This week's reading included Chapters 7, 8, and 10 from Part 3 of Ways of the World.
Chapter 7: Commerce and Culture
I liked the little story at the beginning of this chapter about the man who ordered an iPod from China as a graduation gift for his son, and was surprised at how quickly it arrived on his doorstep. This story was to drive home the point that while the speed and simpleness of transactions like these has definitely increased, we have been buying and trading with people around the globe for a very long time. I had heard of the Silk Road before, but I didn't realize just how vast it was and how many people utilized it, whether it be merchants or people along the road offering services. The reading talked about disease spreading along trade routes due to increased interaction, including the Black Death (a.k.a plague) that killed half of the population. This is astonishing to think about and made me realize how important and advanced modern medicine is today. Without the medicine, vaccinations, etc. that we have today, the spread of disease was catastrophic. I had never heard of the Sea and Sand Roads before this reading. Something that stood out to me about this was the fact that along with other goods such as gold and salt, slaves were also sold along the Sand Road across the Sahara. I also thought it was interesting that long-distance trade never reached the Americas due to geographic and environmental obstacles.
Chapter 8: China and the World
It sounds as if China paved the way for the rest of the world when it came to advancements in technology and economy. Their Golden Age occurred under the Sui dynasty, the first big achievement being a 1,200 mile canal system linking northern and southern China, which was unprecedented at the time. This amazes me; it seems impossible that they even knew where to begin with a project of that magnitude. Even today with professionals trained to do similar jobs, the task sounds daunting. Although it was a Golden Age for China, women were viewed at this time as subordinate to men and were restricted and oppressed. The reading says that it was frowned upon at this time for a widowed woman to remarry, although not against the law. It was considered shameful for a woman to do so. I imagine it would feel horrible for a woman to be judged like this in today's day and age. Women were also held to very high beauty standards, one of which being very small feet. In order to obtain tiny feet, their feet were bound tightly, often resulting in broken bones. It sounds crazy, but when you look at today's society in the United States, things aren't much different--women are still held to ridiculously high standards. We are taught at a young age that as women, we are supposed to look and act a certain way. Foot binding in the Song Dynasty can be compared to plastic surgery in today's day and age.
Chapter 10: The Worlds of Christendom
This chapter was interesting for me because I just took my first religion class last semester, where I learned a lot about Christianity. Before that class, I knew very little about it because I do not practice it, or any other religion. It was interesting to get the "background" information of how it started and spread. I thought it was interesting how quickly it seemed to spread to different parts of the world. I also thought it was interesting that many of the characteristics of Christianity have remained the same, continuing into the modern era that we live in now.
