Monkey
Bronwyn Mullen
Jesse Williams
Brock Baker
Jordan Simpson
Historical Background of China
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During the 15 Century
Ming Dynasty
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276 years
Social stability and orderly government
Improved military
“Great” projects
Time for the arts
Daoism and Buddism
Military and Exploration Achievements
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Emperor Yongle
Zheng He
1,000,000
Isolation
Golden Age of Exploration?
Literature and the Arts
• Novel was developed
• Large audience
• Vernacular Chinese
Monkey
The Culture of the time
Time Published
• Published in the 16th century, during the Ming
Dynasty
• 1,000 years after the original trip that sparked
the creation of the folklore
• Emphasizes the introduction of Buddhism into
Chinese culture
Wu Cheng En included many
fables, fairy tables, legends,
superstitions, and religious
myths in his book which
made it a culmination of
cultural stories.
The Journey to the West is
now counted as one of the
Four Classical Novels of
China. It is a popular
household folk tale.
Bibliography
• http://history.culturalchina.com/en/60History125.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_
West#Historical_context
• http://www.china-on-site.com/monkey.php
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15
Century Chinese Politics
By: Jesse Williams
General
• During the 15th Century (1401-1500)
• 1400
First golf balls invented.
The first piano called the Spinet invented.
• 1494
Whiskey invented in Scotland.
Chinese Politics
• Ming Dynasty in power.
• Instructed Zheng he to travel the seas leading
to the ulimate peak of the Ming Dynasty
• China had an immense naval fleet.
• 28,000 People --- 300 Ships
• Largest Fleet until WWI
Zheng he’s Warship
Continued
• Seven large naval voyages
• Based on expanding China, BUT not overseas
• Connected all tributaries of china to the Indian
ocean
• Wang Yang-ming was a Neo-Confucian who
had great political and philosophical power in
China during this time.
• He was a great influence on the decision to
make the voyages.
Early Chinese Religions
• The earliest forms of religious practices in
Chinese history are the burial rituals that were
performed on superior individuals in society.
(Neolithic Era)
• Example: Often times individuals would
sacrifice themselves to be with their superior
in the afterlife.
Confuscianism
• Han Dynasty was the first to welcome Confuscianism. It
originated in China but eventually spread to all over east Asia.
• Founder: Confucius (real name was K’ung Fu-tzu)
• This belief system entails the belief that the ultimate personal
harmony in life are the relationships one has with: ruler to
subject, parent to child, husband to wife, older to younger,
and friend to friend.
* Didn’t find much about relationship with God. It was about
relationships within human existence.
Buddhism
• Originated from Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha,
who was awakened at the age of 35.
• States that all of our problems and suffering arise from
confused and negative states of mind. These spiritual
teachings help people find the root cause of human suffering.
• “budhi” means “to awaken”
• Buddhism can be summed up by the Four Noble Truths and
the Noble Eightfold Path.
• Buddhism began to prosper in China after the fall of the Han
Dynasty.
Taoism
• Founder: Lao Tsu
• Tao can be roughly translated into English as path, or the way.
• Taoism started as a philosophy but evolved into a religious faith in 440 CE
when it was adopted as a state religion.
• Priesthood in Taoism view gods as manifestations of the Dao (which they
believe cant be represented as an image). Since there is no God to answer
their prayers, they seek answers to life's problems through inner
meditation and outer observation.
• Believed the way to happiness was doing things the natural way or “going
with the flow”.
• Balancing of the yin and the yang was also important.