History of China

The History of China covers thousands of years. It covers many periods and dynasties. It may be divided into the following parts:

Hunting to farming

About a million years ago, living beings that were earlier forms of human beings had lived in China. These beings were called Homo erectus. Long after, about 65,000 years before, human beings (Homo sapiens) reached China from Africa. For food, they used to hunt wild animals. Then they also started to pick and to gather fruits. Then these ancient Chinese learnt farming.

Prehistory

Prehistory means history of a time before any written record. In such cases, it is very difficult to tell anything definite about the prehistory of China or any other country. Even then, historians believe some facts about the China of that period. By 5000 BC people had learnt farming. They had started cultivating millet, a type of grain, and possibly some more types of grains. By 2500 BC, Bronze Age has come to China. Ruling class with kings and queens had come into society.

Xia Dynasty

Some scholars think that about 4000 years ago, Xia dynasty ruled China. Xia was the first ruler of this dynasty. But, no one can say anything very definite about Xia and his time, and other rulers of his dynasty.

Ancient History

Shang Dynasty

From the time of the Shang Dynasty (13th century BC), some written history is available. Writings were done on Oracle Bones. Several such bones and shells have been found. Scholars believe that present day Henan was the last capital of kings of the Shang Dynasty. Henan was the last and the ninth capital.

Most of the Chinese historians of that time think that one dynasty came after another. But, it is possible that two dynasties were ruling in different parts of China at the same time. Therefore, some scholars think that Xia dynasty and Shang Dynasty may be ruling at the same time, but in different areas of China.

Zhou Dynasty

About 3000 years before, Zhou Dynasty defeated Shang dynasty, and came to power. They changed the capital from Henan to a place near present day Xi'an, near the Yellow River. The Zhou Dynasty also brought a new theory. This theory told the people that kings had the order of the gods to rule the country. Almost all dynasties of Chinese rulers continued to repeat this theory. The kings of this dynasty won many new areas. For the first time in the history of China, large number of persons also moved from one area to other area for settlement.

Spring and Autumn Period

Spring and Autumn Period is another period of history of China. The time was around 8th century BC. Zhou dynasty continued, but it lost its power. Many kings ruled different parts of China. China became like several small countries, each ruled by a different king. In some cases, a king ruled just a village with a small fort.

During this period of China, many new lines of thinking arose. Some of them still continue to be important. They are Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism (philosophy) and Mohism.

Warring States Period

Spring and Autumn Period continued for about 300 years. By the 5th century BC, only seven main Chinese rulers and states remained. They had taken over all the smaller areas. These states continued to fight each other. Historians call this period as Warring States Period due to wars and fights among these states. At last, a king named Ying Zheng united all the seven states. He made himself the Emperor of China and founded the Qin Dynasty.

Qin Dynasty

The Great Wall of China

Qin Dynasty was a very important dynasty in the history of China. They followed philosophy of Legalist. Their capital was at Xianyang (in modern Xi'an). Under the kings of this dynasty, China became a powerful country. Many new things were done for the first time. A tight legal system was followed. Written language was developed. Common currency was used. The building of the Great Wall of China was started.

Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty came to power in 202 BC. They followed the philosophy of Confucianism. Under this dynasty, china made much progress in arts and science. The empire also became larger and larger. China started trading with a number of other countries. Merchants used the Silk Road to reach China. The Han dynasty is important.

The Three Kingdoms

(220-280 AD), the Three Kingdoms period (traditional Chinese: 三國; simplified Chinese: 三国; pinyin: Sānguó) is a period in the history of China, part of an era of disunity called the Six Dynasties following immediately the loss of de facto power of the Han Dynasty emperors.

Kingdom Wu

Kingdom Wu(222-280 AD)is a country built by Sunquan in the third century. Jianye(Nanjing today) is the capital city.In 222AD, Sun became the king of Kingdom Wu and in April,229AD,he became the emperor.In 280AD, Kingdom was destroyed by Dynasty Jin.The three kingdoms period also terminated. The kingdom's economy was boosted quickly while Sunquan is the ruler of Kingdom Wu.At that time, many people escaped from other country because of war and famine.This increased the population of the kingdom and also improved the agriculture.Furthermore,Sun let people build a new canal across the kingdom.At that time,Kingdom Wu has mellow shipbuilding,foundry industry and porcelain manufacture.The textile industry of Kingdom Wu also began. The improvement of encomical boosted the improvement of culture of Kingdom Wu.Many scholar appeared,such as Yufan, Luji,Weizhao. Buddhism began spread in some area in Kingdom Wu,the influence of Daoism continued expanding. In 230AD,general Weiwen bring a big fleet to Yizhou(Taiwan today)and started to garrison there. In 280AD,Danasty Jin perished Kingdom Wu.Kingdom Wu became extinct.

Sui Dynasty

The Sui Dynasty (隋朝 Suí cháo; 581-618 AD) was founded by Emperor Wen, or Yang Jian. Its capital was Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). The dynasty is important because it reunited Southern and Northern China and the Grand Canal was build in that time.

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was founded by the Li (李) family, who came to power during the fall of the Sui Empire. The dynasty was interrupted for a short time by the Second Zhou Dynasty (16 October 690–3 March 705) when Empress Wu Zetian managed to claim the throne, becoming the first and only Chinese Empress.

The capital of the Tang, Chang'an (today Xi'an), was the biggest city in the world at the time. Many historians see the Tang dynasty as a high point in Chinese civilization and as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture.

Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty was first ruled by Genghis Khan, a Mongolian leader who took control from the Song Dynasty. He was considered a barbarian and not civilized. His grandson, Kublai Khan, was one of the most famous and liked rulers of the Yuan dynasty. He opened up China to many other cultures and improved life for the Chinese very much.

Ming Dynasty

In 1368, a rebellion led by Zhu Yuanzhang broke out in southern China, and eventually overthrew the Yuan Dynasty. Then Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty at Nanjing, its capital until Emperor Yongle changed the capital to Beijing. In the 15th century, a man named Zheng He took the majority of the Ming navy and explored the Indian Ocean, and brought wealth and power to the Ming Dynasty. The empire experienced a prosperous period until 1449, when the Battle of Tumu Fortress broke out. In the battle the Mongol descendants of Yuan captured the emperor and surrounded the capital. After the war with the Mongols, the Ming started to decline. During this time, the empire had two wars with the Japanese (the first against the Japanese pirates took place at southeastern China; the second against the armies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi that invaded Korea), and one war with the Portugese of Macao. These wars eventually weakened the declining empire. In 1616, rebellions broke out at Manchuria and Shanxi. Twenty-eight years later, the Manchus crossed the Great Wall, invaded the capital, and destroyed the Shanxi rebels.

Other pages

• Ancient China

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