1.5 Chinese Civilisation
Chinese civilization originated in various regional centres along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations,where the earth was soft and easily worked by the crude tools of China's Stone Age men who lived before 3000 B.C.
Prehistory
Well before the advent of recognizable civilization in the region, the land was occupied by hominids. Peking Man, a skull fossil discovered in 1927 CE near Beijing, lived in the area between 700,000 to 300,000 years ago, and Yuanmou Man, whose remains were found in Yuanmou in 1965 CE, inhabited the land 1.7 million years ago. Evidence uncovered with these finds shows that these early inhabitants knew how to fashion stone tools and use fire.
The First Dynasties
From these small villages and farming communities grew centralised government; the first of which was the prehistoric Xia Dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BCE). The Xia Dynasty was considered, for many years, more myth than fact until excavations in the 1960s and 1970s CE uncovered sites which argued strongly for its existence. Bronze works and tombs clearly point to an evolutionary period of development between disparate Stone Age villages and a recognizable cohesive civilization.
The dynasty was founded by the legendary Yu the Great who worked relentlessly for 13 years to control the flooding of the Yellow River which routinely destroyed the farmer's crops. He was so focused on his work that it was said he did not return home once in all those years, even though he seems to have passed by his house on at least three occasions, and this dedication inspired others to follow him.
Ancient China is responsible for a rich culture, still evident in modern China. From small farming communities rosed to
Zhou (1046-256 B.C.E.),
Qin (221-206 B.C.E.)
Ming (1368-1644 C.E.).
Each had its own contribution to the region.
The Chinese history may be divided into three periods:
1. Pre-imperial China (the dynasties of Xia, Shang, Zhou up to 221 BC);
2. Imperial China (Qin dynasty 221 BC - Qing dynasty 1911););
3. New China (1911 – modern time).
1600-1050 B.C.: Shang Dynasty -The earliest ruling dynasty of China to be established in recorded history, the Shang was headed by a tribal chief named Tan. The Shang era is marked by intellectual advances in astronomy and maths.
551–479 B.C.: Confucius -The teacher, politician and philosopher was raised in poverty by his mother. He entered politics in 501 B.C. as a town governor after gaining attention as a teacher, but in 498 B.C. lived in exile to escape political enemies.
Returning to China around 483 B.C., Confucius devoted most of his time to teaching disciples his ideas (including, “Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart,” and “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”) His ideas would become central to Chinese culture over time and endorsed by the government.
221-206 B.C.: Qin Dynasty -The Qin Dynasty, from which China derives its name (Qin is pronounced “Chin”), was the first official empire in its history. The Qin's standardised regional written scripts into a single national one, establishing an imperial academy to oversee the translated texts.
The Silk Road, Paper and Guns
125 B.C.: The Silk Road -Following capture and escape during a mission for Emperor Wu, Zhang Qian returned after 13 years with a map of the ground he had covered. Reaching as far as Afghanistan, his maps were accurate and led to the international trade route the Silk Road.
105 A.D.: Paper and books -CaiLun developed paper by pounding together ingredients like bamboo, hemp, bark and others and spreading the pulp flat.
Paper use spread quickly across the empire, with the first Chinese dictionary, compiled by XuShen, and the first book of Chinese history, written by SimaQian soon appearing.
850 A.D.: Gunpowder -Alchemists working with saltpetre for medicinal purposes mixed it with charcoal and sulphur. The explosive properties that resulted were used in warfare to propel arrows by the Tang Dynasty, as well
1260 A.D.: Kublai Khan -The grandson of Genghis conquered the Song Dynasty and established the Yuan Dynasty, unifying China and bringing Mongolia, Siberia and parts of the Middle East and even Europe into the Chinese Empire.
Kublai Khan introduced paper money, met with Marco Polo, brought the first Muslims to the country and attempted to conquer Japan.
1557: World trade -The Ming Dynasty expanded China’s maritime trade to export silk and porcelain wares. A European presence was allowed within the empire and Chinese merchants emigrated to locations outside the realm for the first time.
1683: Taiwan -This Dutch-controlled island was seized by Ming Dynasty General Koxinga in 1662, and annexed by the Qing Dynasty 21 years later.
The Opium Wars
1840-1842: The First Opium War -Great Britain flooded the country with opium, causing an addiction crisis. The Qing Dynasty banned the drug, and a military confrontation resulted. British forces shut down Chinese ports, and Hong Kong was handed over to them.
1851-1864: The Taiping Rebellion -Self-proclaimed prophet Hong Xiuquan revolted against the Qing Dynasty with his Christian cult the God Worshipping Society. Spurred on by visions, Hong rampaged across China, taking Nanjing in 1852, which he governed for 12 years. Hong was found poisoned in 1864. The conflict claimed at least 20 million lives.
1856-1860:The Second Opium War - Britain and France demanded that China legalize opium, invading Guangzhou and advancing into Beijing. Desperate to end the conflict, China signed a treaty giving the west more business power and the control of ports.
1894-1894: The First Sino Japanese War -The Qing Dynasty clashed with Japan over Korea. China’s regional dominance plummeted after losing and influenced a series of internal clashes over the next 16 years. As part of the defeat agreement, Taiwan was handed over to Japan.
1899: The Boxer Rebellion - Under the rule of Empress Dowager Cixi, the secret society the Harmonious Fist began slaughtering foreigners. Known as the Boxers, they won Empress Dowager’s support when eight European countries sent troops. China lost the conflict, and the West imposed sanctions that permanently weakened Qing rule.
1912: The Republic of China -Fueled by western-educated revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen, the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 culminated in the Wuchang Uprising, and 15 provinces declared their independence from the Qing Dynasty. Sun took control in 1912, announcing the republic.
1921: The Communist Party of China -With its roots in the May Fourth Movement protesting the Chinese government response to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the CPC officially formed.
1927: Shanghai Massacre -Millions of executions take place when Nationalist Party leader Chiang Kai-shek orders the massacre of Communists, which inadvertently causes the creation of the opposing Communist Red Army.
1928: Reunification -Elevated to head of the government, Chiang succeeded in reunifying China by seizing areas under the control of warlords.
1931: Civil War -Fighting between the Red Army and the Nationalist Party escalates into an 18-year-long conflict.
1937-1945: The Second Sino-Japanese War -Tensions started with the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria but exploded in 1937. After the Japanese captured Shanghai and Nanjing, a stalemate ensued until World War II and American support reframed the conflict into a theatre in the larger war.
1945: Taiwan returns to China -Following Japanese surrender in World War II, Taiwan returned to Chinese control. Tensions mounted between Chinese soldiers and Taiwanese citizens, erupting in violence in 1947, and ending with Chiang sending further troops.
1949: People’s Republic of China -After a violent end stage to the civil war, the Communist Party declared the People’s Republic of China. Two months later, two million soldiers followed Chiang Kai-shek into exile to Taiwan where he set up a provisional government claiming to be the legitimate ruling body of China. Communist party chairman Mao Zedong became China’s new leader.
1958-1962: The Great Leap Forward -This campaign by Chairman Mao to transform the agricultural base of China’s society into an industrial one imposed a commune system that organised peasants and forbade private farming. The plan failed to produce the necessary yield, and famine followed, leading to 56 million deaths, including 3 million by suicide.
1966: The Cultural Revolution-This campaign was initiated by Chairman Mao to erase Capitalist and traditional Chinese influences of the People’s Republic and introduce the philosophy of Maoism to fill the ideological gaps. Schools were closed and Chinese youth directed to take the lead in change, resulting in youth gangs known as the Red Guards attacking undesirable citizens. Chaos led to martial law, Communist Party purges, and 1.5 million deaths.
July 1, 1997: Hong Kong returns to China-In a midnight ceremony with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in attendance, Hong Kong was given back to China after 156 years. China agreed to preserve the island’s capitalist economy as part of the handover agreement.
Ancient China produced what has become the oldest extant culture in the world. The name 'China' comes from the SanskritCina (derived from the name of the Chinese Qin Dynasty, pronounced 'Chin') which was translated as 'Cin' by the Persians and seems to have become popularised through trade along the Silk Road.
The Romans and the Greeks knew the country as 'Seres', “the land where silk comes from”. The name 'China' does not appear in print in the west until 1516 CE in Barbosa's journals narrating his travels in the east (though the Europeans had long known of China through trade via the Silk Road). Marco Polo, the famous explorer who familiarised China to Europe in the 13th century CE, referred to the land as 'Cathay. In Mandarin Chinese, the country is known as 'Zhongguo' meaning "central state" or "middle empire".
Great Wall Of China
It is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe. Several walls were built from as early as the 7th century BC, with selective stretches later joined by Qin Shi Huang (220–206 BC), the first emperor of China. Little of the Qin wall remains. Later on, many successive dynasties built and maintained multiple stretches of border walls. The best-known sections of the wall were built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).
Apart from defence, other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watchtowers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signalling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor.
The frontier walls built by different dynasties have multiple courses. Collectively, they stretch from Liaodong in the east to Lop Lake in the west, from the present-day Sino–Russian border in the north to Tao Riverth in the south; along an arc that roughly delineates the edge of the Mongolian steppe; spanning 21,196.18 km (13,170.70 mi) in total. Today, the defensive system of the Great Wall is generally recognized as one of the most impressive architectural feats in history.
