Essays on Ancient Chinese

Abstract

Jade has been an important part of Chinese culture since Ancient times, when it was used to make various weapons and tools. The reason for this is because it is believed to have positive powers. Some of the attributes attributed to jade are purity, gentlemanliness, the ability to send one’s soul on a positive journey and to prevent misfortune from befalling a person. This is why jade was used in burial rituals, sacrifices and other religious ceremonies. Nevertheless, despite the importance of jade to the Chinese culture for many centuries only the very wealthy were permitted to own ...

Ningbo’s newly completed Central Business District (CBD) belies its status as one of China’s oldest cities. The austere downtown landscape is the equivalent of architecture’s white-washed wall: a place of erasure, forgetting, and dubious progress. With the completion of Wang Shu’s Ningbo Museum in 2008, however, the Ningbo of the present is confronted by the forgotten landscape of its not too distant past. A craggy mountain of a building inspired by the region’s natural topographical features as well its unique crafts and architectural traditions, the Ningbo Museum is not simply an obligatory nod to ...

(Student’s Full Name) The Disney animated film, Mulan, is based on a female warrior living in ancient China. The movie shows how Mulan, who is a veteran’s daughter, struggles with living up to the expectations of women as dictated by the Chinese society at that time. The teachings of Confucius believed that it was “incumbent” on the women to “accord with the wishes and needs of closely-related men” (Ebrey, n.d., para. 2). Therefore, the woman was not expected to fulfill her own desires. The Chinese woman living in ancient times was expected by the society to fulfill ...

Introduction 2

The Discovery of Shang Dynasty Bronze Vessels 3 The Shang Dynasty 4 The Bronze Age 6 Conclusion 7

Works Cited 9

The Beauty of Shang Bronze Vessels Introduction The Chinese culture has been identified as one of the oldest and most complex of its kind to have ever existed on planet Earth. The fact that the Chinese, despite intermingling with other cultures throughout history, have maintained a unique writing style provides an insight into this complexity. However, the Chinese are also famed for their culture, which is unique in many ways. One of the cultural practices that the Chinese have maintained over ...

The Effect of Attentional Focus on Hurdle Athletes Motor

Running Retention Area of Focus It is a common belief held by most beginner athletes that physical training is all it takes to win an athletic competition, be it swimming, skiing, hurdles, mountain climbing or golfing. Most athletes spend much of their time training to condition the body with the objective of being able to handle competition. Notable athletes such as Bolt, the 100 meter runner, and the fastest man recorded on the planet, is well endowed in masculine structure attained over time training. Therefore, is that all it takes? Emerging studies are approaching athleticism from a new and ...

Painting and art have been part of the Chinese culture for centuries, and the type of art the Chinese civilizations engaged in distinguish them from vast western arts. In this regards, major artists have attributed the Chinese art as having a unique essence, compared to the aesthetic art embraced by western cultures. Therefore, different authors have bid to explain the uniqueness of the Chinese painting and art, but in doing so, they have also had different methodologies and approaches of attaining a similar goal. For instance, Wen and Kathlyn, both wrote about Chinese art and painting, but their methodologies ...

Food is a fundamental necessity of life and therefore becomes a rich conveyor of cultural traditions and norms and attracts patterns of symbolic significance much like a magnet, for example, who is entitled to eat with whom, and when, and how food is to be shared. The cultural understandings surrounding the sharing of food illuminates social dynamics by distinguishing cohesive social units and social distance. Indeed, it can be said that a culture is encoded in the expectations of behavior associated with the communal act of dining. The purpose of this paper is to examine the historical continuity of ...

For hundreds of years, silk industry flourished in China and the process of silk cultivation and weaving became an integral part of the Chinese society. Even today, many fashion designers from all over the world still covet silk fabrics because of its smooth and soft texture; the fibers are either plain white or tinted with various colors depending on the customer’s preferences. The traditional Chinese silk consists of many patterns mostly based on abstract designs such as Chinese knots, flowers, dragons, and other imagery based from the Chinese mythology and nature. Silk is a type of fiber originating ...

In the chapter entitled, “Maifa” Model of the Vessels”, of Donald Harper’s Early Chinese Medical Literature, the author discusses certain elements of the traditional Chinese medicine practice of reading one’s pulse to determine one’s ailments and, ultimately, cure one’s illness. As translated in this chapter, the term “vessel” seems to be used interchangeably to mean both blood flow and blood vein (Harper, 2009). According to the text, “mafia” refers to the methods that ancient Chinese sages or doctors used to “elucidate the structure of the body and classify the ailments that affect it” (Harper, 2009). ...

1. The Chinese board game of GO is entirely different from the Western game of Chess. No doubt, both games involve a high deal of strategic thinking to make each move in response to the progress of the opponent; however, unlike Chess that aims at a single point or attacking the king to win, one wins a Go game on getting a competitive edge over the other. In other words, extinction of the opponent is not the aim of the ancient Chinese game. This reflects the Chinese business value of winning a comfortable position in the market crowded with ...

This report is focused on a clip from the film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” (CTHD). This film released in 2000 is a creation of a prominent producer Ang Lee, known to broad public for the filmography including “Life of Pi” and “Brokeback Mountain”. The film’s overall plot centers on the student-teacher relationship between a criminal martial artist, Jade Fox, and her student Jen who was the daughter of a government official. Li Mu-Bai, a Wudang sword master, and Shu-Lien, owner of a large estate in the area, play the two leading roles. The journey of these heroes cross when Jen steals a sword that Mu-Bai had ...

Ancient Chinese can be said to be one of the main areas where logic initiated, together with Greek and India. This was during the regime of Mohi who was a follower of Confucius. However, they existed under different doctrines. There was also Mo-tzu who made major contributions in the field of logic and linguistics in China. They introduced Hu Shih as a contribution of logic. Confucius and Mo-tzu had philosophical contribution to linguistic and logical reflections in their cultural tradition of Chinese. Confucius would rectify names as a move in realizing political and moral reforms. Therefore, Hu Shih referred to the ...

(1) Identify eight to ten of these useful inventions or contributions. The paper was identified to have been invented in 105 A.D.and revealed to have been credited to a certain Ts'ai-Lun, as the inventor. Although, historical documents alleged that the paper was discovered earlier, the attribute to Ts'ai-Lun was rationalized from his ability to show his invention to the Chinese emperor at the disclosed time frame . The compass is another useful invention since it was attested to be crucial in navigating purposes in 1100 A.D. . It is useful, especially during the ancient times when no other instrument was ...

In this paper, we provide a formal analysis of two kinds of vessels that were in ancient China known as bronze vessels. We examine the similarities as well as the differences attendant to the two vessels as well as the impact and the roles that they played in the society. One of the ritual vessels that we consider was known as hu of the Chinese Eastern Zhou Dynasty of the Warring States Period. The other vessel is the ritual vessel guang of the Zhouyuan Archeology Team, Shanxi Province. The ritual vessel hu is an example of a vessel used for ...

Documentary records reveal that, just like any form of ancient art, the Chinese gallery at the Metropolitan Museum art has managed to create some of the most iconography forms of art of their times. For many years, these forms of art have acted as the site for reference to a combination of Chinese art and cultural reference. Perhaps, no better site with reference to the documentation of the Chinese artifacts from the entire globe can outplay the gallery in the league of reference. The Museum and its artifacts have played a significant role in revealing the various historical activities that were ...

Peace that people enjoy nowadays uninterrupted is, of course, not a new phenomenon. However, what is interesting is that the humanity has lived only several hundred years without warring for whatever reason could bring large armies face-to-face in a lethal confrontation for questionable reasons. Besides soldiers, the brute force of conflicts, the main tools of war have always been weapons indicating the state of technological advancement of nations, being the litmus paper and the benchmarks of progress. Thousands years ago, there was no such concept as a long-lasting peace, and the weaponry was a lot more different than it currently is, being used ...

Ancient national philosophies in China are: Confucianism; Daoism and Legalism. For the medieval period of Chinese history (II BC. - X AD.) There was conflict between the schools of philosophy. Eventually Confucianism prevailed as the recognised state religion and ethics. Confucianism has played a major role Chinese society his teachings remain relevant even now, after 2500 years since the life and work of the author. Confucianism - the socio-political doctrine, preaches an insoluble spiritual connection between man, the family and the state. Confucius the legendary sage also known as Kung Fu Tzu, lived from 551 - 479 BC. ...

Question one

Art is a skillful representation of human thoughts in a visual form, such as a sculpture, painting, etc. that are primarily deemed to be beautiful (Joseph A. Goguen, 2000). Tolstoy (1899) defines art as the representation of human experiences such as happiness, suffering, among others, whether real or imagined on a canvas or marble. The human experience in most cases compels them make visual representations that they can appreciate better. It is also a way of communication i.e. one can pass ideas from generation to another for hundreds of year to come. For example, the Michelangelo paintings on the last judgment on the ceiling ...

Introduction

China is a country that is located in East Asia that has a very large territory. It has a very huge population. Thus, the country has an enormous ancient history. Its history has been dated back about four thousand years ago. It is regarded as one of the greatest ancient civilizations around the world. In addition, it is one of the few countries that still hold its culture that was inspired by its history. The Chinese culture has been preserved for thousands of years. Thus, the people of China still observe the culture that was founded by the ancient Chinese. These cultural ...

Essay on The Price of a Bride: Marriage, Family and Dowry

In ancient history of mankind, the marriages had different customs around the world. During the times of renaissance in Italy, Western Europe, marriages had the concept of creation of a new family, the bride had a price and concept of dowry was an important element of marriages. In Imperial China, the ancient wedding traditions have a history spread over 5,000 years. The traditions have been changing with the passage of time due to a variety of social beliefs and artistic values in the times of different empires. They have their unique characteristics and ceremonies that have been carried forward to even today. ...

Chinese invented some of the most significant inventions of human civilization including the four great inventions of ancient China: paper, compass, gunpowder and printing. The Chinese invented the original technology in the field of mechanics, hydraulics, mathematics, metallurgy, astronomy, agriculture, designing of mechanisms, theory of music, art, navigation and methods of warfare. Culture of China has made an enormous contribution to the world culture. Without many of these inventions, our lifestyle would have been impossible. But whatever was the culture of China, today it is a world culture heritage as indeed any other national culture. China is the homeland ...

Introduction

Feng Shui is the Westernized term for the word ‘Fung Soy’, which is the correct pronunciation in Cantonese (Si, 2011). In other Chinese dialects the pronunciation of feng shui is quite different as it was originally, ‘Fung Shway’ (Levitt, 2000 p.1). Although there are varied pronunciations for feng shui, the characters remain the same in all dialects. Feng Shui means ‘wind’ and ‘water’ (Levitt, 2000 p.1; Feng, 2014). The field of feng shui was considered the ancient art and science of locating a sacred place on earth (Levitt, 2000 p.1). Originally, feng shui was used by the Chinese emperors in ...

Introduction

Silk Road used to be popular transportation route used for trade between Europe and Asia. The name originated from the delivery of silk. Despite no ancient Chinese document of “Silk Road”, German F.V. Richthofen (1833-1905) used the term Silk Road for the first time in his book China which was published in 1877. Post that The term Silk Road was used universally and became widely accepted. Silk Road used to be the communication bridge for economy, politics and culture between the West and China. At the helm of Han Dynasty, the Hans and Huns used to compete over the ...

Introduction

Some of the most interesting ideas about afterlife come from the ancient Chinese culture and the Buddhist religion. The close relationship between Chinese culture and Buddhism provides some intriguing insights into heaven and hell. Although Buddhism was introduced into China from India, some of the values of the Indian culture were not easy to understand, and this facilitated the modification of teachings of Buddha to fit the Chinese traditions and practices. The end result was Chinese Buddhism that was unique in some aspects. According to the Chinese Buddhists, death does not signify the end of life rather it is a ...

Film Studies

Asian Horror Films The birth of Asian horror movies started began with the popularity of Japanese horror films. Initially these films were made by independent filmmakers and had low budget. But the gaining popularity of Japanese horror films spurred the culture of horror films to be made in other Asian nations like South Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong. The visceral and moral extremes displayed in recent Asian cinemas may leave the viewers appalled. The movie Oldboy displays the main protagonist cutting off his tongue to prevent his daughter to know about their incestuous relationship as well as ...

Ancient Chinese Contributions

Introduction China is a home for numerous inventors who created fascinating creations since the ancient time. Many Chinese people were able to invent such things that have been very useful even in the modern time. Those inventions were remarkably useful as many people around the world helped by these inventions to make their lives easier. In this writing, we argue that eight of these useful inventions or contributions proved some innovative change the way we live especially the four most genius creations as why we believe these are the most important inventions ever created. In addition, the study will ...

China has a rich history that was characterized by both times of abundance and prosperity and times of war. Ancient China witnessed feudal periods such from 222BC to what scholars refer to as the intermediate period. Despite China having a feudal past, the country is known to be the origin of various innovations including some of ingredients used in gun powder. This paper seeks to identify some of the useful inventions and contribution that were made by the ancient Chinese civilization. The list below shows the key inventions which are attributable to the ancient Chinese empire - Row Planting - ...

Question 1

China is one of the leading nations when it comes to study of nature beginning from the first, before birth of Christ until 15th century. The ten useful inventions made in China include; - Papermaking, China invented paper in around 105A.C. This invention later spread to parts of Asia and later to Europe before heading to Africa. - Movable type of printing was invented around 960 and 1279 AD. In those ancient times, movable type piece could be glued and detached from the iron plate when necessary. Characters were then assembled for printing and later distributed after ...

Massage Therapy as a Rising Form of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Society’s increase in awareness of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) techniques can be very visible nowadays. This reflects the growing awareness of people regarding practices related to CAM and also an increased emphasis on promoting health and wellness instead of medically fixing the body when it is already burdened by disease and other ailments. Complementary and alternative medicine is a broad term that encompasses all non-Western medical practices that aim to promote health such as massage, yoga, acupuncture, aromatherapy and other related practices. One of the most popular CAM techniques is massage.

Massage History and Important Principles

Massage has a long standing tradition that dates ...

Essay 1: Compare And Contrast How You, Lao Tzu and Homer Would Respond To The Old Testament

Lao Tzu is the spiritual leader behind the philosophy of Taoism. He is best known for his writings which currently form the foundations of Taoism. Taoism basically seeks to help people achieve harmony and peace with nature through distancing themselves from the world. It encourages people to avoid issues happening around the world as the only way in which they will attain inner peace with themselves. Homer was also a philosopher and one of the first influential writers in Greek. He was known for his many poems which were used as a standard to evaluate ones level of education in ancient ...