China, one of the world’s most ancient
civilizations, has a recorded history of nearly 4,000 years.
Anthropologists working in Yuanmou, in Yunnan
Province, have uncovered the remains of China’s
earliest discovered hominid, “Yuanmou Man,” who
lived in this area approximately 1.7 million years ago.
“Peking Man,” who lived in Zhoukoudian, to the
southwest of modern Beijing 400,000 to 500,000 years ago,
had the basic characteristics of Homo Sapiens. Peking Man
walked upright, made and used simple tools, and knew how to
make fire. Man in China passed from primitive society to
slave society in the 21st century B.C., with the founding of
China’s first dynasty, that of the Xia. The subsequent
dynasties, the Shang (16th-11th century B.C.) and the
Western Zhou (11th century-770 B.C.) saw further development
of slave society. This era was followed by the Spring and
Autumn and Warring States periods (770-221 B.C.), marking
the transition from the slave society to feudal society.
China was one of the countries where economic
activity first developed. As early as 5,000 to 6,000 years
ago, people in the Yellow River valley had already started
farming and raising livestock. During the Shang Dynasty
(more than 3,000 years ago), people learned how to smelt
bronze and use iron tools. White pottery and glazed pottery
were produced. Silk production was well developed, and the
world’s first figured inlaid silk weaving technique
was being used. During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476
B.C.), steel production technologies appeared. During the
Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), Li Bing and his son
directed the construction of the Dujiang Dam near
present-day Chengdu in Sichuan Province. This brilliant
achievement in water conservancy made possible rationalized
irrigation supply, flood diversion and sand discharge, and
is still playing a tremendous role in this regard even
today. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States
periods, philosophy and other branches of scholarship were
unprecedentedly thriving, with the representatives of
various schools vying with each other in writing books to
discuss politics and analyze society. Hence the appearance
of a situation in which “a hundred schools of thought
contended.” Famous philosophers in this period
included Lao Zi, Confucius, Mo Zi and Sun Zi.
In 221 B.C., Ying Zheng, a man of great talent
and bold vision, ended the rivalry among the independent
principalities in the Warring States Period and established
the first centralized, unified, multi-ethnic state in
Chinese history under the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), and
called himself Shi Huang Di (First Emperor), historically
known as Qin Shi Huang, or First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty.
During his reign, Qin Shi Huang standardized the script,
currencies, and weights and measures, established the system
of prefectures and counties, and constructed the
world-renowned Great Wall as well as a large
palace, mausoleum and temporary regal lodges respectively in
Xianyang, Lishan and other places. The structures of these
places above the ground have long been destroyed, but the
objects underground are still there. The life-size
terracotta horses and armored warriors excavated from sites
near the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang are known as the
eighth wonder of the world, attracting swarms of
Chinese and foreign visitors every day. At the end of the
Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang, a peasant leader, overthrew the Qin
regime in cooperation with Xiang Yu, an aristocratic
general. A few years later, Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and
established the strong Han Dynasty in 206 B.C.
In the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220),
agriculture, handicrafts and commerce were well developed.
During the reign of Emperor Wudi (Liu Che, r. 140-87 B.C.),
the Han regime reached the period of its greatest
prosperity: The emperor conquered the Xiongnu nomads, and
sent Zhang Qian as envoy to the Western Regions (Central
Asia), and in the process pioneered the route known as the
“Silk Road” from the Han capital Chang’an
(today’s Xi’an, Shaanxi Province), through
Xinjiang and onward, finally reaching the east coast of the
Mediterranean Sea. Along the Silk Road, beautiful silk
products made in China were transported to the West in a
steady stream. In 33 B.C., Wang Zhaojun, a palace maiden,
was married to Huhanxie, chieftain of the Xiongnu, leaving a
moving story about marriage ties between the Han and the
Xiongnu. The multi-ethnic country became more consolidated.
The Han regime existed for a total of 426 years. It was
followed by the Three Kingdoms Period (220-265) of Wei, Shu
and Wu.
The most famous statesmen during the
Three Kingdoms Period were Cao Cao (155-220), Zhuge Liang
(181-234) and Sun Quan (182-252). Cao Cao was the founder of
the State of Wei. He collected people of talent from all
over the country, stationed troops in border areas to open
up wasteland, established military farms, and finally gained
control over the Yellow River valley. Zhuge Liang was the
prime minister of the State of Shu, and a symbol of wisdom
in ancient China. For many centuries, his lofty spirit of
“bending himself to the task and exerting himself to
the utmost till his dying days” has encouraged the
Chinese people. Sun Quan was the founder of the State of Wu.
He once allied with Liu Bei (161-223) to defeat Cao Cao at
the Red Cliff, and later inflicted a crushing defeat on Liu
Bei at Yiling. In addition, Sun Quan appointed officials in
charge of agriculture, and had garrison troops or peasants
open up wasteland and grow grain, thus promoting land
reclamation to the south of the Yangtze River. Stories about
them can be found in a novel called Three Kingdoms. (r.
626-649)
The Three Kingdoms Period was
followed by the Jin (265-420), the Southern and Northern
Dynasties (420-589), and the Sui Dynasty (581-618). In 618,
Li Yuan founded the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Later, Li Shimin
(r. 626-649), son of Li Yuan, ascended the throne as Emperor
Taizong, who was one of the greatest emperors in Chinese
history. Emperor Taizong adopted a series of policies known
as the Zhenguan reign period reforms, which pushed the
feudal society to the height of prosperity. Agriculture,
handicrafts and commerce flourished; technologies for
textile manufacture and dyeing, porcelain production,
smelting, metal casting and shipbuilding made great
progress. During this time, land and water transportation
was also fairly well developed, and economic and cultural
relations with Japan, Korea, India, Persia, Arabia and other
countries were extensive. After the Tang Dynasty, there came
the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960). In 960,
General Zhao Kuangyin of the Later Zhou Dynasty rose in
mutiny, and founded the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In 1206,
Genghis Khan unified all the tribes in Mongolia and founded
the Mongol Khanate. In 1271, his grandson, Kublai Khan,
conquered the Central Plain, founded the Yuan Dynasty
(1271-1368) and made Dadu (today’s Beijing) the
capital. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, handicraft
industry and domestic and foreign trade boomed. Many
merchants and travelers came from abroad. Marco Polo came
from Venice and traveled extensively in China, later
describing the country’s prosperity in his Travels.
The “four great inventions” of the Chinese
people in ancient times—paper making, printing, the
compass and gunpowder—were further developed in the
Song and Yuan dynasties, and introduced to foreign countries
during this time, making great contributions to world
civilization.
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang founded
the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in Nanjing, and reigned as
Emperor Taizu. When his son, and successor, Zhu Di, ascended
the throne, he started to build the palace, temples, city
walls and moat in Beijing. In 1421, he officially made
Beijing his capital. In the Ming Dynasty, remarkable
progress was made in agricultural production and
handicrafts, and toward the end of the dynasty, the
rudiments of capitalism appeared. In addition, there were
friendly contacts between China and other countries in Asia
and Africa.
In the late Ming Dynasty, the
Manchus in northeast China grew in strength. Under the
leadership of Nurhachi, the Manchus invaded the Central
Plain for three generations in succession, and finally
founded the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The two most famous
emperors of the Qing Dynasty were Emperor Kangxi (r.
1661-1772) and Emperor Qianlong (r. 1735-1796). The Kangxi
and Qianlong reign periods were known as the “times of
prosperity.” During Qing rule, some novels of high
artistic value were created, of which Cao Xueqin’s
Dream of Red Mansions is the best known. It describes the
decline of a prosperous feudal aristocratic family.
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