

Claim:

 

In this paper, I will be comparing 2 different terracotta figures.

 

Main:

-briefly introduce the tomb

-built by qin shi huang. His body resides there

used _____ppl to build

-there are 4? Sites in total

-how many terracotta figures in total.

-why did he build it. For his after life?

 

Comparision of 2 figures:

 

1st figure/ 2nd figure (separate para?)

-What is the use of the figures?

-who made them?

– A numbering system

-where is it found.

-visual analysis. What is it doing? What it look like it might be holding

clothing differences?

Rank differences?

Each pose look different from one another.

What is their rank?

Why so many? To build his transport and army to the underworld

 

Conclusion: ??

 

————————————————————————————————————————————–

what kind of claim can be written for this kind of comparison essay?

the use of the warriors? However, this does look like a claim. There is no argument. the reason of why they are made?

 

 

 

 

Week 4: Journal!

Standard

Team 1 presented on hindu temple, Sri Mariamman Temple in class today. The team did a great job in presenting their information. I like how simple and direct their slides were, which allowed me to understand the information properly. Being a singaporean, i am very ashamed to say that I did not know much about this temple until today. I would simply walk past the temple without thinking much about it or try to understand in. Through the group’s presentation, I was able understand the architecture layout for the temple and their traditional ceremonies like puja. I was able a get a further understanding about their culture. One thing that i find the most interesting is the way they conduct their ceremonies and about the “blessed food”. I think this is pretty similar to us chinese where we will have the blessed water from the buddhas. After praying and drinking the water, we will be blessed. It might just be an illusion but I find that it is calming for the heart which is why devotees choose to continue believe in their faith.

Week 2: Favourite Buddhist Temple

Standard

Image taken from: http://beokeng.com/img/slides/tong-whye-temple-1.jpg

 

My favourite temple will be Tong Whye Temple located at Jurong East which is quite near to my house. Every year, my family will go to the temple at least twice to pray to “Tai Sui” at the start of the lunar new year, and before the year ends. For my family, we believe that we have to pray to Tai Sui in order to get blessing for the entire year. Due to the zodiac, there will be different zodiacs that offend Tai Sui every year. For this year, it will be snake,tiger, pig (my mum and I) and Monkey(my dad). Interestingly, the animal of the year will definitely be in the “Fan Tai Sui” list.

The ceremony for praying to the tai sui is very simple. Firstly, we will have to prepare our individual Ang paos with the amount of money that represents our age. For example, my Chinese age is 22 this year, i will have to put $2.20 inside. Along with this ang pao, I also have to prepare the papers and some simple offerings to Tai Sui. The temple uncle (I am not very sure of the name) will proceed to recite some words of blessing and the ceremony is done. And also very importantly, if we asked for blessings in the beginning of the year, we must return the favour at the end of the year. This is also why alot of people nowadays are lazy to ask for blessings at the temple. However for me, it has become a tradition and I will continue on when I grow older too.

I like the temple as it has become so familiar to me since I visited it since young and I will feel calm and cleanse whenever I stepped into the temple grounds. When I was younger, visitors were able to feed the temple koi fishes which was also something that I looked very forward to doing when I visited the temple.

What kind of learner am I?

Standard

Personally, i would think that I am a visual learner. When lessons or new things are being taught, if i wrote the things down, it will cause a better learning result. For one, i know that i can’t remember the huge amount of information in a short time for very long. If I were to read a textbook, i would usually remember it by which part of the page it is placed under. This definitely helped me in learning things.

I took a test from one of our classmate’s link too, to have a little test

What’s Your Learning Style? The Results

Your Scores:

  • Auditory: 25%
  • Visual: 50%
  • Tactile: 25%

You are a Visual learner! Check out the information below, or view all of the learning styles.

Visual

If you are a visual learner, you learn by reading or seeing pictures. You understand and remember things by sight. You can picture what you are learning in your head, and you learn best by using methods that are primarily visual. You like to see what you are learning.

As a visual learner, you are usually neat and clean. You often close your eyes to visualize or remember something, and you will find something to watch if you become bored. You may have difficulty with spoken directions and may be easily distracted by sounds. You are attracted to color and to spoken language (like stories) that is rich in imagery.

Here are some things that visual learners like you can do to learn better:

  • Sit near the front of the classroom. (It won’t mean you’re the teacher’s pet!)
  • Have your eyesight checked on a regular basis.
  • Use flashcards to learn new words.
  • Try to visualize things that you hear or things that are read to you.
  • Write down key words, ideas, or instructions.
  • Draw pictures to help explain new concepts and then explain the pictures.
  • Color code things.
  • Avoid distractions during study times.

Remember that you need to see things, not just hear things, to learn well.

One of the questions i found interesting was, “if u met a person at the party, how would you remember the person?” my answer was i would remember the face, but not the name. I see the face “physically” but not the name. if it was written, i might have remembered it more clearly? I shall try this next time.

Another thing that i found out is that, if i dont remember the person’s face or name, sometimes, i am able to recognise them (find them familiar) by their voices. Could this be one of my other learning style too?

However, even if i have a “best” learning style, I think that it is still good to try to incorporate the different styles for learning. Not all subjects will suit a “visual” learning. It is good for us to slowly find out through experience and time about that suits which style the best