Appleseeds articles from January 2008

Appleseeds archives from January 2008

Help wanted.
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If there were newspapers in ancient China, the Help Wanted ads might have looked something like this... Need Work? Look Here! PLENTY OF EXERCISE AND FRESH AIR Farmers needed to plant and harvest rice,...

Ancient China--when and where?(Where in the World)(Country overview)
January 1, 2008... China is one of the oldest ongoing civilizations in the history of the world. People have established states and cultures there for more than 6,000 years. And people have been using Chinese languages continuously for longer than any others in...

Working on the farm.
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With millions of mouths to feed, ancient China needed lots of food. No wonder most of its people were farmers. Wheat, millet, and barley were the main crops in northern China. Southern China was warmer and...

Everyone to work! Building the Great Wall of China.
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] QUESTION: What began as a pile of dirt and became one of the wonders of the world? ANSWER: The Great Wall of China It took many years and millions of laborers to build it. Laborers died by the...

Engineering water.
January 1, 2008... In ancient China, people believed that a magical "Emperor Yu" held the secret for taming the rivers that flooded each season. The myth said that he was given mathematical secrets by a river tortoise. The secrets told him how to build canals,...

The Golden Lotus: the story of tiny feet.
January 1, 2008... How do people today change their bodies? What do we do to make ourselves seen more beautiful or more like celebrities? For women in long-ago China, it was all about feet! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] They say it began about 1000 years...

What to do with bamboo.
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Bamboo was an important plant in the lives of the 'ancient Chinese. Many household items--even the houses themselve--were made from the strong stems of this fast-growing grass. (Yes, bamboo' is a member of the grass...

The story of silk.
January 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Are you named after anyone famous? I am! My name is Ling and I live in ancient China. Listen to my story. I am named after Si-Ling-Chi, who was the empress of my country around 2700 B.C. Legend tells us that she...

Silkworm sudoku.(Puzzle Power)
January 1, 2008... Fill in the squares so that each row, column, and 8-square section has the letters S-I-L-K-W-O-R-M. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The Fab 4: Chinese inventions that rocked the world.
January 1, 2008... Four ancient Chinese innovations changed the course of human history. We continue to use these fabulous inventions today. Can you guess what they are? One is explosive, one is a traveler's aid, and the other two help us communicate and record...

Who's in charge?
January 1, 2008... Today, China is a huge nation. More than 2,000 years ago, China was already huge. Amazingly, Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi had stopped the fighting among the provinces. But he couldn't run this new country all alone. So the emperor divided China into...

Confucius: China's great teacher.
January 1, 2008... Confucius (551-479) was China's great teacher. His ideas were the basis of China's Civil Service examinations. Chinese leaders looked to him to learn how to rule honestly. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Confucian teachings centered on the...

While adults were working.
January 1, 2008... In ancient China, children didn't go to school. They worked alongside their parents. Girls helped their mothers cook and clean, make and repair clothing, and tend silkworms. Boys were more likely to work with their fathers outdoors, planting,...

Appleseeds 2007 index.
January 1, 2008... A Activities animal match up, Oct 07:34 ant experiment, Oct 07:20 blindness, Apr 07:28-29, 30-31 Braille, Apt 07:34 cooking with the Pilgrims, Nov 07:12-13 Everglades quiz, Feb 07:34 find your way through...

A to Z: an alphabet of inventions in ancient China.
January 1, 2008... Armillary Sphere Bridge Compass Decimal Counting Eclipse Prediction Firecracker Gunpowder Harness Iron Casting Jade Carving Kite Lacquer Multimast Ship Negative Number Odometer Porcelain Quantitative Mapping Rudder Seismograph Tea Umbrella...

Gross facts.
January 1, 2008... Want to know what a mummy ate for lunch? A mummy known as Lady Dai was found in China in 1971. She was so well preserved that she gave us many clues about her life more than 2,000 years ago. Scientists found mummified food inside her! Now we...

Did you know.
January 1, 2008... DID YOU KNOW that the ancient Chinese had their own version of a Magic Eight Ball? Shamans carved questions about the future into bones and turtle shells. Then they heated them until they craked. They believed the cracks were the answers to...