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The silk road trade and its impact
The benefits and problems with the Silk Road
The silk road trade and its impact
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The Chinese society has remained both individual and dynamic over the thousands of years. Most of China’s cultural development has been accomplished with little outside influences. Starting in 1420, the imperial family ruled China from behind the heavy walls of the Forbidden City. They lived in the far, northern quarters of the palace and ruled China’s 150 million citizens from there. This relative isolation from the rest of the world is what created the flowing refinement from the rest of Chinese culture over the centuries. The Forbidden City has been a symbol of Chinese isolationism throughout the ages, not only because the walls protect the government from the outside world, but also because the inner court separates the imperial family …show more content…
In some regions of China, especially the southwest, the country is separated into many different ethnic groups which are geographically intermixed. Because of language barriers and different economic structures, these people all maintain their own cultural traits and live in relative isolation from one another (Britannica Academic 2018, China). The imperial family lives within relative isolation from the citizens of China because of social class, wealth, and family heritage. This separation wasn't meant to isolate the people from each other, but simply keep everyone ¨where they belonged¨. This separation is what shaped China they way we know it today. The Chinese have viewed themselves many ways over their thousands of year existents. “All of the names imply that China is an entity of advanced culture identified with an ongoing civilization …. They viewed themselves as being more culturally advanced than their neighbors, as an island of civilization in the midst of a sea of “barbarians”’ (Embree 1988, 264). This is how they came up with the term Zhongguo which means “central states” or “middle kingdom” to refer to their homeland. They refer to China has the central or middle kingdom of the ancient world, yet within their own country, they split …show more content…
China had two main portals to the west. One by land, The Silk Road, and another by sea, a route through the Indian Ocean. One might think all this expansion by land and water would have made China less isolated and proved that they were looking for ways to expand their current culture and country. However, it instead shows that the Chinese were too ambitious and hoped to accomplish more than they were able to because the sea route was eventually shut down. After Admiral Zheng He returned from his last of seven remarkable ocean voyages, he returned in 1433 to find a change in policy. If it wasn't for this change, China could have come to rule the Southern Asian trading routes. Instead, “the government abandoned all maritime expansion” (Allen 2007, 26), and China turned in on itself and the route which was once so widely open, was taken over by European merchants. It could be reasonably contended that the Chinese were trading and venturing west as far as the countries on the Mediterranean Coast since the second century B.C.E, however The Silk Road remained in use only until 1453. This is almost 600 years to today and even though much of the development of China as a country was done with well before the 15th Century, China was just beginning to evolve out of
When comparing the Chinese and Western historical development, the similar key events would have very different outcomes due to their different backgrounds. During the fifteenth century, Zheng He was commissioned to lead the “treasure ships” for seven voyages down the Western Seas. And, Prince Henry sent expeditions to explore the western coast of Africa. China and Portugal, the both ends of the Eurasian continent, almost simultaneously began marine navigations. They have shared some similar features, but there are actually major differences between the two. This paper will compare and contrast these two remarkable explorers. The focus will be on the ideas and circumstances that influenced their actions, and their importance in shaping history.
Han – a period of time in China in which the country was merged together (Dictionary) Manchurian – a resident of the NE region of China or Manchuria (Dictionary) Yin and Yang – is a symbol used in relation to a Chinese philosophy to represent balance between good and evil or dark and light (Dictionary) Wu Xia or Wuxia – a type of Chinese story utilizing martial arts of ancient China which showcases heroism (Dictionary) Chivalry – of the mind which creates a world not bound by the rules of reality (Dictionary) Peking – a Chinese name once used for Beijing (Dictionary) Taoism – “a popular Chinese religion” which uses the philosophy of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu (Dictionary) Confucianism – a teaching from Confucius based on “love for humanity, ancestor worship, reverence for parents, and harmony in thought and conduct” (Dictionary) Gobi desert – a desert Pinyin or pin yin – a way to translate “Chinese into the Latin alphabet” (Dictionary). Response 1
...e, Europeans were finding themselves short of land and room for expansion due to numerous empires in a relatively small area. This led to the search for land. The political powers sought wealth and hoped to achieve this by conquering Asians markets as had been done in the west. Much like the political powers, the Christian church greedily sought mass expansion and conversion, pushing for missions in the foreign lands. In contrast to the Europeans motives, the reasons for Chinese commercial expansion were desires and curiosity of a single emperor in the Ming dynasty that was not pushed for by the aristocrats, church, or scholar-gentry. Whereas the general consensus of Europe pushed for expansion for economic, political, and religious reasons, the expansion was the doing of one emperor who looked for wealth for defense against the threat of the Mongols from the north.
From 1700 to roughly 220 BCE (before the Common Era), the region currently known as China was divided into six states: Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Yan and Zhongshan, each ruled by different kings. These inter-warring states were already familiar with wall building techniques, each having constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. When Shih Huangdi, the young king of the ancient Chinese state of Qin (also spelled Ch’in, from which the word China derives), conquered each of the remaining five states in 221 BCE, the continuous warring finally came to an end. By conquering these states, Shih Huangdi established the Qin Dynasty, thus creating the first unification of China, and the first Chinese central government. In his efforts to make this new concept of centralized rule “stick”, as well as prevent the reemergence of feudal lords, Shih Huangdi ordered the destruction of the wall sections that divided his empire along the forme...
During the 15th century, the Chinese had one of the most advanced naval fleets known to man. As a result, China was able to establish many trade routes to places such as Africa, India, Singapore, etc… If the Chinese wanted to, they could have sailed all the way to Europe and even as far as North America. However, the Chinese ran into some political problems that prevented explorations in the future. If they had continued their voyages, it would have been possible for them to have discovered the New World before Columbus. Had China discovered America before Columbus, our world would be different from what it is today.
After this, China shied away from maritime travels and expenses and many records of Zheng He and his voyages disappeared. It was not until the twentieth century that Zheng He started to become an interest again. As so, the significance of his travels could once more be understood by the world. Zheng He’s voyages, put China in the history of oceanic “…exploration, trade, colonization, and exercise of sea power, even if such portrayals took Zheng He out of the context of early Ming history and viewed his voyages from a Western analytical perspective.” (Dreyer, 165). Not to mention, the sheer size of his fleet and treasure ships; which at that time was a massive achievement of its own. Apart from the significance of his fleet and voyages, Zheng He himself also deserves credit for rising so high, as a eunuch who came from humble beginnings.
During the early Ming Dynasty, China was one of the most economically and technologically advanced countries in the world. As Ebrey pointed out, “Europe was not yet a force in Asia and China continued to look on the outer world in traditional terms.” China was regarded as the center of Asia at the beginning of 15th century and the idea of “Middle Kingdom” (Zhong guo) began to take off at that time. The early Ming Emperors were not interested in promoting commercial trade at all. Emperor Hongwu, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, implemented the Hai jin policy which forbade maritime shipping and private foreign trade outside of the tributary system (Ebrey, p. 209). Emperor Yongle, the son of Emperor Hongwu, lifted this policy to a certain extent when he ordered his eunuch Zheng He’s voyages. However, he was only intereste...
The Chinese empire had once been one of the greatest and most powerful empires in the world. Before the 19th century, China had a large population and was ruled by families or dynasties. It was considered technologically advanced as China had a history of many miraculous inventions, such as: writing, magnetic compasses, movable sails, porcelain, abacus and paper money. Although China was isolated from the rest of the world, it coped well on its own, and saw no need to begin trading with the west, (as Lord McCartney proposed in 1793), since it was a self-sufficient nation. At that particular time, the Chinese empire was still able to exclude the ‘barbarians’, thus forcing them to only trade at one port. However, China soon took a turn for the worst as important ...
The Great Wall of China is something that has stood for a culture for over two thousand years! It is a magnificent physical structure and cultural icon that represents an immense undertaking that shows a culture to the world.
China has gone through many changes in its history. Changes include economic, political, and social. In the early 1500 and throughout history, mostly all social classes followed Confucianism. Confucianism is a type of religion based on an ideal society (Chang 2012, 22). China was molded though Confucianism but that slowly deteriorated as years went on. One main group that has been a main part in these changes is the Chinese literati. The Chinese literati include the higher-class people such as officials and scholars. The Chinese literati were the dominant social class during the 1500’s but their power slowly decreased throughout history. Throughout my paper, I will explain the Chinese literati involvement as centuries passed.
After stopping at the principal ports of Asia and establish a whole lot of trade routes, he proceeded westward from India to Hormuz, again. A detachment of the fleet cruised southward down the Arabian coast from India, visiting Djofar and Aden,” this time not being directly captained by Zheng He, but he was still the commander of the entire mission. “A Chinese mission also visited Mecca and continued to Egypt. The fleet visited Brava and Malindi and almost reached the Mozambique Channel.” This meant that Zheng He managed to extend his influence all the way till Africa as well! “On his return to China in 1415, Zheng He brought the envoys of more than 30 states of South and Southeast Asia to pay homage to the Chinese emperor.” He had also established small towns in Africa and the west side as well, meaning that almost the whole world was going to be impacted by Zheng He’s courageous and numerous explorations. In these four expeditions, Zheng He had already visited all the places he was planning to and after this point, all his voyages consisted of his revisiting all the places. Also, he was amazed by the locations he had already seen and probably wished to stick to those and help those countries as much as
The Warring States is the subject and title of Griffith’s third chapter, which gives an enlightening look at the life and times in China after the defeat of the rule of Chin at Ching Yang in 453. (p. 20) The country was divided into eight individual warring sects (with the exception of Yen...
China today – powerful and ever-growing – wasn’t always like this. One major event in history around the mid 1800s that we all seem to have forgotten was the Opium Wars. What really caused the opium war was when China wanted to halt all trade in opium with the British. The geography of China is something like a fence. This isolation made the people of China feel like their country was prestigious and secluded from the rest of the world.
It is not possible to think clearly about the Silk Road without taking into consideration the whole of Eurasia as its geographical context. Trade along the Silk Road flourished or diminished according to the conditions in China, Byzantium, Persia, and other countries along the way. There was also competition for alternative routes, by land and sea, to absorb long-distance
The Silk Road was one of the most transformative super highways as it was a significant bridge in the developing the civilisations between East and West such as economic, cultural exchanges and transmission of Buddhism. Zhang Qian was an imperial envoy to the world outside of China during the Han dynasty. The Central Asian sections of