...Part 1 -- The History of China Before we discuss individual technological developments, you should read the following three essays that will give you a historic context for these developments. Concise Political History of China, an online article by Paul Halsall compiled from Compton's Living Encyclopedia on America Online, http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/chinhist.html Chinese Periodization in Light of Economic Developments by Paul Halsall, http://www.mastep.sjsu.edu/history_of_tech/chinese_chronology.htm China, Technology and Change, an article by Lynda Shaffer, from the World History Bulletin, Fall/Winter, 1986/87, http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/shaffer.html China's Gifts to the West by Professor Derk Bodde, for the Committee on Asiatic Studies in American Education Reprinted with permission in China: A Teaching Workbook, Asia for Educators, Columbia University, http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/readings/inventions_gifts.htm Part 2 - Science and Technology in China Science in China has a long history and developed quite independently of Western science. Needham (1993) has researched widely on the development of science and technologies in China, the effect of culture, and the transference of these principles, unacknowledged, to the West. The Chinese contribution to Western science is particularly interesting because it serves...
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...The history of Chinese film has three separate threads of development: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. The cinema of Mainland China after 1949 has grown up somewhat suppressed by the Communist regime until now. The Beginnings: Shanghai as the Center Motion pictures were introduced to China in 1896. The first recorded screening of a motion picture in China occurred in Shanghai on August 11, 1896, as an "act" on a variety bill. The first Chinese film, a recording of the Beijing Opera, The Battle of Dingjunshan(汉中之战）, was made in November 1905. For the next ten years the production companies were mainly foreign-owned, and the domestic film industry did not start in earnest until 1916, centering around Shanghai, a thriving entrepot center and the largest city in the Far East. During the 1920s, film technicians from the United States trained Chinese technicians in Shanghai, and American influence continued to be felt there for the next two decades. The first truly important Chinese films were produced starting from the 1930s, when the "progressive" or "left-wing" films were made, like Cheng Bugao's Spring Silkworms (1933), Sun Yu's The Big Road (1935), and Wu Yonggang's The Goddess (1934). During this time the Kuomintang struggled for power and control over the major studios, and their influence can be seen in the ensuing films produced. The post-1930 era is called the first "golden period" of Chinese cinema, where several talented directors appeared...
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...Regular Chinese Lessons Level 1 1. This level is for students who have no or very limited prior knowledge of Chinese language and may not be able to read Chinese alphabets or characters. You may not know basic Chinese words, and find it difficult to answer simple questions in Chinese. 2. In this level, you will study Chinese pronunciation and how to initiate or respond basic conversations in daily life such as greetings, self-introduction, shopping (simple bargaining), ordering food, etc. Regular Chinese Lessons Level 2 1. This level is for students who can interact in a simple way but communication is somewhat dependent on repetition at a slower rate, or paraphrasing. You can ask and answer simple questions in areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics. You can understand very short, simple texts a single phrase at a time, and picking up familiar names, words and basic phrases. 2. In this level, you will study topics such as asking directions and time, exchanging money, booking tickets and introducing family members and friends. You may learn the basic structure of Chinese characters. Regular Chinese Lessons Level 3 1. This level is for students who can meet concrete needs provided speech is clearly and somewhat slowly articulated. You can ask and answer questions and exchanges ideas and information on familiar topics in predictable everyday situations. 2. You will study advanced daily life topics such as hobbies, likes or dislikes, talking about sports and...
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...Governmental Role in Economy and Commerce Across Chinese History Throughout Chinese history, the appropriate role government should play in economy and commerce has been a prevailing question that always incurs debates and disagreement. Over the centuries, a wide range of different opinions—from one-sided view to relatively neutral position—prevails. Each point of view contains its own unique understanding and suggestions on the issue of governing the economy. Despite of the variety of views, the grounds that those arguments based on are less diverse—from either an ideological or practical perspective. From the early stage of Chinese history, absolute unanimity was rarely found in the issue regarding governing the economy and commerce. In fact, disagreements or ambivalent views prevail. For example, Discourse on Salt and Iron from Han dynasty reveals, officers believe government interventions in industry like salt and iron are beneficial to the welfare of the entire country and “are intended to circulate accumulated wealth and to regulate consumption according to the urgency of need” (Ebrey, Chinese Civilization 63). As each side lists either the benefit or the shortcomings, it is clear that the learnt men and the minister hold completely different perspectives with learnt men oppose effective government regulation whereas the officer supports. As the record of this debate contains twenty-four chapters and the first chapter included in Chinese Civilization contains four pages (Ebrey...
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...Brief History of China Prehistory Mythical Era Ancient Era Imperial Era Modern Era Introduction Chinese civilization originated in various city-states along the Yellow River Valley in the Neolithic era A history of 4700 years since Yellow Emperor during the period of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors; the written history of China begins with Shang Dynasty 3600 years ago when turtle shells with ancient Chinese writing were carbon dated in 1500BC Prehistory Peking Man Paleolithic – – – – China was inhabited by Homo erectus more than 1 million years ago The archaeological site of Xihoudu site in Shanxi Province is the earliest recorded of use of fire by Homo erectus 1.27 million years ago The excavations at Yuanmou and later Lantian show early habitation The most specimen of Homo erectus found in China is the so-called Peking Man discovered in 1965 Prehistory (cont.) Neolithic – – – – – – Stone Tools The Neolithic age traced back to 10,000 BC Early evidence for proto-Chinese millet agriculture is carbon-dated to about 7,000 BC Population was increased due to agriculture, the ability to store and redistribute crops and to support specialist craftsmen and administrators In late Neolithic times, the Yellow River valley began to establish itself as a culture center, and the first villages were founded Early history of China is complicated by the lack of a written language during this period At Damaidi site in Ningxia...
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...Beijing Though the Beijing area had been fought over and populated in previous years, the first major city in this zone hadn't been established until 938 A.D. Originally, Beijing had been called Nanjing, or Nanking, which means the “Southern Capital.” Nanjing was made the secondary capital of the Liao Dynasty at the time of its establishment. In 1125, the Liao Dynasty became part of the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, and Nanjing was made the new capital of this kingdom after it was renamed Zhongdu, meaning the “central capital.” The Liao Dynasty fell to the Mongols in 1215, and burned Zhongdu to the ground. Soon after, the city was rebuilt under Kublai Khan and named Dadu, which means the “grand capital.” It wasn't until the Ming Dynasty that this city was named Beijing, and began to take its modern form in 1403. Today, Beijing is home to more than 17 million people, and is booming with industry and culture. Beijing is famous for its public operas which involve song, spoken dialogue, and various actions such as acrobatics or fighting sequences. The Siheyuan (四合院) is a traditional architectural style of Beijing. Based on a square design, a siheyuan consists of rooms enclosing a central courtyard. Hutongs, slim alleys that separate siheyuans, usually go from east to west, and represent closeness and humbleness, and connect old parts of Beijing together. Peking Roast Duck is famous in Beijing, and is considered a prestigious and expensive dish. The chef who created the Peking Duck is judged...
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...2012 中国政法大学 Tristan Alberto Vaca Narvaja [THE LI AND THE FA ALONG CHINESE LEGAL HISTORY] China University of Political Science and Law 中国政法大学 An Overview of Chinese Legal System Introduction The purpose of this paper is to make an analysis about how the concepts of Fa and Li interacted between each other along the Chinese legal history, starting with a brief summary of the dynastic eras, and focusing in what we could call modern legal history, what I consider starts on the late Qing Dynasty. The analysis ends with the admission of China to the WTO, because I think that is a topic that deserves a whole new article for itself, and due to time limitations cannot be developed properly. The reason why I have chosen this theme is because I firmly believe that to be able to understand nowadays legal debates and legislation is necessary to have an idea about the broad historical and ideological Chinese framework. Along the more than 5.000 years of history, China has reinvented itself several times, learning from the hits and misses, unsurprisingly legal principles and legislation has followed the same stream. This papers starts with the genesis of the Li and Fa concepts, relating it with the Confucianism and legalism philosophies. Then, the each section illustrates an important period in Chinese history, emphasizing the situation of the law. Those sections comprehends, the late Qing dynasty, the republican era, the changes during the communist era, the application...
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...------------------------------------------------- History of China From at least 1766BCE to the twentieth century of the Common Era, China was ruled by dynasties. A dynasty is a family that passes control from one generation to the next. A dynasty does not have to last for a long time. One Chinese dynasty lasted more than 800 years while another lasted only fifteen years. The ancient Chinese believed their ancestors in heaven had chosen their leaders. They called this the Mandate of Heaven. The Chinese people often rebelled against a weak leader if they believed he had lost the Mandate of Heaven. There are indications of an earlier Hsia Dynasty, but the Shang were the first dynasty to leave written records. The Shang also developed a lunar calendar consisting of twelve months of 30 days each. The Shang Dynasty ruled China from approximately 1766BCE to about 1040BCE. Shang rulers expanded the borders of their kingdom to include all of the land between Mongolia and the Pacific Ocean. The Shang practiced human sacrifice. If a Shang king died, many of his subjects would join the ruler in his grave. Some people were beheaded first but others were buried alive. When a Shang king died, his next oldest brother replaced him. When there were no brothers, the ruler’s oldest maternal nephew became king. A maternal nephew would be a child of one of the deceased king’s cousins – that is, a son of his mother’s siblings. The Chou were initially nomads who lived west of the Shang...
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...It is worth to learn the world history because it has shaped today’s society. As an international student, it is interesting to learn and have a better understanding on the history of the United States. I was glad to have Mr. Richard Ng to be my interviewee for my final history essay. In the following essay, I would like to tell you about the biggest historical event that has been influenced on Mr. Ng’s life and get related to what I have learnt in this history class. First, I would like to briefly give you some background information of Mr. Ng. Mr. Ng is a Chinese. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1967, and he was living in Berkeley. At that time, he was studying in high school as an eleventh grade student. Now, I am...
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... The Chinese Exclusion Act was a law of United States that passed by president President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882. It was established based on the revision of Burlinggame Treaty of 1868 made in 1880 .The Chinese Exclusion Act is the first immigration law of United States for a specific ethnic group. It marks a major turning point of the American foreign policy over immigration. This act prohibited Chinese workers into United States and deprives the American citizenship from Chinese immigrants for ten years .The amendment of 1884 further enhanced the requirements that allow earlier arrival immigrants to leave and return the U.S. Then, the Chinese Exclusion Act was extended by Scott Act that mainly written by William Lawrence Scott of Pennsylvania, prohibiting Chinese from returning again after leaving the United States. In 1892, the Geary Act that written by Thomas J.Geary was passed, which extended the Chinese Exclusion Act for a decade. In 1902, the exclusion act was made permanent. It required Chinese resident to register and obtain a proof of residence. The Chinese Exclusion Act was finally repealed by the Magnuson Act on December 17, 1943. The Magnuson Act set the immigration quota to 105 every year for Chinese immigrants.( “ Exclusion“,Library of Congress.) Background American had a series of changes in the attitude upon Chinese. The Chinese Exclusion Act is one of the most severe restrictions of immigration in American History. The unique historical...
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...academic discipline. For a general history of human beings, see History of the world. For other uses, see History (disambiguation). Page semi-protected Historia by Nikolaos Gysis (1892) Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.[1] —George Santayana History (from Greek ἱστορία - historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation"[2]) is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events.[3][4] Historians debate the nature of history and its usefulness. This includes discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way of providing "perspective" on the problems of the present.[3][5][6][7] The stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as the legends surrounding King Arthur) are usually classified as cultural heritage rather than the "disinterested investigation" needed by the discipline of history.[8][9] Events of the past prior to written record are considered prehistory. Amongst scholars, the 5th-century BC Greek historian Herodotus is considered to be the "father of history", and, along with his contemporary...
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...There are many reasons to study history a few are, so that we do not commit the same mistakes as our ancestors, another is that u may need it for your profession, also that we may be knowledgeable if history ever pops up in a conversation and another reason to study history is that u are required to take it. We need history so that we will not commit the same mistakes as our ancestors. A sad thing is that even though we learn the past and know what to do and not to do we still do it anyway that’s why history seems to repeat itself so many times. History also helps when u start to work if you’re a lawyer and u get a case and you have no idea of how to help your client you can go back into history and see how another lawyer deled with a similar case in the past. Another profession history could help with is architecture u can see what types off buildings have worked best in deferent situations in the past and u can see were designs have worked in the past. Another job u could use history in is medicine u can go back in history and see how diseases have been miss diagnosed in the past and how to avoid making the same mistake. History is a great topic of conversation u could talk and talk about history for hours granted u know enough about it and that’s were your history class comes in handy. Lets say your hanging with your friends and there is an awkward silence you could start a debate a bout history it probably will never happen but hey you never know. Or you could...
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...of human ideas and expressions with emphasis on both developing techniques and skills for studying art, as well as learning about actual artistic creations. Stanley Fish whom argued that Humanities is merely not a tool but a whole category of its own that is taught is most likely hitting the nail on the head. Intriguingly enough, Humanities is useful in its own way of studies of our interpretations through art, music and other categories of historic pieces. For example, throughout the world people may look at a piece and start interpreting it, while referring to its historic features such as the work of Yun Gee’s painting, the Lone Ranger. The lone Ranger is a painting in which has a historic value which refers to the time period where Chinese were migrating towards the U.S. during the time of the gold rush. They were merely looked down upon as workers because of how they looked and acted. Through the use of humanities people may look at this painting and come up with ideas, “Why did Yun Gee decide to paint this man the way that he did?” “What was the reason for the color in the background and the setting that it has taken place in?” Through its historical value people may use humanities to discover what the painter was thinking at that time period and why he had painted it the way he had. Stanley Fish argued that “Justification, after all, confers value on an activity from a perspective outside its performance.” This is a clever sentence used by Stanley as he is actually using...
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...History (from Greek ἱστορία - historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation"[2]) is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events.[3][4] Historians debate the nature of history and its usefulness. This includes discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way of providing "perspective" on the problems of the present.[3][5][6][7] The stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as the legends surrounding King Arthur) are usually classified as cultural heritage rather than the "disinterested investigation" needed by the discipline of history.[8][9] Events of the past prior to written record are considered prehistory. Amongst scholars, the 5th-century BC Greek historian Herodotus is considered to be the "father of history", and, along with his contemporary Thucydides, forms the foundations for the modern study of history. Their influence, along with other historical traditions in other parts of their world, have spawned many different interpretations of the nature of history which has evolved over the centuries and are continuing to...
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...The book I am reviewing is A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. The subject of this book was the explanation of six different drinks in a chronological order by era; the way they evolved and the influences they had in shaping history. Each drink had its own special role in shaping history and allowing culture to progress besides quenching someone’s thirst in new ways. From the Stone Age to the twenty-first century, Tom Standage tells a story of human evolution and culture through the view of six drinks: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. The main thesis of this book is that these six drinks still fulfill the same functions today as they did when they were first produced and/or discovered. The first drink described...
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