Edo period

The printing press made life better for people in many ways. It made it easier to publish written material and led to an expanding market of people learning and desiring to read. As Baugh and Cable indicate, by Shakespeare’s time “…it is probable that not less than a third and probably as many as half of the people could at least read.” (199). Baugh and Cable give another interesting statistic as consequence of the printing press, “The number of books printed before the year 1500 reaches the…

Early Modern Europe is a period modern historians date from around 1450 to the beginning of the industrial revolution in late 18th century Britain. It is considered a transition period from the Medieval world to the modern world, and thus has elements of both in most aspects of life at this time. The Legal system was not an exception as during the 17th century, the legal system across Europe was changing to reflect the centralizing power of the crown or lack thereof. The new legal systems tried…

In traditional Chinese, the status of being in between two extremes is named as “Zhong Yong”. Confucius thought “Zhong Yong” can be the best moral virtue, but it is not widely accepted at the period of time. “Zhong” and “Yong” both mean being in center and on the average, although when “Yong” used independently it may have some negative connotation. Confucius expressed similar story of a water container in temple. He told his students that the…

the widest influence on Chinese culture today. Before that period, however, above all else, people in the Chinese civilization believed that having a connection to nature and to the land was the very important, as they worshipped the land (2). During this period, people did believe in deities and Ancestor Worship, and they believed the gods would be found in nature, hence their belief in having a connection to the earth (2). During the period of the Warring states, Zhou philosophers used three…

“When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists” wrote Lao Tzu. This passage highlights how Taoist view passivity to govern. “Tao Te Ching” written by Lao Tzu is a classic book on Chinese philosophy that was completed in the 4th century BC. Tao Te Ching translates to “The book of the Way of Virtues” in English. This book has 81 extremely short yet poetic chapters, which are filled with a variety of meaningful messages conveyed in a riddle-like form that takes readers into…

His room on Lang Ya Mountain remained dimly lit and sparsely decorated. Mei Changsu did not know how long he was going to stay on the mountain, but for now, the mountain was the safest place he could stay in. Mei Changsu sat on cushion on the ground, his mind flitting from topic to topic too quickly for him to concentrate on the medicine book in his hands. According to the public news that reached the Liang empire, Prince Jing was responsible for causing an internal conflict between Xia Jiang…

They were one of the most advanced civilizations of their time period. Because of developments in their iron working, their soldiers had strong swords that rarely broke. This period also heavily utilized the use of the crossbow. Although pound for pound the crossbow was weaker than the bow, it made up for that in its easy use, mastery, and armor penetration ability. Rich…

The Zhou dynasty (1050-256 BCE) Conquered the Shang Dynasty, the later generations tried to reclaim and preserve the peace of the early Zhou, which would be the Eastern Zhou period (770-221 BCE). The Zhou split up into Western, when the capital was near Xian, and Eastern when the capital was moved eastward to Luoyang. The main intellectual focus was practical political and social concerns while metaphysical speculations remained secondary. Arts and philosophy flourished in China like never…

The Renaissance time period is what most people consider as the bridge between Medieval and modern times. During this time period, many subjects including science, math, art, music, and theology exploded, and allowed for new ideas and innovations to come about. Many famous people, who are known for their renowned accomplishments from the past, come from the Renaissance time period like Da Vinci, Shakespeare, and Michaelangelo. This started the revolution which allows modern science and…

The Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China is “the most awesome structure ever devised by man, one that “lies across the northern borders of China like some great sleeping dragon, stretching and sunning itself on the peaks and ridges of some of the most beautiful mountain scenery in the world…The Great Wall of China was more than 2,000 years in the building, and the only way man can look upon the sum total of handiwork is by viewing it from outer space (Waldron, pg 2).” The Great Wall…