Eastern Han, China · 25-220 AD

Paper, silk and earthquakes: Han inventions

In AD 105 a court official named Cai Lun presented a cheaper way to make paper. In 132 Zhang Heng built a device that detected distant earthquakes. Students explore how Han inventions spread along the Silk Road and changed the world.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
10–13
On the map
3 steps, AD 105
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In AD 105 a court official named Cai Lun presented a cheaper way to make paper. In 132 Zhang Heng built a device that detected distant earthquakes. Students explore how Han inventions spread along the Silk Road and changed the world.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Name three inventions of Han China and explain what each was used for.
  • Explain why paper mattered for government, learning and trade.
  • Locate the Han Empire, the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire between them around AD 100.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 105

The Eastern Han

Open the map in AD 105. The capital is now Luoyang. Type "Where was Luoyang?" in Ask the atlas. Why could a capital in the middle of the farmland be easier to feed?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 105

Two giants

Zoom out until you see both the Han Empire and the Roman Empire. Which empire lies between them, controlling the trade?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 105

The road to Rome

Turn on Trade Routes and follow the Silk Road through the Tarim Basin. In AD 97 an envoy set out from here to find Rome. Follow the road west: through which empire would he pass?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Before paper, Chinese writers used strips of bamboo and pieces of silk. Why was paper such an improvement?
  2. Paper existed before Cai Lun, yet he got the credit. Why do inventions often get linked to one famous name?
  3. Zhang Heng's device could report an earthquake hundreds of kilometers away. Why would an emperor want to know quickly?
  4. Paper reached the Islamic world in the 700s and Europe even later. How might history have changed if it had traveled faster?
  5. Which Han invention do you think changed daily life the most, and why?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Marcus Aurelius in Rule History. Chinese records say men claiming to be envoys of Andun, king of Daqin (the Chinese name for Rome), reached the Han court in AD 166, in his reign. After the round, discuss: what would each empire have wanted from the other?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.