Lesson 1 Introductory Task - suggested ANSWERS

1. Source 1 provides evidence of a writing system during the Shang dynasty

through the inscriptions on the bone dating back to the Shang dynasty.

2. a Clay models of soldiers with different details.

b The figures differ in their hairstyles, facial features, size and uniforms.

c Qin Shihuang, China’s first emperor, had great military power and wealth,
otherwise it wouldn’t have been possible to bury thousands of terracotta
warriors around his tomb.

3. a Crossbows were installed in the tomb to protect the treasures, aimed and
ready to shoot at anyone who entered the grave.

b Qin Shihuang wanted the tomb to contain every single detail of life on earth
for his afterlife.

c There is an ongoing discussion amongst historians as to why the

concubines were buried, it is thought that it was to serve the emperor in the
afterlife or to secure the position of the second emperor (to avoid the birth of
another heir). The workers were entombed in order to silence them, as they
did know about the treasure buried with the emperor.

d That women and workers had limited rights and did not belong to the top of
the social hierarchy.

e The Chinese believed in an afterlife similar to the life on Earth.