History of India and China Course Profile - Essay Example

Reflection One thing this did was bring me close to God. Seeing the perished civilizations, their remains, and their cultural artifacts, and studying the archaeology of India and China reminded me of how the old civilizations tried to gather wealth and achieve status and position in the society and yet today, all we have left of them is their remains. Nobody remembers who was the king or the queen or other influential person in those dynasties. Even if someone is known in the books of history, their influence has evaporated long ago.

This reminds me of the fact that this world is not about gathering wealth or riches, rather it is about doing good deeds because their effect will be ever-lasting.This course has deepened by interest in history. I found the archaeology of China very interesting. In this course, we explored the role of advancing social complexity and agricultural development in the state formation in China. We followed China’s evolutionary trajectories from the last Paleolithic groups that gathered hunting to the dynasty of Bronze Age Shang in second millennium BC’s second half.

We learned that the sociopolitical evolution of China was multicentric. Competition and factionalism played a huge role in shaping the sociopolitical evolution of China. We studied the history of the ancient temple, Angkor Wat. It was a very special temple in many ways. Not only did it preserve the history in terms of being the largest religious monument of ancient times, but its architecture also suggests how it shifted from being a religious place primarily from Hindus through to the Buddhists.

An interesting finding was that it was the largest city in the world till the start of the Industrial Revolution. We were also surprised to known that Mahendraparvata, a lost city, has also been identified in it. The archaeology of India was also very interesting. The Mughal palaces and architecture was very elegant and inspiring. India’s archaeology made me realize since how long have people been practicing Hinduism and Buddhism. Other things I learned about included but were not limited to the 7 billion think piece and Surviving In BangladeshHaving taken this course, I have become more conscious with respect to environmental health and safety.

I have decided to change my life in ways that are better for the environmental protection. One day, someone from my 9th or 10th generation will be studying our archaeology. I don’t want to make them feel that I was living an unhealthy lifestyle and did not care about the environment and so they have to suffer because of my irresponsible behavior. Rather I want to make them feel that I was an environment conscious person and did take steps to live green so that they would have a clean environment to live in.

This was a very interesting and informative course. I increased my general knowledge a lot. More importantly, it caused spiritual awakening in me and changed my outlook of the world for the better. I shall always cherish this learning experience.