This read on China actually really interested me. This was like a golden age of Chinese achievement. They developed a vast canal system that linked northern and southern china. We also see the creating of the examination system, and with that with we see the process of electing officials based on merit and not bas on privilege. With the emergence of cities we also saw specialized markets, performers, restaurants, and inns. There was also a lot of technological advancement like printing, gun powder, and shipping technologies. They also had books on topics like agricultural, mathematics, and medical topics. For women in the Song dynasty it was a weird time with the rebirth of confucius ideas they were back to the way of thinking that women were less than men and that basically their only job was to stay home and tend to the needs of the household. Women were seen as a distraction and were not allowed in the work place. There was also things like foot binding that was cruel. But they also were given some rights like being able to own land and inherit land from family. Another thing that was really interesting is the tribute system and how that was a way they kindle resolved conflict with neighboring people. Talking of neighboring people they all kindle built off of Chinese ideas because they saw how great it was going for them, things like language, government, and their exam system.
In this chapter we saw the similarities and differences between Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas. One of craziest things to me is the way the population was distributed, 85% of the population was in Eurasia. I think the number one thing this can be attributed to is agriculture. In the americas there weren't as lucky as they were in Eurasia. They did not have animals they could domesticate, they also had not developed any written language. Because of this the Americas and Africa had civilizations that were a lot smaller. Another major difference is that the Americas were isolated so they didn't really have anyone to communicate with like the people of Eurasia and Africa. Although the people of the Americas did not have access to iron tools or animals for domestication they still eventually achieved great things. We see with the Mayans were able to have a political system, engineering, mathematics, and even a writing system. The people of Teotihuacan formed Americas largest urba...
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