Asia in the Past

India

A) Indus Civilization (2000 BC - 1500 BC)

- The Indus Civilization began in the Indus Valley.

- The people were originally farmers. They grew wheat, barely, peas, and cotton. 

- They invented their own writing system.

- There were two large cities called "Mohenjo Daro" and "Harappa". They were the best designed cities in the world. The buildings were made from baked bricks, and they had their own supply of water. They even had bathrooms with sit down toilets made with bricks. 

- The whole civilization was destroyed by a giant flood, at least that's what we think. 

B) The Aryans 

- Their ancestors were European, such as Greek, Roman, and German. 

- They invaded the Indus civilization in groups over many years. 

- Their language was Sanskrit.

- They were originally wandering herdsman, and decided to settle down in villages later on. 

- Their religious beliefs mixed with the earlier Indians, and eventually developed into Hinduism. 

- When several villages such as this one formed together, they made a kingdom. 

C) Gupta Empire

- An empire is a group of states under one government or ruler. Usually, the ruler was someone who had conquered the neighboring kingdoms, and then formed the empire. 

- The Gupta Empire was one of the greatest empires of early India. 

- Starting in the 4th century, it lasted 250 years. 

- The rulers of the empire encouraged musicians, actors, and writers. 

- Gupta's mathematicians developed the system of numbering that we use today. They invented the decimal system. 

- The doctors performed plastic surgery. 

- Many universities were started for talented and smart students to get free room and board, and tuition. 

D) Moghul Empire 

 - This empire began in the 16th century and lasted until the 18th century. 

- The Moghuls who invaded the towns were Muslim, so the empire was Muslim. 

- The emperors built beautiful tombs, palaces, and gardens. 

- An empower named Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal. 

City Life

Sabaidee!

Welcome to the Lao and Asian Culture Blog. The first post today is on City Life! Page 79 of your textbook. This blog is to provide pictures and basic descriptions for you to look at while reading your textbook.

So let’s begin!

·         SAME-SAME BUT DIFFERENT

Cities are different all over the world. No two cities are the same. Vientiane is a city but it is very different from Tokyo, a city in Japan.

So what makes a city? Here are some things (not all)

•     Its HUGE compared to every town and village in the country.
•     It can have millions of people!
•    It is where you find Government buildings such as Ministry of Health, Education etc.
•   A business district – Lots of banks, international companies.

What cities in general look like?

1)      Tall modern buildings

Melbourne

2)      Traffic

China

3)      Advertisements

Vientiane 

Tokyo 

Why are there so many people in the city??? 

1)      Healthcare – hospitals , clinics means that death rate is lower than in villages (less people die = more people around)

2)      Rural-Urban Migration (people from villages move to cities for a better life)

3)      MONEY (Cities is where money is, so if you want to earn more money, have a better education         etc. you move to cities)

·         Is it really better than villages?    

      1)      Cities aren’t perfect. You will find the rich and poor have very different lifestyles. While you will have the beautiful scenery, modern buildings and shops you will also find slums.

Slums can be worse than living in villages where there is at least clean air and nature. Here in slums people are squeezed together in cram, dirty, shacks. Places like Mexico have flavelas (slums) that are just horrible to live in.

Mexico (flavela)  

Vang Vieng, Laos

2)      Pollution can be terrible as in China. This affects your health so even with hospitals....... 

 

China

3)      People also may live by a water source (sea/river). Some people live in shacks and sampans            (boats). This can be dangerous especially during the monsoon (wet) season and for places like Hong Kong the cyclone season (typhoon).....: 

  

Vientiane 

But you also find the rich having beautiful houses with Yachts rather than small unsafe boats.

NOW let's discuss transportation :)

·         Transport in Cities

Just like buildings and houses transport is different too. No longer do we use bullock carts in cities but rather cars and motorbikes. But it is not like villages cannot be modern! We have motorbikes in villages too just less of them. Also some places are very modern and will have tractors etc. It’s just that in cities they might be more normal cars and taxis versus tuk tuks. For instance there are less tuk tuks in Vientiane than in Luang Prabang town.

Tractor

Bullock cart in India

We live in a time where most countries are modern to some level. Some more than others. Just like cities are different, for instance cities like Tokyo is all about tall buildings with bright lights while others such as Vientiane are not as crowded/bright or have skyscrapers. You can’t claim one is better than the other just because of the height of buildings!

Rome

Here are some interesting forms of transport in Asia: 

1)      Jinrikisha (Rickshaw) 

Long time ago it was just a box that people sat in and 2 or more men will lift it and carry you to your destination. Then wheels were added so one person rather than two could pull it. Then they added horses, bicycles, motorbikes! Lots of countries have their own versions. India, Indonesia. Think Tuk-Tuk!

Japan in the past

 In some countries, they are still used but not as a daily transport but for tourists! For example, in Hong Kong and Singapore its just a novelty for tourists. [Novelty = new/original and fascinating/interesting].

Modern day London

2) Filipino Jeepney

After the war, the Americans (USA) soldiers left behind many jeeps. The locals of Phillipines were very creative and they decorated them and used them. They are like you busses/tuk-tuk.

Phillipines

3)       Boats -various types

In Thailand, we have the floating markets. Motorboats covered with canvas acts as homes as shops in klongs (canals) of Bangkok.

                                                                       Bangkok

In Vietnam, similar to Thailand and other South East Asian countries we have sampans that are covered as they also act as houses.

·         Why do some cities use rickshaws as daily transport while others is for tourist only? 

     1)      There are developed (rich, very modern) countries and developing (poor, less modern) countries.

     2)      This leads to the cities having very different things. The richer countries will have less slums (no flavelas) while the poorer will have lots of them.

     3)      Lack of money means more cheaper transport like rickshaw and tuk tuk is needed while  richer countries can just use normal cars. 

Tokyo

Vietnam

So city life is very different from villages and even amongst cities they all differ in looks, population, and size etcetera. Don’t forget that cities aren’t all rich there can be slums and not so nice parts to cities. Additionally, this is something to think about on your own – do you think cities are friendly? 

Cheers!

Celestyn