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Discuss and answer the Key Questions below as a team.  We have 10-15 minutes.  Explore the content together to inform your answers.

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Dated somewhere between 206 BCE - 25 CE.  Decorations show a rampart tiger chasing a deer and birds in flight. The tecnhique of lead-glazing, to make the ceramic look like metal, came from the Mediterranean.
https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/exhibit/han/han.html

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Watch the short video and take a few notes that answer these questions:

What material goods did merchants and traders carry back and forth between the Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire?

Besides material goods, what else was traded between ancient cultures along the Silk Road?

What does the narrator of the video compare the Silk Road to today?

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The Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo

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How Han merchants & traders really lived...

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How Han merchants & traders really lived...

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Some merchants grew very rich during the Han dynasty - some were even richer than nobles and high-ranking officials (which deeply annoyed the ruling class).

The richest merchants regularly rode around in horse-drawn carriages, wore fine silk clothing, and ate the finest foods in town.

Many people revered the rich merchants.  The richest merchants often had high-ranking political friends that did favours for them (so not all members of the ruling class opposed them!).

Many people throughout Han society (but especially many members of the ruling class) thought rich merchants could do whatever they liked.

But consider this... people from all walks of life interacted with many different types of merchants and traders everyday, whether to buy fine silks and jewellery, or more humble necessities like tools, animals, or rice.  Not all merchants were rich, not all of them lead 'immoral', luxurious lifestyles.  Most would have been like the owner of your local milkbar or cafe.  Only a few would have lived like CEO's or kings.  Some may have been ruthless, arrogant... others humble, generous and full of community spirit (practising a Confucian way of life).

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Discuss & answer as a group:

1.  Why did the ruling class during the Han Dynasty dislike merchants and traders?

2.  What were some of the laws/restrictions the ruling class placed on them?  Were they obeyed?

3.  How did the values of Confucianism clash with the lifestyle of many merchants and traders?

4.  Did everyone in society dislike merchants and traders? How do you think about the different types of business owners you encounter in your own daily lives?

5.  Why is the Silk Road significant, and what role did merchants and traders play in it? Remember the YouTube video?

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There was a long rivalry between merchants and the ruling class throughout ancient China...

This is because the ruling class (court officials, aristocrats, scholars) - and those very loyal to them - believed that merchants and traders did not live moral lives.

So the ruling class made laws that discriminated against merchants and traders.  These included not being allowed to wear silk (including their families) and no riding in horse-drawn carriages (even though some were very rich and could easily afford to!).

So why did the Han ruling class hate merchants & traders?

Confucianism, a philosophy and way of life very popular in the Han dynasty and (throughout ancient and modern China), stated that traditional values like community life and accepting your place in society were essential for prosperity and peace.

But merchants and traders lived a relatively free and luxurious lifestyle...

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Issued in 7 C.E. 2,013 years old!
https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/exhibit/han/han.html