Historical Synthesis and Imagination - Essay Example

Historical Synthesis and Imagination Order No. 294678 No. of pages: 6 6530 My family and I live in a small village near the capital Chang’an, where more than a million people lived. Students, traders as well as pilgrims from all over Asia come here, making it one of the most well-known places in the world right now. (pg 108) We give a lot of importance to studying as well as to arts and crafts. I myself have studied many of the great works of our earlier writers and have also gone through the many commentaries written by the scholars of the Confucian society. Now, I have become old but fondly remember some of the most wonderful experiences and incidents that took place in my life. I am now narrating my life’s story to my little grandson because I want him to understand the life and times of those good old ancient days. The City of Chang’an was a beautiful city with broad streets, branching out into smaller side streets, and divided into 110 blocks. Each block had its temple and marketplace and was a complete unit. I often went out, in my younger days to the city, lunching in one of the many teashops, looking at the Acrobats performing their stunts by the roadside, sometimes stopping to listen to the storyteller narrate his wondrous experiences, some real and some imagined. I remember quite vividly how students, traders as well as pilgrims from all over Asia came here, making it one of the most well-known places in the world then. (pg 108) There were many students from countries like Korea and India who had come to our country to learn dancing and singing from our accomplished artists. I studied in a monastery run by the Buddhist monks, where I learnt arithmetic, multiplication, new words which I could look up in the dictionary, as well as good manners as to how I should speak to people using polite language. The books made use of now in this modern age are flat and bound, and very much different to the ones I was used to. I had to read from scrolls since books such as yours had not yet been made. We were taught to look up to our teachers, and they were one of the five objects of worship - earth, heaven, emperor and our parents being the other four we were taught to worship and respect them in every aspect. The Buddhist monks grew grains and other agricultural produce which they sometimes sold to the villagers for a good profit. Whenever anybody in the village wanted money they would approach these monks because they had earned a lot of money from the oil presses and mills which they operated. The monastery in which I studied was shut down in 841, because the rulers began to fear the growing clout of the monks and so persecuted them. By 845, this drive led to more than a quarter of a million monks and nuns reverting back to life as lay people and more than 4600 monasteries and 40,000 chapels had been totally destroyed or else were being used for things other than their original purpose. Besides giving a lot of importance to studying, we also paid a lot of attention to the subject of arts and crafts. I loved studying about many of the great works of our earlier writers and the many commentaries written by the scholars of the Confucian society. My calligraphy was also of a high-quality and that is why I was given a post in the Civil Service. In spite of my regular job, I took time out to create quite a few paintings on scrolls, much like my other friends, since arts and crafts were a very important part of our daily life. Going back in time, I candidly recall the day of the examinations, when my father took me to the capital city where I sat for the Government exams. The streets were full of people, mainly students accompanied by their fathers, eager to write the examination. I passed the government exams and was thus able to get a good job, which ensured good money for me to raise my family. It was in the year 801, that Du You was presented to our Emperor Dezong which was a 200 volume book, called Tongdian. This book was a compilation of not only governmental details and laws, but also contained information about social customs, public conduct, arts and crafts and music. If you wish to know about the life of us Chinese people, for the past 1000 years, you only have to read this book to familiarize yourself with the history of our great nation. This book is one of the reasons why the Tang dynasty, under whom we are living has often been called one of the best times in Chinese history. For some time I lived in Yangzhou, where the land was fertile and crops were in plenty and my master had, along with his family settled over there. He lived in a big house with several rooms, built like a pagoda. The house was made of brick and wood, and was filled with musical instruments, and very often my master would call his friends for performances given by some of the greatest artists who happened to visit the city. One of my favorite pastimes was to attend a bird concert, which was held in many parts of the city. Bird lovers would get together early in the morning, once a week, to hear the birds sing their melodies, while sipping their morning tea. This was the same place where, I have heard my father say, the storms destroyed 1000 boats, which used to ply the rivers and streams in this part of the country. During my time here I also visited the port cities of Canton and Fuzhou where merchant ships from Arabia brought their goods and took back the silks made here. Ancestors were looked upon as having great powers and control over the living and this power far exceed the influence of the elders living in the clan. The members of the nobility were connected to their ancestors and to each other by the bonds of kinship. People honored blood kinship and social status was given an honorable place in society. However, the relationship enjoyed by the kings or people of the royal household and the peasants were on a paternalistic level. The duty of the peasant was to serve his master and the duty of the master was to look after the welfare of the peasant. The great sources of the Classical period such as the bronze inscriptions, the Oracle bones, The Book of Changes, The book of Documents, The Book of Songs, the ritual Classics and other great Historical texts, essays and philosophical passages from eminent philosophers are handed down from generation to generation in order to enrich the generations after them. These treasures that were generously handed down to us by our forefathers helped us a great deal in our education and also served to shape our thinking. Dreams were an important part of Chinese Culture and all Chinese believed it to be a part of their social culture. I remember how when the family gathered together for their meals, those who had dreams that day would explain about it to the family. My grandfather and grandmother would go about explaining the meanings of the dreams and what to expect from them. Some of the most common dreams were about teeth falling out and this meant that the parents of the individual were in some sort of danger. Dreams about the sun and moon rising indicated the prosperity of the family in the future. Particularly quite relevant to Chinese culture that was quite ancient, are animal dreams. My mother used to say that a dream of a swallow flying towards a person meant that a dear and close friend was going to make a visit shortly. In case one dreamt of a noisy parrot, it indicated that a quarrel was brewing. The Chinese always emphasized the need for peace and harmony in ones life. The atmosphere in my home was always serene and our elders never used to shout or treat us with disrespect. So even after so many years of their passing we hold the same tradition of teaching the younger children to speak and behave well keeping truth and honesty as their basic character. Our Chinese civilization being one of the oldest civilizations that dates back to more than six millennia. We are rather proud and happy of the progress we have made in the various fields. Some of the greatest inventions of our civilization were paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder. Each and every family takes care to see that children give utmost respect to their elders and they teach them to work hard without taking into account the kind of job they are doing. Though China’s cultural and social sphere has spread far and wide, yet the core principles with all its traditions and customs are carefully ingrained and handed down from generation to generation. References Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Kwang-ching Liu. The Cambridge illustrated history of China. 2nd edn. Publisher- Free press. Pgs. 524   http://books.google.co.in/books?id=sHGdq4rLSTEC&pg=PA108&lpg=PA108&dq=A+cosmopolitan+empire:+the+Tang+dynasty%3B&source=bl&ots=Pe4grmaWjh&sig=mu9LY3dy6MJHm1qSlyf7Vol_z8E&hl=en&ei=tq71Sa-cHoKZkQWYlO3cCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#PPA120, Tang Dynasty http://china.mrdonn.org/tang.html Encyclopedia article – Di Yu: Facts http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Du_You Read More