History (Eastern Civilisation)
Leader | Tony |
Meeting pattern | 2nd Thursday of the month at 2.00 pm. |
Venue | Wells |
This group is looking at Eastern civilisation from ancient times to the modern day. The course takes the form of 48 DVD lectures and we cover two lectures in each two hour meeting. Each lecture is followed by a group discussion.
The course takes us on a grand journey to explore the big accomplishments of Eastern civilization, from the material economy of day-to-day life to the political and religious philosophies that has bound these cultures together for thousands of years.
In this course we will travel across continents and over the ages to arrive at a full understanding of the Eastern world.
- See how climate and geography allowed powerful civilizations to emerge in certain regions.
- Discover the origins of the yin and yang cosmology, the Mandate of Heaven political philosophy, and Confucianism and Daoism.
- Trace the spread of ideas between East and West, especially along the Silk Roads.
- Explore the rise and fall of empires—some famous and others largely unknown.
- Survey the role of Eastern civilisation in the 20th and 21st centuries, and see what the future may hold for the “Asian tiger” economies.