Great Wall of China

I was sitting right outside of my house on the date of 220 BCE when I heard the news. Qin Shi Huangdi, our first emperor that I mentioned earlier, started the biggest engineering project that the world has ever seen, so it's pretty important! It really shows how smart the Chinese can be, and how rich our culture is. Anyway, he's building what is called "The Great Wall". Basically, it's this enormous wall that's built using wood and soil mix that turns really solid. The point of it is to keep the Mongols out in the North and to symbolize the unification of China. I heard a rumor that's going around that the purpose of this huge wall is to keep us in (which is kind of scary)!
In my opinion, it's a nice idea, but the way he's going about it is all wrong. The living conditions of it are awful; one million people are working on  it, and a fourth of them have died.
I hope that he puts an end to these horrible working conditions, but my hopes aren't high!

Watch towers on the Great Wall of China

Unification of China

It had been a rough time in our area for around 250 years. There are no united kingdoms. Seven of them have fought again and again for control of China. The Qin Dynasty finally achieved unification of China using their horses and foot soldiers, which is a pretty new thing for us. These guys rolled in and stayed in power from 221-207 BCE. Some cool things were introduced in this time, like the channel built by Li Bing through Mount Qian. I’m happy about it because my house isn’t flooded anymore!
There is one thing that’s kind of bad: our first Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi. He’s a legalist, and I’m not so sure about his ruling methods. We’ll see how things go, I guess!

Confucius

Something really cool happened today, on 500 BCE. I got to talk to Confucius which was pretty sweet. He rolled into my farm and told me I was doing my job well; duty is one of the things he's big on. He is a wandering teacher because he lost his government job, so I hear.

I’ve heard about him for a while, but I never really understood what this guy was all about. He told me what his thoughts are as we walked along my farm. He’s all for goodness. Confucius told me that real people can establish a civilized society (by real, he was talking about kind and compassionate people). He said that art and poetry is where it’s at. I didn’t understand that part! I mean, we live in an army dominated world. But he said that you’re only as good as your art. Pretty cool. Family is also very important in Confucius’ concepts; the Five Constant Relationships have three of them relate to family.

All in all, I’m really honored to have met this guy. He is an amazing philosopher, and he did amazing work. I have a feeling that his ideas are going to catch on someday.