BLOG #13: CHAPTER 8 - CHINA AND THE WORLD

CHAPTER 8 WAS AN INTERESTING READING BECAUSE IT SPECIFICALLY FOCUSED ON CHINA AND WENT THROUGH THE RE-EMERGENCE THAT TALKED ABOUT THEIR GOLDEN AGE, THEN TO HOW THEY PUT THE TRIBUTE SYSTEM INTO THEORY THEN INTO PRACTICE AND THEIR CULUTURAL INFLUENCE, BUT WHAT I FOUND REALLY NEAT WAS WHEN THE CHAPTER COMPARED CHINA TO KOREA, VIETNAM, AND JAPAN. STARTING WITH THE GOLDEN AGE, HERE CHINA "RE-GAINED" UNITY DURING THE SUI DYNASTY WHICH WAS FROM 589-618. HERE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CHINA LINKED ECONOMICALLY. AFTER THE SUI DYNASTY CAME TWO OTHER DYNASTIES THAT WERE KIND OF BUILT ON THE FOUNDATION OF THE SUI DYNASTY AND THESE DYNASTIES WERE KNOWN AS THE TANG AND THE SONG DYNASTIES. THIS ERA WAS KNOWN AS THE GOLDEN AGE OF ARTS AND LITERATURE. HERE CHINA BLOSSOMED IN SETTING HIGH BARS FOR POETRY, LANDSCAPE PAINTING, AND CERAMICS. MOVING ONTO THE TRIBUTE SYSTEM WHICH FELL MORE SO IN THE HAN DYNASTY IN 200 B.C.E TO 200 C.E., HERE CHINA REPRESENTED CIVILIZATION. EDUCATED CHINESE INDIVIDUALS SAW THEIR SOCIETY AS SELF-SUFFICIENT WHERE THEY REQUIRED LITTLE FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD AND OTHERS SOUGHT FOR CHINAS WELL BEING. THEREFORE CHINA WAS KNOWN AS THE "RADIATING CIVILIATION" DUE TO SHEDDING THEIR GOODNESS ON NEARBY BARBARIANS.