Heavenly Khan Term Paper
“With bronze as a mirror one can correct one 's appearance; with history as a mirror, one can understand the rise and fall of a state; with good men as a mirror, one can distinguish right from wrong.”
― Li Shimin, Tang Emperor Taizong Few historical figures can stand alongside legends such as Napoleon and Alexander the Great but in his book, Heavenly Khan, Victor Cunrui Xiong Ph.D. tries to make a case for Tang Emperor Taizong, Li Shimin. Xiong attempts to write a historical fiction that appeals to a wide variety of readers. Heavenly Khan tells the story of Emperor Taizong who grew up in a period of devastation for the Chinese people. Taizong would grow to become a military commander, military genius, and emperor of the Tang Dynasty Doctor Xiong is a professor of History at Western Michigan University and is well versed in Asian history. In addition to Heavenly Khan, Xoing has written Emperor Yang of the
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Xiong uses battles, executions, assassinations, and scandals to appeal to readers of any genre. Once a reader gets into the book they are hooked in the epic events of the book and the deep look into the ruling class.
Unfortunately, Xiong’s novel might somewhat difficult to get into for many readers with no experience in Chinese history. Xiong also attempts to utilize dialogue that often comes off as underdeveloped or simplistic. For example, in the first chapter when discussing engaging the Koguryo in the War of Daye 9, the civil officials have this conversation:
"Now about the Koguryǒ. They are inferior barbarians. Still, they have managed to humiliate our superior state--the Great Sui. If we so desire, we can pull up the Eastern Sea and remove Mount Tai, to say nothing of crushing these small-time bandits.We must launch another war against them."
The audience listened in
Kublai Khan, once leader of the Mongols, is known best for being a successful conqueror of the Old World. As ruler of a reunified China since for the first time since the Tang Dynasty, Kublai Khan was great in his victories, yet his efforts to obtain control over the southern China, and what is now northern Vietnam, were failed. This paper will take a look at the three attempts Kublai made on Vietnam, and why the state with such a weak sense of national identity was able to defeat the great conqueror on every strike. By 1225 the Mongols had controlled most of China and Manchuria.
The Mongols had a lasting impression on the Chinese. The Yuan emperors had “improved upon the canals, transportation, and communication” to have a better outcome on trade profits (Doc 6). The Chinese hadn’t thought of boosting up their economy in this way; their idea was to produce more not make it easier to travel. In addition, the Mongols has a great system to get the word out to people the “messengers travel throughout his dominions more than 200,00 horses” (Doc. 8). How the Mongols thought through things was amazing, they planned out how to get the word out instead of she said he said bases.
That's why the Mongols were both powerful on the battlefield and as an empire together. “The Mongols did not find honor in fighting
The second part of the book provided information on how Mongolian transportation and mobilization of goods and resources helped in the assimilation of Mongolian culture throughout the East and West. Allen’s work helped put to rest that Mongols were only brutal conquerors, not successful rulers. Allsen supports his argument that Qan Mongke’s reforms helped to expand Mongolian civilization and empire with the support of how Mongke was able to do so. Mongke created an efficient government by imposing taxes, recruiting personal for the oh so strong military forces that the Mongolian Empire had at the time, and taking part in collaborative discussions. Allsen states at one point that Mongke “combined internal reform with external expansion.”
Steven Williams History 261 Essay 2 1 April 2015 Friar William’s view of the Mongols Friar William of Rubruck thought that the Mongols were very arrogant and stuck in their religious ways, however, he did see how some good could come from some of their arrant ways and how they could be used in a Christian practice. Throughout the book The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck, which is translated by Peter Jackson, it is obvious that Friar William becomes annoyed with many people he encountered on his journey to the court of Khan Möngke. Throughout his journey, Friar William came in contact with different people of various religious backgrounds.
Huang Ti is thought to have lived from 2697-2579 BC, before writing existed. He was described as a “true Renais-sance man.” He designed a cart based on the big dipper, designed a sequence of musical notes to be able to read and create music tones, but his great passion was medicine. Huang Ti is supposed to have been born about 2704 BC and ruled as emperor around 2697. His mythological independence is credited with the introduction of “wood-en houses, carts, boats, the bow and arrow, and writing.”
DBQ: The Mongols: How Barbaric were the “Barbarians”? Throughout history, the term “barbarian” has been used to refer to groups of “uncivilized” people with savage and evil qualities. What it essentially means is foreigners. A specific group of people called “barbaric” are the Mongols, a small tribe from central asian grasslands who during the 13th century, conquered much of the known world.
As the grandson of Genghis Khan, I stand as a defending witness in this trial to show that he and his other descendants, including myself are indeed a civilized conquerors and rulers in the 13th and 14th centuries. Being that I am Genghis Khan’s grandson, I am the successor of the Mongolian Empire. I am most known for the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty in China. In the field, I stressed to generals, the precepts of mentors, which is the importance and effectiveness of clemency towards the conquered. In order to run my realm, I combined many aspects of Mongol and Chinese leaders into the government.
Genghis Khan: The Culture of a Nomadic Empire I read The Conquest of Genghis Khan, written by Alison Behnke, which was about how Genghis Khan grew to power, and changed the world forever. Genghis Khan’s culture is obviously vastly different from mine. Genghis Khan was the founder and undisputed leader of the Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire ruled with an iron fist in Asia through the 13th and 14th centuries. The Mongols were the largest contiguous land empire in history.
Military success helped as people acquired the impression that Genghis Khan had the Mandate of Heaven. The jurchen emperor finally recognized the Mongols authority and agreed to pay tribute. After six years of fighting the Jurchens, Genghis Khan decided to return to Mongolia, leaving one of his best generals in charge of his Mongols positions. The Mongols were happy to be back, however they felt superior to people in northern China.
In Rowe’s monograph, he explores and challenges the existing approaches to the Qing empire, from the orthodox interpretation fuelled by John K. Fairbanks to the three revisionist turns that emerged, and, in doing so, successfully achieves a balance between historiography and history. Rowe’s work is markedly revisionist, exploring the continuity and challenges behind the changes; socially, economically and politically, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as opposed to the orthodox view of seeing China as a
The Mongols were savages not ceasing at any expense to conquer land. The Mongols had distinctive war strategies to corner their enemies, conquer them, and slaughter them. Despite the fact that the Mongols did much damage, they refine the nations they prevailed. Even in a Mongols' personal life there are numerous guidelines that should be obeyed. In spite of the fact that the Mongols may appear to be merciless murderers there is another side them.
Interestingly, however, Shen demonstrated belongingness to both Christianity and the traditional Chinese empire by adding possessive adjectives such as “my” and “our” before a number of terms varying from Christian practices to the contemporary Chinese emperor, further showing the complexity of personal identity due to the fusion of two distinct
By his 20’s, he became a very well-known leader and warrior, with a calm mind. Using this power to gain followers, he soon started his path on one of the greatest race conquests of all
In the thirteenth century, overlook left a single short sentence ‘Let us reward our female offspring when tearing away the censored pages from The Secret History of the Mongols. Jack Weatherford carefully explored the hint of what had been removed through his next analysis The Secret History of the Mongol Queens. His previous book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World was deep insight into the man who conquered the half of the world and commanded an empire that China had dreamed of and Russia had not accomplished before. However, one would not normally think of the woman in that period as the most important reason for his empire expansion.