week5 – From 18 to 21

Reflection of the Cealed Library and the Tang Era

I was pleasantly surprised while reading and commenting on my classmates’ blog posts. I assumed most would choose Option A–as I did–but according to the posts that I read, the majority of them chose Option B, zooming in on one item and introducing it.

In this course so far, I have been maintaining a broad view, learning across the dynasties (Qin, Shang, etc.), to create connections. While I deem it to be important to keep my mind open and consider things generally, it is equally as important to focus on one thing in order to make a thorough analysis. I read others’ blog posts, so I was given the opportunity to study and learn with a narrow focus. By doing so, I was still able to see relationships, in a different sense. For example, one of the blog posts that struck me made an amazing connection between Tang China and Minecraft via Lapis Lazuli, a precious mineral. Seeing parts of our lives intertwine with history makes us value the learning experience a bit more.

Three Things I Learned this Week

Various means of learning, especially zoomed-in and zoomed-out learning.
The Library Cave at Dunhuang and the contents found.
Tang China relative to the Silk Road and other surroundings.

Bibliographic References

Hansen, Valerie. The Open Empire : A History of China to 1800. Second ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.

Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road : A New History with Documents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.

The Library Cave of the Tang Period

My initial reaction: this week’s material is my favorite thus far. I learned not only about the discovery and the history of the Library Cave at Dunhuang, but also the contents, the documents concealed in the Cave. By reading summaries of the discovered writing from the Tang era, there is less ambiguity in interpretation because it is all recorded straightforwardly, unlike the figurines, statuettes, and other artistic works.

The Cave Adjacent to the Library Cave. Photographed by Aurel Stein in 1907.

Multiple (familiar) terms in the readings struck me from The Silk Road: A New History with Documents. For example, there is a contract regarding tomb plots, which we learned last week. In order to please the predecessors, or “spirits,” that control the burial sites, food sacrifices must be offered to them by the surviving descendents. The spirits, in turn, provide the owner, or “master,” of the tomb and his descendents peace and good fortune. This

The following question was posed by Dr. D’Haeseleer: What differences do you see between “theory” and “practice”? Perhaps I am misunderstanding the question. I do not understand how I would be able to distinguish between theory and practice because based on the documents, they are either all statements rooted in theory or rooted in practice.

Bibliographic References

Hansen, Valerie. The Open Empire : A History of China to 1800. Second ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.

Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road : A New History with Documents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.