This essay aims to explore and analyze western views of 16th century China in two travel accounts. The analysis is based on several questions that have different main focuses, such as the view of its people, similarities and differences towards the authors native countries as well as repetitive topics in the narratives. Furthermore, the text also has a final didactic aim of discussing how the subject can be used and discussed in a classroom situation. The main sources for this analysis are Fernão Mendes Pinto´s The voyages and adventures of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, the Portuguese along with Juan González de Mendoza´s The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof, Volume 1 and 2 that belong to the same piece of work. The authors of these travel accounts are from Portugal and Spain; alas they both are of western origin; however, the two texts belong to different genres of travel accounts. Moreover, the results of the analysis show that the two sources present a similar view on China with a mostly positive and curious connotation where the focus lies on production, religion and culture which all were current topics for the travelers at the time. It can also be said that the area of research can be implemented in many different ways and on several educational levels in the teaching of history with different opportunities for adaptation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-118408 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Wihlborg, Emmi |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper (KV) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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