We being our tour of East and Southeast Asia in the most obvious place: China. A billion people strong and growing, China is an economically and militarily powerful behemoth that is overwhelming in almost every way. Chinese history is an awe-inspiring tall tale jam-packed with high drama: warring dynasties, palace intrigue and a never-ending struggle, in the context of the grand philosophical/spiritual/religious movements that have taken root in China (Buddhism, Confucianism Taoism…Maoism..?), to enlighten the human soul. The first Chinese dynasty took root more than three thousand years ago. Since then China has experienced long eras of political unity and eras just as long of devastating unrest. The ethnic Han Chinese have dominated most often, and while other Asian peoples have also ruled, most of them in turn assimilated into mainstream Chinese society. China’s continuing strength relies on this practice of enveloping cultures and philosophies into what we consider “Chinese,” whether it’s the assimilation of the Tuoba Xianbei people into Han Chinese culture by the end of the 5th century, or the much more recent fusion of Western Capitalism (though not yet Western-style multi-party democracy) into Chinese One-Party Communism.
We are revising the AllAroundThisWorld.com site — the information you’re seeking may still be here, but a lot of links are broken and details may be out of date. We are currently using a new (better!) site — ExploreEverywhere.com — to tell you all about our class offerings, our “pen pal” program and how to become one of our teachers, and will eventually be moving all the goodies from here over to there. So, GO TO THE NEW SITE!
