Eurasian Cultural Traditions (500 B.C.E.-500 C.E.

Jose Betancourt

Dr. Andrews

World History 1

10/09/12

                                    Eurasian Cultural Traditions (500 B.C.E.-500 C.E.

            China from the beginning has been a place of diverse ideas. China is one powerful civilization. China was one of the first civilizations. Reading the chapter about the Chinese empire has increased my knowledge on how great the Chinese civilization was and how it was a place of search. Te Chinese were always looking for order. Usually order of states and empires. One philosophical thought that enlightened my understanding of what kind of feeling was part of their world was the idea of ‘the mandate of heaven”. The Mandate of heaven was a way of trying to unite the states and let them understand morality from a more naturalistic point of view and very similar to the idea of humanism. The Chinese states had many quarrels. There was also a time of war and was. That times called the Warring times by the historians. That epoch took place from 403 to 221 BCE (128). The idea that order should happened probably made some rulers want to conquer other states and become better or try to conquer places that they desired to gain more power.

            Finally one philosophy of the Chinese states that made me understand how human they were the Daoism philosophy which was opposite of the Confucius ideas. The Daoism followers “encourage behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural”(131). They were not looking for order like the Confucians. The Daoism were looking for power in an egotistic way. Similar to modern day world. The governments of the world strive to become the ones with better ideals. They want to show the world that they are better individually and not working together. I would be able to conclude by saying that many of the egoistic ideas of Daoism are still at work in our modern society.