StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The cultural history of pre modern East Asia - Assignment Example

Cite this document
Summary
Buddhism is the religion derived from the teachings of Buddha whose traditions are different from the former Chinese teachings, for example, Confucianism. The difference is that Buddhism advocates the elimination of desire in order to achieve happiness, as desire is the source of suffering…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER97% of users find it useful
The cultural history of pre modern East Asia
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The cultural history of pre modern East Asia"

THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF PRE MODERN EAST ASIA by The Cultural History of Pre-Modern East Asia Buddhism is the religion derived from the teachings of Buddha whose traditions are different from the former Chinese teachings, for example, Confucianism. The difference is that Buddhism advocates the elimination of desire in order to achieve happiness, as desire is the source of suffering (Ebrey, Wathall, and Palais, 2009). Other Chinese mentalities were humanistic in that they regarded the secular as sacred.

The introduction of Buddhism in China greatly stimulated the development if Chinese religion… acting as a catalyst for the development of Daoism (Jie, 1991). It influenced cultural elements such as the religious canon, spiritual community, and organization of religious institutions. Neo-Confucianism was a more secular and rationalistic form of Confucianism that used metaphysics as a guide for developing a rationalistic and ethical philosophy by rejecting the superstitions and mystic qualities of Buddhism and Taoism (Chan 1963).

Its influence in Chinese culture can be traced to the Ming Dynasty through to the Qing Dynasty. It influenced the Chinese culture including music, theatre, art, Chinese traditional medicine, martial arts etcetera (Ebrey, Wathall, and Palais, 2009). The rise of the Yuan Dynasty was influenced by the unification of China by Kublai Chan and the control imposed by the Mongols across all of Asia, which opened up China to foreign trade contracts. The fall of the Yuan Dynasty was caused by two major factors: one was the class conflict caused by heavy taxation and the other was the contradiction resulting from the Four Class System (Ebrey, Wathall, and Palais, 2009).

There were peasant uprisings that emerged in Southern China, but despite these, there continued to be a corruption propagated by the officials in the court systems. The fall of the Yuan Dynasty was effected by the peasant uprising in 1351 led by a man named Liu Futong. In 1367, another man Zhu Yuanhang, defeated the separatist military forces in Northern China thus launching a deadly attack on the regime and causing its fall. Zheng He was a Chinese sailor, previously a court eunuch in the Ming Dynasty.

He was handpicked to lead seven ocean expeditions to South East Asia, India and then all the way to Africa. The main aim of these expeditions was to show the great wealth of China to the whole world (Ebrey, Wathall, and Palais, 2009). The voyages had over three hundred massive ships and he took with him Chinese silk and porcelain, which he traded in Africa and Asia and brought back black pearls and animals that no one had seen before like ostriches and zebras. The Ming China attitude towards naval expansion was daring and phenomenal in that he risked his whole fleet of sailors and ships to carry out expeditions.

The main characteristics of the Chinese civilization during the Ming Dynasty were the international trade activities that were influenced by the seven voyages. There was also the blurring of the distinction between the four classes. The classes were the merchants, the farmers, artisans and the gentry. The blurring of the classes and the development of the city life led to great economic and urban development (Ebrey, Wathall, and Palais, 2009). These changes brought changes in architecture. During this dynasty, the construction of tall pagodas and arched bridges flourished.

References Ebrey, P; Wathall, B; Palais, J. 2009. Pre-Modern East Asia to 1800 – A Cultural, Social and Political History. Boston Houghton, Mifflin. Jei, Tang Yi. 1991. Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity and Chinese Culture. Cultural heritage and contemporary life series III. Washington, DC: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy. Chan, Wing-tsit, 1963. A Sourcebook of Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, Princeton University Press.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The cultural history of pre modern East Asia Assignment”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/history/1685003-the-cultural-history-of-pre-modern-east-asia
(The Cultural History of Pre Modern East Asia Assignment)
https://studentshare.org/history/1685003-the-cultural-history-of-pre-modern-east-asia.
“The Cultural History of Pre Modern East Asia Assignment”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/history/1685003-the-cultural-history-of-pre-modern-east-asia.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The cultural history of pre modern East Asia

Play and Leisure in Asian Cultures

Besides play and leisure activities are considered as… as old as modern history of world can go back as play and leisure activities are often considered as natural to the people but also provide a tool to live a healthy lifestyle. “Leisure can provide a variety of functions in facilitating and maintaining culture and ethnic First, groups can pass on their cultural practices from one generation to the next through leisure activity.... Second, the use of leisure as a renewal of cultural practice can also lead to healing so often referred to by Aboriginal people....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

East Asia and Southwest Asia

The Himalayas have played are part in this unity of language family in such a large area by restricting or minimizing access to this east asia and Southwest Asia This area consists mainly of China, Taiwan and Chinese Taipei etc.... east asia: Identities and Change in the Modern World... The history of this region is one of the oldest in the world.... The history of this region is one of the oldest in the world.... An Introduction to South asia, Routledge Sheldon, I....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Importance of the Silk Road in the Age of Globalization

Silk Road also allowed the Silk Road has been the main source of trade and contact between the two continents and the history of relationships between the various kingdoms of Europe and Asia can be traced through the history of trade by Silk Road (Boulnois, 2004).... According to the German geographer Barn Ferdinand von Richthofen, Silk Road is the greatest trade route of the world which runs through China, Central asia and Byzantium and thus connects the two most important continents of the world with regards to history; asia and Europe....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

East Asia in the Modern World

Therefore, these movements are considered as the source of east asia in the Modern World In most cases, the millenarian has only been studied in the monotheistic understanding.... east asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Volume II: From 1600, 2nd Edition.... Nonetheless, this term has never been common in asia since asia has ever considered its salvation to be different from other regions that are non-asia....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Eurocentrism as the Colonizers Model of the World

Eurocentrism helps understand the history of east asia because of its effects on how the latter also sees itself in relation to Europe.... Eurocentrism is a colonizer's viewpoint of the world, where the European elite used science, scholarship, and expert opinion to propagate the cultural and empirical worldview that Europe, or the Inside, is the superior inventor and justified ruler of the periphery, or the Outside.... In contrast to the dominant belief and historiography that the West is the cradle of modern human civilization, James Morris Blaut argues that to see the West this way is to see the world from the colonizer's perspective....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Cultural History of Korea:Since 1876

This essay demonstrates that The Korean journey has had a huge impact in the way the country operates.... The basis of its development was mainly the use of dynasties based on the different attributes that define the growing need for a country to shape its culture to benefit the needs of its citizens....
5 Pages (1250 words) Assignment

Perception and Concept of Time

The river tides were calculated by the lunar cycle in the pre-modern east asia culture.... east asia culture believes the time is invaluable.... hellip; True power lies in the ability to control time in the west but pre-modern east Asian culture believed that true power lies in allowing oneself to be free to travel beyond the confines of time.... In the pre-modern Eastern society, time measurement was correlated to the process of creation....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Multiracialism in America

Thus, there is no difficult time in the history of America to deal with racism, then the modern times, which have emerged with a different aspect of racism altogether, which was never anticipated in history.... However, as put across by Bill Cosby, such practice has just exposed the other side of the modern society, where “people are behaving in abnormal ways and calling it normal” (Tusa, n.... This report "Race in America" discusses an unending topic of racism in the history and future of America, since the only ideal cure to this menace; multiracial intermarriages have proved to be working against racial integration, and instead to be supporting more racial isolation....
5 Pages (1250 words) Report
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us