Today October 3rd, we had a guest speaker who is a professor that teaches in the Chinese department. He lead the class lecture on East Asia. We learned that East Asia is a zone of cultural and economic interaction. Chinese is the written language of this region, but the spoken language is Japanese. During the early 1500s ceramics and rice were key resources at the time. However, if it wasn’t for a good irrigation system between the community the rice industry would not have flourished. Also, political ideals drawn from Confucianism, which is a fundamental theory of how Confucius wanted his government to run. Confucius envisioned a small state or government that ruled through virtue rather that law. This was a good thing for the civilians at the time because they had low taxes to worry about and were willing to follow the state. Additionally, stability was incorporated and many people stayed in East Asia instead of migrating somewhere else. Lastly, East Asia’s religious practices drawn from Mahayana Buddhism, which meant the great vehicle. This was important because everyone had access to Enlightenment.