Chinese History (When it was an Empire)

The Qin dynasty is the first dynasty to have ever had an emperor. His name is Ying Zheng, but later on he changes his name to Shihuangdi, “First August Emperor”. He predicated that his empire would stand for ten thousand years, but it crumbled just three years after his death. During the Qin dynasty weapons were confiscated, the walls of each states were torn down, each state was uniformly administered, the Chinese scripts were unified, and the weights and measures were standardized.

 

There was a peasant uprising that took place three years after the death of Ying Zheng, his tyranny and megalomaniac projects like the Great Wall of China and the Terra cotta  warriors caused this. Now the mandate of heaven belonged to the Han dynasty. Under the Han dynasty Confucianism flourished all over china; the promulgation of the teachings of Confucius (focused on human morality and right action). The Hans also removed the annual mobilization and training of peasants, now the warfare requires a permanent army, an army that is paid for by tax. In addition the Silk Road was opened during this period, allowing trade not just from within the empire, but also neighboring countries.

 

But the Han dynasty also collapsed from within. It was divided into three rival kingdoms; it is known as the Three kingdoms period. One literary master piece “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” depicts the battles and struggles of these three kingdoms. The famous John Woo movie “Red Cliff”, tells the story of the battle of Red Cliff lead by Liu Bei, it is just one story in the romance of the three kingdoms.

 

In 589 AD the Sui dynasty became that unifier, but like the Qin dynasty, it was built in ruthlessness and megalomaniac spending of resources. During the Sui reign, the great wall was extended and the longest man made grand canal in the world was constructed. History once again repeated itself; a dynasty that is not benevolent to its people will always lose the mandate of heaven.  

 

The inevitable happened another dynasty overthrew the Sui, this dynasty is marked by prosperity and innovations in the arts and technology; they are known as the Tang Dynasty. The Tang dynasty is considered as the “Golden Age” of China. One significant policy that was implemented during this time was the “Equal Field System” where land grants were given by the emperor to the families based on their needs not their wealth. It was also during this period that Prince Shotoku Taishi, commissioned Ono no Imoko, to be an envoy from Sunrise Empire (Japan) to negotiate with the Sunset Empire (China) so that Japanese scholars can study in China. The Japanese scholars brought with them the idea of making swords, bonsai, tea drinking and many more. The idea came from china but because it was perfected in Japan, it is commonly associated to the Japanese.

 

But a series of rebellion broke out during this dynasty which led to another united China. They entered into a new period known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was half a century of power struggle between another growing people known as the Song.

 

In 960 AD the Song gained the upper hand, it controlled majority of the cities. The Song dynasty initially had its capital at Bianjing  (now Kaifeng), but it was conquered by the Jin dynasty. After losing control of northern china, the Song transferred its capital to the south in Lin’an (now Hangzhou). The Song dynasty was marked with significant improvements pre-modern technology, science, philosophy, mathematics, and engineering because of the invention of the movable type printing press.

 

The Song could have stayed in power, had it not for the genius of Kublai Khan, the grand son of Genghis Khan. For many years, the Song dynasty has repelled the Mongol hordes, which can be mostly attributed to their secret weapon, gun powder. But eventually Kublai Khan learned the secrets of Gun powder and was able to use it against the Song. He won and created a new dynasty called the Yuan dynasty. The capital was now moved to Beijing. Kublai Khan, opened trade routes to the west, which the well known Venetian trader Marco Polo used. In this period, Christianity and other religion was tolerated in China. Among the many innovations in this period was the use of paper money, the use of granaries as solutions to famines, and the introduction of drama and novels. Another interesting fact during this time was the invasion of Japan by the Mongols which ended by a tragedy because divine winds (Kamikaze) wiped out the Mongol fleet twice. There are some rumors that says that the ships used by Kublai Khan to send to Japan where former fishing boats designed to cross only rivers, haste really makes wastes.

 

But China should be ruled by the Chinese; at least this was the belief of the Chinese people who rebelled against the Mongols. The Ming people succeeded in overthrowing the Mongols and they ushered in the Ming dynasty. The Ming dynasty was different from all the other dynasties because it focused on agriculture. Emperor Hongwu aimed to create a self sufficient rural communities where there is no need to trade for basic commodities, these produced a surplus in food production and a population boom. The Ming dynasty was also megalomaniac; in this dynasty the largest fleet (300 ships) until the world war was launched.  It was more than twice the size of the Spanish armada (130 fleets) strong. Its mission was to trade and sail the whole world. It was commissioned by a favored eunuch of emperor Wu di named admiral Zheng He. In addition, the Ming established the forbidden city and the restored the great wall and the grand canal

 

The Mings were later on defeated by the Manchu people and established the Qing dynasty. It is the last of all the Chinese dynasty. The Qing dynasty created the most complete Chinese dictionary.  They also implemented the Eight Banner system because they do not want to be assimilated to the Chinese. It is a military institution that set up standards on which a Manchu “bannermen” would be identified it is based more on skills in archery, horsemanship, and frugality.

~ Nobody