16-01-2013, 01:10 PM
A Brief History of China
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China is a country with a long and rich history and ancient civilization. The History of China can date back to as early as 4000 B. C. Chinese civilization began with the legendary sage-emperors Huang Di and Yan Di in the area of the Yellow River Basin. After centuries, the two tribes gradually merged into one by the time of the Xia Dynasty. Chinese people, therefore, usually regard themselves as “the descendants of Yan and Huang”, or call themselves “Hua Xia People” or “Hua People”. It was these people who established a state in the region of the Yellow River Basin, which was believed to be the center of the world, so the state was named the ”Middle Kingdom”.
Chinese generally tell the history from the Xia Dynasty, which began in the 21stcentury B.C. and was followed by various dynasties until 1912 when Dr. Sun Yat-sen was proclaimed the provisional president of the Republic of China.
The Xia Dynasty (2070 B. C. -1600 B. C.)
Xia is the first prehistoric dynasty in Chinese history. It is said that when the legendary ruler Yu died, his son was chosen to be the leader, thus created the Xia Dynasty and established the system of hereditary dynastic rule. There were 14 generations with 17 rulers in Xia Dynasty before it was taken place of by the Shang Dynasty. Scientific excavations by archaeologists uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that provided the evidence of the existence of Xia civilization,
The Xia were agrarian people, and by the time of Yao, Shun and Yu, farming and stockbreeding were considerably developed. People were familiar with the phenomena of seasonal changes and arranged their farm activities according to the alterations of the seasons.
The Shang Dynasty (1600 B.C. -1046 B.C.
The Shang Dynasty consisted of 17 generations and 31 kings, and it controlled the central part of China, extending over much of modern Henan, Hubei, Shandong, Anhui, Shanxi, and Hebei provinces. Its civilization was based on agriculture, hunting and animal husbandry, The Shang was often at war with neighboring peoples and they had to move their capital for seven times.
The Shang enjoyed the most advanced bronze civilization in the world. The excavated bronze weapons, bronze fittings for chariots and harnesses and ceremonial bronze vessels with inscriptions dating back to the Shang period show the highly skillful technique in bronze making.
The development of a writing system can be witnessed on the oracles like tortoiseshells or animal bones, and these writings were the beginning of the written Chinese language.
The Zhou Dynasty (1046 B.C. -256 B.C.)
The Zhou Dynasty reigned for more than 800 years with 37 kings, the longest period of all Chinese dynasties. The Zhou Dynasty falls into several sub-periods: the Western Zhou, the Eastern Zhou which is further divided into the Spring and Autumn Period (770 B.C. - 476 B. C) and the Warring States Period (475 B. C.- 256 B. C. )
The Kings Wen and Wu, the founders of the Zhou Dynasty, were regarded as the ideal monarchs by the Confucians for they reined with morality, humanity and righteousness. The Zhou Dynasty was a turning point in Chinese history for it evolved into the feudal system, and witnessed the territorial expansion, economic prosperity and cultural flourishing.
The Zhou Dynasty was characterized by great intellectual achievements in terms of the rise of Confucianism, Daoism and the development of Chinese philosophy. Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, and Laozi, the founder of Daoism together with other philosophers and theorists such as Mencius, Mozi, Zhuangzi, Han Feizi, Xunzi etc. made unprecedentedly huge impact on Chinese culture.
The Qin Dynasty (221 B. C. – 206 B.C. )
Qin Shihuang, the first Emperor of China, established the first centralized, unified, multi-ethnic feudal state in Chinese history – the Qin Dynasty after a few hundred years of disunity. Although the rule of the two Qin emperors lasted only about two decades, it marks the beginning of a more than two thousand years long history of a centralized state and a comparatively uniformed culture.
Qin Shihuang made many changes and reforms to unify China and help his administrative tasks. He standardized the written script so as to create a consistent way to help people communicate across the country. Weights, measures and currencies were also standardized, and the system of prefectures and counties were solidly established. The sovereigns of the next 2, 000 years actually followed the feudal governmental structure established by the Qin.