On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was formally established, with its national capital at Beijing. "The Chinese people have stood up!" declared Mao as he announced the creation of a "people's democratic dictatorship." The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie, and the national-capitalists. The four classes were to be led by the CCP, as the vanguard of the working class. At that time the CCP claimed a membership of 4.5 million, of which members of peasant origin accounted for nearly 90 percent. The party was under Mao's chairmanship, and the government was headed by Zhou Enlai ( 1898-1976) as premier of the State Administrative Council (the predecessor of the State Council).
The Soviet Union recognized the People's Republic on October 2, 1949. Earlier in the year, Mao had proclaimed his policy of "leaning to one side" as a commitment to the socialist bloc. In February 1950, after months of hard bargaining, China and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance, valid until 1980. The pact also was intended to counter Japan or any power's joining Japan for the purpose of aggression.
For the first time in decades a Chinese government was met with peace, instead of massive military opposition, within its territory. The new leadership was highly disciplined and, having a decade of wartime administrative experience to draw on, was able to embark on a program of national integration and reform. In the first year of Communist administration, moderate social and economic policies were implemented with skill and effectiveness. The leadership realized that the overwhelming and multitudinous task of economic reconstruction and achievement of political and social stability required the goodwill and cooperation of all classes of people. Results were impressive by any standard, and popular support was widespread.
By 1950 international recognition of the Communist government had increased considerably, but it was slowed by China's involvement in the Korean War. In October 1950, sensing a threat to the industrial heartland in northeast China from the advancing United Nations (UN) forces in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), units of the PLA--calling themselves the Chinese People's Volunteers--crossed the YaluJiang () River into North Korea in response to a North Korean request for aid. Almost simultaneously the PLA forces also marched into Xizang to reassert Chinese sovereignty over a region that had been in effect independent of Chinese rule since the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911. In 1951 the UN declared China to be an aggressor in Korea and sanctioned a global embargo on the shipment of arms and war materiel to China. This step foreclosed for the time being any possibility that the People's Republic might replace Nationalist China (on Taiwan) as a member of the UN and as a veto-holding member of the UN Security Council.
After China entered the Korean War, the initial moderation in Chinese domestic policies gave way to a massive campaign against the "enemies of the state," actual and potential. These enemies consisted of "war criminals, traitors, bureaucratic capitalists, and counterrevolutionaries." The campaign was combined with party-sponsored trials attended by huge numbers of people. The major targets in this drive were foreigners and Christian missionaries who were branded as United States agents at these mass trials. The 1951-52 drive against political enemies was accompanied by land reform, which had actually begun under the Agrarian Reform Law of June 28, 1950. The redistribution of land was accelerated, and a class struggle landlords and wealthy peasants was launched. An ideological reform campaign requiring self-criticisms and public confessions by university faculty members, scientists, and other professional workers was given wide publicity. Artists and writers were soon the objects of similar treatment for failing to heed Mao's dictum that culture and literature must reflect the class interest of the working people, led by the CCP. These campaigns were accompanied in 1951 and 1952 by the san fan ( or "three anti") and wu fan ( or "five anti") movements. The former was directed ostensibly against the evils of "corruption, waste, and bureaucratism"; its real aim was to eliminate incompetent and politically unreliable public officials and to bring about an efficient, disciplined, and responsive bureaucratic system. The wu fan movement aimed at eliminating recalcitrant and corrupt businessmen and industrialists, who were in effect the targets of the CCP's condemnation of "tax evasion, bribery, cheating in government contracts, thefts of economic intelligence, and stealing of state assets." In the course of this campaign the party claimed to have uncovered a well-organized attempt by businessmen and industrialists to corrupt party and government officials. This charge was enlarged into an assault on the bourgeoisie as a whole. The number of people affected by the various punitive or reform campaigns was estimated in the millions.
The Transition to Socialism, 1953-57
The period of officially designated "transition to socialism" corresponded to China's First Five-Year Plan (1953-57). The period was characterized by efforts to achieve industrialization, collectivization of agriculture, and political centralization.
The First Five-Year Plan stressed the development of heavy industry on the Soviet model. Soviet economic and technical assistance was expected to play a significant part in the implementation of the plan, and technical agreements were signed with the Soviets in 1953 and 1954. For the purpose of economic planning, the first modern census was taken in 1953; the population of mainland China was shown to be 583 million, a figure far greater than had been anticipated.
Among China's most pressing needs in the early 1950s were food for its burgeoning population, domestic capital for investment, and purchase of Soviet-supplied technology, capital equipment, and military hardware. To satisfy these needs, the government began to collectivize agriculture. Despite internal disagreement as to the speed of collectivization, which at least for the time being was resolved in Mao's favor, preliminary collectivization was 90 percent completed by the end of 1956. In addition, the government nationalized banking, industry, and trade. Private enterprise in mainland China was virtually abolished.
Major political developments included the centralization of party and government administration. Elections were held in 1953 for delegates to the First National People's Congress, China's national legislature, which met in 1954. The congress promulgated the state constitution of 1954 and formally elected Mao chairman (or president) of the People's Republic; it elected Liu Shaoqi ( 1898-1969) chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; and named Zhou Enlai premier of the new State Council.
In the midst of these major governmental changes, and helping to precipitate them, was a power struggle within the CCP leading to the 1954 purge of Political Bureau member Gao Gang () and Party Organization Department head Rao Shushi (), who were accused of illicitly trying to seize control of the party.
The process of national integration also was characterized by improvements in party organization under the administrative direction of the secretary general of the party Deng Xiaoping ( who served concurrently as vice premier of the State Council). There was a marked emphasis on recruiting intellectuals, who by 1956 constituted nearly 12 percent of the party's 10.8 million members. Peasant membership had decreased to 69 percent, while there was an increasing number of "experts" , who were needed for the party and governmental infrastructures, in the party ranks.
As part of the effort to encourage the participation of intellectuals in the new regime, in mid-1956 there began an official effort to liberalize the political climate. Cultural and intellectual figures were encouraged to speak their minds on the state of CCP rule and programs. Mao personally took the lead in the movement, which was launched under the classical slogan "Let a hundred flowers bloom, let the hundred schools of thought contend" (). At first the party's repeated invitation to air constructive views freely and openly was met with caution. By mid-1957, however, the movement unexpectedly mounted, bringing denunciation and criticism against the party in general and the excesses of its cadres in particular. Startled and embarrassed, leaders turned on the critics as "bourgeois rightists" () and launched the Anti-Rightist Campaign. The Hundred Flowers Campaign , sometimes called the Double Hundred Campaign (), apparently had a sobering effect on the CCP leadership.
Showing posts with label The History of China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The History of China. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Republican China
EARLY DAYS OF THE REPUBLIC
The Provisional Republican Government was set up on 10 October 1911 by Sun Yatsen (1866-1925). Educated in Hawaii and Hong Kong, a Christian and trained medical practitioner, Sun developed a political programme based on the 'Three Principles of the People': nationalism, popular sovereignty and livelihood. In 1895 his 'Revive China Society' initiated one of the country's first republican uprisings, after which Sun fled to Japan and on to Europe.
Determined to arrest and execute him, Qing authorities hunted Sun down in London, where they kidnapped him and held him in the Chinese embassy. Sun managed to sneak out a message to one of his teachers who, in turn, alerted the British Govern- ment. The Chinese embassy was forced to release their prisoner.
Sun went on to build backing tor the revolution he dreamt for China. Supporters from Chinese communities abroad, as well as among disaf- fected members of the Qing army, grew in number. When his revo- lutionist followers began their campaign for victory in Wuhan, Sun watched from abroad. It wasn't until the meeting in Nanjing and the establishment of the Provisional Republic of China that Sun returned to his homeland to be named president.
Lacking the power to force a Manchu abdication, Sun had no choice but to call on the assistance of Yuan Shikai, the head of the imperial army, and the same man that the Manchu had called on to put down the republican uprisings. The republicans promised Yuan Shikai the presidency if he could negotiate the abdication of the emperor, which he achieved. The favour cost the republicans dearly. Yuan Shikai placed himself at the head of the republican movement and forced Sun Yatsen to stand down.
Yuan lost no time in dissolving the Provisional Republican Govern- ment and amending the constitution to make himself president for life, When this met with regional opposition, he took the natural next step in 1915 of pronouncing himself China's latest emperor. Yunnan seceded, taking Guangxi, Guizhou and much of the rest of the south with it.
Forces were sent to bring the breakaway provinces back into the imperial ambit,and in the midst of it all, Yuan died.
Between 1916 and 1927 the government in Beijing lost power over the far- tlung provinces and China was effectively fragmented into semi-autonomous regions governed by warlords. Nevertheless, Sun's labour had not been in vain. On 4 May 1919 large demonstrations took place outside the Gate of Heavenly Peace (p106) in Beijing following the decision of the Allies to pass defeated Germany's rights in Shandong over to Japan. This surge of nation- alist sentiment in China began a movement that was rooted in Sun's earlier revolution and paved the way for the changes that were to come.
KUOMINTANG & COMMUNISTS
By 1920 the Kuomintang (KMT; Nationalist Party), had emerged as the dominant political force in eastern China. Its main opposition was the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), made up of Chinese Marxist groups who had joined together in 1921. While the two groups were on far from
friendly terms, it was decided that it was in their best interests to unite against the Japanese who looked poised to expand into northeastern China.
The union was short-lived. After Sun Yatsen's death in 1925 a power struggle emerged in the Kuomintang between those sympathetic to the communists and those who favoured a capitalist state supported by a military dictatorship. The latter group was headed by Chiang Kaishek(1887-1975).
In 1926 Chiang Kaishek attempted to grind the growing influence of communists to a halt by expanding his own power base. He attempted this first through a Northern Expedition that set out to wring power from the remaining warlords. The following year he took more direct action, ordering the massacre of over 5000 Shanghai communists and trade union representatives.
By the middle of 1928 the Northern Expedition had reached Beijing, and a national government was established with Chiang holding both military and political leadership. Nevertheless, only about half of the country was under the direct control of the Kuomintang; the rest was still ruled by local warlords.
At this time China was heavily laden with social problems: child slave labour in factories; domestic slavery and prostitution; the destitute starving in the streets; and strikes ruthlessly suppressed by foreign and Chinese factory owners. The communists proposed solutions to these problems, namely the removal of the Kuomintang. Not surprisingly, Chiang became obsessed with stamping out the influence of the communists.
Grassroots Rebellion
After the massacre of 1927, the communists became divided in their views of where to base their rebellion - on large urban centres or in the countryside. After costly defeats in Nanchang and Changsha, the tide of opinion started to shift towards Mao Zedong (1893-1976, p483), who advocated rural-based revolt.
Communist-led uprisings in other parts of the country met with some success; however, the communist armies remained small and hampered by limited resources. It wasn't until 1930 that the ragged communist forces had turned into an army of perhaps 40,000, which presented such a serious challenge to the Kuomintang that Chiang waged extermination campaigns against them. He was defeated each time, and the communist army continued to expand its territory.
The Long March(es)
Chiang's fifth extermination campaign began in October 1933. Many of the communist troupes had begun disregarding Mao's authority and instead took the advice of those who advocated meeting Chiang's troops in pitched battles. This strategy proved disastrous. By October 1934 the communists had suffered heavy losses and were hemmed into a small area in Jiangxi. On the brink of defeat, the communists decided to retreat from Jiangxi and march north to Shaanxi to join up with other com- munist armies in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia.
Rather than one long march, there were several, as various communist armies in the south made their way to Shaanxi. The most famous (and commonly referred to as the Long March) was from Jiangxi prov- ince. Beginning in October 1934, it took a year to complete and covered 8000km over some of the world's most inhospitable terrain. On the way the communists confiscated the property of officials, landlords and tax- collectors, and redistributed land to the peasants whom they armed by the thousands with weapons captured from the Kuomintang. Soldiers were left behind to organise guerrilla groups to harass the enemy. Of the 90,000 people who started out in Jiangxi, only 20,000 made it to Shaanxi. Fatigue, sickness, exposure, enemy attacks and desertion all took their toll.
The march brought together many people who held top positions after1949, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Lin Biao, Deng Xiao- ping and Liu Shaoqi. It also established Mao as the paramount leader of the Chinese communist movement. En route, the posse took a breather in Zunyi (p628), Guizhou; if you're in the neighbourhood, you can take in some of the sights. Serious Long March history buffs might also check out Luding (p738) in Sichuan.
Japanese Invasion
All the internal upheaval going on in China gave the Japanese the mo- ment they'd been waiting for. In September 1931 they invaded and oc- cupied Manchuria, setting up a puppet state with Puyi, the last Manchu emperor. (Check out his digs and one of the settings for Bertolucci's film The Last Emperor in Changchun, p365.) Chiang, still obsessed with the threat of the communists, did nothing to resist Japan's invasion and instead focused on his fifth extermination drive. The Kuomintang was bitterly criticised for not defending against the Japanese.
In particular, Manchurian General Zhang Xueliang (1898-2001) was not impressed. In 1936 he kidnapped President Chiang Kaishek and forced him to agree to a Second United Front with the CCP to resist Japan. Zhang, hero of the hour, later surrendered to the Kuomintang and spent the next half-century under house arrest in China and then in Tai- wan. He was eventually released after Chiang Kaishek's death in 1975.
The rest of China was invaded by Japan in the middle of 1937. The Nanjing massacre of 1937, human experiments in biological warfare factories in Haerbin (p381) and burn all, loot all, kill all' campaigns quickly made it one of the most brutal occupations of the 20th century. China experienced massive internal migrations, and was subjected to a process of divide and rule through the establishment of puppet governments.
The Kuomintang was forced into retreat by the Japanese occupation. Its wartime capital was Chongqing, a higgledy-piggledy town piled up on mountains in the upper reaches of Yangzi River. The city was subjected to heavy Japanese bombardments, but logistical difficulties prevented it from being approached by land.
Civil War
Following Japan's defeat and the end of WWII, the USA attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate a settlement between the CCP and the Kuomintang. The CCP had expanded enormously during the war years, filling a vacuum in local government in vast areas behind and beyond Japanese lines, and creating a base from which it would successfully chal- lenge the Kuomintang's claims to legitimacy.
Civil war broke out in 1946. While their base at Yan'an was destroyed by the Nationalists, Communist forces managed to out- manoeuvre the Kuomintang on the battle ground of Manchuria. Three great battles were fought in 1948 and 1949 in which the Kuomintang were not only defeated, but thousands of Kuomintang troops defected to the communists.
In Beijing on 1 October 1949 Mao Zedong proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC, Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo). Chiang Kaishek fled to the island of Taiwan, taking with him the entire gold reserves of the country, and what was left of his air force and navy.
The Provisional Republican Government was set up on 10 October 1911 by Sun Yatsen (1866-1925). Educated in Hawaii and Hong Kong, a Christian and trained medical practitioner, Sun developed a political programme based on the 'Three Principles of the People': nationalism, popular sovereignty and livelihood. In 1895 his 'Revive China Society' initiated one of the country's first republican uprisings, after which Sun fled to Japan and on to Europe.
Determined to arrest and execute him, Qing authorities hunted Sun down in London, where they kidnapped him and held him in the Chinese embassy. Sun managed to sneak out a message to one of his teachers who, in turn, alerted the British Govern- ment. The Chinese embassy was forced to release their prisoner.
Sun went on to build backing tor the revolution he dreamt for China. Supporters from Chinese communities abroad, as well as among disaf- fected members of the Qing army, grew in number. When his revo- lutionist followers began their campaign for victory in Wuhan, Sun watched from abroad. It wasn't until the meeting in Nanjing and the establishment of the Provisional Republic of China that Sun returned to his homeland to be named president.
Lacking the power to force a Manchu abdication, Sun had no choice but to call on the assistance of Yuan Shikai, the head of the imperial army, and the same man that the Manchu had called on to put down the republican uprisings. The republicans promised Yuan Shikai the presidency if he could negotiate the abdication of the emperor, which he achieved. The favour cost the republicans dearly. Yuan Shikai placed himself at the head of the republican movement and forced Sun Yatsen to stand down.
Yuan lost no time in dissolving the Provisional Republican Govern- ment and amending the constitution to make himself president for life, When this met with regional opposition, he took the natural next step in 1915 of pronouncing himself China's latest emperor. Yunnan seceded, taking Guangxi, Guizhou and much of the rest of the south with it.
Forces were sent to bring the breakaway provinces back into the imperial ambit,and in the midst of it all, Yuan died.
Between 1916 and 1927 the government in Beijing lost power over the far- tlung provinces and China was effectively fragmented into semi-autonomous regions governed by warlords. Nevertheless, Sun's labour had not been in vain. On 4 May 1919 large demonstrations took place outside the Gate of Heavenly Peace (p106) in Beijing following the decision of the Allies to pass defeated Germany's rights in Shandong over to Japan. This surge of nation- alist sentiment in China began a movement that was rooted in Sun's earlier revolution and paved the way for the changes that were to come.
KUOMINTANG & COMMUNISTS
By 1920 the Kuomintang (KMT; Nationalist Party), had emerged as the dominant political force in eastern China. Its main opposition was the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), made up of Chinese Marxist groups who had joined together in 1921. While the two groups were on far from
friendly terms, it was decided that it was in their best interests to unite against the Japanese who looked poised to expand into northeastern China.
The union was short-lived. After Sun Yatsen's death in 1925 a power struggle emerged in the Kuomintang between those sympathetic to the communists and those who favoured a capitalist state supported by a military dictatorship. The latter group was headed by Chiang Kaishek(1887-1975).
In 1926 Chiang Kaishek attempted to grind the growing influence of communists to a halt by expanding his own power base. He attempted this first through a Northern Expedition that set out to wring power from the remaining warlords. The following year he took more direct action, ordering the massacre of over 5000 Shanghai communists and trade union representatives.
By the middle of 1928 the Northern Expedition had reached Beijing, and a national government was established with Chiang holding both military and political leadership. Nevertheless, only about half of the country was under the direct control of the Kuomintang; the rest was still ruled by local warlords.
At this time China was heavily laden with social problems: child slave labour in factories; domestic slavery and prostitution; the destitute starving in the streets; and strikes ruthlessly suppressed by foreign and Chinese factory owners. The communists proposed solutions to these problems, namely the removal of the Kuomintang. Not surprisingly, Chiang became obsessed with stamping out the influence of the communists.
Grassroots Rebellion
After the massacre of 1927, the communists became divided in their views of where to base their rebellion - on large urban centres or in the countryside. After costly defeats in Nanchang and Changsha, the tide of opinion started to shift towards Mao Zedong (1893-1976, p483), who advocated rural-based revolt.
Communist-led uprisings in other parts of the country met with some success; however, the communist armies remained small and hampered by limited resources. It wasn't until 1930 that the ragged communist forces had turned into an army of perhaps 40,000, which presented such a serious challenge to the Kuomintang that Chiang waged extermination campaigns against them. He was defeated each time, and the communist army continued to expand its territory.
The Long March(es)
Chiang's fifth extermination campaign began in October 1933. Many of the communist troupes had begun disregarding Mao's authority and instead took the advice of those who advocated meeting Chiang's troops in pitched battles. This strategy proved disastrous. By October 1934 the communists had suffered heavy losses and were hemmed into a small area in Jiangxi. On the brink of defeat, the communists decided to retreat from Jiangxi and march north to Shaanxi to join up with other com- munist armies in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia.
Rather than one long march, there were several, as various communist armies in the south made their way to Shaanxi. The most famous (and commonly referred to as the Long March) was from Jiangxi prov- ince. Beginning in October 1934, it took a year to complete and covered 8000km over some of the world's most inhospitable terrain. On the way the communists confiscated the property of officials, landlords and tax- collectors, and redistributed land to the peasants whom they armed by the thousands with weapons captured from the Kuomintang. Soldiers were left behind to organise guerrilla groups to harass the enemy. Of the 90,000 people who started out in Jiangxi, only 20,000 made it to Shaanxi. Fatigue, sickness, exposure, enemy attacks and desertion all took their toll.
The march brought together many people who held top positions after1949, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Lin Biao, Deng Xiao- ping and Liu Shaoqi. It also established Mao as the paramount leader of the Chinese communist movement. En route, the posse took a breather in Zunyi (p628), Guizhou; if you're in the neighbourhood, you can take in some of the sights. Serious Long March history buffs might also check out Luding (p738) in Sichuan.
Japanese Invasion
All the internal upheaval going on in China gave the Japanese the mo- ment they'd been waiting for. In September 1931 they invaded and oc- cupied Manchuria, setting up a puppet state with Puyi, the last Manchu emperor. (Check out his digs and one of the settings for Bertolucci's film The Last Emperor in Changchun, p365.) Chiang, still obsessed with the threat of the communists, did nothing to resist Japan's invasion and instead focused on his fifth extermination drive. The Kuomintang was bitterly criticised for not defending against the Japanese.
In particular, Manchurian General Zhang Xueliang (1898-2001) was not impressed. In 1936 he kidnapped President Chiang Kaishek and forced him to agree to a Second United Front with the CCP to resist Japan. Zhang, hero of the hour, later surrendered to the Kuomintang and spent the next half-century under house arrest in China and then in Tai- wan. He was eventually released after Chiang Kaishek's death in 1975.
The rest of China was invaded by Japan in the middle of 1937. The Nanjing massacre of 1937, human experiments in biological warfare factories in Haerbin (p381) and burn all, loot all, kill all' campaigns quickly made it one of the most brutal occupations of the 20th century. China experienced massive internal migrations, and was subjected to a process of divide and rule through the establishment of puppet governments.
The Kuomintang was forced into retreat by the Japanese occupation. Its wartime capital was Chongqing, a higgledy-piggledy town piled up on mountains in the upper reaches of Yangzi River. The city was subjected to heavy Japanese bombardments, but logistical difficulties prevented it from being approached by land.
Civil War
Following Japan's defeat and the end of WWII, the USA attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate a settlement between the CCP and the Kuomintang. The CCP had expanded enormously during the war years, filling a vacuum in local government in vast areas behind and beyond Japanese lines, and creating a base from which it would successfully chal- lenge the Kuomintang's claims to legitimacy.
Civil war broke out in 1946. While their base at Yan'an was destroyed by the Nationalists, Communist forces managed to out- manoeuvre the Kuomintang on the battle ground of Manchuria. Three great battles were fought in 1948 and 1949 in which the Kuomintang were not only defeated, but thousands of Kuomintang troops defected to the communists.
In Beijing on 1 October 1949 Mao Zedong proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC, Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo). Chiang Kaishek fled to the island of Taiwan, taking with him the entire gold reserves of the country, and what was left of his air force and navy.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
HEAVY-HANDED:The Qing Dynasty
The Manchu proclaimed their new dynasty the Qing (1644-1911), al- though it took them four decades to stamp out Ming loyalists in the south and pacify the entire country. This victory for the Qing came at great cost to the population with acts of severe brutality and massacre.
The Qing neutralised threats from inner Asia by incorporating their homeland of Manchuria into the empire as well as that of the Mongols, whom they had subordinated. Their cultural policy involved a careful bal- ance of attention to the Chinese, Manchu, Mongols and Tibetans. They courted the literati via the examination system and great literary projects. Their own people were appointed to key positions in the bureaucracy, but matching positions were created for Chinese officials.
As an alien dynasty, the Qing remained keen to establish its own legitimacy. Chinese men were forced to wear their hair like the Manchu- style (shave the front and braid the back into a long tail), a look you'll quickly recognise as a sign of 'Chineseness' used in countless Western cartoons. Harsh censorship was practised during the 18th century, with a literary inquisition begun in the 1770s and cruel punishments inflicted on authors of works containing anti-Manchu sentiments.
Despite such ideological control, scholarship flourished.
Women's Cultural Battleground Women became a site of Chinese cultural resistance to Manchu rule. Chinese women continued to wear Chinese-style dress, with skirts worn over loose jackets and trousers, as opposed to the one-piece robe worn by Manchu women. Footbinding, in force from perhaps the 10th or 11th centuries, persisted despite Qing prohibitions. Chinese women remained devout to Chinese men, continuing to honour them through the practice of widow suicide. The Manchu showed considerable political skill in moving from opposition to endorsement of widow suicide, awarding honours to women who followed their husbands to the grave.
The Opium War & British Hong Kong
The early Qing emperors had shown a relatively open attitude towards Europeans in China, but this changed in the 18th century. Qianlong, ruler from 1736 to 1795, imposed strict controls on maritime trade, which from 1757 was limited to the single port of Guangzhou.
Chinese exports well exceeded imports at Guangzhou until Westerners hit upon the opium trade. Opium had long been a popular drug in China, but had been outlawed since the early 18th century. The Portuguese first discovered that there was profit to be made through opium, and began trading it between India and China. The British soon joined in. Stronger Chinese prohibitions against the use and sale of the drug followed, but were far from effective as many officials were opium addicts and therefore assisted in smuggling it into China. By the early 19th century the opium trade had grown to the point of shifting the balance in trade in favour of the Westerners.
In March 1839 Lin Zexiu, an official of great personal integrity, was dispatched to Guangzhou to put a stop to the illegal traffic once and for all. He acted promptly, demanding and eventually getting some 20,000 chests of opium stored by the British in Guangzhou. The British believed they were due compensation and, without it, had the pretext for military action. In 1840 a British naval force assembled in Macau and moved up the coast to Bei He, not far from Beijing. The Opium War was on.
The emperor watched with mild distress and authorised a negotiation that managed to fob off the first British force with a treaty that neither side ended up recognising. This increased British frustration, leading to an attack on Chinese positions close to Guangzhou.
A second treaty was drawn up, ceding Hong Kong to the British, and calling for indemnities of Y6,000,000 and the full resumption of trade. The furious Qing emperor refused to recognise the treaty, and in 1841 British forces once again headed up the coast, taking Fujian and eastern Zhejiang. In the spring of 1842 an army inflated with reinforcements moved up Yangzi River. With British guns trained on Nanjing, the Qing fighting spirit evaporated and they reluctantly signed the humiliating Treaty of Nanking. This left Hong Kong in the hands of the British 'in perpetuity'.
In 1898 the New Territories adjoining Kowloon were 'leased' to the British for 99 years and the British agreed to hand the entire colony back to China when the lease on the New Territories expired. For more details on the handover, see p493.
Christ's Kid Brother
By the 19th century the increased presence of missionaries had fuelled hatred against 'foreign devils', leading to further rebellion throughout the provinces (see Boxed Up, opposite).
Also at this time, the Taiping Rebellion erupted in 1850 in the southern province of Guangxi, and commanded forces of 600,000 men and 500,000 women as it raged through central and eastern China. The Taipings owed much of their ideology to Christianity. Its leader was Hong Xiuquan, a failed examination candidate from Guangdong province whose encoun- ters with Western missionaries had led him to believe he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. The Taipings forbade gambling, opium, tobacco and alcohol, advocated agricultural reform, and outlawed foot binding for women, prostitution and slavery. The rebellion took tens of millions of lives before being suppressed in 1864 by a coalition of Qing and Western forces - the Europeans preferring to deal with a corrupt and weak Qing govern- ment rather than a powerful, united China governed by the Taipings.
The Second Opium War
With Hong Kong in the hands of the British following the first Opium War, official trade was diverted to Shanghai. This left Hong Kong's economy in dire straits. With the attention of the Qing court focused on the Taiping Rebellion, the foreign powers struck again. The Anglo- French expedition of 1856 to 1860, sometimes called the Second Opium War, ended with the occupation of Beijing and the flight of the court to Jehol in the Manchurian homeland.
The final outcome was the Treaty of Tianjin, which opened further Treaty ports and established a regular diplomatic corps in Beijing. At the same time further massive rebellions were brewing: the Nian in central north China, the Panthay in Yunnan and the Donggan in the northwest.
DRAGON WOMAN
Like many other Qing dynasty teenagers, at the age of 15, Cixi (1835-1908) gave up her true love to become one of Emperor Xianfeng's concubines. Her cunningness and intelligence soon made her a favourite of the emperor, particularly after she gave birth to his only son in 1856. Cixi's subsequent rise to power was largely due to the convenient deaths of her adversaries. Xianfeng died at the age of 30 and his empress followed suit a few years later. This made Cixi's five-year-
old son, Tongzhi, the new emperor, and Cixi herself the ruling Dowager Empress.
Cixi held onto the government reins for over 40 years in total, galloping over anyone who got in her way - including her own son and Emperor Guangxu whom she replaced him with. Other opponents were slowly starved, thrown down wells or locked away. She spent her reign focusing on her own position rather than the country's; at the end of her life she left nine storerooms of personal treasures, a refurbished Summer Palace and the Qing dynasty in an irreparable state of decline. To see one of her more ridiculous 'achievements', take a gander at the marble boat in Beijing's Summer Palace.
100 DAYS REFORMS
A visionary reformer, Kang Youwei (1858-1927) became a key adviser to the Qing emperor fol- lowing China's disastrous war with Japan. The result was the famous '100 Days Reforms' of 1898, which were expected to set China on the modernising path already taken by Japan. Reforms to the bureaucracy and examination system were proposed, as well as social reforms like the abolition of foot binding. Sadly, '100 Days' ended with a palace coup staged by the supposedly retired Dowager Empress Cixi, the house arrest of the Emperor Guangxu, the execution of some reformist activists and the flight of others, including Kang.
Bringing Home the Enemy
in the second half of the 19th century China sent embassies and students to the West. The goal was to pick up pointers from the enemy on how to strengthen Chinese military technology and industrial development. The Treaty-port cities, especially Shanghai, became the face of mod- ernisation in China. Factories, banks, newspapers, new-style schools, bicycles, trains, and eventually motor cars, trade unions, chambers of commerce and political parties all made their appearance. In Shanghai, land conceded to Western nations quickly outgrew the old city. The unique architecture and atmosphere of the old French Concession makes it worth a wander even today .
In the late 1890s China was in danger of being 'cut up like a melon, divided like a bean', as further leases of land and spheres of influence were ceded to the foreign powers. The Western powers were soon joined by the Japanese who, after a small scrap on Korean soil with Chinese forces, were ceded Taiwan in 1895. The same treaty granted the Japanese (and thereby other foreign powers) the right to construct their own factories in Shanghai. In 1898 Germany gained a lease in Qingdao after Lutheran missionaries were murdered inland. They commenced building a railway that became the focus of protests by local people upset at the disturbance of feng shui. You'll still find a certain 'Germanness' in the air when you visit Qingdao, likely to be emanating from the leftover brewery .
BOXED UP
Culled from secret societies, the Boxen were a xenophobic group who erupted in rebellion at the end of the 19th century with violent attacks on missionaries and their families. Tired of the foreigners themselves, the Qing Court decided to support the Boxers. Armed with this backing and with charms and martial-arts techniques that they believed made them impervious to West- ern bullets, the Boxers began massacring foreigners at random and the famous 50-day siege of Beijing's Foreign Legations began. It wasn't long before Western allies landed, handed the Qing Court a crippling foreign debt and knocked the Boxers down for the count.
The Fall of the Qing
In 1908 the Dowager Empress died and two-year-old Emperor Puyi ascended to the throne. The Qing was now rudderless and teetered on the brink of collapse.
As an increasing number of new railways were financed and built by foreigners, public anger grew and gave birth to the Railway Protection Movement that spread and took on an anti-Qing nature. The movement turned increasingly violent, especially in Sichuan, and troops were taken from Wuhan to quell the disturbances.
As it happened, republican revolutionaries in Wuhan were already planning an uprising. With troops dispensed to Sichuan, they seized the opportunity and were able to not only take control of Wuhan, but to ride on the back of the large-scale Railway Protection uprisings to victory all over China.
Two months later representatives from 17 provinces throughout China gathered in Nanjing to establish the Provisional Republican Government of China. China's long dynastic cycle had come to an end.
The Qing neutralised threats from inner Asia by incorporating their homeland of Manchuria into the empire as well as that of the Mongols, whom they had subordinated. Their cultural policy involved a careful bal- ance of attention to the Chinese, Manchu, Mongols and Tibetans. They courted the literati via the examination system and great literary projects. Their own people were appointed to key positions in the bureaucracy, but matching positions were created for Chinese officials.
As an alien dynasty, the Qing remained keen to establish its own legitimacy. Chinese men were forced to wear their hair like the Manchu- style (shave the front and braid the back into a long tail), a look you'll quickly recognise as a sign of 'Chineseness' used in countless Western cartoons. Harsh censorship was practised during the 18th century, with a literary inquisition begun in the 1770s and cruel punishments inflicted on authors of works containing anti-Manchu sentiments.
Despite such ideological control, scholarship flourished.
Women's Cultural Battleground Women became a site of Chinese cultural resistance to Manchu rule. Chinese women continued to wear Chinese-style dress, with skirts worn over loose jackets and trousers, as opposed to the one-piece robe worn by Manchu women. Footbinding, in force from perhaps the 10th or 11th centuries, persisted despite Qing prohibitions. Chinese women remained devout to Chinese men, continuing to honour them through the practice of widow suicide. The Manchu showed considerable political skill in moving from opposition to endorsement of widow suicide, awarding honours to women who followed their husbands to the grave.
The Opium War & British Hong Kong
The early Qing emperors had shown a relatively open attitude towards Europeans in China, but this changed in the 18th century. Qianlong, ruler from 1736 to 1795, imposed strict controls on maritime trade, which from 1757 was limited to the single port of Guangzhou.
Chinese exports well exceeded imports at Guangzhou until Westerners hit upon the opium trade. Opium had long been a popular drug in China, but had been outlawed since the early 18th century. The Portuguese first discovered that there was profit to be made through opium, and began trading it between India and China. The British soon joined in. Stronger Chinese prohibitions against the use and sale of the drug followed, but were far from effective as many officials were opium addicts and therefore assisted in smuggling it into China. By the early 19th century the opium trade had grown to the point of shifting the balance in trade in favour of the Westerners.
In March 1839 Lin Zexiu, an official of great personal integrity, was dispatched to Guangzhou to put a stop to the illegal traffic once and for all. He acted promptly, demanding and eventually getting some 20,000 chests of opium stored by the British in Guangzhou. The British believed they were due compensation and, without it, had the pretext for military action. In 1840 a British naval force assembled in Macau and moved up the coast to Bei He, not far from Beijing. The Opium War was on.
The emperor watched with mild distress and authorised a negotiation that managed to fob off the first British force with a treaty that neither side ended up recognising. This increased British frustration, leading to an attack on Chinese positions close to Guangzhou.
A second treaty was drawn up, ceding Hong Kong to the British, and calling for indemnities of Y6,000,000 and the full resumption of trade. The furious Qing emperor refused to recognise the treaty, and in 1841 British forces once again headed up the coast, taking Fujian and eastern Zhejiang. In the spring of 1842 an army inflated with reinforcements moved up Yangzi River. With British guns trained on Nanjing, the Qing fighting spirit evaporated and they reluctantly signed the humiliating Treaty of Nanking. This left Hong Kong in the hands of the British 'in perpetuity'.
In 1898 the New Territories adjoining Kowloon were 'leased' to the British for 99 years and the British agreed to hand the entire colony back to China when the lease on the New Territories expired. For more details on the handover, see p493.
Christ's Kid Brother
By the 19th century the increased presence of missionaries had fuelled hatred against 'foreign devils', leading to further rebellion throughout the provinces (see Boxed Up, opposite).
Also at this time, the Taiping Rebellion erupted in 1850 in the southern province of Guangxi, and commanded forces of 600,000 men and 500,000 women as it raged through central and eastern China. The Taipings owed much of their ideology to Christianity. Its leader was Hong Xiuquan, a failed examination candidate from Guangdong province whose encoun- ters with Western missionaries had led him to believe he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. The Taipings forbade gambling, opium, tobacco and alcohol, advocated agricultural reform, and outlawed foot binding for women, prostitution and slavery. The rebellion took tens of millions of lives before being suppressed in 1864 by a coalition of Qing and Western forces - the Europeans preferring to deal with a corrupt and weak Qing govern- ment rather than a powerful, united China governed by the Taipings.
The Second Opium War
With Hong Kong in the hands of the British following the first Opium War, official trade was diverted to Shanghai. This left Hong Kong's economy in dire straits. With the attention of the Qing court focused on the Taiping Rebellion, the foreign powers struck again. The Anglo- French expedition of 1856 to 1860, sometimes called the Second Opium War, ended with the occupation of Beijing and the flight of the court to Jehol in the Manchurian homeland.
The final outcome was the Treaty of Tianjin, which opened further Treaty ports and established a regular diplomatic corps in Beijing. At the same time further massive rebellions were brewing: the Nian in central north China, the Panthay in Yunnan and the Donggan in the northwest.
DRAGON WOMAN
Like many other Qing dynasty teenagers, at the age of 15, Cixi (1835-1908) gave up her true love to become one of Emperor Xianfeng's concubines. Her cunningness and intelligence soon made her a favourite of the emperor, particularly after she gave birth to his only son in 1856. Cixi's subsequent rise to power was largely due to the convenient deaths of her adversaries. Xianfeng died at the age of 30 and his empress followed suit a few years later. This made Cixi's five-year-
old son, Tongzhi, the new emperor, and Cixi herself the ruling Dowager Empress.
Cixi held onto the government reins for over 40 years in total, galloping over anyone who got in her way - including her own son and Emperor Guangxu whom she replaced him with. Other opponents were slowly starved, thrown down wells or locked away. She spent her reign focusing on her own position rather than the country's; at the end of her life she left nine storerooms of personal treasures, a refurbished Summer Palace and the Qing dynasty in an irreparable state of decline. To see one of her more ridiculous 'achievements', take a gander at the marble boat in Beijing's Summer Palace.
100 DAYS REFORMS
A visionary reformer, Kang Youwei (1858-1927) became a key adviser to the Qing emperor fol- lowing China's disastrous war with Japan. The result was the famous '100 Days Reforms' of 1898, which were expected to set China on the modernising path already taken by Japan. Reforms to the bureaucracy and examination system were proposed, as well as social reforms like the abolition of foot binding. Sadly, '100 Days' ended with a palace coup staged by the supposedly retired Dowager Empress Cixi, the house arrest of the Emperor Guangxu, the execution of some reformist activists and the flight of others, including Kang.
Bringing Home the Enemy
in the second half of the 19th century China sent embassies and students to the West. The goal was to pick up pointers from the enemy on how to strengthen Chinese military technology and industrial development. The Treaty-port cities, especially Shanghai, became the face of mod- ernisation in China. Factories, banks, newspapers, new-style schools, bicycles, trains, and eventually motor cars, trade unions, chambers of commerce and political parties all made their appearance. In Shanghai, land conceded to Western nations quickly outgrew the old city. The unique architecture and atmosphere of the old French Concession makes it worth a wander even today .
In the late 1890s China was in danger of being 'cut up like a melon, divided like a bean', as further leases of land and spheres of influence were ceded to the foreign powers. The Western powers were soon joined by the Japanese who, after a small scrap on Korean soil with Chinese forces, were ceded Taiwan in 1895. The same treaty granted the Japanese (and thereby other foreign powers) the right to construct their own factories in Shanghai. In 1898 Germany gained a lease in Qingdao after Lutheran missionaries were murdered inland. They commenced building a railway that became the focus of protests by local people upset at the disturbance of feng shui. You'll still find a certain 'Germanness' in the air when you visit Qingdao, likely to be emanating from the leftover brewery .
BOXED UP
Culled from secret societies, the Boxen were a xenophobic group who erupted in rebellion at the end of the 19th century with violent attacks on missionaries and their families. Tired of the foreigners themselves, the Qing Court decided to support the Boxers. Armed with this backing and with charms and martial-arts techniques that they believed made them impervious to West- ern bullets, the Boxers began massacring foreigners at random and the famous 50-day siege of Beijing's Foreign Legations began. It wasn't long before Western allies landed, handed the Qing Court a crippling foreign debt and knocked the Boxers down for the count.
The Fall of the Qing
In 1908 the Dowager Empress died and two-year-old Emperor Puyi ascended to the throne. The Qing was now rudderless and teetered on the brink of collapse.
As an increasing number of new railways were financed and built by foreigners, public anger grew and gave birth to the Railway Protection Movement that spread and took on an anti-Qing nature. The movement turned increasingly violent, especially in Sichuan, and troops were taken from Wuhan to quell the disturbances.
As it happened, republican revolutionaries in Wuhan were already planning an uprising. With troops dispensed to Sichuan, they seized the opportunity and were able to not only take control of Wuhan, but to ride on the back of the large-scale Railway Protection uprisings to victory all over China.
Two months later representatives from 17 provinces throughout China gathered in Nanjing to establish the Provisional Republican Government of China. China's long dynastic cycle had come to an end.
Monday, April 20, 2009
FORTRESS MENTALITY:The Ming Dynasty
A man of no great education, Zhu Yuanzhang was a born leader and a strong if harsh ruler. Remembered for his tyranny (he had some 10,000 scholars and their families put to death in two paranoid purges of his administration), he also did much to set China back on its feet in the aftermath of the Yuan collapse.
Yuanzhang established his capital in Nanjing, but by the early 15th century the court had begun to move back to Beijing. A massive recon- struction project was commenced under Emperor Yongle, who reigned from 1403 to 1424, establishing the Forbidden City (p110) much as it remains today. A burgeoning commercial and residential suburbia grew up south of the walled city, and was itself enclosed by a wall in 1522. In this form the city survived through to the 1950s.
In the early Ming, relations with inner Asia were at an all-time low. Yongle had usurped power from his nephew and the civil war that this provoked left him looking overseas to establish his credentials as ruler. In 1405 he launched the first of seven great maritime expeditions. Led by the eunuch general Zheng He (1371-1433), the fleet consisted of more than 60 large vessels and 255 smaller ones, carrying nearly 28,000 men. The fourth and fifth expeditions departed in 1413 and 1417, and travelled as tar as Aden, on the present Suez Canal. The great achieve-ment of these voyages was to bring tribute missions to the capital, includ- ing two embassies from Egypt. Retreat!
In 1439 a dramatic invasion by the Mongols resulted in the capture and year-long imprisonment of the then-emperor. The Ming reaction was to retreat into itself. The Great Wall was lengthened by 600 miles in the second half of the century, turning it into one of the great building feats of history. The coast, however, was more difficult to defend. In the middle of the 16th century the coastal provinces were harassed by pirate ships and their suppression took great effort.
Around this time, ships also arrived from Europe. The Ming allowed these foreigners to enter their domain, and in 1557 the Portuguese gained the right to establish a permanent trade base in Macau. Traders were quickly followed by missionaries and the Jesuits, led by the formidable Matteo Ricci, made their way inland and established a presence at court. There they made a great impression with their skills in astronomy and in casting canons.
The Portuguese presence linked China directly to trade with the New World. New crops, such as potatoes and maize, were introduced and New World silver was used to pay for Chinese exports, like tea, porcelain and ceramics. Commerce via merchant banks became impor- tant, absentee landlordism and tenant farming became common, and urbanisation intensified.
A House of Cards
The Ming Government was undermined by the power eunuchs wielded at court and by struggles between officials. Strong emperors were needed to maintain order, but were few and far between. Zhu Houchao, ruler from1505 to 1521, handed over matters of state to his chief eunuch so that he could devote his attention to his concubines. This was soon followed by the Tianqi reign (1621-28), a government dominated by the eunuch Wei Zhongxian (1568-1627), who purged officials and built temples in honour of himself.
Such poor leadership could not have happened at a worse time. North of the border, the Jurchen people were consolidated into a militarised state, and by the 1620s they were carrying out periodic raids, sometimes deep into Chinese territory. At the same time floods and drought dev- astated large areas of north China, encouraging banditry that swelled into rebellions.
The Manchu to the north had long been growing in power and looked with keen interest to the convulsions of rebellion in their huge neighbour. Taking advantage of the turmoil they saw, they launched an invasion, but were initially held back by the Great Wall.
Eventually a Ming general let them pass, believing that an alliance with the Manchu was the only hope tor defeating the peasant rebel armies that now threatened Beijing itself.
In 1644 Beijing fell, not to the Manchu but to the peasant rebel Li Zicheng, who sat on the throne for one day before fleeing from the Chi- nese, troops who helped put a Manchu emperor in his place.
Yuanzhang established his capital in Nanjing, but by the early 15th century the court had begun to move back to Beijing. A massive recon- struction project was commenced under Emperor Yongle, who reigned from 1403 to 1424, establishing the Forbidden City (p110) much as it remains today. A burgeoning commercial and residential suburbia grew up south of the walled city, and was itself enclosed by a wall in 1522. In this form the city survived through to the 1950s.
In the early Ming, relations with inner Asia were at an all-time low. Yongle had usurped power from his nephew and the civil war that this provoked left him looking overseas to establish his credentials as ruler. In 1405 he launched the first of seven great maritime expeditions. Led by the eunuch general Zheng He (1371-1433), the fleet consisted of more than 60 large vessels and 255 smaller ones, carrying nearly 28,000 men. The fourth and fifth expeditions departed in 1413 and 1417, and travelled as tar as Aden, on the present Suez Canal. The great achieve-ment of these voyages was to bring tribute missions to the capital, includ- ing two embassies from Egypt. Retreat!
In 1439 a dramatic invasion by the Mongols resulted in the capture and year-long imprisonment of the then-emperor. The Ming reaction was to retreat into itself. The Great Wall was lengthened by 600 miles in the second half of the century, turning it into one of the great building feats of history. The coast, however, was more difficult to defend. In the middle of the 16th century the coastal provinces were harassed by pirate ships and their suppression took great effort.
Around this time, ships also arrived from Europe. The Ming allowed these foreigners to enter their domain, and in 1557 the Portuguese gained the right to establish a permanent trade base in Macau. Traders were quickly followed by missionaries and the Jesuits, led by the formidable Matteo Ricci, made their way inland and established a presence at court. There they made a great impression with their skills in astronomy and in casting canons.
The Portuguese presence linked China directly to trade with the New World. New crops, such as potatoes and maize, were introduced and New World silver was used to pay for Chinese exports, like tea, porcelain and ceramics. Commerce via merchant banks became impor- tant, absentee landlordism and tenant farming became common, and urbanisation intensified.
A House of Cards
The Ming Government was undermined by the power eunuchs wielded at court and by struggles between officials. Strong emperors were needed to maintain order, but were few and far between. Zhu Houchao, ruler from1505 to 1521, handed over matters of state to his chief eunuch so that he could devote his attention to his concubines. This was soon followed by the Tianqi reign (1621-28), a government dominated by the eunuch Wei Zhongxian (1568-1627), who purged officials and built temples in honour of himself.
Such poor leadership could not have happened at a worse time. North of the border, the Jurchen people were consolidated into a militarised state, and by the 1620s they were carrying out periodic raids, sometimes deep into Chinese territory. At the same time floods and drought dev- astated large areas of north China, encouraging banditry that swelled into rebellions.
The Manchu to the north had long been growing in power and looked with keen interest to the convulsions of rebellion in their huge neighbour. Taking advantage of the turmoil they saw, they launched an invasion, but were initially held back by the Great Wall.
Eventually a Ming general let them pass, believing that an alliance with the Manchu was the only hope tor defeating the peasant rebel armies that now threatened Beijing itself.
In 1644 Beijing fell, not to the Manchu but to the peasant rebel Li Zicheng, who sat on the throne for one day before fleeing from the Chi- nese, troops who helped put a Manchu emperor in his place.
GRAND OPENING:The Yuan Dynasty
Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis, now reigned over all of China as em- peror of the Yuan dynasty. He had inherited the largest empire the world had ever known. Foreigners were easily incorporated into this ethnically complex empire as land routes were reopened. European missionaries and traders, such as Marco Polo, went to and fro across the Eurasian continent. Khan's capital, Khanbalig, was on the site of present-day Beijing; today all that's left of his palace is a giant jade urn in Beihai Park.
Under Khan, the entire population was divided into categories of Han, Mongol and foreigner, with the top administrative posts reserved for Mongols. The examination system was revived in 1315, but the Mongols and their non-Chinese allies were still strongly favoured, causing resent- ment among the Chinese literati.
Although they were a mighty military power, the Mongols were not masterminds at politics or economics and were soon faced with insur- mountable opposition. The Mongols controlled China for less than a century; by the middle of the 14th century rebellions raged through central and north China.
Chief among the rebel groups were the Red Turbans who followed a whole gamut of religions - from Buddhism to Manichaeism, Taoism and Confucianism. By 1367 Zhu Yuanzhang, originally an orphan and Bud- dhist novice, had climbed to the top of the rebel leadership and in 1368 he established the Ming dynasty, restoring Chinese rule.
Under Khan, the entire population was divided into categories of Han, Mongol and foreigner, with the top administrative posts reserved for Mongols. The examination system was revived in 1315, but the Mongols and their non-Chinese allies were still strongly favoured, causing resent- ment among the Chinese literati.
Although they were a mighty military power, the Mongols were not masterminds at politics or economics and were soon faced with insur- mountable opposition. The Mongols controlled China for less than a century; by the middle of the 14th century rebellions raged through central and north China.
Chief among the rebel groups were the Red Turbans who followed a whole gamut of religions - from Buddhism to Manichaeism, Taoism and Confucianism. By 1367 Zhu Yuanzhang, originally an orphan and Bud- dhist novice, had climbed to the top of the rebel leadership and in 1368 he established the Ming dynasty, restoring Chinese rule.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
GOING SOUTH: The Song Dynasty
Another period of disunity followed the fall of the Tang until the North- ern Song dynasty (960-1127) was established. The Northern Song was a rather small empire coexisting with the non-Chinese Liao dynasty (which controlled a belt of Chinese territory south of the Great Wall) and rather less happily with the Xi Xian, another non-Chinese power that pressed hard on the northwestern provinces. In 1126 the Song lost its capital, Kaifeng, to a third non-Chinese people, the Jurchen, who had previously been their allies against the Liao. The Song was driven to its southern capital of Hangzhou for the period of the Southern Song (1127-1279).
The Jurchen, forebears of the Manchu, established the Jin dynasty with a capital near Beijing. A treaty was drawn up with the Southern Song that divided the empire along the boundary of Huai He. The Jin dynasty pulled rank over the Southern Song, demanding the payment of tribute in the form of silk, tea and silver.
Nevertheless, the Song dynasty, North and South, was a time of enor- mous economic and cultural vitality. Considerable advances were made in archaeology, mathematics, astronomy, geography and medicine. Phil- osophy, poetry, painting and calligraphy flourished. Agricultural produc- tivity was booming, brought on by the spread of rice cultivation since the 8th century, and this left a surplus of labour that was used to develop secondary industries, like mining, ceramics, and silk manufacture. The tea-bush and lacquer trees were cultivated, and gunpowder and move- able type were invented. Paper making and print technology experienced significant advances, and a busy trade with Southeast Asia and Japan sent Song copper currency far afield.
All of these developments nurtured urbanisation and commercial classes. Kaifeng emerged as the great centre of Northern Song politics, culture and commerce. Merchants flourished, while the aristoc- racy more or less disappeared. Many Tang restrictions on society were abolished as the urban population became more liberated; the removal of the curfew led to a thriving nightlife.
Hangzhou prospered as capital of the Southern Song, and to this day retains its reputation as one of the most beautiful and cultured cities in the empire.
An educated class of high social standing became a distinguishing feature of Chinese society as Confucianism achieved a dominance it was to retain until the 19th century. The Song refined and expanded the exam- ination system, selecting officials from the successful candidates.
The Wrath of Khan
While the Song literati were busy studying moral codes, Genghis Khan(1167-1227) was beginning to flex his muscles in Mongolia. The son of a chieftain, Genghis commenced his awesome rise to power by aven- ging his father's murder. By 1206 he was recognised as supreme ruler of the Mongols. The Mongols, despised for what was considered their ignorance and poverty, had occasionally gone to war with the Chinese but had always lost. In 1211 Genghis Khan turned his sights on China, penetrated the Great Wall two years later and took Beijing in 1215. He fought the Jin in the east, destroyed the Xi Xia in the west and advanced on Russia. Under his descendants, a great Mongol empire was formed, stretching from the Ukraine and Persia to Korea and the northern limits of Vietnam.The Jin fell in 1234. Hangzhou, the Southern Song capital, was taken in1276. The court tied and Southern Song resistance ended in 1279
The Jurchen, forebears of the Manchu, established the Jin dynasty with a capital near Beijing. A treaty was drawn up with the Southern Song that divided the empire along the boundary of Huai He. The Jin dynasty pulled rank over the Southern Song, demanding the payment of tribute in the form of silk, tea and silver.
Nevertheless, the Song dynasty, North and South, was a time of enor- mous economic and cultural vitality. Considerable advances were made in archaeology, mathematics, astronomy, geography and medicine. Phil- osophy, poetry, painting and calligraphy flourished. Agricultural produc- tivity was booming, brought on by the spread of rice cultivation since the 8th century, and this left a surplus of labour that was used to develop secondary industries, like mining, ceramics, and silk manufacture. The tea-bush and lacquer trees were cultivated, and gunpowder and move- able type were invented. Paper making and print technology experienced significant advances, and a busy trade with Southeast Asia and Japan sent Song copper currency far afield.
All of these developments nurtured urbanisation and commercial classes. Kaifeng emerged as the great centre of Northern Song politics, culture and commerce. Merchants flourished, while the aristoc- racy more or less disappeared. Many Tang restrictions on society were abolished as the urban population became more liberated; the removal of the curfew led to a thriving nightlife.
Hangzhou prospered as capital of the Southern Song, and to this day retains its reputation as one of the most beautiful and cultured cities in the empire.
An educated class of high social standing became a distinguishing feature of Chinese society as Confucianism achieved a dominance it was to retain until the 19th century. The Song refined and expanded the exam- ination system, selecting officials from the successful candidates.
The Wrath of Khan
While the Song literati were busy studying moral codes, Genghis Khan(1167-1227) was beginning to flex his muscles in Mongolia. The son of a chieftain, Genghis commenced his awesome rise to power by aven- ging his father's murder. By 1206 he was recognised as supreme ruler of the Mongols. The Mongols, despised for what was considered their ignorance and poverty, had occasionally gone to war with the Chinese but had always lost. In 1211 Genghis Khan turned his sights on China, penetrated the Great Wall two years later and took Beijing in 1215. He fought the Jin in the east, destroyed the Xi Xia in the west and advanced on Russia. Under his descendants, a great Mongol empire was formed, stretching from the Ukraine and Persia to Korea and the northern limits of Vietnam.The Jin fell in 1234. Hangzhou, the Southern Song capital, was taken in1276. The court tied and Southern Song resistance ended in 1279
Friday, April 17, 2009
BRIDGING THE GAP: THE SUI
The Wei dynasty fell in 534. It was succeeded by a series of rival regimes until nobleman Yang Jian (d 604) seized all before him to establish the Sui dynasty (581 -618). While the Sui was a short-lived dynasty, its accom- plishments were many. Yang Jian's great achievement was to bring the south back within the pale of a northern-based empire.
Yang Jian's son, Sui Yangdi, has gone down in history as an unsavoury character who had more time for wine and women than for politics; the dynasty went into rapid decline under his rule. Nevertheless, he did contribute greatly to the unification of south and north through the construction of the Grand Canal. The canal combined earlier canals and linked the lower Yangzi River valley to Chang'an via the Yellow River(Huang He). When Beijing became capital of the Yuan dynasty, it was re-routed and extended northward, and remained the empire's most important communication route between south and north until the late 19th century.
Yang Jian's son, Sui Yangdi, has gone down in history as an unsavoury character who had more time for wine and women than for politics; the dynasty went into rapid decline under his rule. Nevertheless, he did contribute greatly to the unification of south and north through the construction of the Grand Canal. The canal combined earlier canals and linked the lower Yangzi River valley to Chang'an via the Yellow River(Huang He). When Beijing became capital of the Yuan dynasty, it was re-routed and extended northward, and remained the empire's most important communication route between south and north until the late 19th century.
WIDENING THE NET: THE HAN
The Han dynasty brought further unification of the empire as vassal states that had continued to linger on the outskirts were swept up under its reign. The energetic Emperor Wu, who reigned from 140 BC to 87 BC, established supremacy over neighbouring societies to the north and west, recruited able men to serve the dynasty as officials, and promoted Confucian education. An examination system was introduced and would go on to become a hallmark of government in the late imperial era; visit the Imperial College in Beijing to learn more.
After more than a century the Han gave way to the Xin dynasty (AD9-23), led by the radical reformer Wang Mang. This 14-year blip divides the dynasty into Former (Western) and Later (Eastern) Han periods.
Venturing Down the Silk Road
The expansion of the Han brought the Chinese into contact with the 'barbarians' that encircled their world. As a matter of course, this contact brought both military conflict and commercial gains.
To the north, the Xiongnu (a name given to various nomadic tribes of central Asia) posed the greatest threat to China. Military expeditions were sent against these tribes, initially with much success. This in turn provided the Chinese with access to central Asia, opening up the routes that carried Chinese silk as far afield as Rome.
Diplomatic links were also formed with central Asian tribes, and the great Chinese explorer Zhang Qian provided the authorities with information on the possibilities of trade and alliances in northern India. During the same period, Chinese influence percolated into areas that were later to become known as Vietnam and Korea.
UNITY & DIVISION
They say the momentum of history was ever thus: the empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide.---LuoGuanzhong
With these words, the storyteller of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (14th century) sums up the seemingly endless warring and reconstruction that followed the Han dynasty. Between the early 3rd and late 6th centuries AD north China saw a succession of rival kingdoms struggling for power. During this time of disunity a strong division formed between north and south China. The north was controlled by non-Chinese rulers and torn by warfare. Many people from the north consequently fled, carrying Chinese culture into previously non-Chinese territories. Meanwhile, the south experienced significant economic growth as Jiankang, later to become Nanjing, served as capital for a succession of dynasties.
Culture Vultures
The most successful northern regime during this period was the North- ern Wei dynasty (386-534), founded by the Tuoba, a people from the north. The Tuoba embraced Buddhism wholeheartedly and left behind some of China's top Buddhist art. Visit the cave temples near Dunhuang(p823) and outside Datong (p403) for a glimpse. The Wei reallocation of lands to peasants and the division of the capital city into wards also outlasted the dynasty.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Dong Zhongshu (179-104 BC) was a brainy fellow with a penchant for reading omens. During the Han dynasty he took up the position of Chief Minister with the task of interpreting the will of the heavens.
At this time Liu Bang was a commoner with little claim to the throne. As founder of the Han dynasty, he seems to have had a slightly guilty conscience about being emperor and needed lots of good omens to boost his moral. Luckily, Dong came up with a cosmology that fitted Liu's needs, interpreting not only the present but the past and future, too. In Dong's 'Five Phase Cycle', earth was overcome by metal, metal by water, water by wood, wood by fire and fire by earth. Each phase was attached to a historical period, conveniently ending with the Han (earth) overcoming the Qin (fire). Therefore, the Han's legitimacy to rule was quite simply a law of nature, as natural and predictable as night and day, summer and winter.
Whether the gods really did love the Han or Dong just had a knack for reading things in a positive light is up to you to interpret.
After more than a century the Han gave way to the Xin dynasty (AD9-23), led by the radical reformer Wang Mang. This 14-year blip divides the dynasty into Former (Western) and Later (Eastern) Han periods.
Venturing Down the Silk Road
The expansion of the Han brought the Chinese into contact with the 'barbarians' that encircled their world. As a matter of course, this contact brought both military conflict and commercial gains.
To the north, the Xiongnu (a name given to various nomadic tribes of central Asia) posed the greatest threat to China. Military expeditions were sent against these tribes, initially with much success. This in turn provided the Chinese with access to central Asia, opening up the routes that carried Chinese silk as far afield as Rome.
Diplomatic links were also formed with central Asian tribes, and the great Chinese explorer Zhang Qian provided the authorities with information on the possibilities of trade and alliances in northern India. During the same period, Chinese influence percolated into areas that were later to become known as Vietnam and Korea.
UNITY & DIVISION
They say the momentum of history was ever thus: the empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide.---LuoGuanzhong
With these words, the storyteller of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (14th century) sums up the seemingly endless warring and reconstruction that followed the Han dynasty. Between the early 3rd and late 6th centuries AD north China saw a succession of rival kingdoms struggling for power. During this time of disunity a strong division formed between north and south China. The north was controlled by non-Chinese rulers and torn by warfare. Many people from the north consequently fled, carrying Chinese culture into previously non-Chinese territories. Meanwhile, the south experienced significant economic growth as Jiankang, later to become Nanjing, served as capital for a succession of dynasties.
Culture Vultures
The most successful northern regime during this period was the North- ern Wei dynasty (386-534), founded by the Tuoba, a people from the north. The Tuoba embraced Buddhism wholeheartedly and left behind some of China's top Buddhist art. Visit the cave temples near Dunhuang(p823) and outside Datong (p403) for a glimpse. The Wei reallocation of lands to peasants and the division of the capital city into wards also outlasted the dynasty.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Dong Zhongshu (179-104 BC) was a brainy fellow with a penchant for reading omens. During the Han dynasty he took up the position of Chief Minister with the task of interpreting the will of the heavens.
At this time Liu Bang was a commoner with little claim to the throne. As founder of the Han dynasty, he seems to have had a slightly guilty conscience about being emperor and needed lots of good omens to boost his moral. Luckily, Dong came up with a cosmology that fitted Liu's needs, interpreting not only the present but the past and future, too. In Dong's 'Five Phase Cycle', earth was overcome by metal, metal by water, water by wood, wood by fire and fire by earth. Each phase was attached to a historical period, conveniently ending with the Han (earth) overcoming the Qin (fire). Therefore, the Han's legitimacy to rule was quite simply a law of nature, as natural and predictable as night and day, summer and winter.
Whether the gods really did love the Han or Dong just had a knack for reading things in a positive light is up to you to interpret.
CROSSING SWORDS:THE QIN
The principalities had been fighting with one another for more than 250 years, during what became known as the Warring States period. This dark era finally came to an end in 221 BC when the western state of Qin, having conquered the Zhou 35 years earlier, succeeded in subduing the remaining states to establish centralised rule.
"The First Emperor of Qin' (Qin Shi Huang) won and reigned by the sword. His ruling philosophy focused on law and punishment, and dealt a blow to Confucius' teachings of rights and morality. His martial fanaticism was none too subtle; check out his tomb near Xi'an, which is protected by the extraordinary Army of Terracotta Warriors (p418). He pursued campaigns as far north as Korea and south down to Vietnam while, at home, he began linking existing city walls to create the begin- nings of the Great Wall. The 'First Emperor' also laid the foundations for a unified, integrated empire. He introduced a uniform currency, standardised the script, and developed infrastructure through a network of roads and canals.
Qin Shi Huang's heir to the imperial throne proved ineffectual and, shaken by rebellion, the Qin capital fell after only 15 years to an army led by the commoner Liu Bang. Liu lost no time in taking the title of emperor and establishing the Han dynasty.
The Imperial Era
The First Imperial Period
Much of what came to constitute China Proper was unified for the first time in 221 B.C. In that year the western frontier state of Qin, the most aggressive of the Warring States, subjugated the last of its rival states. (Qin in Wade-Giles romanization is Ch'in, from which the English China probably derived.) Once the king of Qin consolidated his power, he took the title Shi Huangdi ( First Emperor), a formulation previously reserved for deities and the mythological sage-emperors, and imposed Qin's centralized, nonhereditary bureaucratic system on his new empire. In subjugating the six other major states of Eastern Zhou, the Qin kings had relied heavily on Legalist scholar-advisers. Centralization, achieved by ruthless methods, was focused on standardizing legal codes and bureaucratic procedures, the forms of writing and coinage, and the pattern of thought and scholarship. To silence criticism of imperial rule, the kings banished or put to death many dissenting Confucian scholars and confiscated and burned their books . Qin aggrandizement was aided by frequent military expeditions pushing forward the frontiers in the north and south. To fend off barbarian intrusion, the fortification walls built by the various warring states were connected to make a 5,000-kilometer-long great wall . What is commonly referred to as the Great Wall is actually four great walls rebuilt or extended during the Western Han, Sui, Jin, and Ming periods, rather than a single, continuous wall. At its extremities, the Great Wall reaches from northeastern Heilongjiang Province to northwestern Gansu . A number of public works projects were also undertaken to consolidate and strengthen imperial rule. These activities required enormous levies of manpower and resources, not to mention repressive measures. Revolts broke out as soon as the first Qin emperor died in 210 B.C. His dynasty was extinguished less than twenty years after its triumph. The imperial system initiated during the Qin dynasty, however, set a pattern that was developed over the next two millennia.
After a short civil war, a new dynasty, called Han (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), emerged with its capital at Chang'an ( ). The new empire retained much of the Qin administrative structure but retreated a bit from centralized rule by establishing vassal principalities in some areas for the sake of political convenience. The Han rulers modified some of the harsher aspects of the previous dynasty; Confucian ideals of government, out of favor during the Qin period, were adopted as the creed of the Han empire, and Confucian scholars gained prominent status as the core of the civil service. A civil service examination system also was initiated. Intellectual, literary, and artistic endeavors revived and flourished. The Han period produced China's most famous historian, Sima Qian ( 145-87 B.C.?), whose Shiji ( Historical Records) provides a detailed chronicle from the time of a legendary Xia emperor to that of the Han emperor Wu Di ( 141-87 B.C.). Technological advances also marked this period. Two of the great Chinese inventions, paper and porcelain, date from Han times.
The Han dynasty, after which the members of the ethnic majority in China, the "people of Han," are named, was notable also for its military prowess. The empire expanded westward as far as the rim of the Tarim Basin (in modern Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region), making possible relatively secure caravan traffic across Central Asia to Antioch, Baghdad, and Alexandria. The paths of caravan traffic are often called the "silk route" because the route was used to export Chinese silk to the Roman Empire. Chinese armies also invaded and annexed parts of northern Vietnam and northern Korea toward the end of the second century B.C. Han control of peripheral regions was generally insecure, however. To ensure peace with non-Chinese local powers, the Han court developed a mutually beneficial "tributary system" . Non-Chinese states were allowed to remain autonomous in exchange for symbolic acceptance of Han overlordship. Tributary ties were confirmed and strengthened through intermarriages at the ruling level and periodic exchanges of gifts and goods.
After 200 years, Han rule was interrupted briefly (in A.D. 9-24 by Wang Mang or , a reformer), and then restored for another 200 years. The Han rulers, however, were unable to adjust to what centralization had wrought: a growing population, increasing wealth and resultant financial difficulties and rivalries, and ever-more complex political institutions. Riddled with the corruption characteristic of the dynastic cycle, by A.D. 220 the Han empire collapsed.
Era of Disunity
The collapse of the Han dynasty was followed by nearly four centuries of rule by warlords. The age of civil wars and disunity began with the era of the Three Kingdoms (Wei, Shu, and Wu, which had overlapping reigns during the period A.D. 220-80). In later times, fiction and drama greatly romanticized the reputed chivalry of this period. Unity was restored briefly in the early years of the Jin dynasty (A.D. 265-420), but the Jin could not long contain the invasions of the nomadic peoples. In A.D. 317 the Jin court was forced to flee from Luoyang and reestablished
itself at Nanjing to the south. The transfer of the capital coincided with China's political fragmentation into a succession of dynasties that was to last from A.D. 304 to 589. During this period the process of sinicization accelerated among the non-Chinese arrivals in the north and among the aboriginal tribesmen in the south. This process was also accompanied by the increasing popularity of Buddhism (introduced into China in the first century A.D.) in both north and south China. Despite the political disunity of the times, there were notable technological advances. The invention of gunpowder (at that time for use only in fireworks) and the wheelbarrow is believed to date from the sixth or seventh century. Advances in medicine, astronomy, and cartography are also noted by historians.
"The First Emperor of Qin' (Qin Shi Huang) won and reigned by the sword. His ruling philosophy focused on law and punishment, and dealt a blow to Confucius' teachings of rights and morality. His martial fanaticism was none too subtle; check out his tomb near Xi'an, which is protected by the extraordinary Army of Terracotta Warriors (p418). He pursued campaigns as far north as Korea and south down to Vietnam while, at home, he began linking existing city walls to create the begin- nings of the Great Wall. The 'First Emperor' also laid the foundations for a unified, integrated empire. He introduced a uniform currency, standardised the script, and developed infrastructure through a network of roads and canals.
Qin Shi Huang's heir to the imperial throne proved ineffectual and, shaken by rebellion, the Qin capital fell after only 15 years to an army led by the commoner Liu Bang. Liu lost no time in taking the title of emperor and establishing the Han dynasty.
The Imperial Era
The First Imperial Period
Much of what came to constitute China Proper was unified for the first time in 221 B.C. In that year the western frontier state of Qin, the most aggressive of the Warring States, subjugated the last of its rival states. (Qin in Wade-Giles romanization is Ch'in, from which the English China probably derived.) Once the king of Qin consolidated his power, he took the title Shi Huangdi ( First Emperor), a formulation previously reserved for deities and the mythological sage-emperors, and imposed Qin's centralized, nonhereditary bureaucratic system on his new empire. In subjugating the six other major states of Eastern Zhou, the Qin kings had relied heavily on Legalist scholar-advisers. Centralization, achieved by ruthless methods, was focused on standardizing legal codes and bureaucratic procedures, the forms of writing and coinage, and the pattern of thought and scholarship. To silence criticism of imperial rule, the kings banished or put to death many dissenting Confucian scholars and confiscated and burned their books . Qin aggrandizement was aided by frequent military expeditions pushing forward the frontiers in the north and south. To fend off barbarian intrusion, the fortification walls built by the various warring states were connected to make a 5,000-kilometer-long great wall . What is commonly referred to as the Great Wall is actually four great walls rebuilt or extended during the Western Han, Sui, Jin, and Ming periods, rather than a single, continuous wall. At its extremities, the Great Wall reaches from northeastern Heilongjiang Province to northwestern Gansu . A number of public works projects were also undertaken to consolidate and strengthen imperial rule. These activities required enormous levies of manpower and resources, not to mention repressive measures. Revolts broke out as soon as the first Qin emperor died in 210 B.C. His dynasty was extinguished less than twenty years after its triumph. The imperial system initiated during the Qin dynasty, however, set a pattern that was developed over the next two millennia.
After a short civil war, a new dynasty, called Han (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), emerged with its capital at Chang'an ( ). The new empire retained much of the Qin administrative structure but retreated a bit from centralized rule by establishing vassal principalities in some areas for the sake of political convenience. The Han rulers modified some of the harsher aspects of the previous dynasty; Confucian ideals of government, out of favor during the Qin period, were adopted as the creed of the Han empire, and Confucian scholars gained prominent status as the core of the civil service. A civil service examination system also was initiated. Intellectual, literary, and artistic endeavors revived and flourished. The Han period produced China's most famous historian, Sima Qian ( 145-87 B.C.?), whose Shiji ( Historical Records) provides a detailed chronicle from the time of a legendary Xia emperor to that of the Han emperor Wu Di ( 141-87 B.C.). Technological advances also marked this period. Two of the great Chinese inventions, paper and porcelain, date from Han times.
The Han dynasty, after which the members of the ethnic majority in China, the "people of Han," are named, was notable also for its military prowess. The empire expanded westward as far as the rim of the Tarim Basin (in modern Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region), making possible relatively secure caravan traffic across Central Asia to Antioch, Baghdad, and Alexandria. The paths of caravan traffic are often called the "silk route" because the route was used to export Chinese silk to the Roman Empire. Chinese armies also invaded and annexed parts of northern Vietnam and northern Korea toward the end of the second century B.C. Han control of peripheral regions was generally insecure, however. To ensure peace with non-Chinese local powers, the Han court developed a mutually beneficial "tributary system" . Non-Chinese states were allowed to remain autonomous in exchange for symbolic acceptance of Han overlordship. Tributary ties were confirmed and strengthened through intermarriages at the ruling level and periodic exchanges of gifts and goods.
After 200 years, Han rule was interrupted briefly (in A.D. 9-24 by Wang Mang or , a reformer), and then restored for another 200 years. The Han rulers, however, were unable to adjust to what centralization had wrought: a growing population, increasing wealth and resultant financial difficulties and rivalries, and ever-more complex political institutions. Riddled with the corruption characteristic of the dynastic cycle, by A.D. 220 the Han empire collapsed.
Era of Disunity
The collapse of the Han dynasty was followed by nearly four centuries of rule by warlords. The age of civil wars and disunity began with the era of the Three Kingdoms (Wei, Shu, and Wu, which had overlapping reigns during the period A.D. 220-80). In later times, fiction and drama greatly romanticized the reputed chivalry of this period. Unity was restored briefly in the early years of the Jin dynasty (A.D. 265-420), but the Jin could not long contain the invasions of the nomadic peoples. In A.D. 317 the Jin court was forced to flee from Luoyang and reestablished
itself at Nanjing to the south. The transfer of the capital coincided with China's political fragmentation into a succession of dynasties that was to last from A.D. 304 to 589. During this period the process of sinicization accelerated among the non-Chinese arrivals in the north and among the aboriginal tribesmen in the south. This process was also accompanied by the increasing popularity of Buddhism (introduced into China in the first century A.D.) in both north and south China. Despite the political disunity of the times, there were notable technological advances. The invention of gunpowder (at that time for use only in fireworks) and the wheelbarrow is believed to date from the sixth or seventh century. Advances in medicine, astronomy, and cartography are also noted by historians.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
THE XIA THE SHANG and THE ZHOU
Chinese civilization, as described in mythology, begins with Pangu , the creator of the universe, and a succession of legendary sage-emperors and culture heroes (among them are Huang Di , Yao, and Shun) who taught the ancient Chinese to communicate and to find sustenance, clothing, and shelter.
THE XIA
The first prehistoric dynasty is said to be Xia , from about the twenty-first to the sixteenth century B.C. Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Anyang , Henan Province, in 1928, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the Xia. But since then, and especially in the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the existence of Xia civilization in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. At minimum, the Xia period marked an evolutionary stage between the late neolithic cultures and the typical Chinese urban civilization of the Shang dynasty.
TELLTALE SIGNS: THE SHANG
In 1899 peasants working near present-day Anyang unearthed pieces of polished bone and turtle shells. These relics were inscribed with charac- ters and dated back to around 1500 BC, the time of the Shang dynasty. Housed in Anyang's museum, these are the earliest examples of the elaborate writing system still used in China today.Shang culture was spread throughout much of north China, stretch- ing from Shandong to Shaanxi and Hebei to Henan. It was headed by a sacred kingship, who was supported by officials, armies, and a peasantry that supplied labour for the building of city walls and other public works. There was also a skilled artisanry that produced the magnificent bronzeware for which this dynasty is known; visit the Henan Provincial Museum for fabulous examples.
ENTER CONFUCIUS: THE ZHOU
Around three millennia ago the last Shang sovereign was defeated by the forces of Zhou who hailed from present-day Shaanxi province. The Zhou went on to rule over an increasingly large territory, reaching up to Beijing in the north and down to (he lower Yangzi River (Chang Jiang) valley in the south. To overcome the difficulties of ruling such a vast area, the Zhou established a feudal system whereby landlords governed over principalities that were contained within walled cities.In 771 BC the Zhou capital moved from a site near Xi'an to one further east, leading present-day historians to divide this period into Western and Eastern Zhou. During the period of Eastern Zhou law codes were written down, iron was discovered and the fortunes of the landed aristoc- racy waned, while self-made men achieved places at court and merchants grew wealthy. The Zhou's control over the principalities began to fade as landlords began to fight among themselves. The Eastern Zhou was a time riddled with strife, prompting reflection and philosophising on the part of one Master Kong (Kong Fuzi), better known in the West as Confucius. Confucius (551-479 BC) grew up in the old state of Lu, at the present- day site of Qufu (pl98) in Shandong province. The descendant of a minor noble family, he set off at an early age in search of an able and righteous ruler who might lead the world back to virtuous paths. In this mission he was doomed to disappointment, and his death in 479 BC was to be followed by an ever keener struggle among the states for power. Confu- cius did achieve enormous success as a teacher and moral exemplar, and the structure of Chinese society today remains very much rooted in his teachings. For more on Confucian beliefs, see the boxed text or head to Qufu for a good dose of hands-on history.
PEKING MAN
In the 1920s and 1930s Chinese archaeologists unearthed skulls, stone tools and animal bones believed to be between 500,000 and 230,000 years old. Was this the birthplace of civilisation? Unfortunately, we're unlikely to ever know. Research was never carried out on Peking Man's bones because, on the eve of the Japanese invasion, the remains mysteriously disappeared - some fear to the bottom of the sea.
THE XIA
The first prehistoric dynasty is said to be Xia , from about the twenty-first to the sixteenth century B.C. Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Anyang , Henan Province, in 1928, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the Xia. But since then, and especially in the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the existence of Xia civilization in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. At minimum, the Xia period marked an evolutionary stage between the late neolithic cultures and the typical Chinese urban civilization of the Shang dynasty.
TELLTALE SIGNS: THE SHANG
In 1899 peasants working near present-day Anyang unearthed pieces of polished bone and turtle shells. These relics were inscribed with charac- ters and dated back to around 1500 BC, the time of the Shang dynasty. Housed in Anyang's museum, these are the earliest examples of the elaborate writing system still used in China today.Shang culture was spread throughout much of north China, stretch- ing from Shandong to Shaanxi and Hebei to Henan. It was headed by a sacred kingship, who was supported by officials, armies, and a peasantry that supplied labour for the building of city walls and other public works. There was also a skilled artisanry that produced the magnificent bronzeware for which this dynasty is known; visit the Henan Provincial Museum for fabulous examples.
ENTER CONFUCIUS: THE ZHOU
Around three millennia ago the last Shang sovereign was defeated by the forces of Zhou who hailed from present-day Shaanxi province. The Zhou went on to rule over an increasingly large territory, reaching up to Beijing in the north and down to (he lower Yangzi River (Chang Jiang) valley in the south. To overcome the difficulties of ruling such a vast area, the Zhou established a feudal system whereby landlords governed over principalities that were contained within walled cities.In 771 BC the Zhou capital moved from a site near Xi'an to one further east, leading present-day historians to divide this period into Western and Eastern Zhou. During the period of Eastern Zhou law codes were written down, iron was discovered and the fortunes of the landed aristoc- racy waned, while self-made men achieved places at court and merchants grew wealthy. The Zhou's control over the principalities began to fade as landlords began to fight among themselves. The Eastern Zhou was a time riddled with strife, prompting reflection and philosophising on the part of one Master Kong (Kong Fuzi), better known in the West as Confucius. Confucius (551-479 BC) grew up in the old state of Lu, at the present- day site of Qufu (pl98) in Shandong province. The descendant of a minor noble family, he set off at an early age in search of an able and righteous ruler who might lead the world back to virtuous paths. In this mission he was doomed to disappointment, and his death in 479 BC was to be followed by an ever keener struggle among the states for power. Confu- cius did achieve enormous success as a teacher and moral exemplar, and the structure of Chinese society today remains very much rooted in his teachings. For more on Confucian beliefs, see the boxed text or head to Qufu for a good dose of hands-on history.
PEKING MAN
In the 1920s and 1930s Chinese archaeologists unearthed skulls, stone tools and animal bones believed to be between 500,000 and 230,000 years old. Was this the birthplace of civilisation? Unfortunately, we're unlikely to ever know. Research was never carried out on Peking Man's bones because, on the eve of the Japanese invasion, the remains mysteriously disappeared - some fear to the bottom of the sea.
The History of China
The History Of China, as documented in ancient writings, dates back some 3,300 years. Modern archaeological studies provide evidence of still more ancient origins in a culture that flourished between 2500 and 2000 B.C. in what is now central China and the lower Huang He ( orYellow River) Valley of north China. Centuries of migration, amalgamation, and development brought about a distinctive system of writing, philosophy, art, and political organization that came to be recognizable as Chinese civilization. What makes the civilization unique in world history is its continuity through over 4,000 years to the present century.
The Chinese have developed a strong sense of their real and mythological origins and have kept voluminous records since very early times. It is largely as a result of these records that knowledge concerning the ancient past, not only of China but also of its neighbors, has survived.
Chinese history, until the twentieth century, was written mostly by members of the ruling scholar-official class and was meant to provide the ruler with precedents to guide or justify his policies. These accounts focused on dynastic politics and colorful court histories and included developments among the commoners only as backdrops. The historians described a Chinese political pattern of dynasties, one following another in a cycle of ascent, achievement, decay, and rebirth under a new family.
Of the consistent traits identified by independent historians, a salient one has been the capacity of the Chinese to absorb the people of surrounding areas into their own civilization. Their success can be attributed to the superiority of their ideographic written language, their technology, and their political institutions; the refinement of their artistic and intellectual creativity; and the sheer weight of their numbers. The process of assimilation continued over the centuries through conquest and colonization until what is now known as China Proper was brought under unified rule. The Chinese also left an enduring mark on people beyond their borders, especially the Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese.
Another recurrent historical theme has been the unceasing struggle of the sedentary Chinese against the threat posed to their safety and way of life by non-Chinese peoples on the margins of their territory in the north, northeast, and northwest. In the thirteenth century, the Mongols from the northern steppes became the first alien people to conquer all China. Although not as culturally developed as the Chinese, they left some imprint on Chinese civilization while heightening Chinese perceptions of threat from the north. China came under alien rule for the second time in the mid-seventeenth century; the conquerors--the Manchus--came again from the north and northeast.
For centuries virtually all the foreigners that Chinese rulers saw came from the less developed societies along their land borders. This circumstance conditioned the Chinese view of the outside world. The Chinese saw their domain as the self-sufficient center of the universe and derived from this image the traditional (and still used) Chinese name for their country--Zhongguo () , literally, Middle Kingdom or Central Nation. China saw itself surrounded on all sides by so-called barbarian peoples whose cultures were demonstrably inferior by Chinese standards. This China-centered ("sinocentric") view of the world was still undisturbed in the nineteenth century, at the time of the first serious confrontation with the West. China had taken it for granted that its relations with Europeans would be conducted according to the tributary system that had evolved over the centuries between the emperor and representatives of the lesser states on China's borders as well as between the emperor and some earlier European visitors. But by the mid-nineteenth century, humiliated militarily by superior Western weaponry and technology and faced with imminent territorial dismemberment, China began to reassess its position with respect to Western civilization. By 1911 the two-millennia-old dynastic system of imperial government was brought down by its inability to make this adjustment successfully.
Because of its length and complexity, the history of the Middle Kingdom lends itself to varied interpretation. After the communist takeover in 1949, historians in mainland China wrote their own version of the past--a history of China built on a Marxist model of progression from primitive communism to slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and finally socialism. The events of history came to be presented as a function of the class struggle. Historiography became subordinated to proletarian politics fashioned and directed by the Chinese Communist Party. A series of thought-reform and antirightist campaigns were directed against intellectuals in the arts, sciences, and academic community. The Cultural Revolution (1966-76) further altered the objectivity of historians. In the years after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, however, interest grew within the party, and outside it as well, in restoring the integrity of historical inquiry. This trend was consistent with the party's commitment to "seeking truth from facts." As a result, historians and social scientists raised probing questions concerning the state of historiography in China. Their investigations included not only historical study of traditional China but penetrating inquiries into modern Chinese history and the history of the Chinese Communist Party.
In post-Mao China, the discipline of historiography has not been separated from politics, although a much greater range of historical topics has been discussed. Figures from Confucius--who was bitterly excoriated for his "feudal" outlook by Cultural Revolution-era historians--to Mao himself have been evaluated with increasing flexibility. Among the criticisms made by Chinese social scientists is that Maoist-era historiography distorted Marxist and Leninist interpretations. This meant that considerable revision of historical texts was in order in the 1980s, although no substantive change away from the conventional Marxist approach was likely. Historical institutes were restored within the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and a growing corps of trained historians, in institutes and academia alike, returned to their work with the blessing of the Chinese Communist Party. This in itself was a potentially significant development.
The Chinese have developed a strong sense of their real and mythological origins and have kept voluminous records since very early times. It is largely as a result of these records that knowledge concerning the ancient past, not only of China but also of its neighbors, has survived.
Chinese history, until the twentieth century, was written mostly by members of the ruling scholar-official class and was meant to provide the ruler with precedents to guide or justify his policies. These accounts focused on dynastic politics and colorful court histories and included developments among the commoners only as backdrops. The historians described a Chinese political pattern of dynasties, one following another in a cycle of ascent, achievement, decay, and rebirth under a new family.
Of the consistent traits identified by independent historians, a salient one has been the capacity of the Chinese to absorb the people of surrounding areas into their own civilization. Their success can be attributed to the superiority of their ideographic written language, their technology, and their political institutions; the refinement of their artistic and intellectual creativity; and the sheer weight of their numbers. The process of assimilation continued over the centuries through conquest and colonization until what is now known as China Proper was brought under unified rule. The Chinese also left an enduring mark on people beyond their borders, especially the Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese.
Another recurrent historical theme has been the unceasing struggle of the sedentary Chinese against the threat posed to their safety and way of life by non-Chinese peoples on the margins of their territory in the north, northeast, and northwest. In the thirteenth century, the Mongols from the northern steppes became the first alien people to conquer all China. Although not as culturally developed as the Chinese, they left some imprint on Chinese civilization while heightening Chinese perceptions of threat from the north. China came under alien rule for the second time in the mid-seventeenth century; the conquerors--the Manchus--came again from the north and northeast.
For centuries virtually all the foreigners that Chinese rulers saw came from the less developed societies along their land borders. This circumstance conditioned the Chinese view of the outside world. The Chinese saw their domain as the self-sufficient center of the universe and derived from this image the traditional (and still used) Chinese name for their country--Zhongguo () , literally, Middle Kingdom or Central Nation. China saw itself surrounded on all sides by so-called barbarian peoples whose cultures were demonstrably inferior by Chinese standards. This China-centered ("sinocentric") view of the world was still undisturbed in the nineteenth century, at the time of the first serious confrontation with the West. China had taken it for granted that its relations with Europeans would be conducted according to the tributary system that had evolved over the centuries between the emperor and representatives of the lesser states on China's borders as well as between the emperor and some earlier European visitors. But by the mid-nineteenth century, humiliated militarily by superior Western weaponry and technology and faced with imminent territorial dismemberment, China began to reassess its position with respect to Western civilization. By 1911 the two-millennia-old dynastic system of imperial government was brought down by its inability to make this adjustment successfully.
Because of its length and complexity, the history of the Middle Kingdom lends itself to varied interpretation. After the communist takeover in 1949, historians in mainland China wrote their own version of the past--a history of China built on a Marxist model of progression from primitive communism to slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and finally socialism. The events of history came to be presented as a function of the class struggle. Historiography became subordinated to proletarian politics fashioned and directed by the Chinese Communist Party. A series of thought-reform and antirightist campaigns were directed against intellectuals in the arts, sciences, and academic community. The Cultural Revolution (1966-76) further altered the objectivity of historians. In the years after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, however, interest grew within the party, and outside it as well, in restoring the integrity of historical inquiry. This trend was consistent with the party's commitment to "seeking truth from facts." As a result, historians and social scientists raised probing questions concerning the state of historiography in China. Their investigations included not only historical study of traditional China but penetrating inquiries into modern Chinese history and the history of the Chinese Communist Party.
In post-Mao China, the discipline of historiography has not been separated from politics, although a much greater range of historical topics has been discussed. Figures from Confucius--who was bitterly excoriated for his "feudal" outlook by Cultural Revolution-era historians--to Mao himself have been evaluated with increasing flexibility. Among the criticisms made by Chinese social scientists is that Maoist-era historiography distorted Marxist and Leninist interpretations. This meant that considerable revision of historical texts was in order in the 1980s, although no substantive change away from the conventional Marxist approach was likely. Historical institutes were restored within the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and a growing corps of trained historians, in institutes and academia alike, returned to their work with the blessing of the Chinese Communist Party. This in itself was a potentially significant development.
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