Wave 3 The Orchard Pavillion

(Interest level 1)
It's fun to be drunk, is what i hear, you go clubbing you get drunk, you get sad you get drunk, you want to have a good time and do something crazy you get drunk. But imagine if getting drunkn of wine inspired you to wirte someof the best poerty the literate world has ever seen. Well thats the story of the Orchard Pavillion. It all started in ancient China after the colapse of the Jin Dynasty in 316 BC, and China was in peril. The political system had broken down and now it was all out war to see who would be dominant. Most would be scared as hell, but some people wanted to forget about the state of the world and just wirte poetry about what was going through their minds. At the Orchard Pavillion, some poets including government ministers showed up to get drunk and write beautiful poerty. A famous quote from a poet is " it is easier to write poetry when im drunk then when im sober". I related this quote to the scene in Social Network when Mark was intoxicated but he still managed hacked Harvard and created facesmash.com. Wang Xizhi was a master poet contributed a famous preface and was known most for his art in Chinese calligraphy. These poets sat outside, tasted wine, and were inspired by the beauty of Nature showing teaching them that the worlds hatered and violence mainly comes from man kind its self. http://hoc10s2.wikispaces.com/file/view/Orchid%20Pavilion.pdf

 Chinese Calligraphy

Wave 3 Emperess Wu

(level interest 4)
If there is one thing an adolecent boy can tell you about from his experiences is that women can be real bitches. In my opinion the biggest-meanest-craziest-two faced bitch of the ancient  China was none other than Empress Wu. Now i can tell you about my girl problems leading into heart break, and you can tell me about yours but how many guys who are reading this can honostly say "hey my wife is insane and killed our children"? Ever heard of a Succubus? Well it is a mythlogical, i hope, female demon that want to suck the life out of a man and drag them to hell. She is kind of like that, accept for her, Hell is being in a relationship. So she came into play as a concubine, who killed her own baby and blamed the current empress so the empror would kick her out leaving Wu to become empress. Bitch move number 1. The emperor got a stroke and Wu was using him as a pupet so she had the true power. The first heir to the thrown "died" meanwhile the second was banished from the empire for "plotting a rebellion". After the emperor, Gaozong, had died, his son Zhongzong took over but was swiftly kicked out because her wife wanted to make her dad a chancelor. The next son, Ruizong, was empror but lived far away and was rarely involved in imperial actions. Bitch move number, i lost count. As a ruler she was quite good becuase she thought about the people. I think she was two faced because she used religion (Bhuddism) as her alyby for ruling; admitting to the idea of the Great Cloud Sutra which was a proficy that said Bhuda reincarnated into a women ruler and would make the world much better. After a rebellion, she built a Bright Hall and invited all her princes and subjects. Those who did not come, she presumed against her and destroyed them. Another way of using religion to her advantage. She started a new Zhou Dynasty and proclaimed her self the first women empror of China. She was the first and only, and did not give up power until her early 80's and abdicated to her son Zhongzong.

Info from Ebrey Handout
 Empress Wu

Wave 3 Guqin

(level interest 3)
The rock Gods of the 20th Century are those who can play like Malcom Young, lead giutarist/singer for ACDC. Yes im sure you've heard of them, probably own some of their albums from back in the day or bought a couple of their CD's of itunes yes? Well this blog has something to do with that, exept this sheet is about the Guqin, the giutar of ancient China, for those of you not interested you should probably stop reading. For those of you who are like me and appriciate all kinds of music please continue on... I am from an Indian family you see, born and raised by Bollywood music. Moved to where i live now, and got a taste of English music, met some Korean friends along the way and now enjoy K-POP aswell. Anyways back to the main topic, the Guqin (old stringed instrument) was originally created in China over 2,000 years ago. The ingredients needed to make your very own Guqin replica like the ancient Chinese did are: thick wood, sound holes on the bottom, and nanyin (grooves that look like onion flakes) which seem to perform the function of the bass-bar on a violin but which somewhat block the sound holes, and silk strings. The earliest story of qin playing is famous tale of Master Cheng Lian teaching his student Boya how to play by destering him on an island for several days until he gets inspired by nature. To date, there are over 650 songs that monks and qin rockers have played. This instrument was not just used by monks during chants, poets while reciting poetry, but also as entertainment during parties. Basically, the idea of bands started back then, groups of people consisting of singers, qin players, and procussionests played gigs, got payed, probably got laid, and word spread about their greatness as a group; basically they were like the anceint Metallica. They were living the good life of rock stars. From the sight below i heard the sounds of the guqin, and i honoestly think its something that is a blend of briliant melody and calm rythems. Defenetly a candidate for music i listen to while doing homework. http://www.silkqin.com/05poet.htm

Toad playing the qin, does it get any cooler?

Wave 3 Bhuddism

(level interest 2)
Why? Probably the most dangerious question known to man kind. For instance, if someone discovers something and shows it to others, the most asked question to their theory would be why. Just because one person understands soemthing, doesn't mean they can teach to another that easily. The question why is that one word that can be used after a long paragraph of explaining, that can actually make you sound smart. It is the question Confucians asked the Bhuddists on hearing the idea of reincarnation and it is my favorite word in Chemistry class. The Bhuddism start a long time ago in India, by a man named Sidartha. He based many of the religion's ideas off of Hinduism such as: reincarnation and nirvana. For those of you who dont know, Reincarnation is the belife that a person will be reborn after death and Nirvana is when they have escaped the rebirthing cycle. Confucian ideas are practicing rituals, doing youre duty, and becoming a spirit after death as someone's ancestors. A big "WTF?" came up when the Confucians were told you rebirth and, like most of us would if we were given a new idea, asked why. Many people beleived in Bhuddism because it gave rights to women, non Chinese enjoyed it because did not have to be Chinese to rule and get power over the people, it helped the miserable during the time of war, but most of all it gave reassurance to those who were scared a strong asnwer to the question, "what happens after you die"? The time of Bhuddism was like Newton's law: all that goes up must come down. The Bhodavistava, monks who declined Nirvana to help others get in, had too much influence over the people. This time could be strongly compared to the influence the Christian Chruch had over Europe. The monasteries weren't taxed, much like the Churches. Culturally: people had to give up their names, shave their heads, and become selebet. This was a major problem against the Confucians, becuse they took great pride in their familes and earsing their names and become selebet was like the bully kicking sand into that tradition's face. Also much land was taken up by these monasteries and there wasn't enough room for Confucian Night clubs, Confucain recreation centers, or Confucian movie teathers. The main treath to the emperor was, the Bhuddists did not beleive in Emperor worship, so they could easily rebell with their growing numbers.
http://hoc10s2.wikispaces.com/file/view/HOC%20Wave%203%20Tang%20Han%20Yu%20relic.pdf

 Bhuddist Monastery

Wave 3 An Lushan

(Interest Level 5)
Think of the Roman Empire, what comes to mind? For me, its Christianity and Ceaser, and no I dont mean the salad. The Romans had this beleife that if under attack, they should give full authority to one of the generals and once the attackers had been defeated, the general would step down and give the power back. It worked a couple of times, but unfortunatly the last man they gave power to refused to give it back. That man was Julius Ceasar. He crossed the Rubicon river, this was a sighn of attack on Rome, with his army and swiftly took over the city. In away, you could compare to An Lushan, a Chinese general in the late Tang dynasty, because he basically did the same thing. It was the emperor's mistake, he decided to show his love to a conqubine and in the end lost it all. He offered this conqubine, Yang Guifang, the chance to give her family and friends positions in government. She decides to give max power to General Lushan... bad move. Lushan gets 100,000 experienced fighters and decides to take over the Louyang, crushing all who get in his way. The emperor decides to flee, but his gaurds won't leave until his "lovely" conqubine is killed. He was devistated and dethrones himself. Lushan takes over the capital, but is forced out by Turks. Im not saying either of the two rebellions are bad, because in Rome, Ceaser's made great changes in the government and  public of a dying city that was originaly run by corrupt politians who did not care for the people. Oh sure he got assinated by his senators and this lead Rome into a civil war, but all rebellions have their down sides, also not to mension if you think about the bad consequences you're not very optimistic. Anyways, the Lushan rebellion did have its down turns, for isntance Tang had lost money because they had to pay of the Turks to not raid them, they lost control of the economy, destroyed Tang soeciety, and basically did not control Central Asia anymore. On the bright side, however, this lead to advances economically and since the government did not control the economy, towns could make open markets and independent trade expanded. Since the merchants were no longer tied down by the government, they could let their bussiness flourish and they created bills to solve the copper coin problem. Ceaser and Lushan like one another, because they both did not hesitate and took the oppertunity when they saw it. Although their stories are different, they both still changed their nations and created many reforms economically, politically, and even socially. Moral of the story for Emperor Xuanzong, dont do anything just to get laid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar

Julius Ceaser      An Lushan