"I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map..I'M THE MAP!"

Questions:
How does Great Britain have so many colonies?
When did they lose most of their stuff?
How did they rule? Force? Good laws?
Were there really that many independent nations?
How come the US doesn't have many colonies?
How come Japan only expanded to Korea and Taiwan?
How does Denmark have so much land?
Did the small countries really feel so small and unresourceful that they had to go bother other people?
Were there other European countries that tried to colonize and expand?
Who was nicer? Who was meaner?  How did these countries rule?  Did they keep the people they conquered happy?
Why does Britain decide to go everywhere?
What did all these places have that the European countries didn't have?

Dear Queen Victoria...Opium Needs to Stop...

In his letter, Lin Zexu describe his feelings towards opium with the word "poison" multiple times.  He also explain his feelings with the use of religious beliefs.  He basically said that opium was killing people and that it smelled bad.  He also said that opium was upsetting the gods and Heaven, which indicates that he thinks there are many consequences to the drug.  He also says that the opium is a "evil."  His description of the drug basically shows he attaches "death" to the drug.  The punishments for the opium peddlers definitely support Lin Zexu's perception of the drug.  He said that any peddler is sentenced to death because of the drug.  This punishment is really harsh but it definitely reflects how he thinks that opium kills people and that he thinks it needs to stop to prevent innocent Chinese people from dying from opium.  In other words, the punishment got rid of opium peddlers and it prevented other people from getting addicted.  It would help China because people would not be addicts and they would be living in real life which helped China.   

Do I Buy It? Hmm...

No, I don't buy Menzie's argument that the Chinese were in the North America first.  Throughout the video, I was convinced that all his evidence was vague enough for him twist it to fit his theory.  I understand that he is trying to prove a point but most of this evidence seemed like they were mere assumptions that can't really be proven wrong.  He blatantly says what he thinks without really proving it.  The information before his statements act like they're supposed to prove his point, but they don't really.  Like when he was talking about a merchant, he said that the merchant had to be DiConti and all the information before it alludes to it.  However, there is no proof that the merchant was DiConti.  I also don't believe the maps he was using to find the islands.  They are probably really old and unreliable and those drawings may not be entirely accurate.  It seems like mere coincidence that the map drawing and the present-day drawings look similar.  I also don't believe what is submerged in the water.  I can't see what it is in the video and I don't know what it is.  And I am convinced that Menzie probably has no idea either, except he hopes it can help his theory. I guess I mostly don't buy his argument because he seems  a little bit desperate to prove his theory. 

Sui, Tang and Song Dynasty Map

Map of Zhou to Han Dynasties

Prevent the Han from Collapsing

If I could travel back in time to the Han empire, I would go back to the Former Han period during the first century B.C.E.  I would when the social and economic tensions were rising.  At this time period there were distinct differences between the rich and the poor.  The poor were really bitter and the rich were enjoying themselves.  Part of the reason why there were social distinctions was because of the land distribution.  Since land was unevenly distributed and many families had to give themselves to slavery in order to pay debts, I would attack that problem.  The first thing I would do is get an army and get all the rich people to listen to me and scare them if they do not. Then I would congregate all the poor people and make sure they know I'm going to help them by giving them some land.  After that, I will redistribute the land for each family.  I would take all of the land of the large estates and evenly give each family of farmers the same amount of land. Then I would also make sure that each family has some sort of insurance. There is no way each family would be able to produce the same amount of food or enough because of a number of factors against them.  The insurance is to protect families from the effects of these factors like famines and droughts since those seemed to be a major problem.  In order for the insurance to work, I would tax the families based on income.  The taxes would be based off of each families' income, like rich people or families with better harvests pay more and poor people or families with not as adequate harvests pay less.  That way money can accumulate for the insurance and poor families are not required to pay as much as a rich family.  It does sound pretty unfair as the rich would be paying more but it is a somewhat communistic idea as everyone is supposed to be looking out for each other with this insurance plan.  In order to execute this plan, I would make sure everyone in the empire knows what will happen and explain the insurance plan. Once everyone understands, I would give it a solid six months for all the land distribution to be completed.  Then I would hire military soldiers to keep everyone in check.  But if people didn't listen to me, they would probably suffer from consequences like losing their land.  

Daoism: What do I think?

I think that Daoism is about having enough indulgences and desires that you can enjoy them but they do not control you. 

Confucianism: What is it?

Is Confucianism a religion?  Well, to answer that, one needs to define religion.  One definition given by dictionary.com is "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs." Basically, religion is trying to explain why the Earth exists, why things happen, and why humans exist. It gives people a "moral code" to live by.  Based on that definition, I do not think Confucianism is a religion because it is not trying to explain the world and other things.  It does not have "devotional and ritual observances."  Confucianism is basically a belief system. The book basically states things that a man has says and what he believes.  It is pretty close to a code of conduct.  It tells people how they should live and what they should do and what is right.

The reading supports the idea that people are born naturally bad.  One example is in book, chapter four, "I daily examine myself on three points:--whether, in transacting business for others, I may have been not faithful;--whether, in intercourse with friends, I may have been not sincere;--whether I may have not mastered and practised the instructions of my teacher."  In this quote, the speaker is explaining that they judge themselves based on these three criteria.  They check themselves for being faithful to people, sincere and whether or not they listened to their teacher.  The first two are qualities that everyone wants people to have.  The last one, "mastered and practised the instructions of my teacher" sounds like being obedient. Since the speaker is trying to make sure that they are faithful, sincere and obedient, it shows that they know they are prone to ignoring those three qualities.  Since they know they are prone to forgetting about being faithful, sincere and obedient, it proves people are more likely to be bad.

Another example is in book one, chapter six, "The Master said, "A youth, when at home, should be filial, and, abroad, respectful to his elders.  He should be earnest and truthful.  He should overflow in love to all, and cultivate the friendship of the good.  When he has time and opportunity, after the performance of these things, he should employ them in polite studies."" The Master is talking about how a youth should behave. Just to point this out, young people are more mischievous than older people and they are stereo-typically portrayed as bad, but that can be disregarded.  Ignoring, "a youth", this quote is about how person should be "filial" and "respectful to his elders", he should also be earnest and truthful.  A person should also be loving and polite.  This is basically a laundry list of qualities a person should possess.  This is telling a person how they should behave and if people were thought to be born good, they would not need to be told to behave like this.  Since the Master must tell people they should behave a certain way, it supports that people are born bad.  Another part of this quote that stands out is "cultivate the friendship of the good."  A person should make friends with good people and good intentions is basically what I am getting out of that statement.  This makes me think that the Master thinks people are more likely to befriend bad people or make friends for bad reasons rather than good.  This quote shows that he believes that people have the tendency to do bad things.

A final example is also in book one, chapter eight, line two, "Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles." This quote is really short , but it also supports the idea that people are born bad.  As mentioned before, if people are born good, they do not need to be told to be good or behave properly.  Here, faithfulness and sincerity are told to be important principles that a person must follow.  A person born good would not need to be told that these are important principles.  Another point is that nowadays, most laws are made because someone, somewhere decided to do something and it caused a problem.  In order to avoid this problem, a law was made.  Like in some states, people cannot chew gum in certain areas.  Well, since this is a law, even if it is a ridiculous law, it clearly must have caused some problem.  Likewise, unfaithful and insincere people are the reason why Confucius has decided that these principles need to be instilled in people.  In other words, since there are unfaithful and insincere people, this statement was made because people need to be told to be faithful and sincere.

Overall, this book's reading supports the idea that people are born bad by instructing people how they should behave and what their ideals and principles should be.

History Head

My region is China.  For the first theme, I have a picture of a river to show that the Chinese settled around rivers like the Yellow and Yangzi.  Inside the head I have a picture of an iron sword to show that the Chinese developed iron metallurgy and became more technologically advanced because of it. For the second theme, I have an image of an oracle bone to show the fortune-telling tradition that was apart of their belief system.  These oracle bones affected the person's external life as they were to predict a person's future.  The image inside of the head is of a scene from Disney's movie, Mulan.  The scene includes Mushu and two spirits of Mulan's ancestors.  This shows the Chinese belief that ancestors were super important to their lives.  The deceased ancestors and the living family members were to live together because the deceased also had an affect in the world.  For the third theme, there is a crown on the outside to show royalty.  The emperors of China were thought to be connected to heaven at one point.  Obviously since they had emperors, they had a monarchy for their political structure.  On the inside of the head, there is a picture of a dragon bowing.  The act of bowing is to show that a normal person respects the emperor because of the Mandate of Heaven. For the fourth theme, there is a picture of a rice field on the outside to show that rice was an agricultural production in China.  On the inside there is a picture of slave shackles.  The shackles are to show that slaves were apart of China's labor system, and that a person would think that a slave does a lot of work.  For the final theme, there is a picture of Gaston from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.  Gaston is a really big, strong man, who is full of himself.  China had a patriarchal society, and basically men were important and dominated which is what Gaston shows.  The final picture inside the head is of another scene from Mulan.  Shang isn't actually bowing down to Mulan, but that's what it looks like and it works for the idea it's supposed to portray.  In ancient China, the men earned their rights and honor through the female descent of their family, so women had some importance.