MonkeyBronwyn Mullen

Jesse WilliamsBrock Baker

Jordan Simpson

Historical Background of China During the 15th Century

Ming Dynasty

• 276 years• Social stability and orderly government• Improved military• “Great” projects• Time for the arts• Daoism and Buddism

Military and Exploration Achievements

• 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

The Journey to the West is now counted as one of the Four Classical Novels of China. It is a popular household folk tale.

Wu Cheng En included many fables, fairy tables, legends, superstitions, and religious myths in his book which made it a culmination of cultural stories.

Bibliography

• http://history.cultural-china.com/en/60History125.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West#Historical_context

• http://www.china-on-site.com/monkey.php

15th Century Chinese Politics

By: Jesse Williams

General

• During the 15th Century (1401-1500)• 1400First golf balls invented.The first piano called the Spinet invented.• 1494Whiskey 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.