The Confusions of Pleasure Essay

China’s population was growing rapidly, almost doubling between 750 and 1100. Because of this huge population boom, paper money was established, and the trade industry grew. There were many advances that were made, such as technological improvements

a. The population of China approximately doubled between the start of the Ming dynasty in 1368 and its collapse and replacement by the Manchus in 1415 in North China . This population increase, along with a reduction in government regulation, led to China’s Commercial Revolution, which lasted from 1500 and 1800. Economic advances during this

The medieval Chinese economic revolution impacted China in many ways. The Chinese were able to import and export goods at an increasing rate. There were advances in China’s economy. The demand and the amount of goods produced increased. The productions of goods were affected by the migration to different areas. It also brought about variations in everyday life in the population and how they interacted with each other.

From this information, the Tang Dynasty had many cities where trading and commerce took place for the bazaar was a common place for citizens of the cities. This part of the economic policy of the Tang may have worked out well for them, but their land reform policy ended up failing miserably. They set up a policy to try to “reduce the power of the landed nobility and maximize tax revenues by adopting the ancient ‘well-field’ system, in which land was allocated to farmers for life in return for an annual tax payment and three weeks of conscript labor.” The idea seemed as though it would work initially, but the

China offered Europeans silk, the finest and most valuable material in China for hundreds of years. In return, Chinese merchants sought gold, silver, coral and glass. Chinese people, desperate to acquire these goods, went as far as to smuggle silk worms from China to the West by means of Tang dynasty monks. Pictures of quilling machines can even be seen in the stained glass windows of Chartres cathedral, dating back to 1240.[footnoteRef:6] The Chinese introduced Europe to many useful crops and materials that they previously had not made use of, the main one being rice. Strategically, it made sense, because not only did rice yield 6 times that of wheat, but the Chinese believed it to have medicinal purposes.[footnoteRef:7] Due to rice?s ?sweet and cool nature,? it contained ?neutralized vital energies of heaven and earth, invigorating the stomach.?[footnoteRef:8] At the time, Florence, often referred to as the birthplace of the Renaissance, underwent a huge economic growth due to exaggerated demand for silk. However, when the demand for a product increases, and one has the supply, the limitation then becomes the amount of people one has to fulfill said demand, and, better yet, the amount of food needed to sustain these people. Since the yield of rice was so high, more laborers received sustenance from the same amount of farming and resources. The Medici family had ?derived unprecedented riches from the silk trade and had used their wealth to fund astronomers, mathematicians, engineers, sculptors, artists, explorers, cartographers, historians, librarians, archaeologists and geographers.?[footnoteRef:9] The Renaissance took full effect, thanks in no part to the riches earned from Chinese materials and crops. [6: Gavin Menzies.

A brief look at the concurrent Qing Dynasty in China and Tokugawa Period in Japan reveals great differences between the two societies, both geographically and economically. Cultural differences also exist between them. To obtain an accurate view of social life in Qing China, one must be sure to differentiate between the peasant class and the gentry. Peasant social life was as any other would be, with the males of the family working

Landlord Bai did not seem to be a bad fellow. As Malvolio Cheng said “He went in for usury and other ways of fleecing the peasants, but on a small scale. Even if he was seen as an ordinary landlord, he was gotten caught in the history” (The dragon’s Village, p.144). He had decided to cooperate and do everything according to the law— had everything ready that the officials demanded. But, when the officials broke the kitchen door, which was seen as a signal of challenging him by destroying his honor, his face “turned deathly white” because the rest of the peasants ran into his house, showing “a will of their own”— carrying whatever they want and some even tried to “steal to boot” (The dragon’s Village, p. 142). Furthermore, while his family, women and children, “were driven out of their rooms into the courtyard,” showing their powerless and desperation— “seemed crushed by their ordeal and fearful of the future” (The dragon’s Village, p. 142). Through this story, I could find that even if the landlord Bai was not found guilty, he was seen as a bad landlord because of the law and the period of time that he lived. In addition, once the activists and poor peasants came in and took whatever they fancy, officials could do nothing to stop these actions, which were seen as self-destruct, and the social antagonism because the landlord Bai was divided to the rich side. It maybe seems unfair, but it was what the law stipulated, and it was what the law

The age of discovery commenced, and the race for China also began. Europe’s grand ambition to flock the seas and obsession over China, granted the by-product of a global expansion and the spark of social contact for the Europeans.

The Ming dynasty experienced one of the greatest economic expansions in its history. It was under the Ming that the Chinese first began to trade and interact with Europeans on any important scale. The Chinese experienced a commercial revolution that included extensive trade with foreign countries, including direct trade with Europe. The Chinese were trading actively with the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the Japanese, who traded silver for Chinese silks and porcelain. By the mid-1500's, China was well on its way to becoming an urban, industrial, and mercantile

Sheng Xuanhuai 盛宣懷 (1844-1916), former Minister of Communications and Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent (taizi taibao 太子太保) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), passed away in Shanghai on April 27, 1916. In November 1917, the Sheng family assembled an unprecedentedly extravagant funeral procession in the International Settlement of Shanghai. Widely believed to have cost the Sheng family 300,000 silver dollars, the mile-long cortege passed along major streets at the heart of Shanghai and thereby captivated probably over one million spectators. The 1917 funeral procession of Sheng Xuanhuai made a lasting impression upon the Shanghai citizens as a grand spectacle in this city. While a living Sheng Xuanhuai’s accomplishment in modernizing China’s industry, commerce, education, and transportation has been fruitfully studied, this article turns attention to a deceased Sheng’s contribution to shaping a modern sensibility in early-twentieth-century Shanghai.

Drinking water was not only one of the most important substances that supported the pleasure of tea drinking, but it also carried an extremely significant function of expressing the scholar-officials’ aesthetic principle during the Ming Dynasty. James Watt has pointed out that the selection of water had contributed to scholar-officials’ critical language of “taste,” such as “dan” (tasteless and colorless), which was a highly-regarded form of delectation.

“Most of the peasants’ clothing and other daily necessities were produced at home. The men farmed the land and the women worked at home cooking and weaving cloth. People had no need, nor did they have the money, to buy foreign manufactured goods ” However the Opium Wars instigated major change to the economy through the Treaty of Nanjing among over successive unequal treaties. Article II states that Western merchants are to be allowed for the purpose of carrying on their Mercantile pursuits, without molestation or restraint at the Cities and Towns of Canton, Amoy, Foochow-fu, Ningpo, and Shanghai. These were strategically selected ports which allowed a large scope of the coastline of China to be fully accessed by the ships. Consequently, there have been dramatic increases in the economic activity of China, for generations of the denial of foreign trade sector, the sudden ease of access allowed commercial activity to flourish especially in regards to exports. “Tea export increased by over 500% and silk export rose to 28 times the previous amount of bales being shipped. Also, with the Hong abolished foreigners could now trade freely in China. Because all duties had to be negotiated with foreign countries, they were cut from 65% to 5%, wrecking many industries within China.” This is a direct correlation between the coerced changes that were made to

Today the children were taken to Miġra l-Ferħa to participate in the longest zip line in Malta. The children were split into two groups. The first group was going to do the zip line while the second group was going to play some team building activities. I was responsible for the second group. Their task was to build a primitive monument out from the rocks, branches and dead grass they found lying on the ground. When the first group finished zip lining it was our turn. Harnesses and helmets were worn for safety. One by one a child had a karabiner attached to the harness and then to the pulley. Then each one was propelled by gravity to the end of the zip line.

Thesis: Although the government’s relaxed government control over commercial activities in Chang’an created an economic boom after the An Lushan Rebellion, frantic government regulations afterwards resulted in other ways of financial suffering that outweighs the perceived prosperity in the markets. The poor administration of market registrations, land tax, and the salt monopoly underlie Chang’an’s supposed prosperous market.

After the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanjing, China had to open Shanghai, and four other cities, as a trade port to the Western powers. The British and Americans created a single International Settlement by 1863, leaving the French to maintain their own separate settlement. These settlements operated with “their own police force, justice system, and social customs” that resulted in an increasingly Westernized Shanghai. Additionally, the Chinese had a municipal government put in over Shanghai, the Chinese city. It became a major tourist attraction with its “Western-style buildings, the streets, shops, and public parks,” and influx of Shanghai courtesans. This rise in courtesans and prostitution was a reflection of “the city’s elaborate social structure” in the factors that were taken account, such as class background and native birth place. Furthermore, the emerging middle class and elite discussed current events, business deals, fears, and issues in the presence of prostitutes and courtesans, making them part of the inner workings of society despite being on the fringes. Courtesans were considered “skilled entertainers” either as musicians or as storytellers. Through an analysis of the role and social status of Chinese courtesans in the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, this paper argues that courtesan society reflected and affected Shanghai society.