Let's put our feet on the ground and see what life was like for foreigners before 500 BC. First of all, we need to exclude the North and South American continents, why? Because in the distant 500 B.C., North and South America were barren, and as we know, the North American continent was discovered by the great adventurer Christopher Columbus, whose ancestors may not have been born yet in 500 B.C.
So then, foreigners before 500 B.C. were concentrated in Europe, and there was an interesting phenomenon in the world history of that period: that is, civilizations all over the world were highly prosperous. As we know, the development of Chinese and foreign history is not the same as always: there are countless examples: for example, when we were in the Tang Dynasty, foreign history was in a relatively low period of development; and then, for example, when the Qing Dynasty was in decline, Western civilization was thriving.
But during that period in 500 BC, both Chinese and foreign civilizations flourished and reached a high level at the same time. This is a rare phenomenon in history.
In fact, there were a lot of milestones at that time, not to mention others, only Socrates and Plato, enough to see how prosperous the civilization of Europe was at that time. Unlike China at the same time, Europe was in a stage of peaceful development at that time, although the real meaning of the country was not established, people just live in the city state, compared with the war-ridden China, the life of the European people can be said to be very nourishing.
The origins of Chinese and foreign civilizations are different, but also make the two civilizations of the people of different ways of life, that is, China's ancestors were sunrise, sunrise, production and management of a number of crops, such as corn; on the contrary, Europe, when foreigners eat by the sea, the ordinary people live a life of fishing; slaves work for the slave masters, to obtain the necessities of life; the upper class people are in and out of the meeting occasions, make speeches and when they returned home they were served by their wives and slaves.
And a phrase we often use when describing Chinese history? Five thousand years, or 10,000 years, if you're precise about it, before AD and after AD. Ten thousand years is too long, if you want to go into detail, this article certainly can not carry, then may wish to look closer to see the period of time before and after 500 BC, the history of the ancient people lived what kind of life, the Chinese at that time, foreigners are doing?
500 BC has a specific name in Chinese history, called the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and later generations have rated this period of history very highly for a variety of reasons, which we can analyze from multiple perspectives to understand what the ancient people were doing during that period
Why did this period of history earn such a high rating that countless historians have studied and researched it with great care? One important reason is that it laid a far-reaching foundation for the establishment of Qin, and how strong was that foundation, more than 400 years long.
During these 400 years, there were hundreds of big and small states, some of which were like meteors, fleeting and survived only a few years on the stage of history, while some survived for a longer time and were more powerful because of proper management, like the seven states of the Warring States, which we know well, belonged to the ranks of the strongest states.
It was a very good time, during those hundreds of years, the economy was developing rapidly, the productivity was increasing step by step, and people's cultural and recreational life was very rich, as can be seen from the example in the Analects of Confucius: Confucius asked his disciple, "What kind of life do you aspire to? The disciple replied: I do not have too high pursuit of this person, say it for fear of your laughter, I aspire to the spring bathing season, about three or five friends to go to the bath, and then in the sunshine and spring breeze singing and dancing back.
It is clear that people at that time seldom ran around for the sake of profit, and spent their lives pursuing a psychologically comfortable life. It was also a time of freedom of speech, when each family had its own ideas and its own unique view of society, and when people explored the world in different ways.
It was also a very bad time, during those centuries, there were few long-lasting days of peace, war was synonymous with that era, and it was the toiling masses who had the hardest time; although it was progressing, the low productivity was negligible compared to the present day, and if it is hard to imagine, an example will make it easy to understand.
Modern people have endless clothes in their closet, which can be worn for 365 days, but you have to know that cotton was introduced to China only in the North and South Dynasties, so what did the predecessors of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period wear? Did they have a change of clothes? I guess the answer is obvious.
Also, being an official in that era was a high-risk occupation, and the closer you were to the monarch, the greater the risk factor, why? Because the closer you are to the monarch, not only do you have to serve the monarch while he is alive, but you also have to accompany him when he dies, and the way to accompany him is to be martyred.
In summary, the people of China and foreign countries in the period of 500 BC, although there are differences, but overall, there are also many similarities, two different civilizations have a similar path of development.