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Life in Ancient China

RobertChambliss — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:38:23 CST

yeah i know, what a freak

FYI, Whoever wrote this is a complete idiot and a horrible writer
I Wish I were an oscar mire wiener, O that is what I really want to be, if I were an oscar mire wiener, everyone would be in love with me!
(thunderous applause)
Ancient Chinese society was divided into two distinct classes, the upper and the lower class. Within each class, there was also a hierarchy of social status. Below, briefly describe the members of each of these classes:

The Upper Class: The Emperor and his family were at the top of the social pyramid. Government officials were next and could come from any social class as long as they passed 3 amazingly hard tests. Lots of times, there were limited posts for government officials, so many who qualified but did not get a post were made into scholars. Scholars were never very rich, but were respected because of their knowledge. Next were the gentry, who didn't exactly have a lot of knowledge, but were businesspeople, who rented out parts of their vast amount of land that they owned to poorer people, like peasants. The gentry also mostly had their own militia, to defend themselves. This gave them enough power to become warlords.

The Lower Class: Soldiers were considered lower class because they were only sent out to fight - and most likely die. Only the generals earned respect. Merchants were looked down on, mainly because they sold things that other people had made. Although they were a big part of China's economic growth, they were considered thieves. Scientists had helped the society with their 'inventions' such as gunpowder, paper etc. The reason why scientists were not considered of the Upper Class was because they did not prove themselves from taking any test or anything. They just fooled around with tools and objects and eventually something "magical" happened, thanks to happy accidents, and they had an invention. The peasants had small families and lived in mud-brick houses. They owned very little land, usually rented the gentry's land, and were generally living in poverty. Even if they worked very hard, they stayed as peasants because of high taxes

The Social Pyramid: In the boxes below, place the social groups identified above in the appropriate place in the social pyramid. The highest spot should be occupied, of course, by the most powerful and highest status member of society. The lowest (and largest) spot should be made up of the weakest and lowest status members of society.

The Emperor and his family

Gentry- Land owners were wealthy because they owned a large portion of land and they rented their land for money, collected taxes, served as judges and led militia (their own armies which then turns them into warlords).

Government officials- members of the civil service created by the Han Dynasty. They could come from any social class as long as they pass a series of difficult exams to achieve a postition. For the people who are qualified but don't have a space to be one becomes a scholar. Scholars are never rich.

Rich and the cool guys ↑ Poor and the okayish guys↓

Soldiers - it was only the generals who earned respect, merchants - they may have been rich because of the trades, however they are still specified as the lower class and are being looked down upon. their trades helped China's economic growth. Scientists had helped the society with their 'inventions' such as gunpowder, paper, printing, compass etc.

The peasants have small families and lived in mud-brick houses. They owned very little land, they usually rented gentry and lived a harsh life. They were the bottom of the social pyramid. The peasants were'nt at the bottom of the social class! They were considered to be above the scholar-gentry. Learn something!

Confucianism vs. Legalism: a Clash of Philosophies

ben10000rocks — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:30:36 CST

When the Qin Dynasty came to power in 221 BC, it found itself ruling over a land where the teachings of Confucius had been spreading for almost 300 years. Qin attempted to rule China using a new philopsophy, that of Legalism.

How did Confucianism and Legalism differ? What were their views on different aspects of social, political, and familial issues? In the table below, compare and contrast some the positions of Confucianism and Legalism on the topics indicated:

Aspect of Chinese society	Confucianism	Legalism
The role of the government	Government was extremely important. A ruler had to be good in order for his subjects to be good and obey him. Government existed for the benefit of the people, not the other way around.	The people are there to serve the government. The government comes before everything in a Legalist society.
Relationships between individuals in society	People should love and respect each other (treat each other by the golden rule).	The people should not focus on being loving and caring. Instead, they should spy on everyone around them to report any law breaking.
Importance of traditional Chinese history and poetry	History and poetry are educational resources and people can study them to further educate themselves.	History and poetry didn't help make the government more powerful, therefore they were useless and a waste of people's time.
Responsibility towards family	Family always came first before anything. A son/daughter should do his/her best to protect and respect his/her family.	Family came second to obeying the laws. One's duty was to turn his or her family members into the government if one of their family members broke a law.
Social mobility	As long as you study hard and are a learned person, then you can move up in social class. A man should not be born into power and nobility, he should prove himself worthy through how educated he is.	You could change your social status all depending on how many heads you kill during wars. The more, the higher status you are.
Religion	Religion wasn't practiced in Confucianism. Confucius believed that people should focus less on the supernatural and spend more time working towards a peaceful and caring society.	Religion is allowed to be practiced if it does not involve any behaviors that do not benifit the state and support the same behaiviors the government wants to encourage.
Education	He believed that of all things someone could have, education was the most important. "An emperor with no education is no better than a peasant with education."	Scholars and books that disagreed with Legalists beliefs were destroyed. Legalists wanted people to think the same way and not gain too much knowledge.

In your opinion, which of the above two philosophies is more visible in China today? In the space below, type your name followed by your observations of the above two systems in modern China.

Confucianism vs. Legalism in China Today:

Justin- I believe Legalism is more visible in China today. There are many traces of Legalism in China today, two being the high capital punishment rate and the law that prevents reporters from writing articles that oppose or demean the government. Recently, China has been focusing on increasing educational opportunities (Confucianism), but their main goal isn't to increase the number of educated people, it is to help make the nation richer. This shows that China still has Legalist incentives behind their actions.

Tara - like justin, i think that legalism is more visible, especially to foreigners who only hear things in the news. china wants to increase it's GDP, china has a large captial punishment rate, etc.
however, i also think that confucianism plays a big roll in chinese people's lives, if you look in deeper. many chinese people, if they can afford it, are big on education (maybe this is powered by the will to increase GDP, but they are still willing to learn like confucius). also, chinese families are very close and caring for elders.

Laura- Justin and Tara both make good points. However, I think that Tara is wrong in saying that the Chinese society only seems legalist because of the media etc. Certainly, the media plays a large role in how we view China, but the media's message is not entirely false. China is still a legalist society, though not as severely legalist as Qin 's time. This may not, however, be because Chinese governmental ideals have changed, but simply because it is no longer as easy to run a dictatorship and put people to death for just anything. What I am trying to say is that the chinese government may not find legalist ideals absurd or out of the question. The reason that they do not enforce them may not be because they don't like them but simply because as China becomes more wealthy, it's people demand more rights. Examples of legalism today: the one child policy, government owning all the land...etc.

Eric- I especially agree with Tara. Confucious's teachings are still applied in modern life. for example, how family is always first. This idea might have even spread world wide. And, i also believe that legalism in China is dying. chinese people are happy, so the government must be doing something right. yes, china is keen about filtering websites and
the miedia and stuff, but the stifling of foreign things is becoming less and less. Im not saying that china's government
today is great, but i think its going in the right direction.
by the way laura i dont think they have the one child policy any more.

Ben- I agree with everyone but i see Confucianism and Legalism. There might be harsh punishments but that is just one part of it. All the family love and the main 5 Relationships are still there. So i think the conclusion is that there is legalism and Confucianism.

Asia

vivadanci — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:46:25 CDT

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Asia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation).

Asia

Area Population Density Demonym No. of countries Countries Dependencies Unrecognized Republics & Regions Languages Time Zones Internet TLD Largest Cities

43,810,582 km² (16,915,360.3 sq mi)

3,879,000,000 (1st)[1]

89.07/km² (230.7)/sq mi)

Asian

Asian dependencies[show]

Akrotiri and Dhekelia
British Indian Ocean Territory
Christmas Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Unrecognized Asian countries & regions[show]

Abkhazia
Gaza Strip (Palestine)
Nagorno-Karabakh
South Ossetia
Taiwan
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
West Bank (Palestine)

Asian languages[show]

more than 50 million native speakers:
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Bengali
Burmese
Cantonese (Chinese)
Divehi
Dzongkha
English
Filipino
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Indonesian
Japanese
Javanese
Kazakh
Khmer
Korean
Kurdish
Kyrgyz
Lao
Malay
Mandarin (Chinese)
Marathi
Nepali
Min (Taiwanese/Chinese)
Mongolian
Persian
Portuguese
Punjabi
Russian
Sinhalese
Tajik
Tamil
Telugu
Tetum
Thai
Turkish
Turkmen
Urdu
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Wu (Chinese)

+2 to +12[show]

+2
+3
+3:30
+4
+4:30
+4:51
+5
+5:30
+5:40
+5:45
+6
+6:30
+7
+7:20
+7:30
+8
+8:30
+8:45
+9
+9:30
+10
+10:30
+11
+11:30
+12

.asia, many others

Largest Cities in Asia[show]

Tokyo
Seoul
Mumbai
Jakarta
Osaka
Shanghai
Manila
Hong Kong
Tehran
Kolkata
Beijing

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.4% of its land area) and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population. Chiefly in the eastern and northern hemispheres, Asia is traditionally defined as part of the landmass of Eurasia—with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe—lying east of the Suez Canal, east of the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black Seas. It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Given its size and diversity, Asia—a toponym dating back to classical antiquity—is more a cultural concept incorporating a number of regions and peoples than a homogeneous physical entity [2][3] (see Subregions of Asia, Asian people).
//

Etymology

Look up Asia in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word Asia originated from the Ancient Greek word "Ασία", first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BC) in reference to Anatolia or, for the purposes of describing the Persian Wars, to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. Herodotus comments that he is puzzled as to why three women's names are used to describe one enormous and substantial land mass (Europa, Asia, and Libya, referring to Africa), stating that most Greeks assumed that Asia was named after the wife of Prometheus but that the Lydians say it was named after Asias, son of Cotys who passed the name on to a tribe in Sardis.
Even before Herodotus, Homer knew of a Trojan ally named Asios and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). The Greek language term may be derived from Assuwa, a 14th century BC confederation of states in Western Anatolia. Hittite assu-—"good" is probably an element in that name.
Alternatively, the etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word (w)aṣû(m), which means "to go outside" or "to ascend", referring to the direction of the sun at sunrise in the Middle East, and also likely connected with the Phoenician word asa meaning east. This may be contrasted to a similar etymology proposed for Europe, as being from Akkadian erēbu(m) "to enter" or "set" (of the sun). However, this etymology is considered doubtful, because it does not explain how the term "Asia" first came to be associated with Anatolia, which is west of the Semitic-speaking areas, unless they refer to the viewpoint of a Phoenician sailor sailing through the straits between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.
It is interesting to note, in Icelandic Saga, ancient Teutons separated Asia from Europe by the river Tanakvisl (or Vanakvisl), which flows into the Black Sea. Eastward across the River (in Asia), so legend tells, was a land known as Asaheim or Asaland, where dwelt Odin, chief god, in his citadel named Asgard.[4] However, Aesir and all its forms are related to Sanskrit asura and Avestan ahura, the local reflexes of the name of a class of divine beings.

Definition and boundaries

Physical geography

See also: Geography of Asia, Countries in both Asia and Europe, Geographic criteria for the definition of Europe

Physical map of Asia (excluding Southwest Asia).

Two-point equidistant projection of Asia.

Medieval Europeans considered Asia as a continent – a distinct landmass. The European concept of the three continents in the Old World goes back to Classical Antiquity, but during the Middle Ages was notably due to Isidore of Sevilla (see T and O map). The demarcation between Asia and Africa (to the southwest) is the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea. The boundary between Asia and Europe is conventionally considered to run through the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Ural River to its source, and the Ural Mountains to the Kara Sea near Kara, Russia. While this interpretation of tripartite continents (i.e., of Asia, Europe, and Africa) remains common in modernity, discovery of the extent of Africa and Asia have made this definition somewhat anachronistic. This is especially true in the case of Asia, which would have several regions that would be considered distinct landmasses if these criteria were used (for example, Southern Asia and Eastern Asia).
In the far northeast of Asia, Siberia is separated from North America by the Bering Strait. Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean (specifically, from west to east, the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, and Bay of Bengal); on the east by the waters of the Pacific Ocean (including, counterclockwise, the South China Sea, East China Sea, Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, and Bering Sea); and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Australia (or Oceania) is to the southeast.
Some geographers do not consider Asia and Europe to be separate continents,[5] as there is no logical physical separation between them.[3] Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia – with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass – or of Afro-Eurasia: geologically, Asia, Europe, and Africa comprise a single continuous landmass (save the Suez Canal) and share a common continental shelf. Almost all of Europe and most of Asia sit atop the Eurasian Plate, adjoined on the south by the Arabian and Indian Plates, and with the easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Cherskiy Range) on the North American Plate.
In geography, there are two schools of thought. One school follows historical convention and treats Europe and Asia as different continents, categorizing subregions within them for more detailed analysis. The other school equates the word "continent" with a geographical region when referring to Europe, and use the term "region" to describe Asia in terms of physiography. Since, in linguistic terms, "continent" implies a distinct landmass, it is becoming increasingly common to substitute the term "region" for "continent" to avoid the problem of disambiguation altogether.
Given the scope and diversity of the landmass, it is sometimes not even clear exactly what "Asia" consists of. Some definitions exclude Turkey, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Russia while only considering the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent to compose Asia,[6][7] especially in the United States after World War II.[8] The term is sometimes used more strictly in reference to the Asia-Pacific region, which does not include the Middle East or Russia,[9] but does include islands in the Pacific Ocean—a number of which may also be considered part of Australasia or Oceania, although Pacific Islanders are commonly not considered Asian.[10]

Political geography

"Asian" as a demonym

See also: Orientalism. The demonym "Asian" is often used colloquially to refer to people from a subregion of Asia instead of for anyone from Asia. Thus, in British English, "Asian" can mean South Asian, but may also refer to other Asian groups.[11] In the United States, "Asian American" can mean East Asian Americans, due to the historical and cultural influences of China and Japan on the U.S. up to the 1960s and in preference to the terms "Oriental" and "Asiatic". However, the term is increasingly taken to include Southeast Asian Americans and South Asian Americans, due to the increasing numbers of them.[12]

Territories and regions

UN geoscheme subregions of Asia: Eastern Asia Central Asia Southern Asia Southeastern Asia Western Asia Russia (Asia)

Name of region [13] and
territory, with flag Area
(km²) Population
(1 July 2008 est.) Population density
(per km²) Capital

Central Asia:
Kazakhstan [14]	2,346,927	15,340,533	5.7	Astana
Kyrgyzstan	198,500	5,356,869	24.3	Bishkek
Tajikistan	143,100	7,211,884	47.0	Dushanbe
Turkmenistan	488,100	5,179,573	9.6	Ashgabat
Uzbekistan	447,400	28,268,441	57.1	Tashkent
Eastern Asia:
China [15]	9,584,492	1,322,044,605	134.0	Beijing
Hong Kong, China [16]	1,092	7,903,334	6,688.0	—
Japan	377,835	127,288,628	336.1	Tokyo
Macau, China [17]	25	460,823	18,473.3	—
Mongolia	1,565,000	2,996,082	1.7	Ulaanbaatar
North Korea	120,540	23,479,095	184.4	Pyongyang
South Korea	98,480	49,232,844	490.7	Seoul
Republic of China (Taiwan)[18]	35,980	22,920,946	626.7	Taipei
Northern Africa:
Egypt [19]	980,869	81,713,517	21.7	Cairo
Northern Asia:
Russia [20]	13,115,200	140,702,092	3.0	Moscow
Southeastern Asia:[21]
Brunei	5,770	381,371	60.8	Bandar Seri Begawan
Cambodia	181,040	14,241,640	70.6	Phnom Penh
East Timor (Timor-Leste)[22]	15,007	1,108,777	63.5	Dili
Indonesia [23]	1,419,588	237,512,355	159.9	Jakarta
Laos	236,800	6,677,534	24.4	Vientiane
Malaysia	329,750	25,274,135	68.7	Kuala Lumpur
Myanmar (Burma)	678,500	47,758,224	62.3	Naypyidaw [24]
Philippines	300,000	92,681,453	281.8	Manila
Singapore	704	4,608,167	6,369.0	Singapore
Thailand	514,000	65,493,298	121.3	Bangkok
Vietnam	331,690	86,116,559	246.1	Hanoi
Southern Asia:
Afghanistan	647,500	32,738,775	42.9	Kabul
Bangladesh	144,000	153,546,901	926.2	Dhaka
Bhutan	47,000	682,321	14.3	Thimphu
India [25]	3,167,590	1,147,995,226	318.2	New Delhi
Iran	1,648,195	65,875,223	42	Tehran
Maldives	300	379,174	1,067.2	Malé
Nepal	140,800	29,519,114	183.8	Kathmandu
Pakistan	803,940	167,762,049	183.7	Islamabad
Sri Lanka	65,610	21,128,773	298.4	Colombo
Western Asia:
Armenia [26]	29,800	2,968,586	111.7	Yerevan
Azerbaijan [27]	46,870	3,845,127	82.0	Baku
Bahrain	665	718,306	987.1	Manama
Cyprus [28]	9,250	792,604	83.9	Nicosia
Gaza [29]	363	1,537,269	3,315.7	Gaza
Georgia [30]	20,460	4,630,841	99.3	Tbilisi
Iraq	437,072	28,221,181	54.9	Baghdad
Israel	20,770	7,112,359	290.3	Jerusalem [31]
Jordan	92,300	6,198,677	57.5	Amman
Kuwait	17,820	2,596,561	118.5	Kuwait City
Lebanon	10,452	3,971,941	353.6	Beirut
Oman	212,460	3,311,640	12.8	Muscat
Qatar	11,437	928,635	69.4	Doha
Saudi Arabia	1,960,582	23,513,330	12.0	Riyadh
Syria	185,180	19,747,586	92.6	Damascus
Turkey [32]	756,768	71,892,807	76.5	Ankara
United Arab Emirates	82,880	4,621,399	29.5	Abu Dhabi
West Bank [29]	5,860	2,611,904	393.1	—
Yemen	527,970	23,013,376	35.4	Sanaá
Total	43,810,582	4,050,404,193	89.07

Country name changes

The names of quite a few Asian countries have changed during the last century.
Previous Name Year Current Name

East Pakistan	1971	Bangladesh, People's Republic of
Kampuchea, Democratic	1975	Cambodia, Kingdom of
Portuguese Timor	1975	East Timor, Democratic Republic of
Dutch East Indies	1949	Indonesia, Republic of
Persian Empire	1935	Iran, Republic of
Transjordan	1946	Jordan, Kingdom of
Kirghizia (USSR)	1991	Kyrgyzstan, Republic
Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore	1963	Malaysia
Burma	1989	Myanmar, Union of
Muscat	1971	Oman, Sultanate of
West Pakistan	1971	Pakistan, Republic of
Hejaz-Nejd, The Kingdom of	1932	Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of
Aden	1970	South Yemen, People's Republic of
Ceylon	1972	Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of
Formosa, Republic	1945	Taiwan
Tajik S.S.R	1991	Tajikistan, Republic of
Siam	1939	Thailand, Kingdom of
Ottoman Empire	1923	Turkey, Republic of
Turkmen SSR (USSR)	1991	Turkmenistan
Trucial Oman & Trucial States	1971	United Arab Emirates
French Indo-China	1949	Vietnam, Socialist Republic of
Yemen, People's Democratic & Southern Yemen	1970	Yemen, Republic of

Economy

This article or section needs to be updated.
Please update the article to reflect recent events / newly available information, and remove this template when finished.

Economy of Asia
During 2003 unless otherwise stated

Population:	3,958,768,100 (2006 Estimate)
GDP (PPP):	US$18.077 trillion
GDP (Currency):	$8.782 trillion
GDP/capita (PPP):	$4,518
GDP/capita (Currency):	$2,143
Millionaires:	2.0 million (0.05%)
Most numbers are from the UNDP from 2002, some numbers exclude certain countries for lack of information.
See also: Economy of the world - Economy of Africa - Economy of Asia - Economy of Europe - Economy of North America - Economy of Oceania - Economy of South America

Main article: Economy of Asia

Asia has the third largest nominal GDP of all continents, after North America and Europe, but the largest when measured in PPP. As of 2007, the largest national economy within Asia, in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), is that of China followed by that of India, Japan and South Korea. However, in nominal (exchange value) terms, they rank as follows: Japan, China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Indonesia. Since the 1960s, South Korea had maintained the highest economic growth rate in Asia, nicknamed as an Asian tiger, becoming a newly industrialized country in the 1980s and a developed country by the 21st century. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of the PRC[33] and India have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. Other recent very high growth nations in Asia include the Philippines, Pakistan, Vietnam, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman.
Historically, Japan has had the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1986 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as the EU, NAFTA or APEC). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP was almost as large (current exchange rate method) as that of the rest of Asia combined. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equalled that of the USA to tie as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in the four countries of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the pacific rim, known as the Asian tigers, which have now all received developed country status, having the highest GDP per capita in Asia.
It is forecast that the People's Republic of China will surpass Japan to have the largest nominal and PPP-adjusted GDP in Asia within a decade. India is also forecast to overtake Japan in terms of Nominal GDP by 2020.[34] In terms of GDP per capita, both nominal and PPP-adjusted, South Korea will become the second wealthiest country in Asia by 2025, overtaking Germany, UK and France and 25 years later, surpass Japan, becoming the wealthiest country in Asia.

Trade blocs

Natural resources

Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum forests, fish, water, and metal.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of multinational corporations, but increasingly mainland China, Taiwan, and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure.

Financial and other services

Asia has four main financial centres: India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo. Call centres and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly-skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the People's Republic of China as financial centres. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become a major hub for outsourcing.

Early history

Main article: History of Asia

Map of Asia, 1892

The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Central Asian steppes.
The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Huanghe shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states, and empires developed in these lowlands.
The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from the steppes. The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia, was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate, and tundra. These areas remained very sparsely populated.
The center and the peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies.

Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian Nobel laureate.

Languages and literature

Main article: Languages of Asia

Asia is home to several language families and many language isolates. Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue, more than 600 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 415 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in the Philippines. The People's Republic of China has many languages and dialects in different provinces.

Nobel prizes

The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet, dramatist, and writer from Santiniketan, now in West Bengal, India, became in 1913 the first Asian Nobel laureate. He won his Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English, French, and other national literatures of Europe and the Americas. He is also the writer of the national anthems of Bangladesh and India.
Tagore is said to have named another Bengali Indian Nobel prize winner, the 1998 laureate in Economics, Amartya Sen. Sen's work has centered around global issues including famine, welfare, and third-world development. Amartya Sen was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK, from 1998-2004, becoming the first Asian to head an 'Oxbridge' College.
Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prizes include Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1966), Kenzaburo Oe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (People's Republic of China, 2000) and Orhan Pamuk (Turkey, 2006).
Also, Mother Teresa of India and Shirin Ebadi of Iran were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. Ebadi is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. Another Nobel Peace Prize winner is Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Myanmar. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar (Burma), and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a Buddhist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Venkata Raman, Abdus Salam, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Robert Aumann, Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover,Avram Hershko, Daniel Kahneman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Yaser Arafat, and Kim Daejung, all of whom are Israelis except Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Venkata Raman (who are both Indian), Abdus Salam (who is Pakistani), Yaser Arafat (who is Palestinian), and Kim Daejung (who is from South Korea).
In 2006 Dr. Mohammad Yunus from Bangladesh and the Grameen Bank he established to lend money to poor people especially women in Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Yunus received his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University, United States. He is internationally known for the concept of micro credit which allows poor and destitutes with little or no collateral to borrow money. The borrowers typically pay back money within specified period of time and the incidence of default is very low.

Beliefs

Mythology

See also: List of Asian mythology Asian mythology is diverse. The story is first found in Mesopotamian mythology, in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Hindu mythology tells about an avatar of God Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. In ancient Chinese mythology, Shan Hai Jing, the Chinese ruler Da Yu, had to spend 10 years to control a deluge which swept out most of ancient China and was aided by the goddess Nüwa who literally fixed the broken sky through which huge rains were pouring. The story is also found in the Bible and Qur'an.

Religions

See also: Eastern philosophy Asian philosophical traditions originated in India and China and cover a large spectrum of philosophical thoughts and writings. Indian philosophy includes Hindu philosophy and Buddhist philosophy. They include elements of nonmaterial pursuits, whereas another school of thought from India, Cārvāka, preached the enjoyment of material world. Also Methidistism and protestism is popular among Koreans
Abrahamic Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam originated in West Asia. The world's largest Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. South Asia (mainly Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) holds 30% of Muslims. There are also significant Muslim populations in China, Iran, Malaysia, the Philippines, Russia and most of West Asia and Central Asia. In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, respectively. In Armenia, Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. Various Christian denominations have adherents in portions of the Middle East, as well as China and India. Judaism, one of the smaller yet oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel (which has either the largest or second largest Jewish population in the world), though small communities exist in other countries, such as the Bene Israel in India.
Indian The Indian religions of Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism originated in South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism, Taoism and Zen Buddhism took shape. During the 20th century, in the two most populous countries of Asia, two dramatically different political philosophies took shape. Gandhi gave a new meaning to Ahinsa, and redefined the concepts of nonviolence and nonresistance.
Other Other religions of Asia include the Zoroastrianism, Shamanism practiced in Iran and Siberia respectively, Shintoism practised in Japan (usuallly with Buddhism) and Animism practiced in the eastern parts of the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia.

References

^ List of continents by population [1]
^ "Asia". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
^ a b "Asia". McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2006. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.
^ Rydberg, Viktor. Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland, London: Norroena Society, 1907. pp.33-34
^ "Asia." MSN Encarta Encyclopedia. 2007.
^ Welty, Paul Thomas. The Asians Their Evolving Heritage, 6th ed., p. 21. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1984. ISBN 0-06-047001-1.
^ World University Service of Canada. Asia-WUSC WorldWide. 2006. October 7, 2006. <http://www.wusc.ca/expertise/worldwide/asia/>.
^ Menon, Sridevi. Duke University. "Where is West Asia in Asian America?Asia and the Politics of Space in Asian America." 2004. April 26, 2007. page 71 [2]
^ BBC News 2006. September 9, 2006. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/>.
^ American Heritage Book of English Usage. Asian. 1996. September 29, 2006. <http://www.bartleby.com/64/C006/007.html>.
^ Color Q World. Clarifying the Definition of Asian. 2005. October 1, 2006. <http://www.colorq.org/PetSins/article.asp?y=2005&m=5&x=5_7>.
^ Lee, Sharon M. Population Reference Bureau. Asian Americans Diverse and Growing. Accessed 2006-11-10.
^ Continental regions as per UN categorisations (map), except 12. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 6, 11-13, 15, 17-19, 21-23) may be in one or both of Asia and Europe, Africa, or Oceania.
^ Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.
^ The current state is formally known as the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is subsumed by the eponymous entity and civilization (China). Figures given are for mainland China only, and do not include Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
^ Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC.
^ Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC.
^ Figures are for the area under the de facto control of the Republic of China (ROC) government, frequently referred to as Taiwan. Claimed in whole by the PRC; see political status of Taiwan.
^ Egypt is generally considered a transcontinental country in Northern Africa and Western Asia; population and area figures are for Asian portion only, east of the Suez Canal (Sinai Peninsula).
^ Russia is a transcontinental country; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.
^ Excludes Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australian external territories in the Indian Ocean southwest of Indonesia).
^ East Timor is often considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania.
^ Indonesia is often considered a transcontinental country in Southeastern Asia and Oceania; figures do not include Irian Jaya and Maluku Islands, frequently reckoned in Oceania (Melanesia/Australasia).
^ The administrative capital of Myanmar was officially moved from Yangon (Rangoon) to a militarised greenfield just west of Pyinmana on 6 November 2005.
^ Includes Jammu and Kashmir, a contested territory among India, Pakistan, and the PRC.
^ Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country: physiographically in Western Asia, it has historical and sociopolitical connections with Europe.
^ Azerbaijan is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only. Figures include Nakhchivan, an autonomous exclave of Azerbaijan bordered by Armenia, Iran, and Turkey.
^ The island of Cyprus is sometimes considered a transcontinental territory: in the Eastern Basin of the Mediterranean Sea south of Turkey, it has historical and socio-political connections with Europe. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), distinct from the de jure Republic of Cyprus in the south (with a predominantly Greek population), is recognized only by Turkey.
^ a b Gaza and West Bank, collectively referred to as the "Occupied Palestinian Territory" by the UN, are territories partially occupied by Israel but under de facto administration of the Palestinian National Authority.
^ Georgia is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only.
^ In 1980, Jerusalem was proclaimed Israel's united capital, following its annexation of Arab-dominant East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. The United Nations and many countries do not recognize this claim, with most countries maintaining embassies in Tel Aviv instead.
^ Turkey is generally considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia and Southern Europe; population and area figures are for Asian portion only, excluding all of Istanbul.
^ Five Years of China's WTO Membership. EU and US Perspectives on China's Compliance with Transparency Commitments and the Transitional Review Mechanism, Legal Issues of Economic Integration, Kluwer Law International, Volume 33, Number 3, pp. 263-304, 2006. by Paolo Farah
^ Commonwealth Business Council-Asia. Retrieved on April 12, 2007.

"Asia". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online. 2005. New York: Columbia University Press.
World Conflicts: Asia and the Middle East [3]. Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. New York: Salem Press.

External links

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Asia


Culture of Asia • Demographics of Asia • Economy of Asia • Geography of Asia • History of Asia • Politics of Asia

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v • d • e

Countries of Asia

Afghanistan · Armenia · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma · Cambodia · China, People's Republic of · China, Republic of (Taiwan)2 · Cyprus · Egypt3 · Georgia1 · India · Indonesia4 · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan1 · Korea, Democratic People's Republic of · Korea, Republic of · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia1 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Thailand · Timor-Leste (East Timor)4 · Turkey1 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen3
For dependent and other territories, see Dependent territory.
1 Partly or significantly in Europe. 2 The Republic of China (Taiwan) is not officially recognized by the United Nations; see Political status of Taiwan.
3 Partly or significantly in Africa. 4 Partly or wholly reckoned in Oceania.

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Continents of the world

Afro-Eurasia

Americas

Eurasia

Oceania

Africa

Antarctica

Asia

Australia

Europe

N. America

S. America

Geological supercontinents
Gondwana · Laurasia · Pangaea · Pannotia · Rodinia · Columbia · Kenorland · Ur · Vaalbara

Historical continents
Arctica · Asiamerica · Atlantica · Avalonia · Baltica · Cimmeria · Congo craton · Euramerica · Kalahari Desert · Kazakhstania · Laurentia · Siberia · South China · Ur

Submerged continents
Kerguelen Plateau · Zealandia

Possible future supercontinents
Pangaea Ultima · Amasia

Mythical and theorized continents
Atlantis · Lemuria · Mu · Terra Australis

See also Regions of the world

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Regions of the world

	Africa	Maghreb · Northern · Central · Southern · Western · Eastern
	Americas	North (Anglo · Northern) · Middle (Central · Caribbean) · South (Latin · Southern Cone)
	Asia	Central · Eastern (Far East · Asia-Pacific) · Northern (Siberia) · Southern (Indian subcontinent) · Southeastern · Southwestern/Western
	Europe	Western · Central · Eastern · Northern · Southern

	Middle East	Arabian Peninsula · Caucasus · Levant ·
	Oceania	Australasia · Melanesia · Micronesia · Polynesia
	Polar	Arctic · Antarctica
	Oceans	World · Arctic · Atlantic · Indian · Pacific · Southern
See also Continents of the world

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China's Geography - Facts and Figures

spanisheye1 — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:33:59 CST

Below are the same graphics we looked at in class. Next to each map or graph, explain what the image is showing about China's geography and population. Do your best to explain the meaning of the graph and make connections between the geography (physical features) of China and the demographics (human characterisitics).

	Image 1 - Population Density: From this map you can tell that the East Coast is densely populated. There are more people living there because the cities have rivers near them. As agriculture became more developed, more people started to settle near the rivers. This allowed them to farm and grow crops. Also, because they're near the sea there would be ships to help trade (sea trade). To trade with neighboring countries, the rivers also provided transportation. Another reason is that there are factories and when there are factories, it means more jobs are available. So people who want to earn some money would come over to the East Coast of China to get a job.Western China is, as you can see on the map, sparsely populated. Mountains and deserts make it very difficult to farm and trade, and therefore there are no industries located there.
	Image 2 - Another population density map: The redder the areas are, the more densely populated it is. As you can see, many people live in the East whereas only very few people live in the West. This is due to certain geographical features of China such as mountains and deserts.The white area represents that there are literally no people living there. This is because those areas are filled with deserts or mountain ranges. Although the resources here are aplenty, the conditions make it that people cannot possibly survive there. It is difficult to trade there and hard to travel in and out of it. Creating industry in those areas is not convenient or reasonable. On the East, the rivers irrigate crops, which provide much of the food people eat. Also, the lack of harsh conditions here making living here easier for people. Sea trade is also possible because of the neighboring oceans. The black line represents "two Chinas", greatly contrasting the two different regions of the country.
	Image 3 - Years of formal education: the numbers along the bottom are 0-20. The highest percentage is 0 years, about 18% of Chinese have 0 years of formal education. This majority of this percentage is made up of rural people, as 60% of China's population lives in these areas. These people do not have easy access to schools, do not have enough money for tuition, or have a lifestyle where education is not a priority.
	Image 4 - Employment: (furlough means they've been laid off and are looking for another job) As you can see from this graph a 50% of the population is farmers. Also, the unemployment appears to be relatively low. (not including people who have been retired.) It can be inferred that there are many job opportunities, as people tend to retire early, but that also means labor fees are low. 50% of Chinese people are farmers, which means in total throughout the world, 25% are farmers. Fun fact: look at four people... one of them are Chinese farmers!!! And if you include all the other farmers of nationalities, theres even more!
	Image 5 - Illiterate Chinese: the blue lines represent the number of illiterate citizens in 2000 while the green lines are citizens from 1990. The red areas mean illiteracy is greater than 15%, light yellow means less than 5%.This image also shows that the majority of Chinese citizens do or did not have education.
	Image 6 - Per Capita GDP: The darker the color, the richer the population in that area. One of the reaons the east coast is a lot darker is because the physical features there are more suitable for agriculture. There are also resources provided by rivers, mountains etc. There are more factories which means there are jobs available, motivating people to move there. As you can see, the western side of china has dark red colored in. Is because there are more factories there to construct inventions to trade off for different stuff, increasing the GDP of China.
	Image 7 - Urban vs. Rural More than half of China's population is living in villages, as the red 60.2% of the pie chart indicates. Living in rural areas means more space for farming, which is how most of the Chinese earn their money. Also, living in urban areas is a complication for most Chinese, because of the expensive style of life. Although roughly 40% of China's population live in cities, the majority of them are still living in poverty.

Shanghai American School Asian History Wiki

welkerjason — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:36:24 CST

Message from Mr. Welker:Currently, we are having some trouble accessing this wikifrom within China, where the students who normally edit this wiki are located. Until we have regained access to Wetpaint sites, this wiki will not see many updates. Check back shortly to see if we've gotten back to work on our Asian History wiki!

Welcome, 9th graders, to your very own Asian History Wiki. What is a wiki, you say? The Wiki is a place where you can come to extend the learning that goes on in our classes, meet and chat with friends about topics related to class, and find ways to connect the content we're studying to what you've experienced and are witnessing while living in Asia today. Remember: history is happening! And we're a part of it. This website will give you the chance to be part of history, to reflect on events from the past and seek to understand how they affect us today! Welcome to the SAS Asian History Wiki, where you decide what is learned and how you learn it!

Watch the video below to learn more about wikis

Rules of the Asian History Wiki World:

The Rise of the Mongols and Genghis Khan

AlbertKwan — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 07:04:30 CDT

The Mongol Empire under Genghis Kahn and his heirs became the largest the world had even known. However, it was unable to hold onto power for long.

Below, discuss some of the factors that led to the successful conquest of most of the Eurasian Continent, and some of the factors that led to the swift disitegration of this enormous empire.

Important figures in the Mongol Empire: In the table below, research and share information about three important leaders in the Mongol Empire. On the right side, find and include at least one picture for each. Include information such as:

Years they lived
Accomplishments
Territory controled under his rule
Successes and failures

Important figures in the Mongol Empire	Images of important figures
Genghis Kahn-1162c.a-1227 Genghis and his army defeat the Tangut kingdom of Xi Xia; the capital of the Jin empire, Zhongdu; and, in 1218, the Kara-Khitai empire. 1206- he had unified rival clans and taken the title Genghis Khan (or Chinggis Khan), meaning "universal ruler." Genghis Khan established an empire that lasted more than 150 years after his death
Ogodai Kahn 1186-1241
Kublai Kahn

The Rise and Fall of the Mongol Empire: Below, fill in the table with some of the factors that led to the spectacular rise and the equally spectacular fall of the Mongol Empire.

Factors that allowed the Mongols to conquer the world

Factors that led to the quick demise of the Mongol Empire

Their agressive behavior Soldiers spread too thin over too large a territory.

Horsemen

Their military strategy (arrows and horses)

Physically strong

They were nomadic

Videos about the Mongol Empire:

The Qing Dynasty - Invaders from the North!

welkerjason — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:46:27 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Fall of the Yuan and the rise of the Ming

welkerjason — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:46:12 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Kublai Kahn and the Yuan Dynasty

welkerjason — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:45:52 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Unit III: China's Late Dynasties

welkerjason — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:45:05 CDT

This unit will cover the late dynastic period in China, including the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, the Ming dynasty (including the journeys of Marco Polo and the explorer Zheng He) and the Qing Dynasty up to the collapse of the dynastic system in 1912.

Later Imperial China

Yuan A.D. 1279-1368
Ming A.D. 1368-1644
Qing A.D. 1644-1911

The Rise of the Mongols and Genghis Khan

Timeline of Mongol Dynasty
Causes of Dynasty's collapse

Kublai Kahn and the Yuan Dynasty

Marco Polo in China
Fact or fiction?

Fall of the Yuan and the rise of the Ming

Emperor Hongwu, founder of the Ming Dynasty
Fall of the Ming... causes
"Internal decay preceeds external disaster"

The Qing Dynasty - Invaders from the North!

China's last dynasty
Life during Qing Dynasty
19th century and incursions from the West
Fall of the Qin, end of the Dynastic period

Student Discussion Forum: Unit II Topics

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 07:46:23 CDT

In the space below, discuss and debate the following questions:

Are humans born evil, or do we learn to be that way?
Is it the responsibility of a government to make sure the people contribute in a positive way to society? Or should that be left up to the individual to decide?
Is it right to cheat if you know you won't get caught?
What happens to governments that concern themselves with only their own power?

Celestine says: I think humans are born selfish. Even though we are born to be more bad than good, I don't think that we are labeled "evil" when we're born. We simply have not yet learnt to act in a "good" way, and our minds work to be selfish. It is the responsibility of the government to help encourage the people to contribute to society in a positive way. I'm sure individuals would participate even less if the government were to force us to contribute. I don't think it's right to cheat when we know we won't get caught but come on, I bet loads of people would cheat as long as they can reap the rewards and not get punished. Governments that only concern themselves with their own power are bound to fail. A government exists to protect and preserve our individual rights. I believe that the government is here to serve us, not the other way around!

Tara says: POSTING CELESTINE!! lols >> for the first question, i really don't like to think of people being born "evil". i mean, first of all, how can you blame a new-born baby for being evil? it's a new life, doesn't know anything. yeah, as kids we're probably pretty selfish, but if you're talking about the actual beginning of life, i'm gonna stick with no. we were not born evil babies...
governments should encourage people to participate within their societies, but then, if they keep pushing people around too much, who would want to contribute? so there has to be a balance. encourage for the people who are interested, but for the people who aren't, leave them be. you can't force everyone into doing something you want them to do. (oh and for those people who love to be specific, this does NOT mean if people wanna do drugs, let them do it. i mean community service, etc etc.)
okay MR WELKER! this is my clarification for you :P hahaha. sometimes when the test or whatever you're doing is BIG and you know it means a lot, then NO it would be wrong to cheat. and so i won't. overall, that is the case - no cheating. but be truthful, everyone has probably cheated once in their lives because they knew they wouldn't get caught.
so i'm guessing this is the same question like in class? (sorry kinda don't understand it). well anyways, i think that the government needs to help the people but the people also has to help the government. the government needs to protect us and our rights etc, but without the help of people, it will probably collapse too; no taxes, no community services, blah blah. so it's a give and take thing in my opinion.
THERE CEL! made it nice and long, all for you.

Celestine: I did have to wait for a freaking long time, dude. well we sure as hell weren't born good. :D
i agree with your government thing.
cheating on tests are bad but a little copying on homework isn't serious. but i think its still "wrong". its just not AS wrong as cheating on a test or exam. you know?
do we really need to contribute to community service for the government to run smoothly though? it's a give-take situation, sure. but i think the government is more there for us. its there to serve justice to and for us. protect our rights. provide stuff for us to make our lives easier. the government OBVIOUSLY gives more than it takes. :D:D

Tara says: well you know, mine was WAY LONGER than yours. totally kicked a** :D hahahha.
anyways, yeahh. at first i thought people were born good, but then some of you guys have a point about how children are selfish and stuff. so yeah, technically i agree with that. when we're kids, we're selfish. that's because we don't know any better. but we were not born evil, i mean c'mon. pessimistic! i think we were just born neutral. why does everything have to be either "good" or "bad". in fact, i'm sure that even a bad person has some good in him. it's not all black and white.
YES i know what you mean. i would say more, but i just tried and it didn't come out right so i'll just leave it at "YES i know what you mean." :)
well, without our taxes government wouldn't be anywhere. or they would but then we wouldn't have many good facilities, therefore the government can't really help us in that aspect. without our community service workers, old homes wouldn't have many helpers there and there would be less shelters for homeless people, therefore government isn't helping the entire population that it's meant to help. without our support, isn't the government pretty useless? if we don't cooperate with them because we feel like it's not our responsibility to make this society a better place, then the entire country will go into chaos, and the government will just be a pointless group of people.
(lol we are dominating this discussion blog, cel. high five :P)

Celestine says: Celestine acknowledges your high five. But instead she decides to do the hair thing. MUAHA.
CENSORSHIP TARA! you swore! welker's gonna execute you, man!
if we were born neutral, why are we so evil? you can't do evil and be good. you can't do evil and be neutral. psh. you so whack, man.
sure it's not black and white, but we are more black than we are white. which would be awesome if it were literal!!
well sure, the whole taxes thing. but i'm not so convinced abut the community service. by not participating in community service, surely that doesn't mean we aren't cooperating? its' everybody's responsibility but i think its more the government people who should be trying to make this society a better place. why do we, mere individuals, need to get off our lazy bums (notice tara - censorship) to help make this a better place? that's what taxes are for!!!!!!!!!

Tara says: (PSH! that stupid hair thing is for losers :P big fat L for you, cel. i will never ever give you high fives again. pay the consequences.
I SWORE?? oh, is it the a** thing? oohkay, ma baad! i'll change it... but hey, you wrote hell. and according to teachers that should be censored too apparently, to heck. lols. have fun changing that.)
>> who says we're evil? are you saying everyone on the face of this earth is evil? dude, i believe people like hitler and stuff were born neutral too. but because of the hardships he went through and the way he tried to deal with it - which apparently wasn't an effective way - he "became evil". that doesn't mean i like him or am on his side, you should know that. duh. austrian pride! but hey, point made. it's just like the shiloh thing. how can you hate her just because she's a baby from angelina? SHE'S A BABY. she couldn't CHOOSE her parents! but that's going off topic so maybe we shouldn't continue on that.
HAH! we are more black than white, but we are still BOTH! point made again! we aren't completely black or completely white. we have a little of both. everything in life is that way, balance. yin and yang :P
well the community service is just an example that people can help. but taxes is a given fact and you agreed. we need to give as the people too, again balance!

Celestine says: Hell is NOT a bad word.
i'm not saying we're evil now. because we all know i'm such a wonderfully good person. but we were born evil. its through the influence of parents, education, tv, "Friends" all that. it makes us gooooood. like Bruce Almighty.
look how pretty all these colors are. and look how ugly yours is. :D:D
SHE'S A BEEP. and you know what i'm gonna say. but i'll censor it into love child. but we all know she's a beep of a beep. her mama's a homewrecker and that female-dog of a devil-baby is the product of it. she is
DEVIL'S SPAWN. nice new words, huh? i learned it from my fellow group of angelina-bashers. good people.
so we're mix. but we got a little more black in us when we're born. i'm not saying we black all throughout when we're born. but as we progress, we became either more black or more white, or mixed. you know....
we need to give as the people but the government DO give us more. serve justice. protect laws. give us public defenders. shelter the homeless. provide transportation. all that stuff. and all we do is pretty much vote and pay taxes. and tons of us dont' even vote!!!

Tara says: mrs smith thinks so, mr green thinks so.. *shrug, whatever floats your boat. haha i've stolen your saying.
so you're telling me that exactly when a baby is born, it's full of all this evil and gee, it's a horrible thing. even when it smiles for the camera and giggles with laughter and blah blah blah, it's evil? i'll agree we are selfish, but i am so not agreeing with the evil part. please define the word evil, if you're still so opinionated on that topic (is that a word? hmm).
lol mine is professional, celestine. hem hem.
okay anyone could understand what you just said and that was WAY worse than saying a**! but still, i cannot believe you! THAT IS CRUEL! if she grew up and became another typical hollywood diva, then yeah, hate her. but she's a BABY. SHE DID NOTHING WRONG! (we have to agree to disagree here or i will get so worked up and then become angry. haha. so yeah, truce.)
so we were born selfish? hey, we need to be. if we give all your meals to our parents, we wouldn't even survive through our baby years. if we didn't cry in the middle of the night because some mosquitoes are biting us to death, then no one would know and we could get a disease or whatever. but that does NOT make us evil!
okay well think of it this way, how does the government get all that money then? from US. no, not USA. us as in the people. that is already one HUGE contribution. without our money, a government is just a group of people trying to tell us what to do but not succeeding even the slightest.
(oh btw, i'm making these words a few sizes smaller. its getting long!)

Celestine says: Great. Let's all be dwarf fonts. D:
float the boat is one of my sayings? wow i am wise beyond knowledge. ;)
well the most evil people ACT good. when they cry during the night and wake you up or when they peee in your face. well that's their TRUE side. you get what i mean? you feel me?
yes opinionated is a word.
psh. she IS DEVIL SPAWN. she did nothing wrong. but she is to be blamed. itis just how society works. like a prostitute's daughter will always be looked down upon. shiloh will probably grow up to be a reflection of her prostituting mother and her jerk of a father. which means she will probably grow up to be in love with like Maddox. (angelina's part of the family have always been big on incest). and she'll probably wreck a few families.
well not give them our meals. but just like hold in the poop so your mom can rest for a while. or don't pee in her face. you know? we dont' cry because mosquitoes are killing us. we cry because we're bad kids and we're just lonely. or we have no reason. even stupider.
we don't need money to do what we should be doing. unless the government is corrupted, then we'd need some bribing. yes we need to give them our money. but i'm saying that the government gives us more. we just provide money. that's all. we fund a small part of everything. the government is like our mom. we're the selfish kids.

Tara says: i'm bbaaack :)
yes it was one of your sayings, but since you can't remember even that, i don't think you're really as smart as you claim to be.. lol jk.
no i dont "feel you" -___- if baby's didn't do that, then they wouldn't be able to survive their years. it's instincts. like on national geographic (yes i watched it, i was bored over the summer) i saw this thing where one female bird would go off with a million male birds to reproduce, but once the eggs are hatched, the male has to take care of the babies and the female goes on to the next male bird she can find. so you know, that makes us think this bird is a s*** (I CENSORED IT!) but she has to do that, if not the crocodiles would eat all the chicks and their population would never grow. same thing with babies, if they didnt do certain things, no one would pay attention to them, hence they die. its instincts!
okay that's also cruel to say. if a prostitute had a daughter, then the daughter is not to be blamed! society is just cruel sometimes, they have no sense of logic!!! the mother is the wrong person, she made the mistake! the daughter did NOTHING. and to comment your prediction about shiloh, IF that ACTUALLY happens in the future, be my guest - hate her. but right now, she's not doing any of that, is she? she's a harmless baby just trying to live a normal baby life.
hold in the poop? celestine. when you're a baby, your bladder control sucks. muscles need to build up. you can't just hold something in. even NOW if you really really needed to pee, you wouldn't just hold it in until someone decides to wake up. if you do that, you pee in your pants....
money is a big part in itself. (did i say that already?) think of it this way: yolanda is the government. student body is the people. without our input on what we want, without your support or suggestions, without our votes (all = "money"), where will yolanda be? she wouldn't even know where to start. and if she decided, oh i'll make some random thing because no one is really telling me specifics, she might do something wrong that will only make our lives worse. so it has to be EQUAL.

Celestine says:
Why is it that babies can't share the mistakes their parents make? In this case, she IS the mistake her parents made. Society sucks. But guess what? We make up society. Divorced parents - apparently now psychology decides their kids are more screwed up in their head than kids with married parents. A model's daughter is expected to be a model. We share our parent's successes. Wouldn't we share our parent's failures? It's what makes them them. And we always grow up to be them. Actor's kid usually becomes actor. Is expected usually to become an actor. Is usually expected to be as sucky or as good as actor. That does not make sense. Sure, we might grow out of being our parents. But hey, we usually turn into them more than we turn into opposites of them.
I don't hate Shiloh because I know hher. Its not her personality. It's what she is. She represents a lot of what's wrong. She is the product of homewrecking. I am not blaming her for it. I am just saying she is the result of it. Shiloh COMES with that. Nobody is ever going to think of Shiloh and not think of their parents. And they aren't gonna think of Shiloh and not think of all that drama.
It's not equal. We give them money and input. But action is more than words. And who really gives input for the government? Hell, half of us don't even vote for the president -the person leading us! This isn't student council. It's the government. I don't put input in the government. Do you?

Jocelyn says:

Ok, I didn't read like EVERYTHING here, because that would take me days. I'm just here to say that, I think people are born NEUTRAL, like Tara said. When people are born, they don't know anything! They learn from their surroundings and their environment and from the people around them. But if I really had to choose, I'd say that people are born more selfish than they are kind and friendly because when people are born they don't know about anything but themselves. Therefore, they will only think for themselves and they cannot be what people call "kind" or "friendly" because they haven't learned about that yet. Ok, well, I don't think people are going to read this anyway. Goodbye.

so. i think. people are born neutral, just like joce and tara say. its the environment and the expirences that people go through that make them them. people are taught to be nice and selfless to each other because it helps living easier. noone wants to live by themself. even if you really are veryvery dark. trust me.
so in conclusion, people arent evil from the moment of their birth. if you think about it, that would mean that everyones fate is set. and that would really suck if everyones fate was set. i think fate is there for you to change. :D

Kliki vd Mosa- I disagree with all of you... I think that some ppl are born evil and some good. It's not like everybody is interested in the same thing. I believe that environment and family has a big influence on your behavior but i dont think that thats defines the way your born. Its not like you and your brother/sister are exactly the same. Maybe your brother likes murder mysteries and watching movies with a lot of killing and maybe you like ummm... anything else... Still you are both raised in the same conditions... So that wouldnt be proof for the way that their intersts were formed...??? umm and to jocelyn.. Fate- you cant change, destiny- you can change... so you believe in destiny... haha

Tara says: who was that up there? ^
>>anyway, to celestine: because parent's are the ones who made the dumb decisions. babies didn't suddenly decide to be the "product of homewrecking". i'm sure that if every baby had a choice, they would choose to be the baby of a nice, caring mother. and that is surely not evil.
and about society, that is all perspective. we think movie stars are fat, but are they really? it's all expectations and assumptions. you expect someone to be just like their parent. but that's not necessarily true. we are completely different human beings, we don't share the same fate, mistakes, and even successes. you can succeed in the same places, but your success is still different in it's own way.
why does shiloh represent the wrong things? doesn't angelina represent that stuff? remember when you said some magazine put sean prestion down as one of the most worst dress male celebrities or something? and you said it was wrong because it's not like he can dress himself? well it's sort of the same thing, shiloh can't control what happens to her or her family or mom or whatever.
well i guess what type of government it is has a lot to do with this factor then. in communist country, it's pretty hard to contribute. but isn't democracy for the people, by the people and something-else people (i forgot the third one..)?
anyway, this is getting a little cold. so i'll answer some other people's now:
>>lol jocelyn, hi. i did read it :P well i agree with you. but for the selfish thing, i specifically agree with "selfish" and not "evil". but you didn't say evil... so yeah.
to anonymous person, lol! "noone wants to live by themselves, even if they are veryvery dark. trust me" that scares me a little, hahaha. seems like you know what you're talking about. jkjk. well i agree with what you said about fate. does anyone really believe you have a certain life already planned out for you when you're born? i think fate is something we make, not something that is determined by someone else.

Carson says: Wow that's alot of argueing. Anyways, i agree with jocelyn and tara. People are born neutral and learn their way to be good or bad. The government should stimulate and encourage positive contributions from the citizens to the society but they shouldn't force them too like in a communist/socialist government. I think it is not right to cheat because it is against my morals but i wouldn't report someone of cheating because they are the one not learning and not me. If they were cheating off ME however, i'd beat them up or something :D Anyways, governments that only concern themselves with only their own power is usually called a diplomatic government (i'm probably wrong) and they usually end up failing unless they have really supportive citizens or something =\

Tara says: because celestine has converted me, pretty much, into a wiki nerd (lol cel, congrats) and because i dunno what else to do right now, i'm posting again :D
"i'd beat them up or something" - hhahhah. go carson! lols. but anyway, this sort of reminded me of that question we had to answer in class, about what you think; if you witnessed someone cheating but didn't tell, should you be punished too? i think it's an interesting topic. so here's what i have to say to that -- i think the witness shouldn't be punished. if someone wants to cheat on a big test, even though they know it counts a lot, then it's their problem. their choice. a witness has nothing to do with this. the witness isn't cheating, he/she is just minding their own business. living their own life. they did nothing wrong. of course, when it comes to more serious things, it's way more complicated that cheating on a test. but since my wiki nerd needs are pretty much satisfied for now, i won't go more into that :)

Sean says: jesus christ, tara and celestine u two wrote so much. Anyways, you can't blame someone for being very evil and being all about world domination. They were probably born neutral ( usually selfish since they do not understand much), and as everyone else says, became either good or bad depending on the hardships or what tragic events they experience in their lives. I don't think the government really affects what u become later on in life however. I think it is based on what your family says to you and what information they pass on to you from past generations. I would surely trust my father and mother more than some advertisement from the government saying how something is bad or good. If parents said that being nice and stuff is a good thing to do, you will probably do that. If they tell you something bad, but they say it as if it is a good thing, then you will probably believe them. And if you learn something when you are a child, you will most probably remember it and will not be as influenced when people contradict what you think as you grow older. So in my opinion, i think it is your family that affects what u become, not the government.

Kliki van der Mosa says- I actually think that humans can both be born evil or good. it is the way we are raised or the environment around us that can change us... I mean when you think about it, your brothers and sisters are really different from you and one might like evilness more than goodness... yet you both are raised in about the same environment and were raised in a failry same way. This kind of proves my theory that humans are just born differently. But they can also change from what they have experienced. like when you watch movies, they have this bully that bullies because his dad abuses him or wtv. Thats kind of the environment thingie.
Angela H. says:
you guys are crazy. wrote too much. i can't read it all. CELESTINE --- 32 contributions? TARA---25 contributions?MADE ME NO LONGER ONE OF THE TOP CONTRIBUTORS :( jeez. HEY AND I MADE UP THIS REALLY COOL SMILY: :.) ---> a smily with a mole. okay okay.
ARE HUMANS BORN EVIL?
im here to say.
that.
BABIES ARE BORN SELFISH AND A BIT EVIL. if they weren't taught not to be selfish or evil, they would not be sharing! It's just because adults or like older people teach them to be selfless. IMAGINE A 10-month old baby. we buy this baby a toy. WHAT WOULD THE BABY MOST LIKELY BE DOING WITH THE TOY? uh, NOT SHARE IT? PLAY WITH THE TOY BY HIMSELF/HERSELF? CRY when other babies play with it at the same time?
SEE? EXCELLENT EXAMPLE RIGHT? :D

CHEATING/STEALING/KILLING :O
and also...
cheating...
we were TAUGHT not to cheat.or that if we cheated or stole, WE WOULD RECEIVE PUNISHMENTS. if there were no good people or no laws in this world, we would all be cheating and stealing. ALL. and we would be KILLING too (oh em JEEEEEEE :o ), without anyone telling us not to.
evil eh?
SO.
Every human is born selfish and evil, but the laws and the good people in this world encourage each human to be more selfless and anti-evil :D

RESPONSIBILITY OF A GOVERNMENT
One of a government's roles is to make sure people contribute in a positive way to society. Without a government to encourage people to do so, it would be complete chaos. Without a government, (what i just said before) HUMANS WILL REMAIN SELFISH AND EVIL. I don't think it should be left up to the individual to decide, because you see, if EVERYONE HAD A CHOICE...MOST OF THEM WOULD CHOOSE TO BE SELFISH AND HAVE EVERYTHING TO THEMSELVES RITE?
right.

GOVERNMENTS WHO THINK THEY'RE SO COOL
FAIL.
failure.
FAILURE.
NO, THEY WILL NOT SUCCEED.
maybe they will, for like a few years because people are so scared of him/her (OMG I'VE NEVER HEARD OF A WOMAN GOVERNMENT, have you?)!!!
but then..
eventually people will start to think it's totally unfair, and that the government is supposed to SERVE THEM, and not the other way around! you see?
and then...
when people start to HATE THE GOVERNMENT...
they will start protesting....
and then....
more people will start protesting...
and then....
THE GOVERNMENT GETS OVERTHROWN. :D
so governments who give themselves LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF POWER....
will fail.
FAILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.
and FAILLLL.

Kliki vd Mosa- To angela about cheating
I think its in a humans nature to adapt to our environment and to try to be one of 'them'. Therefore i believe that a lot of people cheat for their own benefit. If you dont know the answer to a question then you tend to freak or spaz out and cheat because you want to get the best grade possible. This is because ur probably scared that other people will want to know what you got on your test and you dont like lying (well that would be my initiative but luckily it motivates me to study.) SEEEE I HAVE THIS WHOLE THEORY BEHIND MY THOUGHTS>!!>>>!!!! anywayzzzz... yh... coolness

James Chiang says:

Uh oh. A guy came into the conversation! I'm gonna get kicked out! Well, anyways, reading what you guys have typed is gonna take yoinks, although I CAN say that Angela has taken up considerable space. Anyways, back to what I think. I think that humans are naturally good, but being bullied and stuff turn them to revenge-thirsrty zombies. Governments should keep the people so that they make a positive change to their society. That way, more people will be inspired develop their community, and the one-in-a-million genius can grow up and be a genius. I don't know about the cheating thing, but I guess that different people who have had different lives would to different things. I don't think I would. Note the word 'think.' If governments only want more power, they will neglect the people, and lose more power than they started with. And receive the hate of the citizens. Sorta like Bush and the U.S.

---> You saythey're crazy, Angela? Wow. That's gotta be pretty crazy. Oh and I think around in Indonesia somewhere women are the leaders.

Kliki vd Mosa- POWER!!!
I have a question for all ya wikiwakies (haha i thought of that lmao) anywayzzz.. umm what would you do if you have as much power as the emperors of the past dynasties?! I mean, the only thing we criticize is what the emperors did wrong and most of us basically think that the ancient dynasties werent ruled very well. You see, i think that with all the power a lot of people will think of themselves first. Its like when you get a million dollars... how many ppl would actually give the money to charity or to random ppl on the street?!

Tara says: okay for a second i was totally lost, but yeah, james is right. i can't remember her name.. or wait! do we have a new president now? i'm not much into politics. but there once was, definitely. GO INDONESIA!
that's all i have to say :.) --> your smiley face with a mole, angela... haha.

Jocelyn says:
I read part of angela's stuff about evilness and selfishness. SO, in response to that, I must ask, how does being born selfish make someone EVIL?! Selfishness and evilness are two different things, and evil is more like, "I'm going to destroy the world because I want to and because all the people in the world deserve to die." But I agree with you, people are born with a little selfishness because they don't know anything about anyone else yet. All that matters is themself when they're born. I don't think the evil dictators in the world were born evil, I think their surroundings and the people around them caused them to think a certain way and have different beliefs about things. I don't think anyone else is coming to this discussion board. Or are they?

James Chiang says:

I'm pretty sure that the Philipennes (Philippines?) have a female president too.

:-<=== This is a guy with a very long beard.

JEFFREY LIU SAID:
What the heck... writing on the last day before the test. According to the sayings of 三字經 or this book compiled of logical sayings, it says "When people are born, they are born with good heart but its the environment that makes them the way they are...." Have you guys ever thought of that comparison that Mr. Welker was talking about? Something about Mother Teresa and Hitler. Mother Teresa became a humanitarian while Hitler..... hm. Hitler was born into a environment and surrounding of killing and chaos. I think it's pretty logical that Hitler will have feelings of anger and vengeance inside him. Mother Teresa feeling sad and pity for the people became a humanitarian. Same with the Buddha. Btw anyone think Buddha is kinda dull? Took him like what 28 days to figure out that "Life is suffering and people are selfish."
p.s sean....I am christian -.-

Angela Hsieh says:
JEFFREY LIU
it's really rude to insult a religion like that. its like people saying "God is dull". u think its nice?

JOCELYN TSAIH
maybe humans are born a bit evil. ihave no idea how that has to do with selfishness but it kind of does. a bit. i think. HUMANS ARE DEFINITELY BORN SELFISH THOUGH.like i said before, theyr born that way, but its just that the environment changes the person. =.)

Carson Says:
Okay guys we're getting off topic. Sorry for being the teacher and all but lets just not post here unless we really have something relative to say and let others have a chance to talk. And just be careful of what you say; it might offend others etc etc. =)

Kliki vd Mosa- To Jeffrey
I agree with angela on this one.. i no its kinda late to be writing this after like weeks... but when i read the end of your comment i thought that it was kind of desrespectful to just say that buddhism is dull... i mean of course you obviously dont believe in buddhism but a lot of other ppl do and i think that eventhough its not following the teachings or morals that christianity does, its not dull?! So yh, watch wat u rite!!!

China's Religions and Philosophies

justingoldman — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 07:15:04 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Student Discussion Forum - Unit I Topics

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:21:38 CDT

This page serves as an informal forum for discussing topics related to our class that we may not have time to cover in class discussions. You can talk about whatever you want here, as long as it has something to do with the current Unit. Did you disagree with something that was said in class? If so, share your opinions and ideas here! Read what other people have written, and respond to their ideas with your own! Feel free to chat with friends on this page as well!

Share your ideas and thoughts here:

Mr. Welker says: I think it's interesting to think about how important rivers have been to China's history. If it weren't for rivers, there would never have been agriculture, and without agriculture there could never have been civilization as we know it. Other than for irrigation, though, rivers have only caused China headaches!

kevin xu says: Obviously, rivers haven't only been used for irrigation. With the three Major rivers of China, which fork through a large portion of Central China, a dependable method for transportation is offered. With this method of transportation, many physical barriers are bypassed, allowing easier trade, and greatly positively affecting China's economy growth. Also, a question on my part. Is it possible that even without the rivers, agriculture still would've developed in China? Just curious. I tried researching a bit, and came up with this... very long boring site but informative. http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/rochelle.f/The-Discovery-of-Agriculture.html
"The only plausible explanations for the development of agriculture are those that are able to answer the question of why agriculture did not develop before 10,000 year ago. One explanation that does not suffer from this problem is that suggested by L H Morgan (1877) and V Gordon Childe (1955) and others that agriculture developed as part of a natural process of cultural evolution when a certain level of knowledge and technology had developed."There are more possible explanations of the development of agriculture on that site, but my main counter-argument to how rivers are needed for the development of agriculture is the question, "How would a country without a river, such as Cyprus, have developed agriculture?" An obvious answer would be that it wasn't developed but rather brought in by travelers, but, another question branching off my main one, Could agriculture have been started another way without rivers? I know I'm going a bit off topic from China (sorry Mr. Welker :D) but I'm just curious. One more question that I hope could be answered by another person, "Were China and Mesopotamia the only two regions that 'invented' agriculture?" Feel free to edit my comment, or if you would be so kind, answer my questions.

Tara says: "Were China and Mesopotamia the only two regions that 'invented' agriculture?" >> My opinion would be yes. I think that the word "invented" means a group of people figured it out by themselves. People from Europe or other parts of Asia were probably introduced to agriculture through the Mesopotamians or Chinese then.
As for the comment about rivers and how if they weren't there, would agriculture still be invented?, I'm not entirely sure. I do agree somewhat with the site when it said the natural process of cultural evolution helped with this discovery, because I believe humans can get smarter all the time. However, if rivers didn't exist, nothing would be discovered either and everyone would stick to hunting and gathering. So I think both theories are correct in a way, and both evolution and rivers play a big role in the invention of agriculture.

kevin xu says: What else might have influenced the invention of agriculture? I really doubt that hunter-gatherers one day looked at a plant and somehow noticed that water made it grow, or that plants grew from seeds. Any ideas?

tara says: (i give up on capitilizing, sorry for those who care) anywayss >> lol i doubt that they did that either. i don't really know the answer, it's like one of those "big life questions". but i would think they found out by some sort of mistake and once they thought about it, they put two and two together and guessed the answer.

kevin xu says: That's interesting... I guess that would work given the fact that they had like thousands of years to put it to their head that something made the little green things grow from the ground.

sean says:I would agree with you guys about how they found out about agriculture. Perhaps maybe they accidentally spilled some water over the plants, and they grew. It probably took them years to actually found out what happened and they would have to ponder if the "thing" that was getting bigger was healthy or not. But then again, it seems strange that it would be true. Plants usually take months or years to grow, and i doubt that the hunter/gatherers would stare at the plant for 2 days straight and realize that it grew a millimeter. Even if there were different stages of the same plant in the area, how would they know that the plants were the same? I mean, From their little knowledge, i bet they would think that the plants were completely different. Another thing i found weird was how the people of China found out about growing more plants. Did they just find the seeds, had a sudden urge to bury it in the ground and water it? What do you guys think? And sorry about posting that comment, i forgot that you had to use the easyedit thing -_-.

carson says: Hahah Sean, i doubt they just spilled some water and it grew cuz it would take a while for that plant to grow like you said. China probably found out by planting seeds around the Yellow River and the plants grew overtime by itself since the river spills (can't find the right word) water out from time to time. Not sure either, but we can probably google it up =)

kevin xu says: Hahah Carson, i doubt they just looked at some little tiny ball-like thing and decided to dig a small hole and place it in that hole thinking that it would grow cuz it would take a while for that plant to grow like you said :D.

Jeffrey Liu says: Lol guys I doubt the Chinese just planted the seeds around the Yellow River and found out somehow 6 months later the seeds grew into a crop. If the river "spilled" like Carson said it would have most likely been in the flooding season where the seed would be unable to grow. The invention of agriculture was probably accidental. Maybe the areas around the Yellow River had some sort of natural irrigating system where the river water flowed into the grounds of the seed. The seed was probably planted by someonewho was very bored and did it for fun :p.

Sean Liu says: It's really strange if what you guys say is true. I mean, isn't the flooding season when it destroys all the crops? And that usually results in a great famine and lots of people starve to death. I don't think that the floods actually watered the seeds and made it grow, or else i don't think there would be a famine every flooding season. The floods were probably so strong it wiped the seeds away or something.

kevin xu says: Man I love these answers, "The seed was probably planted by someonewho was very bored and did it for fun :p." This is fun :D

tara says: lol! awesome answer.

KLIKI~ check this out.. it might help with the qs... and put an end to all the weird made up answers.
Today, a new look at the birth of a very old technology. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.
Scholars have been turning their lenses back on the invention of farming. We know farming began eight to ten thousand years ago in the Middle East and the Holy Land. We also know it began after certain wild wheats mutated.
The seeds of those wild grains weren't as fat and rich as modern wheat, but they blew in the wind. They sowed themselves. You could harvest them without having to plant them.
Modern wheat was a fertile mutation of wild wheat. It made much better food. But its seeds don't go anywhere. They're bound more firmly to the stalk, and they cannot ride the wind. Without farmers to collect and sow wheat, it dies. Modern wheat creates farming by wedding its own survival to that of the farmer.
In 8000 B.C. the Natufians -- a hunting-gathering people -- lived in the region around Jericho and the Dead Sea. They were first to cultivate this new mutation -- this modern wheat. They became the first farmers.
Forgot the website.. just go on google and type 'how was agriculture invented.' KK thats it ;)))

celestine says: whoops, did the comment thing. :D so copy and paste: How do you think the Meso people and the Chinese passed it on? We didnt' all share the same language or writing before. There was no universal language. Did they do hand motions? Or do you think the people just went and saw for themselves? Anybody?

"Internal Decay Preceeds External Disaster"

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:58:23 CDT

This is a major theme of our study of Chinese Dynasties. How does the statement "internal decay preceeds external disaster" explain the failure of the Qin Dynasty to hold on to power for more than 16 years?

In the table below:

Identify examples of internal decay within China during the Qin Dynasty.
In the middle column, brainstorm possible causes of this decay.
In the right column, explain how this decay weakened the Qin dynasty and hindered its ability to rule effectively.

Internal Decay in Qin Dynasty	Possible Causes	Impact on Qin's ability to rule
The Qin Emperor was not popular amongst the rich and wealthy nobles and was disliked	Due to Qin's paranoia to keep his power, he stripped the rich and wealthy of their power and property.	Caused rebellions that ultimately led to one of the biggest rebellions involving 楚霸王項羽（Chu Tyrant King Xiang Yu) and 漢王 (Han King)
People did not trust each other	Qin wanted loyalty and every single person to report to him if their was a person who did not support him. If a person did something wrong, failed to report or lied, the family is also responsible for his wrongdoing.	Made Qin able to differentiate supporters from rebellers. Made him an unpopular ruler amongst the common as well.
Scholars were killed and books were buried.	Attempt to destroy history and make people idle and stupid, so they will follow the government's decision and do whatever they were told. Wanted people to think the same way.	Made the society very uneducated and stupid. No educators and teachers. Records of everything were lost.
Lots of lives were lost in completing projects such as the King's tomb, the terra cotta warriors, and the Great Wall.	Qin was very paranoid and insecured about losing his power and dying. He wanted to be immortal.	Many resources were wasted in pointless projects. Qin's paranoia eventually led to his own death as well.
The amount of food to keep everyone wealthy was decreasing.	since Qin was a paranoid, he dragged all those people to build meaningless projects and most of them ended up dying so he wasted resources when people could actually be using their time farming.	since the food amount became less and adding the mistrust and selfishness that legalism had resulted, the society turned into chaos.
According to Confucious, "legalism leads people with no sense of honor and shame."	Legalism's harsh punishments and rewards made people selfish and ego.	Everyone only cares for themselves which leads to a bad society and noone trusted each other.

INTERPRETING THE INFORMATION

Laura- As you can see from the table above, Qin's government was imploding long before he killed himself. I think that part of the reason that his government failed is the same reason that all dynasties must come to an end eventually. This is that being born in the emperor's family does not make you fit to rule. The extreme concentration of power in a dynastic form of government means that one corrupt ruler can lead to the cycle of internal decay. This shows why some government has adapted and evolved into democracies,because (as confucius said) only with the confidence of the people can a government survive.
Lieke- "Dictatorships starts wars because they need external enemies to exert internal control over their own people."
~ Richard Perle~
umm I think that this quote is really interesting but i would like to know what you guys think it means. I think that it has something to do with what we are learning but I cant find EXACTLY what it means. So if you would like to know what it means aswell then just add what you know and we can figure it out...

Early Dynasties - Xia, Shang and Zhou

justingoldman — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 09:01:54 CDT

Click on the red links for more information about each of these dynasties. After reading the pages about each dynasty, list in bullets the important points from each dynasty.

Xia ca. 2100-1800 B.C.
- Almost no historic evidence => limited knowledge on dynasty
- The Xia dynasty had weapons and pottery made out of bronze
- Rulers acted as shamans (a communicator with spirits for guidance)
- Also considered as a legendary dynasty
- The Xia Dynasty is considered the first dynasty of China.
- The ruling families did rituals to confirm their power to govern.
Shang 1700-1027 B.C.
- There isn't very much evidence on the Shang dynasty either but archaelogists were able to learn about the Shang dynasty through their discovery of buried human bones. The skeletons found had their skulls seperated from their bodies, evidence that showed the skeletons in the mass burial tombs were from people that were sacrificed. They performed human sacrifice to be granted wisdom from their gods and ancestors.
- The Shang dynasty used oracle bones to predict the future. The oracle bones were mosty animal bones or turtle shells. Characters would be inscribed into the bones, which were heated until they cracked, and the shamans predicted the future by studying the cracks.
- The Shang Dynasty was much larger than the Xia dynasty and was also located right by the yellow river. it was the central water resource for agriculture and civilization in Ancient China.
- there was no system of justice so there were harsh punishments which made everyday life in the Shang dynasty very hard.
- The king of the Shang dynasty mourned the death of his favorite wife, and soon became addicted to alcohol. After this, life for the Chinese people became much harder.
Zhou 1027-221 B.C.
- Longest-lasting dynasty!!!!
- Created the first system of justice to protect people's rights.
- Unlike the Shang, the Zhou dynasty sacrificed bronze statues of people instead of humans.
- During the Zhou dynasty much more land was used. The land owned stretched to the Yangtze so the Chinese had control over parts of the Yangtze and the Yellow River.
- Towards the end of the dynasty, the emperors started to lose his power. The power was distributed to among several warring states. Wealthy landowners became warlords and built their own armies and declared war on his neighbors. This period of fighting was called "The Warring States Period."
- During the last 250 years of the Zhou dynasty (Warring States Period), 7 states fought for control of the country. The Qin state emerged victorious.
- Zhou dynasty ended once the Warring States period ended.

Unit II: China's Early Dynasties

welkerjason — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:56:59 CDT

This unit will cover the early Chinese dynasties, including the Xia, the Zhou, and the Qin Dynasties. It will also cover Chinese religions and philosophy.

China's Dynasty Timeline

Early Dynasties: Xia, Shang and Zhou

Early Dynasties: the Qin

Qin Dynasty Videos

Legalism: Qin's Legacy

Life in Ancient China: social classes

Religions and Philosophies

NEW PAGE!!
Confucianism vs. Legalism: a Clash of Philosophies

NEW PAGE!!

"Internal decay preceeds external disaster"
Click here for more on this important theme!

Student Discussion Forum: Unit II Topics

Student Resource Center: Unit II Resources

China's Geography - Image Gallery

jameschiang — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 10:13:32 CDT

This page is a gallery of images representing the wide range of geographical features present in China. Here you can upload pictures you have taken during your own travels in China, or ones you have found on the internet. Everyone should try to upload at least one photo!

Jeffrey's Picture: Northern Tibet Qinghai Plateau (Kekexili desert)

Jeffrey's Picture: Jiu Zhai Gou

Jeffrey's Picture: Takla Makan Desert at Sunset

Mr. Welker's picture - Zhejian Province

Jocelyn's Picture :) - Yangshuo

Tara's Picture: Yangtze River

Angela's picture: Lijiang's Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and these performers from this REALLYYY REALLY COOL show.

Farisia's Picture: Yangshuo

Farisia's Picture: Sichuan Waterfall

Carson's Picture: Yang Shuo Buddah Cave

Farisia's Picture - Silk Road

Tara's Picture - part of Tibet

Lucy's Picture- Zhang Jia Jie, Hu Nan Province

Kevin H's Picture: Yangshuo

Tara Picture (#3!): Beijing - Great Wall

Celestine's picture of Tonglu

Celestine's picture of Terracotta Warriors (slightly distorted..sorry)

Celestine's picture of the very yellow Yellow River

James Chiang's picture of Hong Kong

China's Key Geographical Features

jameschiang — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 09:58:02 CDT

Next to each of the following geographical features, briefly describe where they are in China and their significance to China's past and present.

Mountains:
- Tianshan:Northwest China, a little bit west of Urumqi
- Altai:Very tip of Northwest China, stretching from Mongolia to about Karamay
- Himalaya:
Western China, on the border of China and India. it is the largest and highest mountain today. Water from the 3 major rivers come from these mountains.

Dessert, Steppe and Plain:
- Takla Makan, Gobi: Gobi is in the north, border of China and Mongolia. Takla Makan is in the northwest, above Tibetan Plateau. Although no one can live in these areas because of bad living conditions, deserts are important too because the wind transports loess from them to other parts of China and fertilizes the soil.
- Mongolian steppe: is right above china and left of the Gobi Desert. Mongolians fed their horses from the grasses in this steppe to take over Asia!
- North China plain:North China plain is located in Northern China. This place was one of the most densely populated areas in the world because it was built up along the shore of the Yellow Sea by deposits of the Yellow River. It had rich, fertile land which was ideal for agriculture.
- Manchurian plain: This plain is on the northeast corner of china, also known as the "Chicken Head".
Rivers:
- Yellow: where chinese agriculture was first invented, it also provided water for transportation, irrigation, fishing, water for drinking (for animals and humans) and is used as an energy source (hydropower).
- Yangtze: The Yangtze provided water for transportation, irrigation, fishing, water for drinking (for animals and humans) and is used as an energy source (hydropower).
- Pearl: next to Yangtze River, Where 50% of China’s grain, 20% of its jute, and other products like rubber, oil palm, coffee, and sisal hemp were produced.

Cities:
- Beijing: The capital of China, located in the northern part of the North China Plain and its terrain is high in the northwest and low in the southeast.
- Shanghai: located in East of China. A relatively new city with not but history. Most of us in SAS don't know this city.
- Hong Kong: located in southeast China, bordering on the South China Sea. Hong Kong is famous for having the Victorian Harbor which is one of the busiest trade harbors.
- Nanjing: This city bore the brunt of Japanese attacks in WW2, but survived and has alot of tourist attractions.

Buddhism Videos

welkerjason — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 23:02:51 CDT

Video 1: The story of Buddha from the movie, "Little Buddha"

Taoism Videos

welkerjason — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 22:54:03 CDT

Video 1: A student made video about the basics of Taoism

Factors that allowed the Mongols to conquer the world	Factors that led to the quick demise of the Mongol Empire
Their agressive behavior	Soldiers spread too thin over too large a territory.
Horsemen
Their military strategy (arrows and horses)
Physically strong
They were nomadic

SAS Asian History Wiki - Recently Updated Pages

Life in Ancient China

Confucianism vs. Legalism: a Clash of Philosophies

Asia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

Etymology

Definition and boundaries

Physical geography

Political geography

"Asian" as a demonym

Territories and regions

Country name changes

Economy

Trade blocs

Natural resources

Manufacturing

Financial and other services

Early history

Languages and literature

Nobel prizes

Beliefs

Mythology

Religions

See also

References

Further reading

External links

China's Geography - Facts and Figures

Shanghai American School Asian History Wiki

The Rise of the Mongols and Genghis Khan

The Qing Dynasty - Invaders from the North!

Fall of the Yuan and the rise of the Ming

Kublai Kahn and the Yuan Dynasty

Unit III: China's Late Dynasties

Student Discussion Forum: Unit II Topics

China's Religions and Philosophies

Student Discussion Forum - Unit I Topics

"Internal Decay Preceeds External Disaster"

Early Dynasties - Xia, Shang and Zhou

Unit II: China's Early Dynasties

China's Geography - Image Gallery

China's Key Geographical Features

Buddhism Videos

Taoism Videos