Ajah's Blog

One thing that stood out to me in the reading was the city of Teotihuacan. More specifically the street life of this stood out to me. The city is described as very vibrant. Buikdings had murals painted onto them, sculptures, or images. The murals were nostly of gods and goddesses. This interested me because it shows what the culture was like in this city.

After reading Chapter 5 I found the section about Chinese merchants most interesting. In the text they are described as many different things. They were oprressed yet celebrated. To peasants they were the backbone of China but to the elite they were greedy and a social threat. I found this contrast interesting because it shows the different perspectives from the classes in China.

One thing from the reading that I found interesting was the section about Confucius. I liked reading this section because we lightly touched on some of his teachings in class already. In the reading, it explains how Confucius believed in unequal relationships. If one was superior to another as a husband is to a wife and acts with sincerity, benevolence, and genuine concern for others than the respondent must respond with obedience. Another thing I found interesting was how Confucius emphasized education as the key to moral betterment. He suggested that language, literature, history, philosophy, and ethics apply to practices in the government.