Myra Blogs

 Empress Lu: The Wife of Gaozu Pierced and Wounded by an arrow, The Gaozu Emperor found himself incapable of fighting on the battlefield against the rebelling forces. Thus, he hoped to send his son to fight in his stead.  However, Empress Lu, protective of her son, went on the command the troops herself and returned victorious.  Born in 241 BC to a noble family in Sha ndong, Empress Lu, in her early years, had to witness a time inflicted with absolute social unrest. This period marked the unification of China under the Qin dynasty and was characterized by war and violence.  To avoid the chaos of war, Lu Zhi’s father, Lu Wen,  fled with his whole family to the town of ‘Pei’. It was in this town that Lu Zhi and her father enc ountered Liu Bang, a low-ranking official who later went on to become the first Han emperor of China.  While quite a few suitors were vying for Lu Zhi, upon meeting Liu Bang, Lu Wen was sure that he was destined for nobility and betroth...

Origins of China: Pangu, Nüwa, and Fuxi   In an endless expanse of nothingness, when there only existed a cosmic void, chaos (Hundun) reigned supreme. However, with the flow of time, the celestial energies of Yin, the passive and cold force, and Yang, the active and hot force, began to stir as they yearned for balance. As a result, they coalesced into an egg, and from their congealment Pangu, a colossal hairy, giant, with two horns and two tusks, was birthed. 18000 years passed before Pangu, in his egg, realized that he was surrounded by nothingness. It was then he hatched, fully formed, holding an axe (a symbol only visible in Chinese Mythology since the Ming dynasty). With this axe, he hacked apart the Yin and Yang. The Yin, the dark and murky energy settled to form the earth whereas the Yang, the light and clear energy, rose to form the vast skies. To prevent Yin and Yang from merging, Pangu stood between them and pushed them apart with his own bare hands, with his head touching...

Through this essay, I will confirm and refute the arguments provided by Taiwo in India's context and draw my own conclusions.  Firstly, it's important to preface this essay by mentioning that while the piece delves into the intersection between race, class, and politics, I shall elucidate on politics intersection with two prominent aspects of Indian society i.e. Caste and Religion.  Likewise, it is important to appreciate that religion is a more expansive concept in India compared to the West and influences the major life decisions of the citizens.  Secondly, the caste system, indigenous to India, promotes occupational division of people sanctioned through several traditional practices. Caste still has a strong correlation with one’s economic and social status. Identity Politics is a medium through which historically worse off groups and individuals susceptible to oppression can struggle for greater self determination and gain empowerment. However, Identity politics in In...

Law for the Man or Man for the Law? : A discussion in light of the 50th anniversary of Kesavananda Bharati case 66 days. 701 pages worth of judgment, with a unique yet equally fundamental opinion for 11 of the 13 judges that presided over the case. Needless to say, Kesavananda Bharati vs. State of Kerala was the most important landmark case that made it to the pages of Indian history. The case was concluded on 24th April, 1973 with the judge's ruling acting as a temporary fix for the long running disputes between the State and the Court and aiming to provide an answer for two principal questions; these namely being a) How far can the government work for the welfare of the society when it is at the expense of an individual's fundamental rights? And b) How far reaching is the government’s right to amend our Constitution that is deemed to be a ‘living document’? The deliberation remains, did the ruling manage to provide us with a satisfactory answer? Well the answer is both yes an...

  To bail or not to bail?: China’s Debt Crisis  Introduction The Silk Path weaves itself into an inescapable trap. The Trojan Horse armed for neo-colonist and authoritarian agendas seems to have shelled the country's own economy. Beijing finds itself stranded in an economic minefield. President Xi Jin Ping’s beloved pet project has bit him. The irony shines through, as China finds itself victim of the project it pursued so passionately, one that pushed several countries off the cliff into a heavy debt crisis. Yes, I am referring to none other than the infamous Belt and Road Initiative or BRI project. Having backfired on a massive scale, the world now observes that behind the glory BRI boasted, is a myriad of horrible decisions, bad loans, and poorly structured programs. As the first sign of trouble makes its appearance, we see China finds its hands tied, when it comes to assisting their own local governments from defaulting. To start from the beginning, The Chinese local gov...

A Brief history of Zionism “ A land without people, for a people without land” Israel Zangwill, Zionist slogan with context to Palestine Zionism is essentially the Israeli’s nationalist ideology that derives its beliefs from Judaism. According to the religious texts, the Four Holy cities of Jerusalem, Tiberias, Hebron and Safed were the Jewish centers and therefore the Israelis had the historical right to reconstitute the then Palestine ( under the ottoman empire) into a Jewish Homeland. The First wave of Zionist colonists have been said to reach Palestine around 1881-82. This mass exodus of the Israelis from Eastern Europe to the city of Jaffa earmarked an important time as it was the first inflow of a christian bloc into an Arab dominated area. The populace was termed as ‘Lovers of Zion’ who then started building Jewish towns and settlements in Palestine. As a result, the city, Rishon Le-Zion came up in 1882 and comprised 50 jewish settlements. However, soon enough the Zionists bega...