Cultural Borrowing Dbq Analysis

DBQ Essay Asian societies largely relied on cultural borrowing to form their governments, traditions, and societies. These documents show cultural diffusion through Japan borrowing ideas from China regarding government, different perspectives on others cultures, and the outward perceptions on each culture. Documents two and four focus on what cultural borrowing does to help grow governments. Documents one, three, and five discuss how the perspective of each country from the outside can help or hurt each economy through trade or the lack there of. Cultural borrowing advanced many cultures by sharing ideas and being able to modify them to fit their particular society. This can help less developed cultures develop faster by learning from the …show more content…
Documents one, three, and five all discuss the looks of cultures and what you would have to do to fit in. Document one is a step by step guide on what to do if you are a merchant making the journey to China. The writer says that the merchant would need to grow a beard and not shave. He tells them how to fit in and do well as a merchant in China from his own experience. Document three discusses the outward appearance of Tibet calling it “unclean” (document three) and describing the people by saying they “never wash or comb their hair.” (document three) Lastly, document five describes China’s prosperous society by going into detail about their “extensive gardens,” (document five) as well as describing their leaders quarter as built “under the most fortunate constellations.” (document five) All societies had a unique appearance that was recognized by neighboring countries. Cultural borrowing helped people use traditions that had been passed down to them and the traditions that they borrowed from other cultures to form each unique …show more content…
If I could have one more document to further my understanding on how cultural borrowing helped improve and advance Asian societies, I would want a photo document. I would want this document to show and explain the trade routes between the countries in the twelfth century. This document would help me to understand where cultures were able to borrow from and what cultures they did not interact with. These documents show that Japan borrowed and learned a lot form China, but they also indicate that China did not have much contact or trade with Tibet and that Arabs strongly agreed with China’s decisions and looked up to them. These documents show themes of culture, tradition, government, and trade. Each document has a different point of view and idea to give, but all come together to show how cultural borrowing advanced many