History of China
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the history of China
prior to October 1, 1949:
Territories occupied by different dynasties as well as modern
political states throughout the history of China:
ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA:
3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors
Xia Dynasty 2100–1600 BCE
Shang Dynasty 1600–1046 BCE
Zhou Dynasty 1045–256 BCE
Western Zhou
Eastern Zhou
Spring and Autumn Period
Warring States Period
IMPERIAL:
Qin Dynasty 221 BCE–206 BCE
Han Dynasty 206 BCE–220 CE
Western Han
Xin Dynasty
Eastern Han
Three Kingdoms 220–280
Wei, Shu & Wu
Jin Dynasty 265–420
Western Jin 16 Kingdoms
304–439
Eastern Jin
Southern & Northern Dynasties
420–589
Sui Dynasty 581–618
Tang Dynasty 618–907
( Second Zhou 690–705 )
5 Dynasties &
10 Kingdoms
907–960 Liao Dynasty
907–1125
Song Dynasty
960–1279
Northern Song W. Xia
Southern Song Jin
Yuan Dynasty 1271–1368
Ming Dynasty 1368–1644
Qing Dynasty 1644–1911
MODERN:
Republic of China 1912–1949
People's Republic
of China
1949–present
Republic
of China (Taiwan) 1945–present
Related articles [show]
Chinese historiography
Timeline of Chinese history
Dynasties in Chinese history
Linguistic history
Art history
Economic history
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Middle Ages:
Chinese civilization originated in various city-states along the
Yellow River (Chinese: 黃河; pinyin: Huáng Hé) valley in the
Neolithic era. The written history of China begins with the Shang
Dynasty (ca. 1550 BCE - ca. 1046 BCE).[1] Turtle shells with
ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty have been
carbon dated to as early as 1500 BCE.[2] The origins of Chinese
culture, literature and philosophy, developed during the Zhou
Dynasty (1045 BCE to 256 BCE) that followed the Shang. It was
the longest lasting dynasty and spans the period in which the
written script evolved from ancient oracle script to the
beginnings of modern Chinese writing.
The feudal Zhou Dynasty eventually broke apart into individual
city states, creating the Warring States period. In 221 BCE, Qin
Shi Huang united the various warring kingdoms and created the
first Chinese empire. Successive dynasties in Chinese history
developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the Emperor of
China to directly control the vast territories.
The conventional view of Chinese history is that of a dynasty
alternating between periods of political unity and disunity and
occasionally becoming dominated by foreign Asian peoples,
most of whom were assimilated into the Han Chinese population.
Cultural and political influences from many parts of Asia, carried
by successive waves of immigration, expansion, and
assimilation, merged to create modern Chinese culture.
Contents:
1 Prehistory
1.1 Paleolithic
1.2 Neolithic
2 Ancient era
2.1 Xia Dynasty
2.2 Shang Dynasty
2.3 Zhou Dynasty
2.4 Spring and Autumn Period
2.5 Warring States Period
3 Imperial era
3.1 Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE)
3.2 Han Dynasty
3.3 Wei and Jin Period
3.4 Wu Hu Period
3.5 Southern and Northern Dynasties
3.6 Sui Dynasty
3.7 Tang Dynasty
3.8 Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
3.9 Song Dynasty and Liao, Jin, Western Xia
3.10 Yuan Dynasty
3.11 Ming Dynasty
3.12 Qing Dynasty
4 Modern era
4.1 Republic of China
4.2 1949 to Present
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links
What is now China was inhabited by Homo erectus more than a
million years ago.[3] Recent study shows that the stone tools
found at Xiaochangliang site are magnetostratigraphically dated
1.36 million years ago.[4] The archaeological site of Xihoudu (西
侯渡) in Shanxi Province is the earliest recorded use of fire by
Homo erectus, which is dated 1.27 million years ago.[3] The
excavations at Yuanmou and later Lantian 蓝田show early
habitation. Perhaps the most famous specimen of Homo erectus
found in China is the so-called Peking Man discovered in 1923-
27.
Three pottery pieces were unearthed at Liyuzui Cave in Liuzhou,
Guangxi Province dated 16,500 and 19,000 BCE.[5]
Neolithic:
The Neolithic age in China can be traced back as early as 10,000
BCE[6] Early evidence for proto-Chinese millet agriculture is
carbon-dated to about 7,000 BCE.[7] The Peiligang culture of
Xinzheng county, Henan was excavated in 1977.[8] With
agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and
redistribute crops, and to support specialist craftsmen and
administrators.[9] In late Neolithic times, the Yellow River valley
began to establish itself as a cultural center, where the first
villages were founded; the most archaeologically significant of
those was found at Banpo, Xi'an.[10] The Yellow River was so
named because of the loess that would build up on the bank and
down in the earth then sink, creating a yellowish tint to the water.
[11]
ChinaThe early history of China is complicated by the lack of a
written language during this period coupled with the existence
of documents from later time periods attempting to describe
events that occurred several centuries before. The problem in
some sense stems from centuries of introspection on the part of
the Chinese people which has blurred the distinction between
fact and fiction in regards to this early history. By 7000 BCE, the
Chinese were farming millet, giving rise to the Jiahu culture. At
Damaidi in Ningxia, 3,172 cliff carvings dating to 6,000-5,000
BCE have been discovered "featuring 8,453 individual characters
such as the sun, moon, stars, gods and scenes of hunting or
grazing." These pictographs are reputed to be similar to the
earliest characters confirmed to be written Chinese.[12][13]
Later Yangshao culture was superseded by the Longshan
culture around 2500 BCE.
Ancient era:
Xia Dynasty:
The Xia Dynasty of China (from ca. 2,100 BCE to 1,600 BCE) is
the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical records
such as Records of the Grand Historian and Bamboo Annals.[1]
[14]
Although there is disagreement regarding the actual existence of
the dynasty, there is some archaeological evidence pointing to
its possible existence. The historian Sima Qian (145 BCE-90
BCE), who wrote the Shiji or Records of the Grand Historian and
the so-called Bamboo Annals date the founding of the Xia
Dynasty to 4,200 years ago, but this date has not been
corroborated. Most archaeologists now connect the Xia to
excavations at Erlitou in central Henan province,[15] where a
bronze smelter from around 2000 BCE was unearthed. Early
markings from this period found on pottery and shells are
thought to be ancestors of modern Chinese characters.[16] With
few clear records matching the Shang oracle bones or the Zhou
bronze vessel writings, the Xia era remains poorly understood.
Shang Dynasty:
Remnants of advanced, stratified societies dating back to the
Shang found in the Yellow River Valley.The earliest discovered
written record of China's past dates from the Shang Dynasty in
perhaps the 13th century BCE, and takes the form of
inscriptions of divination records on the bones or shells of
animals—the so-called oracle bones.
Archeological findings providing evidence for
the existence of the Shang Dynasty,
c 1600–1046 BCE are divided into two sets.
The first set, from the earlier Shang period
(ca.1600–1300 BCE) comes from sources at
Erligang, Zhengzhou and Shangcheng. The
second set, from the later Shang or Yin (殷)
period, consists of a large body of oracle
bone writings. Anyang, in modern-day Henan,
has been confirmed as the last of the Shang's nine capitals (c
1300–1046 BCE). The Shang Dynasty featured 31 kings, from
Tang of Shang to King Zhou of Shang. In this period, the
Chinese worshiped many different gods - weather gods and sky
gods - and also a supreme god, named Shang-Ti, who ruled over
the other gods. Those who lived during the Shang Dynasty also
believed that their ancestors - their parents and grandparents -
became like gods when they died, and that their ancestors
wanted to be worshipped too, like gods. Each family worshiped
its own ancestors.
Around 1500 BCE, the Chinese began to use written oracle
bones to predict the future. By the time of the Chou Dynasty
(about 1100 BCE), the Chinese were also worshiping a natural
force called t'ien, which is usually translated as Heaven. Like
Shang-Ti, Heaven ruled over all the other gods, and it decided
who would rule China, called the Mandate of Heaven. The ruler
could rule as long as he or she had the Mandate of Heaven; it
was believed that the emperor or empress had lost the Mandate
of Heaven when natural disasters occurred in great number, and
when, more realistically, the sovereign had apparently lost his
concern for the people. In response, the royal house would be
overthrown, and a new house would rule, having been granted
the Mandate of Heaven.
The Records of the Grand Historian states that the Shang
Dynasty moved its capital six times. The final (and most
important) move to Yin in 1350 BCE led to the dynasty's golden
age. The term Yin Dynasty has been synonymous with the
Shang dynasty in history, although it has lately been used to
specifically refer to the latter half of the Shang Dynasty.
Chinese historians living in later periods were accustomed to the
notion of one dynasty succeeding another, but the actual
political situation in early China is known to have been much
more complicated. Hence, as some scholars of China suggest,
the Xia and the Shang can possibly refer to political entities that
existed concurrently, just as the early Zhou is known to have
existed at the same time as the Shang.
Written records found at Anyang confirm the existence of the
Shang dynasty. However, Western scholars are often hesitant to
associate settlements contemporaneous with the Anyang
settlement with the Shang dynasty. For example, archaeological
findings at Sanxingdui suggest a technologically advanced
civilization culturally unlike Anyang. The evidence is
inconclusive in proving how far the Shang realm extended from
Anyang. The leading hypothesis is that Anyang, ruled by the
same Shang in the official history, coexisted and traded with
numerous other culturally diverse settlements in the area that is
now referred to as China proper.
Zhou Dynasty:
The Zhou Dynasty was the longest dynasty in Chinese history,
from 1045 to approximately 221 BCE. By the end of the 2nd
millennium BCE, the Zhou Dynasty began to emerge in the
Yellow River valley, overrunning the Shang. The Zhou appeared
to have begun their rule under a semi-feudal system. The Zhou
were a people who lived west of Shang, and the Zhou leader had
been appointed "Western Protector" by the Shang. The ruler of
the Zhou, King Wu, with the assistance of his brother, the Duke
of Zhou, as regent managed to defeat the Shang at the Battle of
Muye. The king of Zhou at this time invoked the concept of the
Mandate of Heaven to legitimize his rule, a concept that would
be influential for almost every successive dynasty. The Zhou
initially moved their capital west to an area near modern Xi'an,
near the Yellow River, but they would preside over a series of
expansions into the Yangtze River valley. This would be the first
of many population migrations from north to south in Chinese
history.
Spring and Autumn Period:
Chinese pu vessel with interlaced dragon design, Spring and
Autumn Period.In the 8th century BCE, power became
decentralized during the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋時代),
named after the influential Spring and Autumn Annals. In this
period, local military leaders used by the
Zhou began to assert their power and vie for
hegemony. The situation was aggravated by
the invasion of other peoples from the
northwest, such as the Qin, forcing the Zhou
to move their capital east to Luoyang. This
marks the second large phase of the Zhou
dynasty: the Eastern Zhou. In each of the
hundreds of states that eventually arose,
local strongmen held most of the political
power and continued their subservience to
the Zhou kings in name only. Local leaders for instance started
using royal titles for themselves. The Hundred Schools of
Thought (諸子百家/诸子百家) of Chinese philosophy blossomed
during this period, and such influential intellectual movements
as Confucianism (儒家), Taoism (道家), Legalism (法家) and
Mohism (墨家) were founded, partly in response to the changing
political world. The Spring and Autumn Period is marked by a
falling apart of the central Zhou power. China now consists of
hundreds of states, some only as large as a village with a fort.
Warring States Period:
After further political consolidation, seven prominent states
remained by the end of 5th century BCE, and the years in which
these few states battled each other are known as the Warring
States Period. Though there remained a nominal Zhou king until
256 BCE, he was largely a figurehead and held little real power.
As neighboring territories of these warring states, including
areas of modern Sichuan and Liaoning, were annexed, they were
governed under the new local administrative system of
commandery and prefecture (郡縣/郡县). This system had been
in use since the Spring and Autumn Period and parts can still be
seen in the modern system of Sheng & Xian (province and
county, 省縣/省县). The final expansion in this period began
during the reign of Ying Zheng (嬴政), the king of Qin. His
unification of the other six powers, and further annexations in
the modern regions of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi
in 214 BCE enabled him to proclaim himself the First Emperor
(Qin Shi Huangdi, 秦始皇帝).
Imperial era:
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE):
Historians often refer to the period from Qin Dynasty to the end
of Qin Dynasty as Imperial China. Though the unified reign of
the Qin (秦) Emperor lasted only 12 years, he managed to
subdue great parts of what constitutes the core of the Han
Chinese homeland and to unite them under
a tightly centralized Legalist government
seated at Xianyang (咸陽/咸阳) (close to
modern Xi'an). The doctrine of legalism that
guided the Qin emphasized strict adherence
to a legal code and the absolute power of the
emperor. This philosophy of Legalism, while
effective for expanding the empire in a
military fashion, proved unworkable for
governing it in peace time. The Qin presided
over the brutal silencing of political
opposition, including the event known as the burning and
burying of scholars. This would be the impetus behind the later
Han Synthesis incorporating the more moderate schools of
political governance.
The Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang.The Qin Dynasty is well
known for beginning the Great Wall of China, which was later
augmented and enhanced during the Ming Dynasty (明朝). The
other major contributions of the Qin include the concept of a
centralized government, the unification of the legal code, written
language, measurement, and currency of China after the
tribulations of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States
Periods. Even something as basic as the length of axles for
carts had to be made uniform to ensure a viable trading system
throughout the empire.[17]
Han Dynasty:
A Han Dynasty oil lamp with a sliding shutter, in the shape of a
kneeling female servant, 2nd century BCE.The Han Dynasty (202
BCE – 220 CE) emerged in 206 BCE, with its founder Liu Bang
proclaimed emperor in 202. It was the first
dynasty to embrace the philosophy of
Confucianism, which became the ideological
underpinning of all regimes until the end of
imperial China. Under the Han Dynasty,
China made great advances in many areas
of the arts and sciences. Emperor Wu
(Han Wudi 漢武帝/汉武帝) consolidated and
extended the Chinese empire by pushing
back the Xiongnu (sometimes identified with
the Huns) into the steppes of modern Inner Mongolia, wresting
from them the modern areas of Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai.
This enabled the first opening of trading connections between
China and the West, the Silk Road. Han Dynasty general Ban
Chao expanded his conquests across the Pamirs to the shores
of the Caspian Sea.[18] The first of several Roman embassies to
China is recorded in Chinese sources, coming from the sea
route in 166, and a second one in 284.
Nevertheless, land acquisitions by elite families gradually
drained the tax base. In CE 9, the usurper Wang Mang (王莽)
founded the short-lived Xin ("New") Dynasty (新朝) and started
an extensive program of land and other economic reforms.
These programs, however, were never supported by the land-
holding families, for they favored the peasants. The instability
brought about chaos and uprisings.
Emperor Guangwu (光武帝) reinstated the Han Dynasty with the
support of land-holding and merchant families at Luoyang, east
of Xi'an. This new era would be termed the Eastern Han
Dynasty. Han power declined again amidst land acquisitions,
invasions, and feuding between consort clans and eunuchs. The
Yellow Turban Rebellion (黃巾之亂/黄巾之乱) broke out in 184,
ushering in an era of warlords. In the ensuing turmoil, three
states tried to gain predominance in the Period of the Three
Kingdoms. This time period has been greatly romanticized in
works such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Wei and Jin Period:
After Cao Cao reunified the North in 208CE, his son proclaimed
the Wei dynasty in 220CE. Soon, Wei's rivals Shu and Wu
proclaimed their independence, leading China into the Three
Kingdoms Period. This period was characterized by a gradual
decentralization of the state that had existed during the Qin and
Han Dynasties, and an increase in the power of great families.
Although the Three Kingdoms were reunified by the Jin Dynasty
in 280 CE, this structure was essentially the same until the Wu
Hu uprising.
Wu Hu Period:
Taking advantage of civil war in the Jin Dynasty, the
contemporary non-Han Chinese (Wu Hu, 五胡) ethnic groups
controlled much of the country in the early 4th century and
provoked large-scale Han Chinese migrations to south of the
Chang Jiang. In 303 the Di people rebelled and later captured
Chengdu, establishing the state of Cheng Han. Under Liu Yuan
the Xiongnu rebelled near today's Linfen County and established
the state of Han Zhao. His successor Liu Cong captured and
executed the last two Western Jin emperors. Sixteen kingdoms
were a plethora of short-lived non-Chinese dynasties that came
to rule the whole or parts of northern China in the 4th and 5th
centuries. Many ethnic groups were involved, including
ancestors of the Turks, Mongolians, and Tibetans. Most of
these nomadic peoples had to some extent been "Sinicized" long
before their ascent to power. In fact, some of them, notably the
Ch'iang and the Xiong-nu, had already been allowed to live in the
frontier regions within the Great Wall since late Han times.
A limestone statue of the Bodhisattva, from the Northern Qi
Dynasty, 570 AD, made in what is now modern Henan province.
Southern and Northern Dynasties:
Signaled by the collapse of East Jin (東晉/东晋) Dynasty in 420,
China entered the era of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
The Han people managed to survive the military attacks from the
nomadic tribes of the north, such as the Xian Bei (鮮卑), and
their civilization continued to thrive.
In Southern China, fierce debates about whether Buddhism
should be allowed to exist were held frequently by the royal
court and nobles. Finally, near the end of the Southern and
Northern Dynasties era, both Buddhist and Taoist followers
compromised and became more tolerant of each other.
In 589, Sui (隋) annexed the last Southern Dynasty, Chen (陳/陈),
through military force, and put an end to the era of Southern
and Northern Dynasties.
Sui Dynasty:
The Sui Dynasty (隋朝), which managed to reunite the country in
589 after nearly four centuries of political fragmentation, played
a role more important than its length of existence would
suggest. The Sui brought China together again and set up many
institutions that were to be adopted by their successors, the
Tang. Like the Qin, however, the Sui overused their resources
and collapsed. Also similar to the Qin, traditional history has
judged the Sui somewhat unfairly, as it has stressed the
harshness of the Sui regime and the arrogance of its second
emperor, giving little credit for the Dynasty's many positive
achievements.
Tang Dynasty
On June 18, 618, Gaozu (唐高祖) took the throne, and the Tang
Dynasty (唐朝) was established, opening a new age of prosperity
and innovations in arts and technology. Buddhism, which had
gradually been established in China from the first century,
became the predominant religion and was
adopted by the imperial family and many of
the common people.
Chang'an (長安/长安) (modern Xi'an西安),
the national capital, is thought to have been
the world's largest city at the time. The Tang
and the Han are often referred to as the most prosperous
periods of Chinese history.
The Tang, like the Han, kept the trade routes open to the west
and south and there was extensive trade with distant foreign
countries and many foreign merchants settled in China.
The Tang introduced a new system into the Chinese
government, called the "Equal Field System" （均田制）.This
system gave families land grants from the Emperor based on
their needs, not their wealth.
From about 860 the Tang Dynasty began to decline due to a
series of rebellions within China itself, and in the previously
subject Kingdom of Nanzhao (南詔/南诏) to the south. One of
the warlords, Huang Chao (黃巢), captured Guangzhou in 879,
killing most of the 200,000 inhabitants including most of the
large colony of foreign merchant families there.[19] In late 880
Luoyang surrendered to him and on 5 January, 881 he
conquered Chang'an. The emperor Xizong (唐僖宗) fled to
Chengdu and Huang established a new temporary regime, which
was eventually destroyed by Tang forces, but another time of
political chaos followed.
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period:
The period of political disunity between the Tang and the Song,
known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (五代十
國), lasted little more than half a century, from 907 to 960.
During this brief era, when China was in all respects a multi-
state system, five regimes succeeded one another rapidly in
control of the old Imperial heartland in northern China. During
this same time, 10 more stable regimes occupied sections of
southern and western China, so the period is also referred to as
that of the Ten Kingdoms (十國).
Song Dynasty and Liao, Jin, Western Xia:
Homeward Oxherds in Wind and Rain, by Li Di, 12th centuryMain
articles: Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty, Western Xia, and Jin
Dynasty, 1115-1234.
In 960, the Song Dynasty (960-1279) (宋朝) gained power over
most of China and established its capital in Kaifeng (開封, later
known as 汴京), starting a period of
economic prosperity, while the Khitan Liao
Dynasty (遼朝/遼国) ruled over Manchuria,
present-day Mongolia, and parts of Northern
China. In 1115 the Jurchen Jin Dynasty
(1115-1234) (金朝/金國) emerged to
prominence, annihilating the Liao Dynasty
in 10 years. Meanwhile, in what are now the
northwestern Chinese provinces of Gansu,
Shaanxi, and Ningxia, there emerged a Western Xia Dynasty (西
夏) from 1032 up to 1227, established by Tangut tribes.
It also took power over northern China and Kaifeng from the
Song Dynasty, which moved its capital to Hangzhou (杭州). The
Southern Song Dynasty also suffered the humiliation of having
to acknowledge the Jin Dynasty as formal overlords. In the
ensuing years China was divided between the Song Dynasty, the
Jin Dynasty and the Tangut Western Xia (西夏). Southern Song
experienced a period of great technological development which
can be explained in part by the military pressure that it felt from
the north. This included the use of gunpowder weapons, which
played a large role in the Song Dynasty naval victories against
the Jin in the Battle of Tangdao and Battle of Caishi on the
Yangtze River in 1161. Furthermore, China's first permanent
standing navy was assembled and provided an admiral's office
at Dinghai in 1132, under the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song.
The Song Dynasty is considered by many to be classical China's
high point in science and technology, with innovative scholar-
officials such as Su Song (1020-1101) and Shen Kuo (1031-
1095). There was court intrigue with the political rivals of the
Reformers and Conservatives, led by the chancellors Wang
Anshi and Sima Guang, respectively. By the mid to late 13th
century the Chinese had adopted the dogma of Neo-Confucian
philosophy formulated by Zhu Xi. There were enormous literary
works compiled during the Song Dynasty, such as the historical
work of the Zizhi Tongjian. Culture and the arts flourished, with
grandiose artworks such as Along the River During Qingming
Festival and Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute, while there were
great Buddhist painters such as Lin Tinggui.
Yuan Dynasty:
Yang Guifei Mounting a Horse, by Qian Xuan (1235-1305 CE).
Jurchen tribes' Jin Dynasty, whose names are also rendered
"Jin" in pinyin, was defeated by the Mongols, who then
proceeded to defeat the Southern Song in a long and bloody
war, the first war where firearms played an important role.
During the era after the war, later called the Pax Mongolica,
adventurous Westerners such as Marco Polo travelled all the
way to China and brought the first reports of its wonders to
Europe. In the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols were divided between
those who wanted to remain based in the steppes and those
who wished to adopt the customs of the Chinese.
Kublai Khan (忽必烈/元世祖), grandson of Genghis Khan (成吉思
汗), wanting to adopt the customs of China, established the
Yuan Dynasty (元朝). This was the first dynasty to rule the
whole of China from Beijing (北京) as the capital. Beijing had
been ceded to Liao in CE 938 with the Sixteen Prefectures of
Yan Yun (燕雲十六州，燕云十六州). Before that, it had been the
capital of the Jin, who did not rule all of China.
Before the Mongol invasion, Chinese dynasties reportedly had
approximately 120 million inhabitants; after the conquest was
completed in 1279, the 1300 census reported roughly 60 million
people.[20] The 14th century epidemics of plague (Black Death)
is estimated to have killed 30% of the population of China.[21]
[22]
Ming Dynasty:
Court Ladies of the Former Shu, by Ming painter Tang Yin (1470-
1523).
Hongwu Emperor, founder of Ming Dynasty.Throughout the
Yuan Dynasty, which lasted less than a century, there was
relatively strong sentiment among the populace against the
Mongol rule. The frequent natural disasters since the 1340s
finally led to peasant revolts. The Yuan Dynasty was eventually
overthrown by the Ming Dynasty (明朝) in 1368.
Urbanization increased as the population grew and as the
division of labor grew more complex. Large urban centers, such
as Nanjing and Beijing, also contributed to
the growth of private industry. In particular,
small-scale industries grew up, often
specializing in paper, silk, cotton, and
porcelain goods. For the most part, however,
relatively small urban centers with markets
proliferated around the country. Town
markets mainly traded food, with some
necessary manufactures such as pins or oil.
Despite the xenophobia and intellectual introspection
characteristic of the increasingly popular new school of neo-
Confucianism, China under the early Ming Dynasty was not
isolated. Foreign trade and other contacts with the outside
world, particularly Japan, increased considerably. Chinese
merchants explored all of the Indian Ocean, reaching East Africa
with the voyages of Zheng He (鄭和，郑和, original name Ma
Sanbao 馬三保，马三保).
Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) or (Hong-wu, 洪武皇帝/明太祖), the
founder of the dynasty, laid the foundations for a state
interested less in commerce and more in extracting revenues
from the agricultural sector. Perhaps because of the Emperor's
background as a peasant, the Ming economic system
emphasized agriculture, unlike that of the Song and the
Mongolian Dynasties, which relied on traders and merchants for
revenue. Neo-feudal landholdings of the Song and Mongol
periods were expropriated by the Ming rulers. Land estates were
confiscated by the government, fragmented, and rented out.
Private slavery was forbidden. Consequently, after the death of
Emperor Yong-le (永樂皇帝，永乐皇帝/明成祖), independent
peasant landholders predominated in Chinese agriculture. These
laws might have paved the way to removing the worst of the
poverty during the previous regimes.
Ming China under the reign of the Yongle EmperorThe dynasty
had a strong and complex central government that unified and
controlled the empire. The emperor's role became more
autocratic, although Zhu Yuanzhang necessarily continued to
use what he called the "Grand Secretaries"[内阁] to assist with
the immense paperwork of the bureaucracy, including memorials
(petitions and recommendations to the throne), imperial edicts in
reply, reports of various kinds, and tax records. It was this same
bureaucracy that later prevented the Ming government from
being able to adapt to changes in society, and eventually led to
its decline.
Emperor Yong-le strenuously tried to extend China's influence
beyond its borders by demanding other rulers send
ambassadors to China to present tribute. A large navy was built,
including four-masted ships displacing 1,500 tons. A standing
army of 1 million troops (some estimate as many as 1.9 million
[who?]) was created. The Chinese armies conquered Vietnam (越
南) for around 20 years, while the Chinese fleet sailed the China
seas and the Indian Ocean, cruising as far as the east coast of
Africa. The Chinese gained influence in Eastern Turkestan.
Several maritime Asian nations sent envoys with tribute for the
Chinese emperor. Domestically, the Grand Canal was expanded,
and proved to be a stimulus to domestic trade. Over 100,000
tons of iron per year were produced. Many books were printed
using movable type. The imperial palace in Beijing's Forbidden
City reached its current splendor. It was also during these
centuries that the potential of south China came to be fully
exploited. New crops were widely cultivated and industries such
as those producing porcelain and textiles flourished.
In 1449 Esen Tayisi led an Oirat Mongol invasion of northern
China which culminated in the capture of the Zhengtong
Emperor at Tumu. In 1542 the Mongol leader Altan Khan began
to harass China along the northern border. In 1550 he even
reached the suburbs of Beijing. The empire also had to deal with
Japanese pirates attacking the southeastern coastline;[23]
general Qi Jiguang was instrumental in defeating these pirates.
The deadliest earthquake of all times, the Shaanxi earthquake of
1556 that killed approximately 830,000 people, occurred during
the Jiajing Emperor's reign.
During the Ming dynasty the last construction on the Great Wall
was undertaken to protect China from foreign invasions. While
the Great Wall had been built in earlier times, most of what is
seen today was either built or repaired by the Ming. The brick
and granite work was enlarged, the watch towers were
redesigned, and cannons were placed along its length.
Qing Dynasty:
Territory of Qing China in 1892Main article: Qing Dynasty.'
The Qing Dynasty (清朝, 1644–1911) was founded after the
defeat of the Ming, the last Han Chinese dynasty, by the
Manchus (滿族，满族). The Manchus were formerly known as
the Jurchen (女真). When Beijing was captured by Li Zicheng's
peasant rebels in 1644, the last Ming Emperor Chongzhen
committed suicide. The Manchu
then allied with Ming Dynasty
general Wu Sangui and seized
control of Beijing, which became
the new capital of the Qing
dynasty. The Manchus adopted
the Confucian norms of
traditional Chinese government
in their rule of China proper.
The Manchus enforced a 'queue
order' forcing the Han Chinese to adopt the Manchu queue
hairstyle and Manchu-style clothing. The traditional Chinese
clothing, or Hanfu (漢服，汉服) was also replaced by Manchu-
style clothing. Qipao (bannermen dress (旗袍) and Tangzhuang
(唐裝)). The penalty for not complying was death.
Emperor Kangxi (康熙皇帝/清聖祖) ordered the creation of the
most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever put
together at the time. The Manchus set up the "Eight Banners"
system (八旗制度) in an attempt to avoid being assimilated into
Chinese society. The "Eight Banners" were military institutions
set up to provide a structure with which the Manchu
"bannermen" were meant to identify. Banner membership was to
be based on traditional Manchu skills such as archery,
horsemanship, and frugality. In addition, they were encouraged
to use the Manchu language, rather than Chinese, though this
had been changed significantly in the later course of the
dynasty. Bannermen were given economic and legal privileges in
Chinese cities.
French political cartoon from the late 1890s. A pie representing
China and is being divided between UK, Germany, Russia,
France and Japan.Over the next half-century,
the Qing consolidated control of some areas
originally under the Ming, including Yunnan.
They also stretched their sphere of influence
over Xinjiang, Tibet and Mongolia. But during
the nineteenth century, Qing control
weakened. Britain's desire to continue its
opium trade with China collided with imperial
edicts prohibiting the addictive drug, and the
First Opium War erupted in 1840. Hong Kong
was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the
Treaty of Nanjing.
A large rebellion, the Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864), involved
around a third of China falling under control of the Taiping
Tianguo, a quasi-Christian religious movement led by the
"Heavenly King" Hong Xiuquan. Only after fourteen years were
the Taipings finally crushed - the Taiping army was destroyed in
the Third Battle of Nanking in 1864. The death toll during the 15
years of the rebellion was about 20 million.[24]
In addition, more costly rebellions in terms of human lives and
economics followed with the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars, Nien
Rebellion, Muslim Rebellion, Panthay Rebellion and the Boxer
Rebellion.[25] In many ways, the rebellions and the unequal
treaties the Qing were forced to sign with the imperialist powers
are symptomatic of the Qing's inability to deal with the new
challenges of the 19th century.
The Empress Dowager CixiBy the 1860s, the Qing Dynasty had
put down the rebellions at enormous cost and loss of life. This
undermined the credibility of the Qing regime and, spearheaded
by local initiatives by provincial leaders and gentry, contributed
to the rise of warlordism in China. The Qing Dynasty under the
Emperor Guangxu (光緒皇帝/清德宗) proceeded to deal with the
problem of modernization through the Self-Strengthening
Movement (自強運動，自强运动). However, between 1898 and
1908 the Empress Dowager Cixi had the reformist Guangxu
imprisoned for being 'mentally disabled'. The Empress Dowager
(慈禧太后), with the help of conservatives, initiated a military
coup, effectively removed the young Emperor from power, and
overturned most of the more radical reforms. He died one day
before the death of the Empress Dowager (some believe
Guangxu was poisoned by Cixi). Official corruption, cynicism,
and imperial family quarrels made most of the military reforms
useless. As a result, the Qing's "New Armies" were soundly
defeated in the Sino-French War (1883-1885) and the Sino-
Japanese War (1894-1895).
At the start of the 20th century, the Boxer Rebellion threatened
northern China. This was a conservative anti-imperialist
movement that sought to return China to old ways. The Empress
Dowager, probably seeking to ensure her continued grip on
power, sided with the Boxers when they advanced on Beijing. In
response, a relief expedition of the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded
China to rescue the besieged foreign missions. Consisting of
British, Japanese, Russian, Italian, German, French, US and
Austrian troops, the alliance defeated the Boxers and demanded
further concessions from the Qing government.
Modern era:
Republic of China:
Frustrated by the Qing court's resistance to reform and by
China's weakness, young officials, military officers, and
students—inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Sun Yat-sen (孫
中山，孙中山)—began to advocate the overthrow of the Qing
Dynasty and the creation of a republic.
Sun Yat-sen, founder and first president of the Republic of
China.Slavery in China was abolished in 1910.[26]
A revolutionary military uprising, the Wuchang Uprising, began
on October 10, 1911 in Wuhan (武漢，武汉). The provisional
government of the Republic of China (中華民國，中华民国) was
formed in Nanjing on March 12, 1912 with Sun Yat-sen as
President, but Sun was forced to turn power over to Yuan Shikai
(袁世凱), who commanded the New Army and was Prime Minister
under the Qing government, as part of the agreement to let the
last Qing monarch abdicate (a decision Sun would later regret).
Over the next few years, Yuan proceeded to abolish the national
and provincial assemblies, and declared himself emperor in late
1915. Yuan's imperial ambitions were fiercely opposed by his
subordinates; faced with the prospect of rebellion, he abdicated
in March 1916, and died in June of that year. His death left a
power vacuum in China; the republican government was all but
shattered. This ushered in the warlord era, during which much
of the country was ruled by shifting coalitions of competing
provincial military leaders.
In 1919, the May Fourth Movement (五四運動，五四运动) began
as a response to the terms imposed on China by the Treaty of
Versailles ending World War I, but quickly became a protest
movement about the domestic situation in China. The
discrediting of liberal Western philosophy amongst Chinese
intellectuals was followed by the adoption of more radical lines
of thought. This in turn planted the seeds for the irreconcilable
conflict between the left and right in China that would dominate
Chinese history for the rest of the century.
In the 1920s, Sun Yat-Sen established a revolutionary base in
south China, and set out to unite the fragmented nation. With
Soviet assistance, he entered into an alliance with the fledgling
Communist Party of China (CPC, 中國共產黨，中国共产党). After
Sun's death from cancer in 1925, one of his protégés, Chiang
Kai-shek (蔣介石，蒋介石), seized control of the Kuomintang
(Nationalist Party or KMT, 國民黨，国民党) and succeeded in
bringing most of south and central China under its rule in a
military campaign known as the Northern Expedition (北伐).
Having defeated the warlords in south and central China by
military force, Chiang was able to secure the nominal allegiance
of the warlords in the North. In 1927, Chiang turned on the CPC
and relentlessly chased the CPC armies and its leaders from
their bases in southern and eastern China. In 1934, driven from
their mountain bases such as the Chinese Soviet Republic (中華
蘇維埃共和國，中华苏维埃共和国), the CPC forces embarked on
the Long March (長征，长征) across China's most desolate
terrain to the northwest, where they established a guerrilla base
at Yan'an in Shaanxi Province (陝西省延安市).
During the Long March, the communists reorganized under a
new leader, Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung, 毛澤東，毛泽东). The
bitter struggle between the KMT and the CPC continued, openly
or clandestinely, through the 14-year long Japanese occupation
(1931-1945), of various parts of the country. The two Chinese
parties nominally formed a united front to oppose the Japanese
in 1937, during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), which
became a part of World War II. Following the defeat of Japan in
1945, the war between the KMT and the CPC resumed, after
failed attempts at reconciliation and a negotiated settlement. By
1949, the CPC had occupied most of the country. (see Chinese
Civil War)
At the end of WWII in 1945 as part of the overall Japanese
surrender, Japanese troops in Taiwan surrendered to Republic
of China troops giving Chiang Kai-shek effective control of
Taiwan.[27] When Chiang was defeated by CPC forces in
mainland China in 1949, he fled to Taiwan with his government
and the remnants of his army, along with most of the KMT
leadership and a large number of their supporters.
1949 to Present:
With the CPC's victory, and their proclamation of the People's
Republic of China (中華人民共和國,中华人民共和国) on October
1, 1949, Taiwan was again politically separated from mainland
China, and continues to be governed by the Republic of China to
the present day. No peace treaty has ever been signed between
the two opposing parties. For the history of the People's
Republic of China since 1949, see History of the People's
Republic of China. For the history of the Republic of China since
1949, see Republic of China on Taiwan (1949-present).
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