Trade, China & Christianity.....

   From the readings from chapters 8,9 and 10, we can understand how the roots of some of the most important things in the business world lie deep in the past, like Strayer mentions. The most important topics covered on the chapters are: the importance of trade and how this develop during this period, China and the “golden age” , culture tradition and their strength with his dynasties, and the last chapter talks about the expansion of Christianity in Europe and how it grew.

            The development of trade and commerce dates back to the ancient times. These practices were really amazing on how they developed. Trade became the vehicle for the spread of religious ideas, technological innovations, even the spread of diseases and plants & animals  to regions far from their places of origin. The Silk Roads called after their most famous product, silk; these routes connected pastoral and agricultural peoples as well as the larger civilizations on the continents. Silk roads connected Eurasian societies by land, sea-based routes likewise connected distant peoples all across the Eastern hemisphere . Transportation costs were lower on the Sea roads than on the Silk roads because they were able to accommodate larger and heavier cargoes than in camels, like they did on the Silk roads. So ultimately the Silk roads where used to travel more luxury goods and the sea roads for more bulk goods and products for a mass market. The value of silk during those times was also really important. In some places it was used as currency and as a means of accumulating wealth.

            In China, with the collapse of the Han Dynasty, it regained its unity under the Sui Dynasty. But due to the Sui emperor and his military campaign to conquer Korea, he exhausted the states resources and prompted the overthrown of the Dynasty. The Tang and Song dynasties followed and pretty much built under the Sui foundations. These dynasties built a state structure that endured for a thousand years. The most obvious sign of China’s prosperity was its rapid growth in population which jumped from about 50 million during the Tang dynasty to 120 million by 1200, they also had remarkable achievements in agricultural production. The Chinese later invented gunpowder which led to a revolution in military affairs. China became the center of the world because of their intellectual achievements, Chinese people were more educated and saw other cultures as primitive. Even with their prosperity an power, China later had cultural problems and disagreements with Korea, Vietnam and Japan mainly due to their difference in beliefs, resistance and aggression.

            The last chapter goes into detail about Christianity and how it grew during the Middle Ages in Europe. Europe eventually became the global center of Christianity, especially Byzantium and Western Europe. When the Roman Empire collapsed that had a major impact on the way people lived and left many open to invasion and religion. Christianity took an important place in Europe and spread around the world.