Letter of Lin Zexu to Queen Victoria Response

Lin Zeux conveys his distaste for opium in the descriptive terms he attaches to the drug by explaining how the 'poison' and it's repugnant odor has made the gods angry. By describing opium as poison it is clear that Zeux is seriously against opium and will take any means necessary to ensure it's destruction. He further adds in the letter that the gods are unhappy and that if Queen Victoria of great Britain extinguished the "evil" that is opium, the goods may be grateful and reward her with good health. Thus, he is also religiously expressing his distaste for opium. Then, the punishments inflicted on opium peddlers suggest Lin Zeux's perception of opium's threat to China by illustrating the extremity he is willing to go to in order to exterminate opium from China. In his letter he describes anybody who uses or had used opium would be executed and any British merchants who try selling opium would also be executed. His logic is that if a life is taken, the murder must give up his life as punishment but now, the same should apply to opium since many have fell victim to it. So he derived the conclusion that anybody that tries to sell opium would be executed. Therefore, the fact that he is willing to take these measures show how Zeux has massive distaste towards opium in China.

Menzies' Argument

Overall, I think Menzies' argument that Zheng He's felt made it to North America is plausible. The reason I agree with his theory, is primarily because of the variety of evidence he has gathered to make his case. He had first mentioned the largeness of the ships in Zheng He's fleet. Larger ships would allow more durability for long voyages and Menzies had pointed out that if smaller European ships could reach the Americas, so could the Chinese. Next, he had mentioned Niccolò de' Conti, a merchant explorer from Venice, who had supposedly came into contact with Zheng He's fleet, and then managed to use their information to construct maps with Fra Mauro. Menzies also mentions how the Chinese fleet had developed a pizzigano chart of two islands that lied close to North America. The island descriptions listed in the pizzigano chart matched the modern descriptions. In addition to this, underwater slipways were made for ships that supposedly docked these islands. Then finally, Menzies mentioned how geneticist, Gabriel Novicks had identified that Native American DNA is more closely related to Chinese DNA than African or European DNA. In fact, Giovanni Verrazzano, the first European explorer to set foot in what is today known as New York, had seen people that resembled the Chinese. The Newport Tower at Rhode Island was also a piece of Menzies' evidence. He believed the the Chinese had left behind astronomical construction in places they had visited. The Newport Tower being one of these constructions, was supposedly used to examine longitude, according to professor Bill Penhallow. An alternate take on the construction is that it served the purpose of a lighthouse. Some of the evidence Menzies used could be questioned but for the most part I am convinced of his argument.

Expansion of Tang, Sui, and Song Dynasty

Collapse of the Roman Empire & Han Dynasty

Silk Road simulation #swindled&hustled! :)

Overall, I feel like I have learned a lot from today's silk road simulation. I noticed that the silk was more than just a route for trading and intact was is a series of dealings that happen in a common area between China, India, Malaya, Turkestan,  Greece, and the Roman Empire. I was also not very surprised when I realized how unsafe the whole process was. As a representative of Turkestan my group was the center of most trading between China and Malaya and Greece and Rome. Although this may be, it didn't safe my group from getting robbed. A member of my group was fooled into a deal and gave the money before anything could be formally arranged, and the person just took the money and walked away. From this I learned that dishonesty would have been common amongst the people trading in the silk road. Then once the language and money barrier was broken with a translator and a banker did not help anybody! The banker was constantly bribed and some of the translators were being robbed. In the end only the corrupt and clever made it to the top with the majority of the money. I believe this shows reason for a nation to conquer another because if I was China or Rome and got my money swindled I would not just sit down and forget about everything after the bell rings. NO, I would have raised an army and marched on over to whichever nation took my money, and would have taken it back! In the end though, I would not say that the silk road completely detract from the societies that participated in it and I believe it was beneficial to a certain extent. Despite all the fuss, my group was successfully able to purchase weapons by selling some horses, and this was a win for me. So basically, I learned that even a broken system for trading could carry out tasks of several nations to a certain extent (where at least somebody is happy); but the real question is, for how long did this last?

This simulation was amazing. I felt like I was learning a lot about trade through the silk road, while simultaneously having a good time with it. The pros are mostly made up of the fact that it was a fun and intuitive learning experience and I recommend we definitely do this again. The cons were consisted of the fact that it teaches you things in an indirect way. I feel like there would have been situations in this simulation that could have lead be to a different understanding of the silk road trade. For example if everybody I had traded with were extremely honest and saw my deal through, until the end; I would have been lead to believe that the silk road was a fantastic trading system. So this brings me to the conclusion that this method of learning could work for other things but not all, but today was excellent in sending the message and we should definitely do this again.

Bahagvad Gita Compare and Contrast

Bhagavad Gita

• Live life selflessly
• perform action without desire for reward
• focus on the duty not the fruit
• way of life
• Krishna & Arjuna
• there is a soul
• if all requirements are met soul will go to heaven (reach moksha)
• if requirements are not met soul will be bound to repeating cycle of birth and death

Confucianism

• way of life 
• Confucius
• 5 relationships
• Father-son
• Elder brother-younger brother
• King-minester
• friend-friend
• husband-wife
• 5 virtues
• ethics and politics the key to "the way"
• ancestor worship

Zoroastrianism
there is a soul (needs to be saved)
way of life
cosmic balance between good and evil
Judgment day in 12,000 years (good souls go to heaven, bad souls burn forever
enjoy the world and its pleasures in moderation
honesty towards others, good thoughts and deeds, be a good person
Ahura Mazda (good god)
Angra Mainyu (bad god)

Conclusion: The information provided in the Bhagavad Gita is similar to that given in the teachings of Zoroastrianism since they both discuss the human soul and how it can receive salvation. Unlike these two religious teachings Confucianism stands as a non-religious teaching for how to live, focusing more on earthly bound duties.

How to have prevented the collapse of the Han Dynasty?

The Han Dynasty was one of the most influential Dynasties in China. Under its rule, the Chinese culture was able to expand to Korea, Vietnam, and Central Asia. Although, with great expansions came great economic and political troubles that I feel the rulers of the Han were just not ready for. To begin with, I believe the Han Dynasty did not necessarily have to collapse. Intact I am about to share, what I would have done to save the Han Dynasty from falling to its doom.

There were several problems in the structure of the Han Dynasty to begin with. I am not going to say that the only way to save the Han Dynasty is to have it begin with a different governmental structure than it did because it is clearly unlikely that a ruler from around the first century BCE would listen to a governmental offer that establishes equality between the ruler and his subjects. In this case I would also not say that to prevent the Han Dynasty from falling, a more wise and less greedy person must have stepped in. Instead I shall explain where I believe things could have been turned around for the better in the Han Dynasty's fall. If you look back closely, each ruler that succeeded the last made attempts to rectify the last rulers mistakes. For example, when Liu Bang had given too much land and power to family members, and found them to be nowhere at the time of need, other the rulers that succeeded him decided not to give family members lots of land and instead give it to officials that can regulate minor districts of citizens. Then came along Han Wudi, who emphasized the importance of education that previous rulers failed to acknowledge as useful, but he too soon fell because of investing too much in the attempts to prevent the Xiongnu's rule. The were a strong nomadic group that was able to spread their influence in a good part of Asia but were stopped my the Hans Military under Wudi's rule. Along with stopping this threat, Wudi also expanded his empire to most of central Asia, Korea, and Vietnam. Though this secured the safety of the empire it brought several problems involving stability. Too much money was spent in stopping the Xiongnus and expanding the empire, therefore leaving economic unbalance where the rich were growing too powerful and the poor were growing too week. Poor people were engraved in debt and had to sell of their land to the rich or sell themselves as slaves, who also served the rich. With such instability, rebellions and banditry made sure the Dynasty fell. So how could this have been prevented? When the ruler Wang Mang came into power he had attempted to establish as system where there was a limit to the amount of land a person could hold, but this idea filed due to poor delivery of an explanation to the people on how this would work. Therefore the rich neglected to give up their land and the poor did not gain anything; rebellions and banditry continued. I believe that if Mang had built more upon his idea and assured that there were certain limits to property ownership there wouldn't have been such a huge instability in the Hans society, since it was an agricultural based society. Meaning that if land was accessible to most people, they could harvest and form a stable structure for a working economy.