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Compare And Contrast Song Dynasty And Ibn Sina

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Emily Gewecke

Asian Civilizations

Writing Assignment #2

Asia during the times of the Song Dynasty, Ibn Fadlan, and Ibn Sina was divided by political strife and religious divisions. The Song Dynasty was weak and just getting over a massive divisive and warring period. The Islamic West Asia was thriving culturally and scholarly and trade between the two became dense with ideas as well as technologies to progress the still advancing western region.

The Song Dynasty was the result of a military coup that lead to a new Chinese leadership. China, while still culturally strong and influential, were weak and were forced to pay tributes to other places, such as the Khitan nomadic dynasty that was controlling the northern pieces of the Chinese …show more content…

He had issues with nomads and crossing their territories was a tricky endeavor (Gordon, p. 32). He had to bribe and negotiate parts of his passage. Gordon describes the nomads and how they did business, saying that the Turkish nomads would lead a particular caravan in exchange for robes, foodstuffs, and veils. Occasionally the nomads would provide loans that they would then require payment for, no matter if the caravan they encounter was the one that took the loans. These types of people made Ibn Fadlan's travels difficult but were a far kinder option than the peoples in the direct route from his home to the camps of the King.

Ibn Sina, a century later, was a philosopher and doctor who would travel from area to area progressing medicines and trading new technologies. Ibn Sina was educated quickly and developed interests in Greek culture as well as medicine. His interest in medicine helped him gain position in life, he had healed a royal and was thus given control of an entire library, greatly advancing his knowledge. He eventually began travels and looking at the ideas of Neoplatonism. He travelled and wrote about his changing views of God and man, medicinal remedies and changes, and eventually was imprisoned for some of his …show more content…

Both had developed highly advanced technologies and in particular had large scale and highly regarded philosophies and ideas. Buddhism and Islam both were schools of thought that created trade demand. Similar to the story of Xuanzang, Ibn Fadlan travelled to spread Islam to a King who wished to not only develop an alliance but also convert to the Islamic religion.

The two Islamic travelers would probably look the China and see a disunity similar to the caliphs that were controlling the West. Joined together under a commonality but divided and aligned back together. Technologically they might be seen as equals, especially from the Muslim side of view as much of the technology being implemented in the West came from China, though China may not being seeing the caliphs in the same light.

Asia could be argue as being the world based on the fact that it was the majority of the interconnected world, had the most populous regions, and had governments that had been operating longer than any other region had even been settled. China was a technological powerhouse, filled with ideas and philosophies that were exporting and influencing as well as filled with technologies and goods that every other region desired. China could be considered the world based on the fact that during the time it was the most successful and longest run region in the

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