The Disputed Reign of Dowager Empress Tz’u-hsi Essay -- Essays Papers

The Disputed Reign of Dowager Empress Tz’u-hsi Historical record is not always an accurate representation of fact. An example of this would be the long reign of the Dowager Empress Tz’u-hsi, in which there were hundreds of documents written about her life. These documents have been taken and used in the production of numerous books, especially among Western historians. It was these early historians who have established the widely accepted perspective that Tz’u-hsi hungered for power, abused it, and retained it using any means necessary. This understanding is echoed today by authors such as W.G. Sebald, author of The Rings of Saturn. There are many differences between the accounts of the Western perspective and that of Sebald’s, but the overall idea of Tz’u-Hsi as a conniving and unworthy Empress is intact between the two. Still, the investigation is not over. There happens to be an abundance of historical documentation and opinion that contradicts the Western view on Tz’u-hsi. First, We stern accounts of the major issues in Tz’u-hsi’s reign will be examined; following this will be a look at how unreliable these sources are by showing their inconsistencies, where the arguments came from, and the all the other evidence supporting a different perspective on the great Empress. It is possible the Empress was everything that her enemies said she was, but the evidence at hand does not support image of a sinister Tz’u-hsi. The Western perspective on the Dowager Empress is harsh and W.G. Sebald is perhaps the harshest of all of the Western historians. One of Sebald’s first descriptions of the Empress is that her â€Å"craving for power was insatiable† (Sebald 147). Sebald wastes no time in backing up this claim. At the cru... ...istorians like Sebald recognize the uncertainty. Works Cited Bland, J. O. P., and E. Backhouse. China Under the Empress Dowager. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1914. Chung, Sue Fawn. â€Å"The Much Maligned Empress Dowager : A Revisionist Study of the Empress Dowager Tz’u-his.† Modern Asian Studies. 13 vol. Cambrige UP, 1979. JSTOR. 1 May 2005 < http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-749X%281979%2913%3A2%3C177%3ATMMEDA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U>. Collis, Maurice. The Motherly and Auspicious. New York: G.P. Putnam’s, 1944. Laidler, Keith. The Last Empress. Chichester: John Wiley, 2003. Seagrave, Sterling. Dragon Lady. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Sebald, W. G. The Rings of Saturn. Trans. Michael Hulse. London: Harvill, 1995. Vare, Daniele. The Last Empress. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran, 1938. Warner, Marina. The Dragon Empress. New York: Macmillan, 1972.

Edgar Allan Poe

Mysterious Death of a Mystery Man Death is an instance in which all vitals of the body have shut down, when life no longer remains in the body, and when something is declared dead. But, there is always something that causes this death whether old age, illness, tragedy, accidents, or suicide. In some cases, the cause of death is known soon after the passing or even before they have passed. In other cases, it takes quite some time to figure out exactly why life was lost.Then, there are those very few occasions that no exact cause is known and many assumptions are thrown around naming phony reasons of the death, when in the end, it will always be a mystery. This is exactly what has been done with the death of Edgar Allan Poe. Many have come up with different assumptions and accusations of Poe’s death, but none have been claimed to be the absolute positive explanation of it. John S. Craig writes, â€Å"His death in Baltimore, Maryland, October 7, 1849 has been surrounded by myste ry form the very moment he was found unconscious in a Baltimore tavern a few days before he died in a hospital†( ? . A few of the hypotheses are that Poe was an alcoholic, whose drinking led to his death, had medical problems and diseases that eventually caused his passing, and the Cooping Theory, which ended in him being severely beaten which led to his death a few days later. Poe’s death is a mystery that will never be completely solved. Poe’s death could have occurred through some sort of alcoholism. Different forms of disaster, stress, and depression drove Poe to drink. During Virginia’s, Poe’s wife, long battle with different illnesses, Poe began to drink quite a bit to help cope with the stress that evolved from this tragedy.Madhavi Ghare writes, â€Å"On October 3, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found drunk and unconscious on the streets of Baltimore, in someone else’s clothes. He was taken to the Washington College Hospital, where he died four days later on October 7, 1849† ( ? ). One theory of Poe’s alcoholism is that he had a rare medical condition where simply one or two drinks could have a devastating outcome towards him immune system making it seem like he has had way more. This was also backed by Poe telling his wife, friends, and others who asked how many drinks he had, that he had only drank one or two.The problem with this statement is that we do not know if Poe was telling the truth or hiding the fact that he had been excessively drinking all night. Alcohol might or might not have played a role in Poe’s death; it is a mystery we will never know the answer too. Another circumstance in which Poe could have died is from different illnesses and diseases. Back in the time Poe was alive, medical treatment and diagnosis was still at a low level. Even if one was said to have a certain illness, a treatment to heal was most likely still unknown.Poe was thought to have many diseases and illnesses including lesions on the brain, heart disease, cholera, excessive nervous prostration, loss of nerve power, enzyme disorder, tuberculosis, epilepsy, diabetes, rabies, and hydrophobia. One of the diseases that made most sense for him to have was rabies. R. Michael Benitez writes, â€Å"Poe was a well-known animal lover and was especially fond of cats, which can transmit the rabies virus. There was no record of an animal bite preceding Poe’s ailment, but the illness can take more than a year to surface† ( ? ).Even though Poe might not have had a bite mark on him at the hospital, the incident in which the rabies was transferred could have been up to a year before then. Poe was thought to have many different illnesses and diseases which could have easily taken his life from him. One possible circumstance that could have resulted in Poe’s death is the Cooping Theory. The Cooping Theory is when on election day, gangs use to kidnap bystanders and hold them hostage in a room, known as the â€Å"coop,† and make them go to the poll and vote over and over again for who the gang wanted to win the election.The gangs would beat the people and get them drunk to ensure they cooperated. CW Fisher writes, â€Å"Beatings became more frequent and severe as the day wore on, partly to keep the voters awake and motivated, and partly to ensure loss of memory† ( ? ). The gangs would make the people to change clothes so the poll workers would not recognize them and let them vote again. When Poe was found on a bench, he was near poll called Ryan’s Fourth Ward Polls. This poll served as a bar and voting poll. Poe was drunk and he was not wearing his own clothes. This evidence leads towards the assumption that Poe’s death evolved from the Cooping Theory.Poe’s death has many explanations and assumptions that will never be solved. Poe’s death can range from him drinking himself to death, dying from different illnesses such as ra bies, tuberculosis, diabetes, cholera, heart disease, brain disease, or him being a victim of the Cooping Theory, which forced him to drink excessively and be beaten multiple times by gangs at election polls. It is a mystery. Poe wrote many mysterious stories himself including â€Å"The Pit and the Pendulum,† â€Å"The Purloined Letter,† â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† and â€Å"A Descent into Maelstrom. † It is ironic that his death is a mystery itself.Elizabeth Flock writes, â€Å"Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories are filled with cryptic death scenes, so it was only fitting that the master of the macabre would meet a similarly mysterious end† ( ? ). Flock makes it seem as though it was Poe’s fate for his death to remain a mystery, and remain a mystery, it has. Works Cited Page Craig, John S. The Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe’s Death. 7 Jan. 2009. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. ?http://voices. yahoo. com/the-mystery-edgar-allan-poes-death-2463818. html? cat=38? Ghare, Madhavie. Edgar Allan Poe Biography. 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. ?http://www. buzzle. com/articles/edgar-allan-poe-biography. tml? Benitez, R. Michael. Did Rabies Fell Edgar Allan Poe?. 2 Nov. 1996. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. ?http://www. cswnet. com/~erin/eap3. htm? Fisher, CW. The Murders of Edgar Allan Poe. 5 May 2005. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. ?http://depressionalmanac. blogspot. com/2005/05/murders-of-edgar-allan-poe. html? Flock, Elizabeth. Edgar Allan Poe died 162 years ago, yet the mystery of his death has not been solved. 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. ?http://www. washingtonpost. com/blogs/blogpost/post/edgar-allen-poe-died-162-years-ago-yet-the-mystery-of-his-death-has-not-been-solved/2011/10/07/gIQAFVsVTL_blog. html? Edgar Allan Poe Mysterious Death of a Mystery Man Death is an instance in which all vitals of the body have shut down, when life no longer remains in the body, and when something is declared dead. But, there is always something that causes this death whether old age, illness, tragedy, accidents, or suicide. In some cases, the cause of death is known soon after the passing or even before they have passed. In other cases, it takes quite some time to figure out exactly why life was lost.Then, there are those very few occasions that no exact cause is known and many assumptions are thrown around naming phony reasons of the death, when in the end, it will always be a mystery. This is exactly what has been done with the death of Edgar Allan Poe. Many have come up with different assumptions and accusations of Poe’s death, but none have been claimed to be the absolute positive explanation of it. John S. Craig writes, â€Å"His death in Baltimore, Maryland, October 7, 1849 has been surrounded by myste ry form the very moment he was found unconscious in a Baltimore tavern a few days before he died in a hospital†( ? . A few of the hypotheses are that Poe was an alcoholic, whose drinking led to his death, had medical problems and diseases that eventually caused his passing, and the Cooping Theory, which ended in him being severely beaten which led to his death a few days later. Poe’s death is a mystery that will never be completely solved. Poe’s death could have occurred through some sort of alcoholism. Different forms of disaster, stress, and depression drove Poe to drink. During Virginia’s, Poe’s wife, long battle with different illnesses, Poe began to drink quite a bit to help cope with the stress that evolved from this tragedy.Madhavi Ghare writes, â€Å"On October 3, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found drunk and unconscious on the streets of Baltimore, in someone else’s clothes. He was taken to the Washington College Hospital, where he died four days later on October 7, 1849† ( ? ). One theory of Poe’s alcoholism is that he had a rare medical condition where simply one or two drinks could have a devastating outcome towards him immune system making it seem like he has had way more. This was also backed by Poe telling his wife, friends, and others who asked how many drinks he had, that he had only drank one or two.The problem with this statement is that we do not know if Poe was telling the truth or hiding the fact that he had been excessively drinking all night. Alcohol might or might not have played a role in Poe’s death; it is a mystery we will never know the answer too. Another circumstance in which Poe could have died is from different illnesses and diseases. Back in the time Poe was alive, medical treatment and diagnosis was still at a low level. Even if one was said to have a certain illness, a treatment to heal was most likely still unknown.Poe was thought to have many diseases and illnesses including lesions on the brain, heart disease, cholera, excessive nervous prostration, loss of nerve power, enzyme disorder, tuberculosis, epilepsy, diabetes, rabies, and hydrophobia. One of the diseases that made most sense for him to have was rabies. R. Michael Benitez writes, â€Å"Poe was a well-known animal lover and was especially fond of cats, which can transmit the rabies virus. There was no record of an animal bite preceding Poe’s ailment, but the illness can take more than a year to surface† ( ? ).Even though Poe might not have had a bite mark on him at the hospital, the incident in which the rabies was transferred could have been up to a year before then. Poe was thought to have many different illnesses and diseases which could have easily taken his life from him. One possible circumstance that could have resulted in Poe’s death is the Cooping Theory. The Cooping Theory is when on election day, gangs use to kidnap bystanders and hold them hostage in a room, known as the â€Å"coop,† and make them go to the poll and vote over and over again for who the gang wanted to win the election.The gangs would beat the people and get them drunk to ensure they cooperated. CW Fisher writes, â€Å"Beatings became more frequent and severe as the day wore on, partly to keep the voters awake and motivated, and partly to ensure loss of memory† ( ? ). The gangs would make the people to change clothes so the poll workers would not recognize them and let them vote again. When Poe was found on a bench, he was near poll called Ryan’s Fourth Ward Polls. This poll served as a bar and voting poll. Poe was drunk and he was not wearing his own clothes. This evidence leads towards the assumption that Poe’s death evolved from the Cooping Theory.Poe’s death has many explanations and assumptions that will never be solved. Poe’s death can range from him drinking himself to death, dying from different illnesses such as ra bies, tuberculosis, diabetes, cholera, heart disease, brain disease, or him being a victim of the Cooping Theory, which forced him to drink excessively and be beaten multiple times by gangs at election polls. It is a mystery. Poe wrote many mysterious stories himself including â€Å"The Pit and the Pendulum,† â€Å"The Purloined Letter,† â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† and â€Å"A Descent into Maelstrom. † It is ironic that his death is a mystery itself.Elizabeth Flock writes, â€Å"Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories are filled with cryptic death scenes, so it was only fitting that the master of the macabre would meet a similarly mysterious end† ( ? ). Flock makes it seem as though it was Poe’s fate for his death to remain a mystery, and remain a mystery, it has. Works Cited Page Craig, John S. The Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe’s Death. 7 Jan. 2009. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. ?http://voices. yahoo. com/the-mystery-edgar-allan-poes-death-2463818. html? cat=38? Ghare, Madhavie. Edgar Allan Poe Biography. 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. ?http://www. buzzle. com/articles/edgar-allan-poe-biography. tml? Benitez, R. Michael. Did Rabies Fell Edgar Allan Poe?. 2 Nov. 1996. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. ?http://www. cswnet. com/~erin/eap3. htm? Fisher, CW. The Murders of Edgar Allan Poe. 5 May 2005. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. ?http://depressionalmanac. blogspot. com/2005/05/murders-of-edgar-allan-poe. html? Flock, Elizabeth. Edgar Allan Poe died 162 years ago, yet the mystery of his death has not been solved. 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. ?http://www. washingtonpost. com/blogs/blogpost/post/edgar-allen-poe-died-162-years-ago-yet-the-mystery-of-his-death-has-not-been-solved/2011/10/07/gIQAFVsVTL_blog. html?

Beginners Guide to the Maya Civilization

The Maya Civilization—also called the Mayan civilization—is the general name archaeologists have given to several independent, loosely affiliated city-states who shared cultural heritage in terms of language, customs, dress, artistic style, and material culture. They occupied the central American continent, including the southern parts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, an area of about 150,000 square miles. In general, researchers tend to split the Maya into the Highland and Lowland Maya. By the way, archaeologists prefer to use the term Maya civilization rather than the more common Mayan civilization, leaving Mayan to refer to the language. Highland and Lowland Maya The Maya civilization covered an enormous area with a large variety of environments, economies, and growth of the civilization. Scholars address some of the Maya cultural variations by studying separate issues related to the climate and environment of the region. The Maya Highlands is the southern part of the Maya civilization, including the mountainous region in Mexico (particularly Chiapas state), Guatemala and Honduras. The Maya Lowlands make up the northern segment of the Maya region, including Mexicos Yucatan peninsula, and adjacent parts of Guatemala and Belize. A Pacific coastal piedmont range north of the Soconusco had fertile soils, dense forests and mangrove swamps. The Maya civilization was certainly never an empire, inasmuch as one person never ruled the entire region. During the Classic period, there were several strong kings at Tikal, Calakmul, Caracol and Dos Pilas, but none of them ever conquered the others. Its probably best to think of the Maya as a collection of independent city-states, who shared some ritual and ceremonial practices, some architecture, some cultural objects. The city-states traded with one another, and with the Olmec and Teotihuacan polities (at different times), and they also warred with one another from time to time. Timeline Mesoamerican archaeology is broken up into general sections. The Maya are in general thought to have maintained a cultural continuity between about 500 BC and AD 900, with the Classic Maya  between  250–900 CE. Archaic  before 2500 BCEHunting and gathering  lifestyle prevails.Early Formative  2500–1000 BCEFirst  beans  and  maize agriculture, and people live in isolated farmsteads and hamletsMiddle Formative  1000–400 BCEFirst  monumental architecture, first villages; people switch to full-time agriculture; there is evidence for contacts with the Olmec culture, and, at  Nakbe, the first evidence of  social ranking, beginning about 600–400 BCEImportant sites:  Nakbe,  Chalchuapa,  KaminaljuyuLate Formative  400 BCE–250 CEThe first  massive palaces are built at urban Nakbe and El Mirador, first writing, built road systems and water control, organized trade, and widespread warfareImportant sites: El Mirador,  Nakbe, Cerros, Komchen, Tikal,  KaminaljuyuClassic  250–900 CEWidespread literacy is in evidence, including calendars and lists of royal lineages at Copà ¡n and Tikal. The first dynastic kingdoms arise amid changing p olitical alliances; large palaces and mortuary pyramids are constructed, and a sharp intensification of agriculture. Urban populations peak at about 100 people per square kilometer. Paramount kings and polities rule from Tikal,  Calakmul,  Caracol, and Dos  PilosImportant sites:  Copà ¡n,  Palenque,  Tikal,  Calakmul,  Caracol, Dos Pilas,  Uxmal,  Coba, Dzibilchaltun, Kabah, Labna, SayilPostclassic  900–1500 CESome centers are abandoned and written records stop. The Puuc hill country flourishes and small rural towns prosper near rivers and lakes until the Spanish arrived in 1517Important sites:  Chichà ©n Itzà ¡,  Mayapan, Iximche, Utatlan) Known Kings and Leaders Each independent Maya city had its own set of institutionalized rulers  beginning in the Classic period (250–900 CE). Documentary evidence for the kings and queens has been found on stele and temple wall inscriptions and a few sarcophagi. During the Classic period, each king was generally in charge of a particular city and its supporting region. The area controlled by a specific king might be hundreds or even thousands of square kilometers. The rulers court included palaces, temples and ball courts, and  great plazas, open areas where festivals and other public events were held. Kings were hereditary positions, and, at least after they were dead, the kings were sometimes considered gods. Fairly detailed dynasties of the kings of Palenque, Copà ¡n, and Tikal have been compiled by scholars. Important Facts about the Maya Civilization Population:  There is no complete population estimate, but it must have been in the millions. In the 1600s, the Spanish reported that there were between 600,000–1 million people living in the Yucatan peninsula alone. Each of the larger cities probably had populations in excess of 100,000, but that doesnt count the rural sectors that supported the larger cities. Environment:  The Maya Lowland region below elevations of 2,600 feet is tropical with rainy and dry seasons. There is little exposed water except in lakes in limestone faults, swamps, and  cenotes—natural sinkholes in the limestone that are geologically a result of the  Chicxulub crater  impact. Originally, the area was blanketed with multiple canopied forests  and mixed vegetation. The Highland Maya region includes a string of volcanically-active mountains. Eruptions have dumped rich volcanic ash throughout the region, leading to deep rich soils and obsidian deposits. The climate in the highland is temperate, with rare frost. Upland forests originally were mixed pine and deciduous trees. Writing, Language, and Calendars of the Maya Civilization Mayan language:  The various groups spoke nearly 30 closely related languages and dialects, including the Mayan and Huastec Writing:  The Maya had 800 distinct  hieroglyphs, with the first evidence of language written on stela and walls of buildings beginning ca 300 BCE. Barkcloth paper  codexes  were being used no later than the 1500s, but all but a handful were destroyed by Spanish Calendar:  The so-called long count calendar was invented by Mixe-Zoquean speakers, based on the extant  Mesoamerican Calendar. It was adapted by the classic period Maya ca 200 CE. The earliest inscription in long count among the Maya was made dated 292 CE; and the earliest date listed on the long count calendar is about August 11, 3114 BCE, what the Maya said was the founding date of their civilization. The first dynastic calendars were being used by about 400 BCE Extant written records of the Maya:  Popul Vuh, extant Paris, Madrid, and Dresden  codices, and the papers of  Fray Diego de Landa  called Relacion. Astronomy The Dresden Codex, written during the Late Post Classic/Colonial period (1250–1520), includes astronomical tables on Venus and Mars, on eclipses, on seasons and the movement of the tides. These tables chart the seasons with respect to their civic year, predict solar and lunar eclipses and tracked the motion of the planets. There are a handful of observatories, building to track the movement of the sun, moon, planets, and stars, such as that at  Chichà ©n Itzà ¡. Maya Civilization Ritual Intoxicants:  Chocolate  (Theobroma), balche (fermented honey and an extract from the balche tree); morning glory seeds, pulque (from agave plants),  tobacco, intoxicating enemas,  Maya Blue Sweat baths:  Specialized buildings to create internal sweat baths are known from Piedras Negras, San Antonio,  and Cerà ©n Maya Gods:  What we know of Maya religion is based on writings and drawings on codices or temples. A few of the gods include: God A or Cimi or Cisin (god of death or flatulent one), God B or  Chac, (rain and lightning), God C (sacredness), God D or Itzamna (creator or scribe or learned one), God E (maize), God G (sun), God L (trade or merchant), God K or Kauil, Ixchel or Ix Chel (goddess of fertility), Goddess O or Chac Chel. There are others; and in the Maya pantheon, there are sometimes combined gods, glyphs for two different gods appearing as one glyph. Death and Afterlife:  Ideas about death and the afterlife are little known, but the entry to the underworld was called Xibalba or Place of Fright Mayan Economics See the  Maya Economics  page for information about trade, currency, agriculture, and other economic issues. Maya Politics Warfare:  Some of the Maya cities were fortified (protected by walls or moats), and military themes and battles events are illustrated in Maya art by the Early Classic period. Warrior classes, including some professional warriors, were part of the Maya society. Wars were fought over territory, slaves, to avenge insults, and to establish succession. Weaponry:  Forms of defensive and offensive weapons included axes, clubs, maces, throwing spears, shields, and helmets, and bladed spears Ritual sacrifice:  The Maya did sacrifice objects by throwing them into  cenotes, and Placing them with burials. They also pierced their tongues, earlobes, genitals or other body parts for  blood sacrifice. Animals (mostly jaguars) were sacrificed, as were humans, including  high-ranking  enemy warriors who were captured, tortured and sacrificed Mayan Architecture The first stone steles were carved and erected during the Classic period, and the earliest is from Tikal, where a stele is dated 292 CE. Emblem glyphs signified specific rulers and a specific sign called ahaw is today interpreted as lord. Distinctive architectural styles of the Maya include (but arent limited to) Rio Bec (7th–9th centuries CE, consisting of block masonry palaces with towers and central doorways at sites such as Rio Bec, Hormiguero, Chicanna, and Becan);Chenes (7th–9th c. CE, related to the Rio Bec but without the towers at Hochob Santa rosa Xtampack, Dzibilnocac);  Puuc  (700–950 CE, intricately designed facades and doorjambs at Chichà ©n Itzà ¡,  Uxmal, Sayil, Labna, Kabah); andToltec (or Maya Toltec 950–1250 CE, at  Chichà ©n Itzà ¡. Archaeological Sites of the Maya The best way to learn about the Maya is to go and visit the archaeological ruins. Many of them are open to the public and have museums, guided tours, and bookstores on the sites. You can find Maya archaeological sites in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and in several Mexican states. Belize:  Batsub  Cave,  Colha,  Minanha,  Altun Ha,  Caracol,  Lamanai,  Cahal Pech,  XunantunichEl Salvador:  Chalchuapa,  QuelepaMexico:  El Tajin,  Mayapan,  Cacaxtla,  Bonampak,  Chichà ©n Itzà ¡,  Cobà ¡,  Uxmal,  PalenqueHonduras:  Copan,  Puerto EscondidoGuatemala:  Kaminaljuyu,  La Corona (Site Q),  Nakbe,  Tikal,  Ceibal,  Nakum Spectacles and Spectators: Walking Tour of Maya Plazas. Although when you visit archaeological ruins of the Maya, you generally look at the tall buildings--but a lot  of interesting things are to be learned about the plazas, the big open spaces between the temples and palaces at the major Maya cities.