{"id":298,"date":"2020-12-02T03:46:31","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T03:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/?p=298"},"modified":"2020-12-07T19:52:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T19:52:54","slug":"minecraft-and-tang-exotics-my-final-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/hst137\/minecraft-and-tang-exotics-my-final-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Minecraft and T’ang Exotics: My Final Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Minecraft<\/a> and T’ang China<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Over the past two months, I learned more about Chinese history than I expected to learn. There were many topics that I found extremely interesting, but one topic particularly caught my eye. In week five we learned about the material world of T’ang China (618CE – 907CE). During this week I came across something I did not think was real, Lapis Lazuli. Lapis Lazuli was something I thought only existed in Minecraft. This made me curious to see what other Minecraft items were also present in Chinese history. I am going to break down the items into three categories, industrial minerals\/jewels, animals, and food items. In these three categories, I will discuss diamonds, gold, lapis lazuli, horses, dogs, seafood, and sugar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minecraft is a game of three-dimensional blocks where players create and break parts of the world. There are many different ways to play like classic survival mode or a hardcore mode where you only get one life. There is no technical end goal as you can play for as long as you want. If you want to beat the game, you will have to defeat the ender dragon but, you can continue to play after you beat the dragon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Diamonds<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Minecraft Diamond<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Diamonds in Minecraft are one of the most useful and rare items in the entire game. They are used to make armor and different types of tools. It is very versatile, durable, and rare. What about in Middle Period China? First off, how are diamonds made? Diamonds form when lumps of carbon come under intense heat and pressure and become crystallized.1<\/sup> This mainly occurred when mountains were being formed. Diamonds are very rare so they were very valuable especially to the T’ang Dynasty. T’ang diamonds were actually not a Chinese stone. In fact, China got diamonds mainly from India. Another place China got diamonds were from pre-Cambodian Bnam. India still remained the main supplier of diamonds to the T’ang dynasty. India got their diamonds from other places as well. India mainly got their diamonds from Brazil and African diamonds from South Africa. What were these diamonds used for? The diamond was best known in China in Buddist imagery.2<\/sup> The indestructible body of Buddha was a diamond body. The name for a diamond is the hardness of [or from] gold.3<\/sup> It was believed that diamonds formed inside of gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gold<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Minecraft Gold<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of gold, let’s talk about gold next. Just like diamonds in Minecraft, gold can be used to create tools and armor. Unlike diamonds, it is not as durable, rare and they do not make good tools. The best use for gold in Minecraft is to use it as a trading item. In real life, gold is found in the form of dust, flakes, grains, and nuggets.4<\/sup> Before the T’ang era, gold was hardly used in dishes or jewelry. Instead, it was used as ornaments to decorate. Eventually, the use of gold expanded after the Persian technique of beating gold into a thinner version of the material became popular. T’ang metalworkers replace their current method and started using that method. This method involved hammering the reverse side of a metal sheet to make a design. This method is called the Repouss\u00e9. While I mentioned how gold could be crafted for design by using the Repouss\u00e9 process, powdered gold also had a use. Powdered gold was used as a painting decoration and could be seen in many ancient Tun-Huang scroll paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lapis Lazuli<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Minecraft Lapis Lazuli<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The last exotic element to discuss is Lapis Lazuli. I discussed a bit about Lapis Lazuli already, you can check it out in a previous blog post<\/a> if you are interested in reading more. For this section, I will go over something I have not discussed yet or continue what I have already written. As for how Lapis Lazuli is used in Minecraft, it is mainly used for decoration and trade. It can not be made into tools like gold and diamonds. After doing a bit more research on Lapis Lazuli, I found that T’ang men bought Lapis Lazuli from in Khotan, the city of quintiple forts. As such a hot commodity, the emperor of China sent his agent, Chu Ju-y\u00fc, to get Lapis Lazuli. It became known as the “stone of Khotan”. This indicated that Lapis Lazuli became the gem that monopolized Far Eastern Trade. Today, in the modern-day Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, there are fewer than 100 pieces of Lapis in the Forbidden City.5<\/sup> Unfortunate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Horses<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Minecraft Horse<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So far I have mentioned exotic items, what about animals? Horses in Minecraft can be tamed and used to ride on or to have as a pet. In the T’ang Dynasty, horses were extremely important and valuable. Horses would carry supplies and soldiers to fight against enemies. When the T’ang Dynasty was first formed, they had around five thousand horses in their possession. Three thousand came from the fallen Sui and the other roughly two thousand were taken from the Turks. Throughout time, the T’ang dynasty acquired over 700k horses! They tried to keep the horse population as high as possible. The most honored antique horses were the uncanny mounts of Mu. Mu is the Son of Heaven. The name comes from the Eight Bayards. Why is this significant? “Bayard” represents the Chinese designation of any purebred magnificent horse. 6 <\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dog<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Minecraft Dog<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Minecraft, dogs, are technically labeled as wolves but, you can tame a wolf and it becomes your pet dog. I don’t get it either, video game things I guess. In the T’ang Dynasty dogs were not disguised as wolves. There are no hidden tricks here. There were a variety of different dogs during this time. Dogs of note include Greyhounds, Saint Bernard’s, Bulldogs, Persian Dogs, and Maltese’s, just to name a few. Some interesting facts about a few of these dogs. The Persian dogs came from Persia (go figure) and were extremely vicious dogs and large, capable of killing human beings. One other thing I thought was interesting because I was not aware of this before but pugs are miniature breeds of bulldogs. Overall, these small pets were subjects of poems for many years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Striped Fish<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Minecraft Fish<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The last area I want to cover is food. I am a food connoisseur and it would be a crime on my part to not see what types of food were available in the T’ang Dynasty. I’ll start out by mentioning some seafood. In Minecraft, you can fish different fish like cod, salmon, and even pufferfish. In the T’ang Dynasty, the striped mullet was considered the best seafood. It lived in rivers and seas. It was mainly prevalent in medieval China but, Po-hai Mo-ho sent this fish from Manchuria to the emperor of the T’ang Dynasty and loved it! Manchuria fish seemed to be a huge hit because they received more fish down the road. This type of fish was the striped fish. This specific fish appears in the “Li Sao”. “Li Sao” is an ancient poem. The striped fish is featured in the great epic of the soul in flight. “Riding the white turtle, ah! chasing the striped fish!”7<\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sugar Cane<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Minecraft Sugar Cane<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The last item I will mention is sugar, specifically sugar canes. In Minecraft, sugar canes can be turned into sugar and then used to bake different items like cake and also make potions. In the T’ang dynasty, sugar canes were considered the most popular sweet. Honey was also considered a popular sweet but sugar canes took the crown. Sugar cane usually grows in the tropical parts of Asia and Oceania. Eventually, it found its way westward to Persia. Sugar canes would be used to make drinks, boiled to make a solid substance, or simply made to eat in its normal form8<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I started this course there is about a zero chance I would have thought I would be writing my final project about the relation between Minecraft items\/animals and T’ang Dynasty items\/animals. While researching these seven different topics individually, I gained a lot of knowledge about how these items were used. Each item\/animal has its own unique story. For example, learning how striped fish were involved in a poem. That’s something I never would have thought I would have learned or discovered. I really enjoyed researching and writing about this topic. It was really interesting to learn about Minecraft items and T’ang China are related.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Footnotes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Northrup, Cynthia Clark. Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient times to the Present<\/em>. (London: Routledge, 2004), 269<\/li>
  2. Schafer, Edward H. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of Tang Exotics<\/em>. Berkeley: (University of California Press, 1985.), 290<\/li>
  3. Schafer, A Study of Tang Exotics, 290 <\/em><\/li>
  4. Northrup, Encyclopedia of World Trade, 419<\/em><\/li>
  5. “Lapis Lazuli: The Stone of Heaven.” https:\/\/www.yunboutique.com\/blogs\/divine-land-gemstone-compendium\/115867013-lapis-lazuli-the-stone-of-heaven<\/a><\/li>
  6. Schafer, A Study of Tang Exotics, 90 <\/em><\/li>
  7. Schafer, A Study of Tang Exotics, 193<\/em><\/li>
  8. Schafer, A Study of Tang Exotics, 19<\/em>7<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    References<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “Goldsmithing & Goldsmithery (c.3000 BCE On) Techniques, History, Famous Goldsmiths.” Goldsmithing: Techniques, History. Accessed November\/December 2020. http:\/\/www.visual-arts-cork.com\/goldsmithing.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Liu, Xinru. The Silk Road in World History<\/em>. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “Minecraft Wiki.” Official Minecraft Wiki \u2013 The Ultimate Resource for Minecraft. Accessed November\/December 2020. https:\/\/minecraft.gamepedia.com\/Minecraft_Wiki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Northrup, Cynthia Clark. Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient times to the Present<\/em>. London: Routledge, 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Schafer, Edward H. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of Tang Exotics<\/em>. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Yun Boutique. “Lapis Lazuli: The Stone of Heaven.” Yun Boutique. April 12, 2016. Accessed November\/December 2020. https:\/\/www.yunboutique.com\/blogs\/divine-land-gemstone-compendium\/115867013-lapis-lazuli-the-stone-of-heaven<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Over the past two months, I learned more about Chinese history than I expected to learn. There were many topics that I found extremely interesting, but one topic particularly caught my eye. In week five we learned about the material world of T’ang China (618CE – 907CE). During this week I came across something I … Read moreMinecraft and T’ang Exotics: My Final Project<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hst137"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366,"href":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions\/366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hst137stephensocks.stevesocks.bergbuilds.domains\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}