...you were in 20-250 BC and you happened to be in the middle of helping the development of the silk road. At 60 BC they established the protectorate in the western regions of wulei. Too keep prosperity they established intermarriage. Although most historians have argued that the Eastern Han dynasty was the most important the Western Regions were overawed by the Han Empire; many states sent envoys to Chang'an along the Silk Road to pay tribute in succession. One reason the han dynasty was so influential on the Chinese empire was due to Power and strength. They had military strength. “After three years, this famous general made a sneak-raid against the Youxian King of Huns, sweeping to victory”. Later on they established the Protectorate....
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...twentieth centuries, the Silk Road has enriched culture for 2500 years. Exploration of the Taklimakan desert's edges was first spurred by the Han Dynasty's desperation to defend itself from the Xiongnu. Thousands of years later, European empires saw the trade potential Chinese leaders had seen previously. Archeologists made the perilous journeys of Silk Road traders and began to uncover ancient manuscripts, all the while keeping their own record that very closely paralleled those which they discovered. Sir Aurel Stein, a foremost archeologist in the area, saw the Silk Road as a "… special meeting ground of Chinese civilization, introduced by trade and political penetration,...
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...Introduction What evolved along the silk road was a highly complex system of trade stretching between Rome, China and the Spice Islands (South East Asia). For a long period, Roman nor Chinese administration possessed direct knowledge of geography, political or social organisation of the other. It was the traders, from whom goods passed, that profited best from the indirect contacts between Rome and China, and the preservation of ‘trade secrets’, such as the sources of Gold and Spices, and the technique of manufacturing silk. This arduous work was usually conducted by nomads of central Asia and mariners of Indonesia, who, as suggested by Loewe as underdeveloped, lower-class people. What were the ecological factors faced by traders along the silk road? In term of ecological conditions along Silk Road, there will be a focus on inter Asia’s ecological zones along Silk Road, which has four major ecological zones: forests, steppe (grasslands), deserts, and mountains. Firstly, the forests zone along Silk Road. The trees of this area are evergreens, such as fir, spruce, and pine. In addition, forests are a plenty of sources of fur, timber and other products. The population of this area is small, which are living by hunting, fishing or trapping and they are not so importantly in the region’s history in the past. Secondly, the steppe of Inner Asian stretches across Kazakhstan, northern Xinjiang province in China, and Mongolia. This is the “eastern half of the great...
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...THE ROMANS AND CHINA Robert King HIEU 201-B05 September 29th, 2014 The West and East both had major super powers at the same time. The Romans in the West and the Han Dynasty in the East. Both had no idea how large the other was. The Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty both had created strong government systems, military and had vast technology advancement. Though they had major differences, they both made a lasting impression on Eastern and Western civilization as we know it today At the height of the Roman Empire it had close to nineteen provinces stretching as far as Syria. "The simple mention of the Roman Empire is sometimes enough to conjure up an image of something that is immensely stable." Roman's had an emperor which ultimately controlled everything. As same to the Han dynasty the emperor came to power with no regards to the law. The Roman empire had a different way to govern a provinces and a cities. they had some freedom on running their government but always had to pay tax and had to take command from a assigned governor. Then Han dynasty like the Roman's used their military power to take over their land. At the height of the Han dynasty they had thirty-one districts, creating law, currency, a weight system and a measurement system. These systems where to overtake old ones in all of the China. This did not go as well as the Romans approach. The Roman empire took control of areas but did not try and change their culture as much. They still had their own...
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...The Silk Road 1. Introduction Silk road is a road that connects China with those countries of central and western Asia. It starts from Chang’an, the capital of ancient China, to Mediterranean ending at Rome. The overall length of this road is about 6440 kilometers. As the main commodity transported on this road is Chinese silk, it is called Silk Road. It is an important trade channel for those people of China, central Asia, western Asia, southeastern Asia, Europe, Africa, and America to friendly exchanges. The physical and spiritual communication caused by the Silk Road not only riches the physical lives of these regions around this road but also hugely impacts their culture and social structure. One of the most important contributions made...
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...The Han dynasty was a very important time in ancient China’s history. The Han dynasty lasted from 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E., which is over 400 years! The Han dynasty arose because the Chinese people were unhappy with the harsh, Legalist rule of the Qin. Under Han rule, China had a golden age, or a long period of stability and wealth. Education, literature, and art flourished, while new practices, inventions, and discoveries improved people's lives. The Han dynasty improved government and daily life in China in many ways. The government improved a lot under the Han dynasty. They adopted the centralized government established by Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. But they softened the harsh ruling style of the Qin emperor and brought Confucian ideas back...
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...It extended Han military power deep into Central Asia and created a safe route from China to Central Asia establishing the Silk Road. • The other crucial factor in the opening of he Silk Road was the large scale assertion of imperial power in Eurasia. • The Khushan Empire emerged during the first century stretching from northern India into Central Asia and acting as an intermediary between Parthia and China. This made it possible to cross Eurasia from Spain to the Yellow River and spend most of the journey under the laws and protections of one of the major empires. • Rarely ever did a single merchant make the trek from one end of the Silk Road to the other during the first ages. • Goods were passed from hand to hand along the caravan routes and sea lanes that connected four empires. • The origins of the Silk Road were set for one of the great economic and cultural exchanges in human history. • The Silk Road brought China its first taste of Buddhism, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Islam. • The Silk Road spread Greco-Roman aesthetic ideas and even myths across central Asia and even to...
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...Information on silk route The Silk Route is a convenient name for the Trans Asia trade routes. At one point it was viewed as a road along which silk from China was brought to Turkey and sold to Europeans. That is an overly simplistic and not terribly realistic view. It was not a single road but a number of interconnecting Caravan Routes over which trade was conducted. Additionally Sericulture only dates back a few thousand years the Silk Route is much older. The Silk Road: Linking Europe and Asia Through Trade The Silk Road is the most well-known trading route of ancient Chinese civilization. Trade in silk grew under the Han Dynasty ( 202 BC - AD 220) in the first and second centuries AD The Silk Road (or Silk Routes) is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, as well as North and Northeast Africa and Europe. The term "Seidenstraße" (literally "Silk Road") was coined retrospectively by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877 and has since found its way into general usage. It gets its name from the lucrative Chinese silk trade, which began during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), and was the major reason for the connection of trade routes into an extensive trans-continental network. In recent years, both the maritime and overland Silk Routes are again being used, often closely following the ancient routes. The Silk Routes (collectively known as...
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...During the time of the Han Dynasty, many ideas, innovations, religion, and other luxury items were spread on the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a network of trade routes established during the Han Dynasty of China. Cultural diffusion played a major role during this time. Cultural diffusion is the spread of beliefs or ideas to another place. The Silk Road spread many innovations around, including silk. However, the title is misleading because ideas were the most significant thing exchanged, not luxury items. The name “silk road” is very misleading, the name was not even used until 1877 by a German geographer, Baron von Richtofen.The Silk road were a series of “short irregular hops, rarely following any fixed or time-worn pathway…” The main thing...
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...China’s great wisdom enabled them to become one of the most successful civilizations. This was proven through their flourishing economy, organized political structure and modern innovations. The mark of every new dynasty would be the mark of a new economic advancement for the ancient Chinese civilization. The Han dynasty is when we first see Ancient China economically flourish because of their clever tactics. In the Han dynasty they created what is called the Silk Road, which enabled trading from China to neighbouring countries such as Greece, India, The Persian Empire, and Rome. This Silk Road enabled them to trade silk and import gold which expanded their trade greatly. The Silk Road also helped in providing new cultural ideas to ancient China from other civilizations to further improve. Another resource that promoted the growth of the industry in Han China was Iron. Iron weapons equipped the imperial army and iron tools also helped produce the grain that helped feed the soldiers. The Silk Road enabled ancient China to expand its economic powers by trading north, south, east and west to all countries. Many other civilizations did not look to expand their trading while as ancient China were clever enough to do so. By expanding, their economy flourished in the Han dynasty. This time of period was known as the golden age for ancient China. Also, obtaining iron not only benefited their economy, but also helped their military which lead them to great success in both areas....
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...Abstract Dynasties or empires have a natural life span just like humans and usually only last three generations. There are many reasons as to the decline; bureaucratic corruption, inequitable economic burdens, costly technology, moral decline or even external enemies to name a few (Upshur, Terry, Holoka, Goff, & Cassar, 2002, p. 171). Whatsoever the reason, what an empire leaves behind can be contributed to the spread of ideas and practices across many continents (lecture notes, 2009). Lifecycle of an Empire The Han Dynasty is one such declining empire. It was ruled by the family known as the Liu clan who had peasant origins. The reign started in 206 B.C.E. and lasted 400 years until 220 C.E. Having lasted longer than the usually life span, China considers it to be one of their greatest and most influential periods in history (Han Dynasty, 2009). During this dynasty, there were three periods—first was the Western or Former (206 B.C.E.-8 C.E.), second was the Wang Mang’s Xin (8 C.E.-22 C.E.), and third was the Eastern Later Han Dynasty (25 C.E.-220 C.E.). With each period, new leadership brought new clans and factions into the inner power circle of the empire (ChinaKnowledge, 2000). By all accounts, this dynasty was considered to be successful and durable for the following reasons: 1. It had a centralized leadership and an efficiently run government. 2. It was headed by a stable hierarchy bolstered by social and political elite. 3. Uniform currency and standards of...
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...Interconnected: History & theory of Network 15 October 2013 The Silk Road: Past and Present Huang 1 Starting from the 2nd century BC, to the end of the 14th century AD, a great trade route stretched from Chang'An in the East and ended at the Mediterranean at Antioch in the West, linking China and the Roman Empire. Ferdinand von Richthofen – a well-‐known German geographer, named it the Silk Road in 1877. The Silk Road has been one of the most important trade routes since the connection between Europe and Asia was established; however, what are the differences between its past and present forms? How can we compare today’s trade network with the ancient one? What makes the new network possible and how can we make it better today? There are some similarities between the old and the new; something...
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...Comparison of Food Between Han Dynasty China and Ancient Rome By Joaquin Velazquez 2/7/2024 Ancient Rome and Han Dynasty China were very similar empires, despite being seven and a half thousand kilometers away from each other. The two empires' food and meat were far different. According to Jacqueline M Newman, in her text, “Han Dynasty Foods” (2005), “Among the meat and poultry items, or parts thereof, are chicken, crane, deer, dog, duck, frog (bamboo chicken), goose, hare, magpie, ox, pheasant, pigeon, sheep, sparrow, and turtledove.” There were a great deal of meats that the citizens of China feasted on and enjoyed. Ancient Rome ate very little meat,...
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...different areas of life: homemaking has the teapot, pasta and the toothbrush; sailing has the movable rudder and the batten sail; war has gunpowder, the crossbow (not to mention the repeating crossbow), the exploding cannonball and landmines; finance has paper money, the bank note, the abacus; agriculture has the iron plow and the seed drill, different inventions mean more to one person than others. All of the above mentioned inventions are incredible and extremely beneficial. Two that weren’t mentioned above but have become very valuable to society at large are inoculations (specifically a smallpox inoculation) and iron and steel smelting. The smallpox inoculation saved millions of lives in ancient China. It was created during the Song Dynasty (960-1276) after a Prime...
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...Tong Zhang Pre-Modern East Asian History China: Introduction Written records of Chinese civilization date back to 1200 BCE. Naturally many parts of China have become worldwide attractions due to historical richness. The Dynasties of China covered in this chapter will be: Shang (1600 – 1050 BCE), Zhou (1046 – 256 BCE), Warring States Period (475 – 221 BCE), Qin (221 – 206 BCE) Han (206 BCE – 220 CE). Henan Museum, Zheng Zhou Yellow River Valley (Shang) Today, Zheng Zhou is the provincial capital of the Henan Province and is a fast growing city that is one of the centers of technology and politics in China. Lying on the southern bank of the Yellow River (Huang He) Zheng Zhou is home to many beautiful pagodas, Shaolin Temples, and amazing sceneries. Though a bustling megacity today, Zheng Zhou has been an integral part of since the Shang Dynasty of China starting in 1600 BCE. During the Bronze Age, the huge country we call China today had hardly developed. At the time, people understood very little so the base of Chinese culture known as Di (or god) was created. Di gave the Shang people a sense of predictability and understanding of the world. For example, they used Di to predict whether a harvest was to be good or bad. The Shang people communicated with Di through Oracle Bones and Pyromancy. Ritual specialists would use fire to strike a special oracle bone. The grains in the bone would crack in a certain direction and the Shang people would take that as a sign...
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