Where is our stuff made?

Cultural Diffusion

Top Ten Most Instantly Recognized Logos Around the World

The Silk Roads

Businessmen...Indian camel herders drink their morning tea as they wait to sell or trade their animals at the Pushkar Mela livestock fair in Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.

The Silk Roads Began in the Han Empire The Silk Roads Carried:

Luxury Goods

Ideas

People

Silk & Textiles, Spices & Foods, Gold, Salt

Religion & Philosophy, Government Systems, Technology

Merchants, SlavesAs a result, NEW ideas and technologies will be created

The Silk Roads Connected Empires

The Silk Roads Help Develop China in the Tang and Song Dynasties

The Chinese Become Masters of TechnologyPaper, Printing, the Compass, and Gunpowder

China Was a Land of LuxurySilkworms were protected by the ruling dynasty, but often smuggled out illegally

Chinese Philosophies BlendConfucianism

Buddhism comes with tradeDaoism: The Dao, “The Way,” is the universal force guiding all things

Woodcut depicting a woman winding strands of silk from cocoons on a reel in China. The making of silk was extremely labor-intensive; the masses of silkworms, for example, were hand-fed mulberry leaves until they reached maturity, and the task of reeling silk cocoons to obtain thread was only semi-mechanized.

Woodcut depicting the preparatory step of cooking bamboo stems in a mixture of water and lime in the traditional papermaking process in China..