China Political Power

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, power is the ability or right to control people or things. This definition is apparent throughout the history of China and through historical figures. Confucius is one of the most influential historical figures of Chinese history. In Confucius’s mind, the government should retain power, however, not to the extent that they do today. According to The Confucian Ethic and More About Confucius, “the government’s most important job was to inspire people [...] to feed and protect the people and gain their admiration” (The Confucian Ethic 13) . Confucius’ beliefs differ from what is going on now because he is calling for the government to treat the people with respect and take care of them. This may exist somewhat in China today, but China is known for killing political prisoners and silencing people who disagree with them. Mao Zedong, another historical

* From planned economy to free market powerhouse: The post - Mao era ( 1976 onwards )

A golden age is a specific time where peace, happiness and prosperity flourishes within a civilization. In China. This period was known as the Song Dynasty, which lasted from (920-1279). China’s Golden Age was followed by the Yuan Dynasty, which dated from the years (1271-1368). During this period the Song Dynasty was exciting to people. Agriculture flourished leading to the inventions of the moveable typewriter and magnetic compass, paper money, and even gunpowder. The Song Dynasty led to China’s most significant achievement, Neo-Confucianism. Despite the influential importance art and creativity had on the Chinese people, it did not perform as much of an important, helpful part to the Chinese people as Agriculture and Neo-Confucianism did.

• The historical importance of the term movable type is that it is a printer that can arrange blocks of individual characters in a frame to make up a page for printing. This was one of the advancements in the Tang and Song Dynasty. Advancement is gunpowder. Gunpowder leads to the creation of weapons. The Tang’s agriculture also helps them succeed because the new fast-ripening rice from Vietnam can feed the whole population.

The empires of this time period had some innovative ideas and discoveries that permanently changed their nations and in some cases, the world. Both Rome and China had two unique and important cultural characteristics that completely changed their nations. For the Romans, their unique cultural characteristics were new ideas. The first of these new ideas, their unique Judicial System is the basis for many current judicial systems around the world, the other new idea, Christianity is now one of the worlds most practiced Religions. Whereas the unique cultural characteristics of China, namely the creation of paper and the formation of the “silk road” were more practical cultural characteristics, but no less impactful for both their

Art evolves over time, and one of the most beautiful aspects of artwork is that it has the ability to reflect so much of what was going on during a particular time period. This can be seen all throughout the worlds history, from Neolithic wander-gathers carving animals they hunted into their caves all the way to the abstract modern day graffiti art we see around many populated cities. We can see what people value and what is important to them by looking at their artifacts left behind. Fortunately, this is also applicable as we move from dynasty to dynasty throughout Chinese history. During my trip to the Peabody Essex Museum I made my way into the Chinese exhibition and was able to analyze each piece and see what was important to them. The two pieces that I found most interesting were the Model of a house and a pig and the Tomb Guardian. What originally struck me about the Model of a house and a pig was its simplicity, while the Tomb Guardian had a much more elaborate make-up and by analyzing the visual appearances and the functional purposes of these two pieces of artwork we are able to see a reflection of the Chinese dynasty from which these pieces were made in.

Perhaps one of the greatest countries in the world, China, was created through struggle, sacrifice, and much more. Many of the changes in China have affected the way we think, act, and what we consider normal. This most famous, and influential country was formed through wars, governmental change, and the formation of a central religion. Governmental changes have been a huge part of China’s history. The first major government was the Dynasties.

One of the major achievements during the Ming dynasty, regarding art, is pottery. “By 1433 over 500,000 pieces were being produced each year.” (Porcelain) During the Ming dynasty, technique in glazing and sculpting advanced immensely. Colors became more prominent, designs more detailed, and materials stronger with intriguing new elements. Pottery made a big impact on the lives of the chinese people. They molded their lives around these beautiful creations in many ways.

Paintings had little meaning compared to other arts such as sculpting and music. Artists turned to those arts to express themselves, and paintings rarely had meaning in them. China did not consider them very important compared to other civilizations.

When studying the rich history of arts and recreation in the Song Dynasty, it is evident that there were many newly pioneered practices that completely captivated the populous and became the epitome of several long-established genres. When one observes the progression of visual arts through the Song Dynasty, landscape painting established itself as the most prevalent and important of the multitude of forms in this genre. Close examination of entertainment reveals that the dramatic arts, with emphasis on shadow-puppeteering, became the most enjoyed form of amusement in the Song Dynasty. Finally, nothing had become more delightful than the everyday life of a citizen, which never had a dull moment. Chinese art and recreation came to a

China’s stature as a political as well as economic hegemon continues to grow well into the second decade of the 21st century. This has led many to believe that the Chinese Renminbi (which is denominated in the Yuan, and hence, referred hereafter as such) – may soon eclipse the United States Dollar (USD) as the World Reserve Currency (WRC).

1900s China saw a century of fluctuating development and progress, which is recognised through various political, economic and social changes. The early division of the period encountered some change for the country yet this was not as significant as the latter change in which China’s political landscape metamorphosed into one of total contrast to the former. Foreign intervention was of course a reason and usually the root cause for the changes that occurred, particularly in the first half of the century until 1962 whereby there were still some minor influences by the foreigners but other factors seemed to have caused these later changes. It could be deduced that yes, foreign powers did have a significant influence over the transformation

Whole rooms of palaces were decorated with porcelain, small Chinese-style furniture and wall murals which presented the ideal world that was supposedly China. This essay will explore the

China is a land shaped by its history; a country that has suffered great calamities and more than anything else, has grown. China “boasts a civilization at least three thousand years old” (Hutton, 2007) and is a home for more than 1.3billion people. It covers over 5,000 kilometres of land in East Asia, and is surrounded by powerful neighbours – Vietnam, India, North Korea, Russia and more. While Northern China is subarctic, South China experiences sub-tropical climates. The Eastern side of the country, following the East China Sea, as well as the Yellow Sea, is comprised of mainly low lands; China is much more heavily industrialised towards the north-east (Hutton, 2007), whereas, the West hosts more mountains.

The Song Dynasty was the golden age of landscape painting in Chinese history. Many artists developed landscape painting during Five Dynasties so, the development in the Song period was smoothly started. Especially emperor Song Huizong enjoyed contribution on art cultivation during the Song Dynasty, so, the soaring of Chinese landscape painting was possible (Hough, “Sung Dynasty (1960-1179)”). Features of this period are vision of nature and scholarly officials’ participation in the art field. These officials expressed their political view and cultivated themselves through natural images (Department of Asian Art).