This week I read an overview about the Song dynasty. It was interesting to see a bit of a contrast between the culture and the military of the dynasty. While the Song dynasty prospered culturally and economically, the military was weaker, leading to many attacks and defeats. There is no “best of both worlds” situation.… Continue reading Weekly Progress Report: Week 9
Month: October 2022
Weekly Progress Report: Week 8
This week I read a general background on the Tang dynasty. The most interesting part of it for me was the rebellion that occurred in 755. The Tang dynasty is often idealized by historians, yet there were two different rebellions that each succeeded in some way. The An Lushan rebellion led to the Tang empire… Continue reading Weekly Progress Report: Week 8
Weekly Progress Report: Week 7
This week I read a chapter in a book about the relationship between China and their neighbors. It made me think about how often we make generalizations about groups when there’s so much nuance to the situation. China as we know it now is actually a huge mix of many different cultures that can’t be… Continue reading Weekly Progress Report: Week 7
Show and Tell 2: The Government of the Han Dynasty
The social structure of the Han Dynasty was vast and complicated, even among the top. Obviously, the emperor was the absolute top. He was considered to be between heaven and earth as he had the Mandate of Heaven. There was a huge separation between him and everyone else, shown through the palace he lived in,… Continue reading Show and Tell 2: The Government of the Han Dynasty
Weekly Progress Report: Week 6
The only reading we had this week was part of an activity on how to read and evaluate an article. The article I read was about how contemporaries viewed Empress Wu, her legacy, and why she was viewed the way she was. It’s a pretty good article for a general audience who want information on… Continue reading Weekly Progress Report: Week 6
Weekly Progress Report: Week 5
This week I read about an economic debate between legalists and confucianists. They talked about trade, taxes, and monopolies. I found the part about funding war to be interesting because it still applies today. There is still an insane amount of money going towards the military and the justifications are also the same of needing… Continue reading Weekly Progress Report: Week 5
