Classical China's Renissance

China under went a Renaissance period. Their "Golden Age" began in the Tang Dynasty and continued into the Song Dynasty. Evidence that supports their Golden Age are as follows:

-regained unity under Sui Dynasty (589-618)
-extension of country's canal system (1,200 miles in length)
   -canals linked northern and southern China --> helped economy and country's prosperity
-Sui Dynasty collapsed and followed by the Tang and Song Dynasty
   -built on  foundations of unity
-during these periods known as "Golden Age" of arts and literature, setting standards of excellence in poetry, landscape painting, and ceramics
-Buddhism and Daoism incorporating into Confucianism
-Tang and Song Dynasties built a state structure that endured for a thousand years
   -6 major ministries: personnel, finance, rites, army, justice, and public works
-ability to print books
-efforts to prevent cheating: search candidates when entering hall, then place numbers rather than names
  -schools and college was a central feature of upper-class life
-Tang dynasty, "the best ordered state in the world"
-officials were all educated
-Song Dynasty--> "by far the richest, most skilled, and most populous country on earth"
   -population jump from 50-60 million to 120 million by 1200
-agriculture achievement, adoption of a fast ripening and drought-resistance strain of rice
specialized markets for meat, herbs, vegetables, books, rice, plus more
   -performers in these markets
-restaurants offered variety of delicate foods, some have vegetarian choices
-inns for all different types of groups, some only served wine, some had beds
-supplying food for cities through network of internal waterways: canals, rivers, and lakes
-by 11th century, government had 32,000 suits of armor and 16 million iron arrowheads annually, in -addition to supplying metal for coins, tools, construction, and bells in Buddhist monasteries
-inventions of printing, both woodblock and movable type, generated the world's first printed books, and by 1000 relatively cheap books on religious, agricultural, mathematical, and medical topics
-navigational and shipbuilding technologies led world
-invention of gunpowder, revolution of military affairs
-cheap transportation allowed peasants to grow crops to sell --> purchased rice and other products
-government collected cash taxes, no longer for them to give their own products to pay for tax
-growth of paper money, letters of credit, promissory notes

For the women in the Song Dynasty they endured:
-less restricted lives
-elite Chinese women had social life and much more freedom
-Confucian writers wrote that women were still subordinate to men, and must be separated
men defined with athleticism and warrior values, also were educated
-women defined by weakness, reticence and delicacy
-10th and 11th century practiced foot binding for women in elite families
   -for some it's a rite of passage for pride, enhance chances for marriage
-men run silk factories and make silk (used to be women who make it at home)
   -women tend to silk worms and spin silk thread
-women ran restaurants, sold fish and vegetables, are maids, cooks, and dressmakers
-increase in elite families led to increase number of women as concubines, entertainers, courtesans, and prostitutes--> created jealousies in the house
-women now allowed to control own dowries, inherit property from family

-China gained lots of revenue from trading
-had relationships with nomads in Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, and Japan
-non-Chinese adopted Chinese culture (language, traditions, clothing)
-interaction with close countries include peaceful trade, military conflict, political negotiations, -economic extortion, and some culture influence (both ways)


Negatives for China
Overall China had good relations with their neighboring countries Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, and Japan. They embraced Chinese culture and many of their products including clothing, silk, fancy teas, and religion. Many of the neighboring countries sent their students to China to receive the best education. Unfortunately, the changes that were imposed onto their neighboring countries clashed with their original culture.

In conclusion, I think that China did undergo a Golden Age. During this period they made many inventions, and also made technological, agricultural, political and art advances. They also were able to impose paper money to keep track of their profits and revenue instead of trading products or services for other wanted products or services.

15th Century Developments

During the 15th century there were many different types of organized human communities. In Australia and North America  humans were still in the Paleolithic era. They were gather-hunters who practiced "firestick farming" (set fires to burn the underbrush making hunting easier). Some other areas of North America, Amazon River basin, Southeast Asia, and Africa where partially gather-hunters, but also began to become agricultural village societies. In Central Asia and West Africa were nomadic pastoral people. 

During the 15th century in China the Ming Dynasty was trying to eliminate all foreign items. They did not want to support any foreign rule. During Emperor Yongle's rule, he tried to summarize all writings. Also under his rule he moved the capital to Beijing and build an imperial residence known as the Forbidden City. During the Ming Dynasty they reestablished the civil service examination system to create a centralized government. During the 15th century China rose to possibly be the best-governed and most prosperous of all civilizations that began to have the best expeditions visiting ports in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, India, Arabia, and East Africa. 

In Europe, they had their own "process of demographic recovery, political consolidation, cultural flowering, and oversea expansion". Their culture blossomed during the Renaissance period celebrating and reclaiming their classical Greco-Roman tradition. They patronized artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Their art portrayed the human body. Their economy was not thriving like the rest of the world. China and other states near the Indian Sea were thriving from the Sea Roads. Europe wanted to be able to be a part of the thriving trade however there was no easy access for Europe. They imposed a tax that was paid to Europe for protecting the seas from pirates. This brought some income however it was not enough for Europe, so they started exploring for new worlds. They found a huge natural resource of gold and silver in North and South America. They enslaved the native peoples to mine the Europeans newly found riches. The mining of gold and silver contributed to Europe's steady flow of income.

Islam: The Next Religion

Islam is derived from Arabia's Muhammed Ibn Abdullah. He was a man who thought much about the corruption of religion and the social inequalities that Mecca was facing. He was a Muslim who believes in the Quran's word. The Quran "conveys nothing less than the very presence of the Divine. Its unmatched poetic beauty, miraculous to Muslims, convinced many that it was indeed a revelation from God." They believe that Allah, God, is the good, just&merciful creator. He was the "Lord sustainer of the worlds, the Compassionate, the Caring, master of the day of reckoning ". These are all great characteristics of a new religion that attracted many people to it. However some people were afraid of the religion because of their conquest. After Muhammed died Arabs began to conquer neighboring states. Their conquest questioned the power of other religion's gods which was attracted many people. This lead to conversions of people to Islam. Being Islamic gave many benefits to those people. They did not have to pay extra taxes and were able to trade freely and securely. Many states however did fight against conversion to Islam causing people to flee. There were cases where Islamic government would burn places of worship of non-Islams or made Christian religious items illegal because it offended Muslim sensibilities. Non-Islams also could only live in certain places. With these conversions I believe that many of these people did it out of fear 90% of the time because of the persecution non-Islams.

According to Islam, "Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient". The Quran imposed restrictions and protection for women. Women were allowed to control their own property and money however it must be half of what their husbands own. Marriage was legal only if both parties consent. Men practiced polygyny and were allowed 4 wives, but had to treat them all equally and could have sex with female slaves. According to the Quran, men and women are spiritually equal and to aspire to union with God. I don't believe that this is fair to women. These things are not equal because men have more authority. Yes the religion states that men have authority over women however controlling women like property is not equal. It does not say that they are the men's property, but my interpretation is that women are like their property.

Christianity in Africa

After reading this chapter about Christianity in different societies the most interesting societies was Africa.

In North Africa along the coast, Africans were being converted from Christianity to Islam. Muslims conquered Egypt around 640. In Egypt, Christian Egyptians were allowed to practice their religion in secret however they had to pay a special tax to protect themselves from the Muslim government. They were mostly tolerant, unfortunately Muslim leaders began to question the political loyalty of the Christians in the 13th century. By the 14th century Muslims used violent anti-Christian actions such as the destruction of churches and removing Christians who owned the best lands in Egypt. Due to this violence, most Egyptians converted to Islam. Now today in the 21st century, 10% of Egypt's population still practices Christianity. While the Muslims were in Egypt, Christianity made its way to Nubia. Nubia was protected by Muslim Egypt and even defeated attacking Arabs twice. Unfortunately by the 1200-1300s Muslim Egypt became more hostile to Nubia and most of the population converted to Islam. Ethiopia on the other hand became a country surrounded by Islamic countries. Due to the spread of Islam, Ethiopia was cut off from the rest of the Christian world. Ethiopia however has strong Christian roots. There is a story that tells of an Ethiopian Queen of Sheba visiting King Solomon where he seduces the queen and she gets pregnant. This child then becomes the founding monarch of Ethiopia. Solomon is a relative of Jesus making this child a descendant of Jesus. Today over 60% of Ethiopia's population is Christian.

I find this all very interesting because although Egypt&Nubia both were predominantly Christian before the Muslims invaded and took over, Christianity still survived. I am surprised that at first the Muslims allowed Christians to practice their religion and required them to pay a special tax, then later on persecuted them for being Christian because they did not believe that they supported them politically. This caused the Christians to be scared and converted to Islam out of fear. I believe that even though they converted to Islam there must have been some that still practiced Christianity in super secret. Now in Ethiopia's case, I find there whole situation very interesting. Even if the Muslims could have invaded Ethiopia over the mountains surrounding them, I believe Christianity would still have thrived as much as it does today. I believe this because of Ethiopia's deep roots in Christianity. I was actually very surprised that the founding monarch of Ethiopia is thought to actually be related to Jesus himself. The story that supports this is that an Ethiopian Queen of Sheba went to visit King Solomon who seduced her and got her pregnant. This child is a direct descendant of Solomon and Jesus. I found this very surprising because I never knew this. 

Trade Routes

Today we cannot live without trade. Whether it is a trade of goods for goods, products for products, or money for either of them. Throughout our history, humans have traded products and goods to be able to survive. Civilizations are not environmentally equipped to provide all resources to live. For example, in Inner Asia and the forest&semi-arid northern grasslands they were not able to produce enough agriculture to sustain their population due to the particular environment. In order to get agriculture products, they had to trade with nearby civilizations. They traded their hides, furs, livestock, wool, and amber. This allowed both sides of the trade to receive the goods they needed to survive. In order for these people to trade goods, they had to make a trade route. The most prominent route was the silk road that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea, around&through the Taklamakan Desert, down through the Kushan Empire, and to the city of Luoyang on the Yellow River. 

Now one could not make this route unless they were well prepared. They carried and transported goods in large camel caravans across the harsh and dangerous steppes, deserts and oases of Central Asia. Each region brought different products to the Silk Road. China brought silk, bamboo, mirrors, gunpowder, paper, and other products. The forest lands Siberia and grasslands of Central Asia contributed mainly animals and animal byproducts. India brought herbal medicine and spices. The Middle East contributed fruits, nuts, dyes, and swords. The Mediterranean basin brought gold coins, glassware, artworks, perfume, and olive oil. Each of the had their wants and needs by other regions because they could not produce them themselves. By the 4th millennium China had monopolized the silk industry. 

With trade, the different regions were able to share their culture and ideas. Trade was a great innovation however there still were downsides. One being disease. People on the Silk Road brought diseases that other people were not exposed to. This caused outbreaks of diseases causes civilizations to become weaker due to the decrease in population. 

Trade was also able to be expanded even more through trade over sea. People were able to travel to Africa and the Americans with their goods and receive other goods that were not available. With this expansion of trade people were able to be more connected throughout the world.

From Nubia to Axum

Africa's civilizations are one of the oldest civilizations. The Nubians, along the south of the Nile Valley is almost as old as Egypt itself. They had many encounters with Egypt including trade, borrowing, and warfare. Nubia thrived as a separate civilization with Meroë as its main city. It seems compared to Egypt, women had more power/recognition in the government. They were equal to their male counterparts.

Most of Nubia's wealth and military power comes from their extensive trade connections/routes. They had many valued trading items including: iron weapons, cotton cloth, gold, ivory, tortoise shells, and ostrich feathers. It also relied highly on its very productive agriculture.

Unfortunately, Nubia was conquered by Axum and Christianity took over. As Axum rose to power&Meroë fell, taxes on trading made lots of money for the Axumite state. Axum introduced Christianity in the 4th century by King Ezana around the same time  the Roman Empire did under Constantine's rule. Egypt mainly supported the Islamic religion, however Christianity dominated Ethiopia. I find this kind of funny that even though their civilization's adopted religion is Christianity that most of its people practice the Islamic religion. I wonder if this cause much conflict between the higher powers and their people.

The Great Greeks

I find it amusing that even though Greek city-states shared the same language, worship, etc. they still had many conflicts between them. The only time they ever put the conflict aside was for the Greek Olympics that occurred every 4 years. Its crazy to think that these Olympics were to celebrate peace and that it has last throughout these centuries.

The Greeks are known for so many things. Their political system however makes the Greeks really stand out compared to other early civilizations. They created a system when they had a public assembly that could vote on laws made by the older and higher classed men of Greece. This assembly later on allowed any citizen no matter the class to be able to serve on the assembly and be paid. However the definition of a citizen was only allowed for men at the time.

I find it absolutely amazing how the Greeks empire expanded. They first began as city-states and small villages that grew into an emipre stretching all the way to the Himalayan Mountains and Indus River. This huge empire would have never occurred if it weren't for the conflicts between Greece and Persia. After the first invasion of the Persians, the Greeks fought back and were able to defeat the Persians. This win launched Greece into their Golden Age. In this ear, the Greeks built the Parthenon and theaters that helped many writers propell their careers. However after the Peloponnesian War, it brought the expansion of the Greek Empire. Alexander the Great travelled around the Mediterranean for vengeance and for the uniting of all Greeks. He lead his armies and conquered many new lands. With his conquering he was able to spreak the Greek ways of life. This is probably the most impressive thing that the Greeks could have done, spread their culture through conquering these new lands.