China: A Global Influence
Without a doubt, China was influential in it’s impact on Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, its cultural imprint did not stop there. As one of the First Civilizations, China assimilated its own strengths with other influences to impact the world. The spread of complex organizational designs including new technologies, religious impact, and language that transcended dialects surpassed the confines of Southeastern Asia, spanned the globe and is still in evidence today.
There are so many technologies that the Chinese developed, but it is impossible to think of this group of people without recognizing the immense contributions that such inventions made. While many of these inventions were not directly created to travel worldwide, this is what commonly occurred. One such item was paper and printing. Clearly, these designs are still in use today. Another invention that gained worldwide influence was the Chinese formula for gunpowder and the use of cast iron as opposed to bronze. The influences do not stop there and include the production of salt using solar evaporation, calligraphy, and the magnetic compass. Without a doubt, China created vast technologies that contributed to a number of global sectors, including the military, the spread of written expression, and scientific knowledge and other facets of civilization that have since been used, improved upon, and remained a cultural influence beyond Southeast Asia.
In addition to China’s influence in the area of technologies, they were able to impact the world in the area of religion as well. Consider the religious and philosophical expressions of Daoism and Confucianism and how the obscurities of life were explained with each. These teachings, along with the expressions of other Chinese thinkers spread throughout the world. These teachings directly impacted the political governing of many states. These religious affluences were instrumental in uniting human communities and remain present in humankind still today.
Another component of Chinese influence is their language. While many foreign languages were focused on phonetics, the Chinese characters were more expressive of ideas and words. It was the ability to understand and relate to the written expression of the Chinese that frequently led to the sharing and embedding of their culture within others. Written expression actually dates back to the Sumerians and the beginning of organized civilizations.
In considering the influence of the Chinese, not all their contributions were as direct as traveling the Silk Road or the sea commerce that led to the direct transfer of goods from one area to another; nonetheless, the technologies that they designed, the religious teachings of their scholarly thinkers, and their written expression did travel and assimilate into other tribes, civilizations, and countries. This assimilation did not cease over time, but overcame the boundaries of change and transition to create influence centuries and even millenniums later.
Which of the following sentences could be added to the fourth paragraph?
