Cooperation or Conflict
WORLDHISTORY PROJECTORIGINS/ LESSON 3.2CLOSERCOOPERATION OR CONFLICT?Unless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit: “Cooperation or Conflict?”,OER Project, www.oerproject.com/PurposeAnalyzing a primary source excerpt will help you determine how different groups of people interacted in this era.ProcessRead the primary source excerpt below,and then complete the table that follows.The emperorrespectfully asks about the health of the chief of the Xiongnu. Your ambassadors have brought us two horses. We accept them with respect. In accordance with what the previous emperor decreed the chief of the Xiongnu was to command the region north of the Great Wall where men shoot arrows from their bows, while we were to rule the region south of the wall, where the people live in houses and wear hats and sashes. Under this arrangement, the multitudes of inhabitants of these areas would get their food and clothing by farming, weaving, or hunting, fathers and sons would live side by side, rulers and officials would both be safe, and no one would act violently or rebel. We have heard, however, that a number of evil and deluded men, whose greed for wealth has overcome them, have forsaken justice and broken our peace treaty, paying no heed to what will happen to the multitudes of inhabitants and destroying the harmony that has been in place between the rulers of our two lands. Source:Letter from the Chinese emperor Wen to the Xiongnu,from 162 BCE, in Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian.QuestionResponseWhat does this source tell you about the relationship between the Chinese emperor and the leader of the Xiongnu?What does this source tell you about the history between the Chinese and Xiongnu?How does this source help you understand the interactions between pastoralists and farming societies?