World History - Blog #2


I thought it was very interesting that in the first century C.E., the Romans began to respect/claim that their deceased emperors were gods.  This new belief system caused a “religious cult” to form which helped boost the authority of the living rulers (pg. 123).  I have met a lot of brilliant people, some have a better way with words than the others which makes them appear even more wise because they have a certain confidence about themselves.  I wonder how many of people back then used their ways with words, stories, and charisma to make people think they come from a background of rulers which gives them more authority.  To put it simply, I wonder how many amazing bull-shitters there were back then.  This section also mentioned that because the early Christians refused to take part in this “religious cult” they were persecuted by the Roman authorities for a period.
I liked the story about Trung Trac resisting the Chinese empire.  The Chinese Empire which had its own belief system decided to conquer Vietnam.  There was a Vietnamese man that was called lord Thi Sach and he challenged against the Chinese Empire and its policies which included high taxes, rights to fish in local rivers which required the fisherman to pay off the Chinese officials as well as to burden the Vietnamese by imposing their Chinese culture on to them.  Since he was opposed to the Chinese Empire imposing their policies on the Vietnamese, he was ordered to be executed.  Thi Sach’s wife, Trung Trac and her younger sister Tung Nhi created a military force (around 80,000 members) that was able to keep the Chinese at bay during their brief time of ruling.  During that time, they were able to eliminate the “hated tribute taxes imposed by the Chinese.”  I’m not sure how long they ruled for, but they eventually lost support overtime which was said to be a consequence of having female leadership.  I think it is wonderful that this story wasn’t forgotten and that it lived on in stories and legends.  Even better, “to this day, temples, streets, and neighborhoods bear the name of the Trung sisters, and a yearly celebration in their honor coincides with International Women’s Day.”
I enjoyed the section that talks about The Daoist Answer and it caused me to read more about it on the internet.  Laozi expressed his ideas about the dialectics of nature including the unity of man with nature and living in harmony with the cosmos.  Unlike other religions the Dao is not the creator of different creatures and the ultimate goal for Daoist’s’ is the pursuit of happiness and doing good. The Dao has no name and is impersonal, and when there is non-action there is harmony in the cosmology and between the rulers and governed.  While the Dao De Jing is not based on humanism, it was adapted by Confucianists to achieve this. Laozi was able to highlight the importance of non-action as a virtue in Daoism, where people ought to accept what goes on around, rather than trying to dominate.

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