Historical Background

First of all, let’s start from a little bit of Chinese information for this period. Han dynasty is the golden age of China when Europe is in the middle of the Classical period. Han dynasty mainly includes Western Han (206 BC–9 AD) and Eastern Han (25AD–220 AD), they are named differently because of the position of the central government. It is interrupted for a few years by Wang Mang, the nephew of grand empress dowager in that time. Mainly, we will learn some knowledge about tools and technology from the Western Han dynasty.

钱范（QianFan）

The Coin mould of Western Han Dynasty

Qian Fan is the mould for the production of coins in Western Han dynasty. Its material mainly can be pottery, stone, copper, iron, or lead. When casting coins, usually covering a Qian Fan with the other one or a flat board, and then injecting molten bronze into the hole. The inside ditches will drainage bronze liquid into each cell. After cooling, the coins will be taken down and separated. Due to the different methods, the coins which made by two combined moulds will have the pattern on both sides but the coins made with one flat board will have one side smooth.

长信宫灯（Chang Xin Gong Deng）

The Oil Lamp of Chang Xin Palace

Before Western Han dynasty, most of the Chinese oil lamps is a bracket for only holding the oil. However, in Western Han dynasty, people begin to consider the smoke produced by the burned oil because it smells bad and seriously damages the indoor furniture that the partial colour will be darkened. Therefore, the ancient Chinese designed this type of lamp that can collect the smoke into its inside. Chang Xin Gong Deng is a palace lamp, its name is from the inscription on it which writes about its owner’s palace. Its appearance is a palace maid holding a lamp, but it is hollow inside. Fire burns in the lamp part and people can control the light’s direction and brightness by the handle on it. Smoke will follow its sleeve into the body and become dirt. Its head and right arm are detachable which make people can easily clean it.

耧车(Lou Che)

The Plough in Western Han dynasty

Han dynasty largely improved the agricultural efficiency; one part of it is resulted by the development of the farming method, the other reason is the investment of plough in Western Han dynasty. Lou Che is the oldest seeding machine in China, which also revolutionarily increased the farming speed by simultaneously performing ditching, sowing, fertilizing, covering, suppressing.

When farming, Lou Che is fixed at a cow or other animals and pulled forward. Seeds are put in the box, and they will be sowed into the ground through the inside of the wood strips. It sowing speed is controllable in order to ensure the seed can be averagely lined into the soil. By the later historic record in Eastern Han dynasty, one person and one cow, their finished farming area can achieve one Qing (about 6.66 km2) per day.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty https://new.qq.com/omn/20181128/20181128C04R0Z.html
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%92%B1%E8%8C%83
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%92%B1%E8%8C%83 https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E4%BF%A1%E5%AE%AE%E7%87%88
https://baike.baidu.com/tashuo/topic?topicId=d6e5cbd731ac38efbb964ff0 https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/2143112561389621508?bd_page_type=0&pu=&init=middle
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%80%AC
https://www.zhihu.com/question/291766752
http://www.i3done.com/course/4996.html http://zjbwg.cdstm.cn/index.phpm=sevenbooks&a=Showall&picid=793&i=2&placeid=144&typeid=75
http://www.meitianshe.cn/wenhua/baike-7.html

Self-grading：7/10

I used C to guide people to read this spread, the inspiration came from the realization that “Calgary” and “China” are both having C as their initial letters. I want to introduce myself to other people as a Chinese international student who has already had enough living experience in Canada. The other C words furthermore described me in detail about my interest and ability. The whole spread was made with a lot of Chinese elements. The central C is a broken Chinese ancient copper coin. The line patterns are the traditional Chinese decoration since the Bronze age. The beast face in the middle of the right page is my own creation referring to the beast face on the Chinese bronze. Those, especially the bronze, are something that people rarely mentioned when they think of Chinese style, thus I want to display this neglected Chinese art. I like to share with others the knowledge that I know can be helpful to gain more understanding about China and to have more different views about art and the world. On the sides, I used my Chinese and English names to make a symmetrical view building a balanced sense in my spread. I think this can help people easier to remember my name.

During making this Yearbook spread, I learned a lot about the overall coordination. In the beginning, I just had the idea of “C”, I thought this can be a good idea as the foundation to start designing this spread and add something else. However, after I had the sketch, I just realize that this spread is limited by its size that cannot contain so much information I want to say. Then the symmetric view came on the top as my main designing goal to help the whole spread having an obvious outline. This change helped me very much in the next step of making the context. I delated a lot of extra information but just kept the idea of “Five C words”. This experience can be helpful in the future when I truly having some creation related to this kind of stuff.

This spread is less in colour because I initially wanted to make the style that focuses more on holistic. It was also the reason for the repeated Chinese “S-like” pattern. However, the final vision looks too monotonous and lesses the power in creating a strong first impression.