1. A thing I believed particularly interesting about the Period of Disunity was that the 7 Sages were essentially hippies of China in the 3rd century. But, the 7 Sages actions more profound than boozing excessively, consuming drugs constantly, and "partying it up" like the US in the 60's and 70's. They were Taoist men who rejected conformity to the newly installed Jin empire that was feudalistic and aristocratic. They would sit by streams, relax, drink win and write poetry. Unlike the US where alcohol had a party connotation, it was a connotation of poetry and intellectualism in China. Some poets even said they could not write poetry while being sober. For a more in depth reading of the 7 Sages, I suggest you should read http://hoc10s2.wikispaces.com/file/view/HOC%20Wave%203%20Seven%20Sages%20Xi%20Kang%20Ruan%20Ji.pdf
to experience some of the greatest of the 7 Sage's work, Xi Kang and Ruan Ji, and see their feelings concerning nature and life itself.
2. The 7 Sages greatly embraced nature. In the West however, people have generally never been very concerned about the environment, excluding the tiny Romantic movement. Mass industrialization occurred and their main motive was to make a profit, not to benefit the environment. Likewise, Romantics in Europe do compare to the 7 sages. Both thought nature as significant; the 7 Sages because they were Taoists, and the Romantics because they wanted to counter the ideas of the Industrial Revolution. The two pictures below juxtapose the mood of the Romantics to the 7 Sages. The picture with the men relaxing under the trees, is the 7 sages, while the picture of the man upon the mountain reflects the mood of a Romantic. Similarly, read the link in the prior paragraph to see the sages' great love for nature.
3. I thought Empress Wu, who lived during the Tang, was a very interesting character in Chinese history. She encompasses everything interesting in history; drama, death, and power. She initially was a lesser consort and entered the palace in 651. However, she was very Machiavellian, even though she lived 9 centuries before Machiavelli! She rose to power through her manipulation. One day, the empress was playing with Wu's child and Wu came in, and when the Emperor, Gaozong, came in, the baby was found dead. Wu suggested that the empress killed her baby, and Gaozong deposed of the empress and made Wu was made his new empress. When her husband suffered a stroke 4 years after she was pronounced empress, she made decisions behind a screen. Apparently, she also allegedly killed the next heir, who was actually her son. 20 years after the stroke, Gaozong died and an heir took the throne. Within 2 months, Wu had him deposed, and then one of her sons named Ruizong, gained the thrown but was rarely consulted. While Wu was 60, she gained the thrown. But, she definitely illustrates the famous maxim, "the end justifies the means." She was willing to kill and depose her own children to gain power, and consequently become the only queen of China. Read this simple wikipedia to learn more.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Zetian
4. One thing that is remarkably interesting during Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties in China is that the Chinese appreciated calligraphy as an art. Obviously, Chinese calligraphy is much more delicate and appealing than other languages like Latin calligraphy. In China, calligraphy is based on ideas, and words, unlike Latin calligraphy which uses letters. But, since calligraphy in China is so beautiful, it was more considered an art than a tool to get information across like in the west. Since the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, the West has solely used writing to get information across. The best representation of this was the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther became popular from spreading his ideas through the printing press. But, did anyone care what the writing inside was presented like? Absolutely not. Luther just wanted to inform the people that the Catholic Church needed reform, and he indeed got a lot of support for his works. In China however, people were concerned of information, but also concerned about how it was presented. Look at this link to see how China thought calligraphy as an art, just like sculpture, painting, or music.
5. Emperor Xuanzong was an intriguing man who depicts an interesting role in Chinese history. The truth is the morale of the story is, "don't do stupid sh!t just to get laid." Xuanzong was a very capable rule, but his love for a concubine named Yang Guifei corrupted him. He would do anything to please her. Thus, since he allowed her to appoint her friends and family in government. She was fond for a general named An Lushan, and Xuanzong gave him troops to make Yang Guifei happy. However, An Lushan recieved an excess of troops and took it as an advantage. An Lushan took the capital, Chang'an. There aren't many rulers that were corrupted by love in the West. There are some that were corrupted by spending money for women however. For example, people were very upset with Louis XVI preceding the French Revolution because he was defraying too much money on his wife, Marie-Antoinette. Below is a picture of what happened to Louis XVI for spending too much money on his wife and being an incapable ruler...
