China's Search for Order

I found the Confucian Answer to China’s disorder interesting because it drew on some good points. There approach to the China’s problem was different from the Legalists, who focused on laws and punishments. The Confucian answer focused on the moral example of superiors to restore social harmony. The text states, for Confucius, human society consisted of primarily of unequal relationships: the father was superior to the son; the husband to the wife; the older brother to the younger brother; and, of course, the ruler to the subject (Strayer 170). Confucius believes that if the superior party behaved with sincerity, benevolence and genuine concern for others, then the inferior party would be motivated to respond with deference and obedience. Once this is achieved, then harmony would prevail. This whole concept of unequal relationships is interesting because we still see it in parts of the world today. For example, fathers who work and provide for their families are considered “bread winners” and have that superior role in the family. They may set strict rules in the home that the family may not find suitable and may not care cause they are rulers in their home. However, not all homes are like that, some have very good relationships and behave with sincerity, benevolence, and genuine concern for others.

Also, I found the Daoist answer interesting as well. In the face of China’s disorder and chaos, they urged withdrawal into the world of nature and encouraged behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural. It is an interesting way to look at things but I could not find myself agreeing with it. It wants simplicity in living, small self-sufficient communities, limited government, and the abandonment of education and active efforts of self-improvement. It had me questioning, could we really give up learning? I do not think we could because self-improvement comes from learning things, either by doing or by experiences. However, the Daoist want us to stop all of that. They wanted to “give up learning” and “put an end to your troubles.” These to ways of attempting to fix China’s problem are interesting because if you tried to apply them to our lives now, people would probably have a different opinion on the matter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quiz 4

2) Yes, the course met the learning outcomes in the class syllabus. For learning outcomes 1, 2, and 3, we read the text, which gave us a better understanding of world history and discussions and active group work helped as well. For learning outcomes 4 and 5, we had debates to demonstrate familiarity with historical literature and weight and interpret evidence to be able and present a sustained argument supported by historical evidence. For learning outcome 6, it was fulfilled through active group participation and through the reading analysis. For learning outcome 7, we fulfilled that one through our research paper. 3) Modern Western Humanistic Civilizations began to collapse during the 20 th century because European caste systems gradually went away. New castes began to take way in merchants, bankers and bureaucrats and they were able to increase their wealth and power. Also, the American Revolution in 1776 and the French Revolution in 1789 contributed to the collapse as well. ...
Read more

The Laboring Classes

I found the section of The Laboring Classes interesting because it drew on some interesting things. The laboring class or manual workers, who worked in the mines, ports, factories, construction sites, workshops and farms of an industrializing Britain suffered the most and benefited least from the transformation of the Industrial Revolution. You would think during this time that they would have benefited more because the work they were doing helped the British aristocracy and middle classes reap rewards. The laboring classes, however, were shaped by rapid urbanization. By populations grew, and by 1851, a majority of Britain’s population lived in towns and cities. These cities were accompanied with overall bad conditions such as being overcrowded and smoky, with wholly inadequate sanitation, periodic epidemics, endless row houses and warehouses, few public services or open spaces, and inadequate and often polluted water supplies (Strayer 839). It was surprising to s...
Read more

The European Advantage

I found the section on CH 13 The European Advantage an interesting one. It was clever how they understood and mastered air currents. It text states, once these air currents were understood and mastered, they provided a far different maritime environment than the alternating monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean, in which Asian powers had long operated   (Strayer 619). Along with this the European innovations in mapmaking, navigation, sailing techniques and ship design enabled their penetration of the Atlantic Ocean. This was interesting because rather than just sail on boat, they took sailing to a new level by coming up with these innovations to give them leverage. Furthermore, the Europeans had certain advantages in carving out empires. For example, even though they were away from home, they had effective mobilization of both human and material resources. Also, building on their Chinese and Islamic predecessors, they had better seafaring technology that helped the...
Read more