Women From Afar : Qing Guest Ritual And The Macartney Embassy Of 1793

China is a very influential world power and has been for many years. The Classical and Post-Classical years in China were a time of achievement and advancement, especially in the religious movement. Post-Classical and Classical China were very important historical periods, and their religions, and the effect of them on the world around them highlighted that importance.

During the Han Dynasty, Buddha’s teachings were introduced to China by Central-Asian traders and received little support from the Han dynasty rulers. However, after the collapse of the Han Dynasty, the country was fragmented. While northern China was dominated by invaders from the borderland and steppes, southern China was ruled by continuous “Chinese” dynasties. As a result, Buddhism appealed to people who felt baffled by the loss of an anticipated and durable society. Subsequently, in 581 CE, Sui emperor Wendi reunified China with this new religion and gained state support, therefore further spreading Buddhism. It was not until the Tang Dynasty did the Chinese rulers realize the threat Buddhism had posed on them. Consequently, during the

During the 15th and 16th century, exploration became the new norm of society. Each individual country had their own motives, reasons and goals regarding voyages across land and sea. For instance, Christopher Columbus, in the name of Spain, voyaged out to find an alternative route to Asia. The Portuguese, tried to increase their knowledge about trading. Moreover, while some traveled to increase their powers, Zheng He, of China, traveled to discover raw resources and generate more capital into China’s economy. If we compare the maritime policies of the kingdom of Spain and Portugal on the one hand and the Ming Empire on the other the differences in motives clearly outweigh the similarities between these two societies. For example, the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal traveled to spread Christianity, to gain land, to rule over new subjects and to spread their power throughout the different continents, while as the Ming Dynasty was only interested in capital and new/raw resources.

In 1271, Marco Polo’s father and uncle, both merchants from Europe, were requested to return to China for the second time by the Mongol Emperor, Kublai Khan. The purpose of the request made by the Great Khan (Kublai) was to bring back to the Mongol court some holy oil from Jerusalem and “a hundred men of learning, thoroughly acquainted with the principles of the Christian religion” (Polo 7) to convince the Mongols to convert to Christianity. Marco Polo joined his father and uncle for this second journey to the East. As part of this journey, Polo traveled throughout regions of the Middle East and Central Asia before reaching the final destination. Further, while working for Kublai Khan in China, he was sent on many inspection tours which allowed him to explore most of the provinces of China. In all the regions that were visited along the way, and more so in the case of the Mongol Empire, there was a distinct disparity in the culture as compared to Polo’s native land. Moreover, Marco Polo’s religious disposition towards Christianity set him apart from the people of the region –the Tartars—who , according to the Kublai Khan, where worshippers of “evil spirits” (Polo 7). These factors placed Marco Polo in the position of an “outsider” as defined by Hage, i.e. “someone who does not experience either socio-cultural or political belonging. It is someone whose mental and bodily dispositions have evolved somewhere else and thus feels culturally ‘out of place’.

Next is the evidence provided by the works from their methodology. For The Travels of Marco Polo, the evidence for Polo’s conclusions are his own experiences while in China. Therefore, Polo’s work provided Europe a more unfiltered and objective view of China in all its extravagance to Polo and later the Europeans. This unfiltered view point meant that Polo was inaccurate in some of his information. When describing Kublai Khan’s palace, Polo remarked how large the walls are and how extravagant and magnificent it was. The palace itself was in fact just an enclosed royal park used as an encampment. Polo’s observations and vocabulary used to describe the palace showed that European’s viewed China and what they did in awe, even when the Chinese were acting similar to the Europeans in many aspects.

The Europeans who dreamt of conquering Asia were under the impression that Asia was a blank slate, isolated with no history and traditions. However, that is their misconception for Asia from 500-1500 CE “was a vast world of contrast… [and] bewildering variety” thriving with many empires, capital cities, religions, and cultures (Gordon, 177). Because of this, Asia then can be classified as a compilation of many key eras such as the Medieval Age in China and the Golden Age. Such prosperous times for Asian states and empires are to be accredited to the notable networking in Asia at this time period. People who utilized the establishment of fundamental institutions such as the religions of Islam and Buddhism and various modes of trading and traveling were able to facilitate the diffusion of ideas and cultures therefore indirectly contributing to the overall connection of Asian states and empires during 500-1500 CE.

This particular case of Confucianism in the 1986 Journey to the West television series is especially interesting, due to China’s socio-political setting of that time. The influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on media content[4] combined with its usage of Confucianism to secure its own right to rule[5] make the Journey to the West television series the perfect medium to promote Confucianism to the masses. The enormous popularity of Journey to the West

22.  What political and cultural differences stand out in the histories of fifteen century China and Western Europe?  What similarities are apparent?  Why?

Consuelo Vanderbilt’s memoir, The Glitter and the Gold, provides an insightful recollection of life both in and around the English country house of the late nineteenth century. While there is a multiplicity of themes in the short passage on pages 88 and 89, this essay will specifically focus on the themes of international influence – including the presence of the American “dollar princess” – as well as the long-lasting effects of tradition, in regards to the importance of social hierarchy and ancestry. One other theme that also seems to resonate throughout is the prestige of the British Empire. What these themes reveal is the way the country house was saturated by the influences of both the modern and the traditional, especially since the country house lifestyle that Vanderbilt experienced was during a time of rapid change at the turn of the twentieth-century.

1. Trade rights and religious perceptions affected how Matteo Ricci viewed relations with china by taking a different strategy than the other missionaries. “…the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) encouraged his followers to immerse themselves in the language and to become conversant with the rich traditions of Chinese literature (Source 21.2, Ricci, Matteo, in Patterns of World History, Vol. 2, p. S21-4)”. Instead of limiting their training in Chinese language and culture and focusing merely on the conversion of the poor, the Jesuits instead immersed themselves in the Chinese language and high culture of the empire. They gained recognition through their advanced knowledge in mathematics, astronomy, military science and other European learning required by the imperial

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

“I have not told half of what I saw” were the final words of the great Venetian explorer Marco Polo; however, in recent times, Marco Polo’s exploits have been doubted more and more. (Pedriali, 161) Most often cited as evidence that Marco Polo’s travels may not have been as truthful as reported is the 1998 book Did Marco Polo go to china? by Dr. Frances Wood. Through new research done by Dr. Hans Ulrich Vogel of University of Tübingen in Germany, it has been shown that Marco Polo was mostly truthful in his memoirs, but it has also proven that some things were exaggerated thanks to his ghostwriter Rustichello da Pisa, Marco Polo himself, or later copyists.

China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.

China came to realise that it was no longer at the centre of the world after being invaded multiple times by ‘barbarians’ from the outside who were stronger and possessed an intimidatingly sturdy culture and religion which threatened the Chinese culture and world order (Zhimin, 2005:38). China felt threatened and took to nationalism as a non-Chinese solution to the survival of China (Zhimin, 2005:38). However, “Chinese nationalism was a modern idea, seeping in from Europe. It was bolstered by the resentment of European imperialists, with their own ignorant and ruthless

Worthy of mention is the Christianity in China. Dubois explains that the advent of Christianity in China was not solely to spread the religion, but was majorly concerned with economic matters. “the age of exploration. This is the time of Christopher Columbus, Vascode Gama and Ferdinand Megallan,