Ch 9

I like how Strayer has adapted this mission of trying to stray from a Eurocentric type of view towards a more true world history perspective but I'm having some issues with that in chapter 8 and 9 as well as some other parts of the book. I can agree that his book has adapted a wider view of the term world history but it is still seemingly Eurocentric in the fact that most of what he covers shows impacts on "Eurasia." Maybe I haven't been reading clear enough and I'm missing the impacts on America and other countries or maybe he switches focuses from Eurasia to America and other countries in later chapters. So far it seems all that he has covered is the Maya or Olmec that were in Mesoamerica.

That being said I found chapter 9 to be very interesting especially the parts around women in the Song Dynasty. I remember learning about the binding of their feet in my freshman history class in high school and it always stuck with me as such a weird and obscene thing to me but to them it was what they considered normal. It makes me think of what they would consider weird and obscene if they were still alive today, social networking and internet relations would probably be considered completely insane if they time traveled to our century. Another thing that I found interest in the Song Dynasty was how even though it was less than a golden era for women since it was still ruled by a patriarchal society and there were set restricts from Confucianism and growing economies women still had new opportunities. They were allowed to work in and even own restaurants, they sold fish and vegetables in local markets as well as working as maids, cooks, and dressmakers. While women may have been cast to keep separate in every domain of life through Confucianism they still had a variety of opportunities which I did not anticipate to read about.

The last thing in thing in chapter 9 that struck me was the final section on Buddhism and how to India this was and is still probably their biggest gift to China. Buddhism entered via the Silk Road in the first and second centuries taking root in 300-800 ce and it still remains today. That's amazing to think about how a culture can spread through trade routes and take root and grow in a completely different country. The growth of chinese buddhism provoked resistance and criticism within the chinese state and destruction began against foreign religions in 841-845 but Buddhism did not disappear because of this, it remained an important element of popular religion. It is also amazing to think about in 12-14,000 years what might remain from our societies that can have impact on the following generations. Hopefully we can leave enough of our planet for societies to continue to grow and develop in 12 to 14 thousand years!