ipl-logo

Essay On The Great Divergence Between Europe And China

711 Words3 Pages

Around the 1700s and the 1800s the Islamic, Indianan, Japanese and Chinese civilizations were on a similar path as Europe. However, they started diverging. The Great Divergence is a term used to explain the process in which Europe (the West) dominated other civilizations and emerged as the most innovative and wealthiest civilization. Specifically in this essay, the Great Divergence refers to the difference between Europe and China. This essay will argue that technological invention/innovation is not the only factor that explains the Great Divergence between these two countries. There were other factors such as politics and culture that give an explanation to the Great Divergence between Europe and China. This will be established by examining the debate between David S. Landes and John M. Hobson.
Landes is a self proclaimed eurocentrist - he interprets the world from a European perspective. He argues that Europe was ‘a power-based civilization’ and believes that Europe dominated other civilizations because Europe was innovative. Landes does acknowledge the fact that civilizations such as China were inventive, but he believes that they were not innovative enough to become the leading civilization – inventive means having a new idea for a product or process and innovative means practically applying the new inventions into …show more content…

However, he believes that China did not succeed because they failed ‘to realize its potential’ and that ‘Chinese technology stopped progressing’, hence the reason why there was a Great Divergence between Europe and China. Sinocentrists agree that there was a Great Divergence between the two civilizations but it was not because of technological invention or innovation that created

Show More
Related
293 Words | 2 Pages

However, outside nations colonized and took parts away from the Qing Dynasty. Another way European nations display a terrible impact

Read More
582 Words | 3 Pages

Attitudes towards technology in the Han and Roman empires differed greatly in terms of importance to life. The Roman Empire thought that technology was beneficial, but not necessary. The Romans were divided by social classes and concentrated more on mathematics and sciences, looking down on people who performed labor and used technologies for laboring. The Han Empire had a more positive attitude towards manufacturing and labor. The Han relied heavily on agriculture and thought that tools and water systems were necessary to reduce labor.

Read More
230 Words | 1 Pages

Each country had very different responses towards the European scientific Revolution. China had a strong rejection towards the scientific revolution because the Europeans had failed to leave a good impression. According to the video, “Empires in Collision” China was a well-advanced country that had a rich economy also China was a nation that envisioned themselves as above everyone else. When the Europeans showed their inventions, China looked at them like “toys” it was never enough to persuade the Chinese. Out of the three countries China was unyielding to European’s scientific revolution.

Read More
628 Words | 3 Pages

From 1450 to 1750, global networks began to expand. Though not every part of the world was involved in these expanding global networks, countries like China were. This was the time period of the Ming and the Qing Dynasties. There were changes and continuities with China’s participation in the global networks around this time period. During the time period between 1450 and 1750, China limited outside influence and their participation in the Silk Road Trading remained constant in global network trading, while there were significant changes in China’s participation in global networks such as Chinese converts to the Christian religion and China’s demand for an alternative medium of exchange.

Read More
509 Words | 3 Pages

China on the other hand had more problems in its bureaucracy and civic unrest. For example, some peasants who had lost their farms had to sell their children into service. A third difference is that as previously stated, China had a successful revival while Rome did not. Rome divided and the Western half survived but was diminished by attempts to regulate the economy and decline tax revenue ’s.

Read More
296 Words | 2 Pages

As China grew with population and technologies, so did their government. Their military was weak but they had the idea to make iron and steel weaponry. The increase of weapons allowed the Chinese military to have more power over the people. Yet, the downfall of their era was their tactics in controlling their army and the rebellious citizens. As China’s economy and population grows, so does the growth of politics and Urban life styles.

Read More
1816 Words | 8 Pages

With the fall of the Mongols came a new nation, inspired by the scientific knowledge and technologies that the Yuan had left behind, and also influencing the rise of oceanic trade, exploration and a better connection with the rest of the

Read More
879 Words | 4 Pages

Agriculture was a major part of most Chinese people’s daily life and they were satisfied with their lives. Many people did not want to be influenced by industrialization and the western ways of Europeans. This did not matter to the Europeans however, as they wanted the silk, tea and porcelain that was only coming from China. According to Tao He’s article, British Imperialism in China,

Read More
1046 Words | 5 Pages

By tracing trends across the Qing’s illustrious history, it allows the reader to better grasp the revisionist interpretation that he posits, instead of simplistically allocating the award of most influential factor of leading to China’s modernisation as well as the Qing’s fall to the Western powers. It is notable, however, to observe that, despite his revisionist view, Rowe still titles his book China’s Last Empire. The Great Qing. By using the term ‘last’, Rowe seems to still be close to the implicit narrative of China’s ‘failure’ as seen in other orthodox interpretations such as Frederic Wakeman’s ‘The Fall of Imperial China. Despite this seeming setback however, Rowe’s book is extremely useful in exploring the binary of historiography and history, while elaborating immensely on the Qing’s

Read More
748 Words | 3 Pages

During the seventeenth century, many of Europe’s diverse and numerous countries were going through countless political, economic, and cultural transformations. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment were two of the greatest, most important changes of the early modern era which greatly altered the course of history in most of Europe. People were starting to question and challenge widely accepted beliefs and applying approaches to knowledge rooted in human reason to the physical universe and human affairs. The study of history often focuses on these events and its effects on Europe, excluding or ignoring its effects on places outside of Europe. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment both sparked interests in science in China and

Read More
1275 Words | 6 Pages

The main themes of Before European Hegemony revolve around the many aspects of trade, disastrous events, and the many pivotal events and advancements which changed the course of the many rival nations within the era preceding total European dominance. Before European hegemony is a very thorough book, providing insights into the inner workings of several empires in the thirteenth century. The theme of missteps and misfortune among these earlier nations enables Abu-Lughod’s idea of European dominance with the thirteenth century to be solidified and supplemented with validity, with Abu-Lughod providing a flowing narrative of historical events which permitted Europe to take its place as . Abu-Lughod investigations and observations into the economics

Read More
777 Words | 4 Pages

All in all, both ancient Greek and ancient Chinese science are immature and remained

Read More
348 Words | 2 Pages

The primary contrast between the two nations would be the intricacies of their societies. This article will Egypt and China both had a plenitude of waters. For Egypt, it was the Nile River, for China, the Yellow River. These waterways were truly essential to both of the human advancements from multiple points of view. They both had frameworks of composing that fused straightforward pictures.

Read More
1085 Words | 5 Pages

In this paper, we’ll study some of their famous pedagogy thought to explore what influences they have brought to the Chinese and westerners’ cognition and behavior and why the two civilizations developed in same period would diverge in such a degree. Furthermore, I

Read More
1243 Words | 5 Pages

The traditional Chinese cultures have a development process for thousand years, now we are creating another kind of traditional culture especially under the wave of globalization. Although the form of expressing or performing the culture experienced some changes but the basic idea and belief behind rarely changed. To promote Chinese culture we would refer to the essence of Chinese wisdom so the following is actual practicing of different dimensions of Chinese traditions which show the beauty of China. The family concept is the essence of Chinese culture.

Read More

More about Essay On The Great Divergence Between Europe And China

Related Topics

Open Document