16-4-10 MMW 13 First Writing Assignment: Topic Exploration

MMW 13 First Writing Assignment:

Topic Exploration
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First Name *
Jingyao

Last Name *

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Chen

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Email Address *

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[email protected] rs e
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Section (Instructor) *
C08 (Rahimi)
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Topic 1 *
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How did the Mongol invasion and dominion affect the Chinese women
status during the Yuan dynasty?
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Observation 1.1 *
"quotation" or paraphrase of source + historical context (MLA in-text citation)
In the Yuan dynasty, men were allowed to have many wives while
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the number of wives depended on the husband’s wealth. The

wealthier the husband, the more wives he can own. However, if the
man did not have enough property to ‘buy’ a wife from her family,
then he didn’t deserve to have a wife. (Shi 166)
Women took charge of most of the family households. They were
responsible for slaves, childcare, taking care of animals and family
properties. Due to their crucial role in productions, Mongols
women enjoyed a relatively higher status than traditional Chinese
women. (Shi 170)
Commentary 1.1 *
Thecomments
Your cultural background of this text is during the Chinese Yuan
about the observation
dynasty
This study source after Mongol
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16-4-10 MMW 13 First Writing Assignment: Topic Exploration

Within one book, there are two completely different descriptions of

women living in the Yuan dynasty. The first one depicted young
maid as “product” that was waiting to be bought by her future
husband while the second one states that Yuan woman played an
active role in the social and family issues. It makes me wonder
why the women’s conditions were so differently described just in
one book. Besides, when the Mongols, a group of non-Chinese
barbarians came to China and put the whole Chinese territories
under its control with military power, whether it brought a great
shock to the development of the widespread traditional Chinese
Observation
Confucianism? 1.2As(optional)
we know, Confucianism always looked down
upon women and to
"quotation" or paraphrasethe of
Song dynasty,
source when context
+ historical Neo-Confucianism
(MLA in-text citation)
widely spread, the status of Chinese women became more
‘A great era isWhether
problematic. not necessarily great for women’
the dissemination (Smarr
of Mongol’s “Gupta”)
practices
make any contribution on improve Chinese women conditions? On
one hand, Mongol rulers disencouraged or even rejected to follow
Chinese local traditions, largely reducing the influence of
Confucianism in the country. On the other hand, there were also
some Mongol practices that didn’t show enough respect to women
such as “treating young maids as property and buying wife from
her family”. From my perspective, though Mongol practices were

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not perfect for women, the Mongol’s dominion was actually

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beneficial to improve women status since Mongol rulers not only

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Commentary 1.2 (optional)
oppress Confucianism which denigrated women, they also set law

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to protect
Your women
comments andthe
about offered women certain rights in marriage.
observation

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Yuan dynasty is undoubtedly a great era in the history. The
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Mongols controlled a large territory with their advanced military
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armors, superb riding skills and excellent fighting skills. Besides,
during the Yuan dynasty, economics developed quickly due to the
flourish of global trade. Different from traditional Chinese people,
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Mongol rulers never looked down upon businessmen since traders

were able to bring wealth to the country as well as increase
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taxations to the government. Thanks to the support and

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encouragement of the Yuan government, economy quickly

developed, creating a wealthy and flourished era. This is very likely
Topic
to the2lecture
* when Professor Smarr talked about the Indian Gupta
Empire, a country that developed great commerce and culture. But
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Why
at theCrusades,
end of thealecture,
large army
she composed of so many
put up an statement enthusiastic
that ‘though
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soldiers,
Gupta was still
a failed in the
great era “Holy
that was War”?
both great in economy and arts, it
was not a great era for women.’ However, I hold a completely
different perspective on this argument. I believe that within a great
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era, women were able to enjoy a much higher status because

when people live in a peaceful and flourished era, they tended to
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be open to foreign ideas and accept new moral standards. In this

case, Chinese people might tend to be open to Mongol’s
perspectives on women. And as I mention above Mongol is a
ethnic group that offer relatively high respect to women and
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Observation
Mongols women 2.1 *had opportunity to participate in family issues
"quotation" or paraphrase of source + historical context (MLA in-text citation)
‘Historians continue to dispute the numbers involved… Our best
guess is that somewhere between 60000 and 100000 Latin
Christians set off on the First Crusade, of which 7000 to 10000
were knights, perhaps 35000 to 50000 infantry troops… what is
certain is that the call to crusade elicited an extraordinary
response, the scale of which stunned the medieval world’
(Asbridge 42)
‘God has instituted in our time holy wars, so that the order of
knights and the crowd running in their wake… might find a new
waywasofdownloaded
This study source gaining salvation’ (Asbridge
by 100000822384205 42)
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16-4-10 MMW 13 First Writing Assignment: Topic Exploration

Commentary 2.1 *
Your comments about the observation
According to the estimate number of populations that participated
in the Crusades, one could find that the calling by the pope of the
Holy War was really successful. People were not recruited forcibly
by the church but voluntarily joined the army. And the number was
still stunning. Plenty of Christians were attracted by the promise of
salvation and held strong enthusiasm. But as we know, the
Crusades still failed at the end, after nine times. This is kind of
confusing since enthusiasm offered people courage and motivation
to fight. And after some time of considering, here are some of my
guesses:
Observation
1. Though2.2 (optional)
Christian soldiers were persistent and motivated by
"quotation" or paraphrase of “Holy
the purpose to seize their sourceLand” – Jerusalem,
+ historical contexttheir
(MLAenemies
in-text citation)
Muslims had the same reason to defend against Crusades since
Jerusalem was also their Holy Land. Therefore, the enthusiasm of
either side of the war might be both really high so enthusiasm
might won’t play a decisive part in the war
2. Although some of the Christians regarded purpose of the
Sacred war for spiritual concerns, other people might not. For
example, some peasants had no choice but joined the army due

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to poverty, and Venetian Crusades had more interests on earthly
profits. This kind of divisions might lead to conflicts. So the

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Crusades, although recruited a large number of soldiers, was not

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so enthusiastic for the same purpose as we thought. Once people

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could not see the hope to gain their own profits from this long-
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lasting war, they might lose interests in the fight.
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Commentary 2.2 (optional)

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Your comments about the observation

Works
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 16-4-10 MMW 13 First Writing Assignment: Topic Exploration
List of sources in MLA format. Note that Google forms will not allow you to use italics. You will not be
penalized for that.
Shi, Weimin. Du shi zhong di you mu min: Yuan dai cheng shi sheng
huo chang juan. Changsha Shi: Hunan chu ban she, 1996. Print.
Smarr, Janet. “India: Guptas and Hinduism.” Making of the Modern
World 12. University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA. 29 January
2016. Lecture.
Asbridge, Thomas S. The Crusades: the war for the Holy Land.
London; New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. Print.

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