DEBATE w/ TONY

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Debate with Tony!

Tony's statement:

Here’s the statement: “The first half of the 2ndmillennium AD marked a period of rebirth in China that was just as significant as the Renaissance in Europe.” You may argue FOR or AGAINST. (For this debate, assume the first half of the 2ndmillennium AD refers to approximately 1000-1500 AD.)

Tony's point FOR: I would argue FOR this point. My most important fact to back this up in support of the statement, is China's innovation. The Silk Road's changed the worlds economy forever. The different resources among the different climates and regions of the Silk Road created the need for humanity to rely on each other. This goes such a long way in the history of humanity, I would indeed argue, this time period in China was as significant as the Renaissance in Europe.

My response AGAINST: 

Within Europe, there were indeed many (national/regional) renaissances, not just one. Chinese intellectuals evidently felt compelled to transplant European ideas and periodization schemes into Chinese contexts for their own reasons. They adopted a specific moment from Europe’s past, the Renaissance, to interpret their own history, to present their special predicament, their distinctive future perspectives as well as their particular perceptions and characteristic attitudes towards historical time. China was attempting to mimic Europe's rebirth, even though their's was a certainly not as a long a period of time as Europe's. It seemed as if China went through a small period of time going through their own "rebirth," and even though Europe's was a longer, more drastic period of time, they decided to try to mirror the two.

"That maybe the very "Chinese Renaissance" that you are looking for, but its range and importance was not as dramatic as the so called Renaissance, because it occurred just several decades after the collapse of Chinese empire, not a millennium."

https://trafo.hypotheses.org/17946

Comments

  1. Tony OropezaJune 12, 2020 at 4:08 PM

    Very good points Kelsey! To be very honest I am of Italian descent so I am not arguing your points at all LOL. But for the sake of our debate, my next topic would be the invention of gun powder. I am not a gun person or someone who likes violence, but I do think the invention of gunpowder really advanced military affairs to what we see today. I think it is important to have a strong military in case of emergency, and China creating gunpowder is something that we will see on this earth forever. Take it easy on me on the next one! Haha

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