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China has had a long and turbulent history. An understanding of the basic events and movements in Chinese history is necessary to understand world history. Interestingly because of the long tradition of writing in China and Chinese schoolarship as well as continuity over long periods, more is known about early Chinese history than many comparable eras in the West. The First Emperor, Fu Hsi, is often seen to be the founder of Chinese civiization and social order (around 3000 BC). Little is known about many early emperors, but others are known in some detail. In many ways it was the Mongols who brought China into the modern era. The Ming overthrew the Mongols but were in turn replaced by another northern tribe, the Manchu. European imperlism preyed upon the decaying Manchu regime in the 19th century, which unlike the Japanese did not industrialize. The Europeans and Japan forced a number of unequal treaties on China. The British fought the Opium Wars to force China to accept opium. The British and other Europeans as well as the Japanese carved out coastal enclaves. A Republic was formed under Dr. Sun Yat-sen determined to reform China and build a government that could resist foreign incursions (1911). This set in motion a struggle for power among warlords, Nationalists and Communists. Chang Kai-shek and the nationalists emerged victorious. The Communists were not completely defeated, but after the Long March established themselves in northwestern China. Then the Japanese attacked, first in Manchuria (1931) and then from bases in Manchuria the Japanese invaded China proper (1937). In many ways this can be seen as the beginning of World War II. China fought Japan alone until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and British installations (1941) brought America and Britain into the War. China suffered terribly in the War. Much of the country and the major cities were occupied by the Japanese, but despite the commitment of most of the Imperial Army, the Japanese were unable to defeat the Nationalists who retired west into the rugged interior -- remote Chunking. These cities were noyt occupied by Japan. China was only liberated after the surrender of Japan (1945). Japan's defeat set in motion a renewed civil war between the Nationalists and Communists. The Communists emerged victorious and established the People's Republic (1948-49). Chang's Nationalists retired to Taiwan. HBC is collecting information on several important periods in Chinese history, but are still only at a very basic stage.
China has the the longest continuous history of all the great civilizations. Curiously our knowledge pf pre-history is still incomplete and as historiand were begiining to piece together prehistory in othe regions, virtually nothing was known about that of China. Only in the late-20th century have historian and archeologists begun to piece together some basic information about China's pre-history. The lack of information meant that the Chinese knew nothing about their pre-history and some basic Western misunderstandings about China. A noted early anthropologist and Easte Asian specialist wrote, "... as far as the present state of our archaeological knowledge and the literary records point out, the Chinese have never passed through an epoch which for other cultures have designated as a stone age." [Laufer] Archeological work in China only began recently (1920s) and by Western expeditions. Subsequent historical upheavls (Civil War, Japanese invasion, Communist victory, and the Cultural Revolution) complicated further work. The Chinese have, however, begun an imortant archaeological effort and we are now begiining to piece together a basic understanding of pre-history in East Asia.
The virtual absence of informtion on Chinese pre-history as well as only legendary accounts of early history led to the widesread belief in the West that Chinese civuilization did not develop indigenously, but the result of transmission from the civilizations developedd from the River Valley civilizations of theMiddle East and then spread throughout the Near East. Early Western historians attenpted to link the origins of Chinese civilization to both Egypt and Mesopotamia. As late as the mid-20th century, it was commonly believed in the West that the basic elements of Chinese civilization had their origins in the cultures around the Mediterrranean. And the absence of Chinese archeological work provided no challenge to these widely held academic views,
China is one of the oldest civilizations on earth. Civilization appeared in China about 3,000 BC in the Yellow River valley. The eraly emperors are legendary figures. The founder of Chinese social order was Fu Hsi. Organized agriculture appears about 2737 BC under Shen Nung. Many of the invention of Chinese cultural life occur under the Yellow Emperors (2704-2585 BC) which many scholars consider the golden age of China. They were followed by the Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 BC) who are remembered for their cruelty. They were followed by the Chou Dynasty which is regarded as the classical period of Chinese history. Aguculture became universal and the arts flirished. The great sages including Confucius, Lao-tse, Mencius, abd Mo Ti appeared. The feudal system developed in China at this time. Despite the humanitarian doctrines of these sages, a devestaing series of feudal wars marched the last years of the Chou. They were replaced by te Ch'in Dynasty. The Ch'in restored order, abolished the feydal system, and drove Hun Tartars back into the Asiatic desert. They also began construction of the Great Wall. The Empire was extended south of the Yangtze valley. Shih Huang Ti is sometimes regaded as the "First Emperor". To symbolize a break with the past, Shih ordered the burning of all but practical books on medicine and agriculture--for which he is generally held in repriach by Chinese scholars. The first Han emperor seized power about 202 BC. The Han were the last emperors of Ancient China and ruled until 220 AD. The Mongul hordes were again driven back to Central Asia and Mongolia was added to the Empire. Overland trade routes, chiefly in silks, were established with the West. Competitive examinations in the civil service were adopted. Chinese writing was standarized and printing invented. Buddhism was introduced from India, the first major foreign influence on China.
The vast, grassy plains of central Asia and Eastern Europe have played a major role in world history. This has been the crucible for forming over millenia a war-like people. The savage nomadic warriors of the steppe that have played a major role in both European and Asian history. Perhaps it was the harshness of the environment that was the critical factor. Perhaps it was vast grasslands that provided the perfect range for horses, a critical element in warfare. And competition for resources meant that the steppe tribes have to developm military skills to survive. These war-like nomadic tribes from central Asia have played amajor role in history, at times attacking west and at times attacking east toward China. The critical factor appears to have been China. When China was weak the central Asian nomads struck east and south at China. When China was strong, it deflected the central Asian tribes westward. It was pressure from these nomadic tribes that drove the Germans toward the Roman Empire, eventually overrunning it. At times the nomads have focused on the riches of nearby China. The construction of the Greal Wall was a response to their depredations. Most of what we know about the Mongols comes from the people they conquered because the Mongols were a pre-literate people.
The fall of the Han Dynasty can be seen as the dividing line between ancient and medieval China (220 AD). It was similar in many ways to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the West. The Han were not replaced by any strong dynasty, but many weak dynasties. Many lasted only breief periods. The collapse of Han rule resulted in almost four centuries of warload rule in China . China split into three kingsdoms (Wei, Shu, and Wu), but the ideal of cultural unity persisted. Chinese to this day still refer to themselves as the 'sons of Han'. The short lived Shu Dynasty (589-618 AD) finally unified China again. The Shu dynasty was founded by a talented military comander who ruled as the Emperor Wen. He made major changes, ending the anti-Han policies of the northern kingdoms. Wen was a Buddhist, but reintroduced Confuscianism as the imperial state ideology. The Shu Dynasty was imensly important, but had only a short history. Emperor Wen was killed by his son and ln the turmoil that followed, another general, T'ai Tsung seized control of Chin. He founded the T'ang Dynasty (618-907 AD) under which China regained much of its former power. This is a major difference in the subsequent history beteen the West and East. The Roman Empire was never reconstructed in the West. The Chinese Empire was reconstituted in the East. The writ of the T'ang Emperors extend from the Caspian to the Pacific. The T'ang Dynasty oversaw a period of great prosperity and economuc growth at a time that the West was mired in the Dark Ages. A major achievement was the Grand Canal which linked northern and southern China (the Yellow and Yangste Rivers. This would be a major factor in cementing Chinese unity. The T'ang maintained a very competent civil service which made possible a highly efficent imperial beaureacracy. The key to the success of the T'ang was the economy. The land was assigned to peasant farmers who essentially owned it and benefitted from their harvests as long as they farmed it. The T'ang also introduced military inovations like settler soldiers. Five feeble, short-lived dynasties repalaced the T'ang weakened by corruption and rebellion. They were replaced by the Sung Dynasty (960-1280-AD). The Sung are sometimes described as the Augustine Age of China. Writing and printing flourished and libraries appeared.
The fall of the Han Dynasty can be seen as the dividing line between ancient and medieval China (220 AD). It was similar in many ways to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the West. The Han were not replaced by any strong dynasty, but many weak dynasties. Many lasted only brief periods. The collapse of Han rule resulted in almost four centuries of warload rule in China . China split into three kingsdoms (Wei, Shu, and Wu). The ideal of cultural unity persisted. Chinese to this day still refer to themselves as the 'sons of Han'. This was not unlike the breakup of the Roman Empire in the West and the gradual emergence of separate nation states. It was not at all clear if this would be how Chinese society would progress or if there would ever again be a united China.
The short lived Shu Dynasty (589-618 AD) finally unified China again. The Shu dynasty was founded by a talented military commander who ruled as the Emperor Wen-ti. He united the feuding states by defeating Wei and Wu. He made major changes, ending the anti-Han policies of the northern kingdoms. Wen was a Buddhist, but reintroduced Confuscianism as the imperial state ideology. Wen is commonly depicted as a ruthless leadership compared to the legalist Han traditions. The Shu dynasty achieved important feats, including restorations of the Great Wall of China. But its most important accomplishment was the Grand Canal linking the eastern plains to the northern rivers. Canals had existed in China for centuries It was the Shu who finally connected them. All of this was expensive. The Shu taxed peasants heavily, and often conscripted them into forced labor. Historians believe that as many as half of the Canal workers died as a result of the forced labor. It was a phenomenal feat of construction and one of the most impressive in the world at the time. The Shu Dynasty was immensly important, but had only a short history--only 36 years. The Sui dynasty was weakened by heavy losses in wars, especially fighting with Korea. The peasantry rose in revolt.
Shu Emperor Wen was killed by his son and in the turmoil that followed, another general, T'ai Tsung seized control of China. He founded the T'ang Dynasty (618-907 AD) under which China regained much of its former power.
The advent of the Tang in many ways mirrored the rise of the Han over 800 before. Like the Han. the Tang rose after the fall of a brutal empeor which the Chinese believed haf lost the 'mandate of heaven'. And like the Han, the Tang were led by a powerful leader--T'ai Tsung. This is a major difference in the subsequent history beteen the West and East. The Roman Empire was never reconstructed in the West. The Chinese Empire was reconstituted in the East. The writ of the T'ang Emperors would eventually extend from the Caspian to the Pacific. The T'ang Dynasty oversaw a period of great prosperity and economic growth at a time that the West was mired in the Dark Ages. The first
Tang emperor was Kao-tsu/Gaozu (618-626), who had been urged on by his son T'ai Tsung who coninued the policies of his father. Together they continued many of the policies of the Sui, but with more of an eye for political legitimacy. The key to the success of the Tang was the economy. Land was assigned to peasant farmers who essentially owned it and benefitted from their harvests as long as they farmed it. Equal areas of land were assigned to each adult male, creating a strong base of support. The T'ang also introduced military innovations like settler soldiers.
The Tang created a reliable monetary system using copper coins and silk ribbons. Emperor Ko-tsu enacted a set of laws, revised every two decades, laying a foundation that spread throughout east Asia and endured into the Ming dynasty -- nearly a millenium. This made him one of the great law givers of history. A major asset was the Grand Canal which the Shu had just comleted. This linked northern and southern China (the Yellow and Yangste Rivers). This would be a major factor in cementing Chinese unity. The productive agricultural bounty of the south could be used to feed the north. And the Tang made use of the Grand Canal, taking measures to increase its efficency. The T'ang maintained a very competent civil service which made possible a highly efficent imperial beaureacracy.
Five feeble, short-lived dynasties repalaced the T'ang weakened by corruption and rebellion. They were replaced by the Sung Dynasty (960-1280-AD). The Sung are sometimes described as the Augustine Age of China. Writing and printing flourished and libraries appeared.
Genghis Khan, a Mongol leader from central Asia, overran northern China in the 12th century. The Mongols played an enormously important role in world history. Although a relatively small population, the Mongols established the most extensive empire in histoiry, streaching from Korea to Eastern Europe. Only the Japanese suceessfully defied the Mongols. The Mongols also conquered and influenced many of the major world powers, China, Russia, Persia, amd India. The Mongols defeated the Poles and were set to move into Western
Europe. Only the death of their great war leader, Geghis Khan prevented this.
Genghis' grandson, Kublai Khan (1280-94), established the Mongol (Yuan) dynasty in China. He established the largest empire ever created. His control reached from the Dnieper River in Russia to the Pacific Ocean and from the Arctic Ocean to the Straits of Malacca. Under the Mongols, law was codified and literature and public works flourished. For a brirf period there was commerce with Italy which was poised to enter the Reanaissance. Marco Polo and his two uncles then lived in the empire, in the service of the Khan, used paper money and passports, and traveled on the Grand Canal in China, at a time when paper money, passports, and canals were un-known in Europe. Commerce with the Arabs and Persians was continuous, and the highway into Europe was maintained until the Mongols in Central Asia embraced Islam. The Mongol dynasty, one of various foreign dynasties of China, ended in 1368, when the Mongol homeland withdrew obedience to a Mongol emperor at the distant court of Peking whom they had come to think of as Chunese in all but name and lacking in virility. A peasant revolt in the Yangtze valley further weakened the state.
The Ming were the last native Chinese imperial line. The founder, a former Buddhist priest, rose to power in a national reaction which followed the period of disorder due to the disintegration of the Mongol Empire under the successors of Kublai Khan. Under Ming rule Portuguese and Spanish tradees finally managed to round Africa and reach Asia by sea. These Europeans settled in various ports. Tongking (Tonkin) and Cochin China were added to the empire in the south, while in the north China was continually harrassed by the Tartars.
The Ming in 1643 employed the warlike Manchus from the northeast to defend China from the Central Asian Tatars. A Manchu prince established himself in Peking, and, in 1644, on the suicide of the last Ming emperor, took the imperial throne, founding the last royal dynasty of China. The first Manchu emperor, Shunzhi, only 1 year after bevoming emperor in 1645 ordered that pigtails (queues) should be worn in the style of the Manchu. This was seen as a sign of submission to Manchu rule. [Chang] The enforced adoption by the Chinese of the plaited queue of the Manchus at first produced friction between the two peoples, but this gradually disappeared, and Manchus and Chinese assumed harmonious relations, but the Manchus remained a destinct warrior and official class. The huge Chinese population and culture gradually engulfed the numerically small invaders who adopted Chinese language and culture. The Manchus conqured Mongolia and ruled Manchuria. The gratest Manch emperor was K'ang Hsi (1662-1722). He conquered Tibet. He promoted sciemce and the arts. The Central Asian states of Turkestan and Kashgaria were conquered by Ch'ien Lung (1736-96). Burma was penetrated and Cochin China and Korea were forced to pay tribute. After Ch'ien subsequent Machu emperors encountered increasingly difficulty suppressing rebellions. Chinese increasing tendency to turn inward and failure to pursue modern science and industry made it increasingly difficult to contend with the growing power of European nations intent on entering the China trade. The Manchus who found it difficult to descriminate among Europeans found it difficult to understand the national rivalries as well as the avarice of the Europeans. Trade florished even under restructions imposed by the Manchus. Europeans had difficulty, however, in delivering products of interest to the Chines, until the British and other foreign merchants i the 19th century began selling increasing quantities of opium which was illegal in China. The increasing tendency of Eurropean governments to intervene to protect their traders and the desire to maintain the lucrative opium trade led to Opium War which began in 1840. A naval task force by 1842 had forced China to make major concessions including ceeding Hong Kong as a British enclave. Other European powers also demanded similar enclaves. This generally took the form of areas of cities, but the French seized Tonkin expanding control of Indo-China (1884) and Japan which did embrace modern technology seized control of Korea (1894) and Taiwan (1895). Two elements emerged in China to contend with the Europeans. The first was traditionalist reactionary force inspired by the Empress Dowager Sheshe ( Tzu-hsi / Cixi ) to exterminate the foreigners. Nationalist reformers desiring to modernize China were persecuted. The Boxers with their primitives weapons and with them the Emperess Dowager were humiliated by a foreign military expediton (1900-01). Gradually the reformers grew in strength.
China's experiece in the 20th century was the most turbulant of any great power. China at the beginning of the 20th century wasa backward almpst medieval society. The 20th century in Chima began with the Boxer Rebellion (1900) which exposed the weakeness of decadent Manchu dynasty. The European rescue force and the reparations and concessions involved descredited the Manchus and led to the overthrow of the monarch (1912) and estanlishment of the Chinese Republic (1913). The Guomindang led by Chaing Kai-check fought a campaign with war lords to unify the country (1910s). After World War I a civil war broke out with the Communists (1920s). Japan invaded China in the 1930s. The Japanese first seized Manchuria (1931) and then attacked China proper (1937). Some historians consider the Sino-Japanese War to be the beginning of World War II. The Japanese waged a war un unbelievable brutality, occupying much of the country. No country suffered more in World War II than China. The losses were enormous, even greater than Soviet losses. The enormity of the Japanese crimes in China still cloud their bilateral relationship. The Japanese were, however, unable to defeat the Chinese. The war with Japan lasted until the Japanese surrendered to the Allies (1945). The Chinese Civil War began before the Japanese invasion and continued even longer, finally ending with the Communist victory (1949). The victory of the Communists meant massive social change. The Communists initiated radical reforms aimed at bringing China into the 20th century. Some efforts were effective, others caused imense sufferung. Millions of Chinese died in the famine resulting from Mao's Great Leap Forward. Developments in China in fact involve much more than the War and thus require separate treatment. The Cultural Revolution is a case in point. School children and youth were both at the front of the Cultural Revolution and greatly affected by it it. China after the Cultural Revolution embraced free-market economic reforms. Modern China has embraced economic market reforms (economic freedom), but has not yet moved toward political liberalization. China by the end of the century had the world's fastest growing economy. The Communist Party has, however, continued to limit free expression and maintains a party dictatorship.
Chun Chang, E-mail nessage (January 14, 2002).
Laufer, Berthold. (1912).
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
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[The 1920s]
[The 1930s]
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[The 1930s]
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