"A People's History of the World" Part 4 Ch. 4

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Part 4 Chapter 4 The Last Flowering of Asia’s Empires "A People's History of the World" by Chris Harman As the title explains, this chapter covers the last advancements or “flowering” of Asia’s Empires, who, until this time, had been doing remarkably well in comparison to the “backwards societies” of Europe. This society happened to have a lot of fluctuations during this time period. There would be moments of peace, then war, the recovering, then advancement, then peace, then war, and the cycle goes on and on. Right before its final decline, Asia of course had its advancements. New inventions dramatically helped the quality of life. New technologies in agriculture, cloth-making, etc. all proved to be highly useful innovations. Along with material improvements came cultural improvements in things like theater, writing, and even the written language. Trading and marketing flourished, while small enterprises became large ones. Overall, things were getting bigger and better, and since they were improving, there came a population boom that lasted into the 1600s. Then, disasters struck. Famines, droughts, epidemics, and other disasters led to a period of a dramatic decline (‘black economy’) in population and commerce and industry. At the same time, their government was expanding rapidly, leading to more drain on the economy and expansions people couldn’t pay. Under emperor Wan-li, for instance, “there were 45 princes of the first rank and twenty-three thousand nobles to be paid at the total price of almost half the tax revenues” (Harman 223). Here too, the people became frustrated and started rioting. The political structure collapsed and again, the cycle of war after peace began. Meanwhile, Mogul India had become a very different place to China. “It did not have the great canal and irrigation systems, a centralized bureaucracy inculcated with literary
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