Historical synthesis and imagination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Historical synthesis and imagination - Essay Example I am now narrating my life’s story to my little grandson because I want him to understand the life and times of those good old ancient days. The City of Chang’an was a beautiful city with broad streets, branching out into smaller side streets, and divided into 110 blocks. Each block had its temple and marketplace and was a complete unit. I often went out, in my younger days to the city, lunching in one of the many teashops, looking at the Acrobats performing their stunts by the roadside, sometimes stopping to listen to the storyteller narrate his wondrous experiences, some real and some imagined. I remember quite vividly how students, traders as well as pilgrims from all over Asia came here, making it one of the most well-known places in the world then. (pg 108) There were many students from countries like Korea and India who had come to our country to learn dancing and singing from our accomplished artists. I studied in a monastery run by the Buddhist monks, where I learnt arithmetic, multiplication, new words which I could look up in the dictionary, as well as good manners as to how I should speak to people using polite language. The books made use of now in this modern age are flat and bound, and very much different to the ones I was used to. I had to read from scrolls since books such as yours had not yet been made. We were taught to look up to our teachers, and they were one of the five objects of worship - earth, heaven, emperor and our parents being the other four we were taught to worship and respect them in every aspect. The Buddhist monks grew grains and other agricultural produce which they sometimes sold to the villagers for a good profit. Whenever anybody in the village wanted money they would approach these monks because they had earned a lot of money from the oil presses and mills which they operated. The monastery in which I studied was shut down in 841, because the rulers