From at least 1766BC
to this century, China was ruled by dynasties. A dynasty is a ruling
family
that passes control from one generation to the next. One dynasty
lasted more than 800 years, while another lasted only fifteen years.
The Chinese people supported their rulers because of what they called
the Mandate of Heaven. The ancient Chinese believed their ancestors
in heaven had chosen their leaders. The people would rebel against
a weak leader because they believed he had lost the Mandate of Heaven.
The Shang was the first dynasty to
leave written records. The Shang rulers expanded the borders of
their kingdom to include all of the land between 
Mongolia
and the Pacific Ocean. The Shang practiced human sacrifice. If a
king died, many of his slaves would join him in the grave. Some
were beheaded first, others were buried alive. The Shang also developed
a lunar calendar consisting of twelve months of 30 days each. When
a Shang king died, his next oldest brother replaced him. When there
were no brothers, the oldest maternal nephew became king.
The Chou were nomads who lived west
of the Shang. They overthrew the Shang and ruled China from 1122BC
to 253BC. The Chou learned how to extract
iron from rocks and they used the metal to create powerful weapons.
The Chou developed a feudal system
in China. The rulers appointed nobles to divide land into smaller
units for families. The families were loyal to the nobles and the
nobles were loyal to the Chou rulers. The Chou rulers taxed their
subjects, but they used the money well. They built huge walls around
their cities to defend them from nomadic warriors. They also built
roads, irrigation systems, and dams.
The Chou dynasty ended slowly as
nobles became more powerful. The period that followed became known
as the Age of Warring States. It was during this period that a great
teacher named Confucius tried to develop good government. Eventually,
the Ch'in state managed to unify China by 221BC.
A group known as the Legalists influenced the Ch'in Dynasty. The
Ch'in rulers clearly explained and strictly enforced laws. They
standardized weights and measures and carried out irrigation projects.
They also gave peasant farmers the land they lived on. The West
first learned of China during the Chi'in dynasty. It is from Ch'in
that we get the word China.
China grew into a powerful empire
during the Han Dynasty, between 202BC and
AD220. Scholars trained in the teachings
of Confucius ran the government with great skill. During the
Han Dynasty, the Chinese invented paper, writers recorded the history
of their land, and the Chinese first learned of Buddhism.
The last Chinese dynasty to rule
came from Manchuria, in northeast China. The Manchus were unable
to stop other nations from interfering with China. The British defeated
China in the Opium Wars. They seized Hong Kong, but more importantly,
the British forced the government to allow them to sell a dangerous
drug called opium to the Chinese people. Japan seized the island
of Formosa, which later became known as Taiwan. By the turn of the
century, foreigners had overrun China. Parts of China were ruled
by the British, French, American, German, Russian, and Japanese
forces. The Chinese people believed that the Manchus had lost the
Mandate of Heaven. They began to support a group known as the Nationalists,
who pledged to free China from foreign rule. The Nationalists had
driven out the last of the Manchu rulers, a six year old boy, by
1911.
|
Hsia
c.
2200-1766BC
|
Most historians
believed the Hsia to be a mythical dynasty, but recent archaeological
findings have verified their existence.
|
|
Shang
1766- c.1040BC
|
Excavations have
confirmed descriptions in ancient Chinese literature of a
highly developed culture. The Shang Dynasty was distinguished
by an aristocratic government, great artistry in bronze, a
writing system still in use today, an agricultural economy,
and armies of thousands whose commanders rode in chariots.
|
|
Chou
c.1040BC-
256BC
|
The semi-nomadic
Chou people from northwestern China overthrew the Shang king.
The Chou court developed a feudal society in China.
|
|
Ch’in
221BC-206BC
|
The Legalists strengthened
state power and control over the people. Weights and measures,
and the Chinese writing system were unified. Chinese defenses
were strengthened by creating the Great Wall.
|
|
Han
206BC-AD220
|
The Han Dynasty
is often compared to the Roman Empire. It is considered the
"Golden Age of Chinese History." Today the Chinese
word for Chinese person means "a man of Han."
|
|
Sui
589-618
|
The Sui, Tang
and Song Dynasties were quite similar. The short-lived Sui
dynasty reunified China after four hundred years of fragmentation.
|
|
Tang
960-1279
|
Li Yuan was a
Sui general who founded the Tang Dynasty, the largest, wealthiest,
and most populous in the world at that time. The Tang based
their laws on based on Confucian thought.
|
|
Song
1279-1368
|
The Song Dynasty
continued the flowering of Chinese culture.
|
|
Yuan
(Mongol)
1279-1368
|
Kublai Khan established
the Yuan Dynasty after his Mongol tribes defeated China. The
Yuan encouraged Europeans to travel overland to China; Marco
Polo was the most famous of the early Europeans to make the
journey.
|
|
Ming
1368-1644
|
Founded by a Buddhist
monk who led a peasant army to victory over the Mongols.
|
|
Qing
(Manchu)
1644-1911
|
Founded by conquerors
from Manchuria in 1644, the Qing was the last imperial dynasty
of China. When it was overthrown in 1911, China became a republic.
|
