Eric Yu

Period 5
Mr. Harrison
12/13/14
Mongol Movie
In the movie Mongol, it is about the life of Genghis Khan, leader of the Mongol horde
that conquered much of the known world. The movie begins in his childhood. Back when he was
a child, his name was Temujin, and he rode out with his father and clansmen to pick a bride. He
chooses Borte to marry, and on their way back home, his father was poisoned by an opposing
tribe. Temujin returns home to find that many of his tribe has deserted him, unwilling to follow
his rule. After getting captured multiple times, he escapes and finds his wife Borte. They marry
each other, but she is later kidnapped by the Merkit tribe on the steppe. With no other choice,
Temujin goes to find his brother Jamukha, wishing to enlist his tribes help in finding back his
wife. Together, the invade Merkit territory and rescue Borte, finding that she was already
pregnant. When Temujin leaves Jamukhas tribe with his own group of followers, Jamukhas
brother attempts to steal Temujins tribes horses. On accident, Jamukhas brother was killed by
Temujins tribe, sparking a war against Jamukha. On the run, Temujin notices that Jamukhas
men are following him and ambush him on a mountain slope. Temujins tribe gets massacred,
and Jamukha captures Temujin. A few weeks later, Temujin was sold in a slave market to the
emperor of China, who puts him in a cage for passer-bys to scoff at. During his captivity,
Temujin meets an old Chinese monk, who offers to go find Borte in the Mongol steppe. The old
monk travelled a long distance, only to die of thirst in a Mongolian desert. But, his body is

discovered by Borte and she goes to China to find Temujin. They escape, and Temujin leaves her
to unite the Mongol tribes.
From watching this movie, I learned about many of the characteristics of this time period
in Mongolia. The land is barren and inhospitable, and can be fatal if one doesnt have a tribe to
roam the plains with. The steppe, is filled with small Mongol tribes that are constantly at war,
fighting for land and dominance. Also, I learned of the massive unrest in the area and
lawlessness. They is fighting all the time, and the warriors dont follow any type of honor code
which makes them basically brigands. Without Genghis Khan to lead them all out of this unruly
time period, the Mongols would have eventually killed themselves in their civil wars and
skirmishes. Although Genghis would be the savior of his people, ironically he was a victim of
their unruliness most of his life. He was betrayed, captured, his wife was raped, and he was sold
into slavery. It was probably these events that he had endured that allowed him to muster the
courage and escape his captors time after time.

Eric Yu
Period 5
Mr. Harrison
12/13/15
Apocalypto
In the movie Apocalypto, written by Mel Gibson, it talks about a family that adventures
through a Mesoamerican forest, and gets captured by the Mayans who wish to sacrifice them to
the gods. The movie begins with Jaguar Paw, and Flint Sky hunting in the Mesoamerican forest,
only to find a tribe that has been destroyed by the Mayan Empire. When more Mayans arrive to
capture them, Paw hides his pregnant wife and young son, and gets captured, while his father
gets killed by the invaders led by Zero Wolf. During his march to the Mayan encampment, Paw
is tied to another man Cocoa Leaf, who nearly kills him by almost falling of the side of a cliff.
Although they are both rescued, Cocoa Leaf is killed for this act, and Zero Wolf gets very mad
about this turn of events. When the party almost reaches the Mayan city, they encounter a girl
who is dying of a disease, and she foretells the coming of a solar eclipse. As a tribute to their
gods, Paw is led up to the altar to be sacrificed. Just when Paw is about to be killed, the solar
eclipse foretold by the girl happens, and the head priest performing the sacrifice deems it
unnecessary to have to sacrifice these captives as their gods are pleased already. Zero Wolf frees
the captives soon after, telling them to try and not get killed by the target practice that is about to
occur. He claims that he will free the captives, but secretly assigns his son to stand at the end of
the grounds, prepared to kill any survivors. Paw kills Zero Wolfs son, driving Zero Wolf to run
after him attempting to kill him once and for all. As Paw escapes back into the forest where he

was before he was kidnapped, his pursuers get kill one by one by the dangerous elements in the
forest. Eventually Paw escapes onto an European ships that is seen docking on the Yucatan
peninsula, and Paw escapes with his wife and family towards the safety of the conquistadors. But
decide not to make contact with them. They decide to just return to the forest and try for a new
life and a new beginning.
From watching this movie, I learned a lot of the Mayan traditions and practices they had
in the past. The Mayans would scourge the landscape, destroying villages and killing innocent
people, and attempt to bring a few people to sacrifice to their god, on one of their pyramids. All
the captives would in turn get their hearts cut out by priests in attempts to please their gods and
not bring destruction on their civilization. I learned that the Mayans are very superstitious, and
they have a cyclic view of history. Also in this period of time, the Mayans were also believing
that their world would end one day. Also, the Mayans enjoyed pillaging and conquering other
villages and tribes. They did this not for land but for more victims to sacrifice and to fulfill their
enjoyment in killing. The sacrificed victims apparently please the Mayan gods, urging them to
pillage more as we see in the movie Apocalypto.

Eric Yu
Period 5
Mr. Harrison
12/13/14
The Emperor and the Assassin
The movie, The Emperor and the Assassin, recounts the famous attempted
assassination of the first emperor of China, King Zheng. King Zheng, is the heir to the throne of
Qin, and is ready to ascend to the throne, and rise to power in China. Prior to this, the Han
empire is being invaded by the Qin and is slowly crumbling apart because of the powerful armies
of the Qin. In a final decision, emperor Zheng decides to completely destroy all of the Han
establishments in the area including the capital. The capital is sacked by the Qin armies, leading
to massive unrest in the Qin empire. Meanwhile, Emperor Zheng has a very cunning wife who
wishes to help Zheng with his dream of uniting all six states of China under his control. She
stages an assassination attempt from the Yan empire, trying to give the Qin a good reason to
invade the Yan without having be engaged into a long campaign with many other empires
involved in the conflict. The Qin would march into the Yan, and take control over with a minimal
amount of bloodshed involved. But there was a flaw in the plan. The assassin had decided to
diverge from his prior path of killing, and refuses the offer in the attempted assassination of
Emperor Zheng. While his lover is away, Zheng decides to mount a campaign against his wifes
homeland the Zhao. The Qin troops engage the Zhaos, but his wife manages to convince Zheng
to spare the children of Zhao. She doesnt wish for her people to be killed in the invasion of the
Qin into her former home. While she keeps trying to convince the assassin to help her in her plot

for control over all of China, she begins to admire his courage and loyalty, amounting from her
disappointment in her own husbands actions. She falls in love with him, and she basically has an
affair with him while Zheng conquers the rest of China.
This movie recounts the time period in which China was in disarray. It was immediately
after the Time of Troubles in China which involved a lot of civil unrest and local warlords
claiming their own lands. Learning from this movie, Zheng attempts to unite the remaining six
kingdoms into a united China, a more powerful country than ever before. Rising to the throne as
only a teen, he began his quest of conquering the six kingdoms that were standing in his way of
total domination. Qin was also a very power-hungry man to think of a ploy like this in an attempt
to conquer but minimize bloodshed. He is also a tactical genius, being able to capture most of the
other empires without any major alliances. He led the Qin army and dynasty to greatness, and he
himself became the first sovereign emperor of China.

Eric Yu
Period 5
Mr. Harrison
12/13/14
Confucius
In the movie Confucius, it is a movie recounting the life and feats of Confucius the
scholar when he was younger. The movie talks about Confucius starting as local official in his
home province of the Lu. He was known as a scholar and was respected throughout the province.
But, one day he encounters a young slave boy who was about to be killed to by being buried with
his recently died master. Confucius realizes that this is not right, and tries to protect the boy from
his fate of being buried alive. He debates for the boys life since many think that a bird shouldnt
be sacrificed for its master. Using the same point, he says that the boys life is surely worth more
than that of a bird. The people seem to agree with him, but they believe that the boy should be
sacrificed because he was his masters favorite slave. Confucius then makes the point that
General himself was never sacrificed, and he was a favorite of the General that had died before
him. Thus meaning that the second general also has to sacrifice himself at the grave of his
predecessor. The members admit defeat, and the boy is allowed to live. Also, since this was
during a period of trouble in China, they didnt have much time to deal with Confucius, so they
banished him to the countryside of the province. Because of his removal from power, Confucius
became a wandering scholar, preaching about what he thinks should be right and wrong, and sets
the rules which would eventually become his philosophy, Confucianism. After much of the
fighting and unrest was over, the Lu people begin to realize the worth Confucius could be to

them. Confucius is rehired back into the service of the city, and he is now more influential than
before because of his new philosophy that spread throughout China.
In this time period, there was lots of unrest and dangers in China. It was the Time of
Troubles, where local warlords controlled that lands and there was no central control from the
government. It was a dangerous time, and only philosophy can bring the country under control
from the course it was continuing at. Confucianism was the key to controlling the masses and it
brought China out of the chaos and pillaging. It provided a strict set of rules to follow, and that
was the key. The people of China followed it, and there were massive changes in the government
of China.

Eric Yu
Period 5
Mr. Harrison
12/13/14
Ashoka
In the movie Ashoka, it refers to the grandson of the Indian emperor, Chandragupta
Muarya. The movie begins with Ashoka as a general on guard in the city of Taxila, and the movie
ends with the assault on the Kalinga country which is a very powerful state in India. Near the
beginning of the movie, Emperor Chandragupta decides to give up the throne to his son, and his
grandson Ashoka, take his prized sword. But, prior to giving it to him, Ashoka is warned that
once the sword is unsheathed, it will crave blood, and kill people. As Ashoka battles against the
rulers of Taxila, he realizes that he has been cheated of warriors. The reinforcement he had
expected would never come because of his treacherous brother, Sushima, who also wishes for the
throne. Later on, Sushima then tries to assassinate Ashoka again, and his father decided to send
Ashoka away to lead the life of a peasant. Asoka leaves, and encounters a woman that he falls in
love with. But, they are constantly on the run from the Kalinga soldiers, as they pursue them,
Ashoka protects her, and they secretly get married. Eventually, Ashoka gets sent to put down
another rebellion in Ujjani, under the pretense that his wife was killed. While Ashoka mounts this
campaign, Sushima sends more assassins to try and kill Ashoka, but they all but fail. After
Sushima assassinates queen Dharma, Ashoka is finally at the breaking point, and kills him once
and for all. A few months later, Ashoka leads an army against the Kalinga, defeating the army,

and all the soldiers killing anyone alive in sight. In the end, Ashoka learns of his mistakes, and
throws away his sword in favor of Buddhism.
Learning from this movie, this period of time there were many power-hungry warlords
that wished to have the throne. Ashoka almost gets assassinated time after time, by his
treacherous brother Sushima, and he results in killing him. Ashoka then enters stages of blind
rage, killing the innocent for no absolute reason at all. He mercilessly slaughtered a whole city
because he was bloodthirsty just like his sword, which when unsheathed thirsts for blood the
quench its thirst.