The History of Ancient Chinese Dynasties - Term Paper Example

THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT CHINESE DYNASTIES 2006 THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT CHINESE DYNASTIES Traditional Chinese historiography divides the country's history into periods defined by dynasties and so indicates these divisions as dynastic cycles. The first dynasty is dated by about 2100 - 1600 BC and was called the Xia dynasty. But most of the historians believed that it was the mythical dynasty, the first written documented evidence related to the Shang dynasty (1600 - 1066 BC). The capital of this dynasty was situated at Anyang not far from Henan and it ruled parts of northern and central China. It was agricultural dynasty and also people were engaged in breeding silkworms, pigs, sheep and oxen. From the archeological discoveries we know that in Shang dynasty people had already known about metallurgy (Gascoigne, 2000: 41). Shang society was based on aristocrats with a king on the head. He had a centralized power and also was military supreme. The religion at that time was paganism and was based on ancestor worship. People were in resentment by his ruling but the king of the rival Zhou kingdom that was a part of Shang kingdom killed him. So Zhou became the ruling dynasty (1066 - 256 BC) and that was the period of extension of the Chinese civilization. The territory that dynasty's leaders had to cover was very large so due to the poor means of communication so they had to appoint people to oversee each territory and at that time this territories began to shape into cities. The lords of the territories received their titles through inheritance. As Shang dynasty Zhou dynasty was also agricultural country. The religion was paganism. The main god was god of heaven Shang Ti that at that time was called T'ien. The rulers of Zhou dynasty believed that they got their power to rule from heaven (Robert, 1999). In 770 BC the Zhou kings lost their territories that they had accredited to their lords. The lords rebelled and defeated the capital. The new capital was formed in the farther East and the period of Eastern Zhou began. The territories became more powerful and there was economical growth even through the continuous war between the territories. This was also the time when China entered the Iron Age that had a great influence on the people life and also it helped to enhance state power. Also at the period of Eastern Zhou is famous because then was a golden age of Chinese philosophy. The most famous philosopher of that period is Confucius (Morton and Lewes, 2004: 51). From the 4th century BC the state of Qin began to accumulate power and to reform its administration, economy and military. It grows stronger at the same time when Zhou kingdom weakened and died. Soon Qin conquered seven warring states and became the ruling dynasty (221 - 206 BC). The Qin dynasty was that one that put the beginning to China. The emperor wanted to conquer the warring states and he succeeded, so China became the united state. Also emperor pronounced himself as the first emperor of China or Shih Huang Ti. The first emperor unified China, standardized writing, weights, and measures throughout his kingdom. At this period was built the Great Wall of China. By this time the emperor became old and after the wrong treatment had died. Then followed the rebellion against the Qin dynasty that lead to the next dynasty the Han (221 - 206 AD). Liu Pang, took the control of the former Qin empire. He proclaimed himself emperor in 206 BC. He established the Han dynasty which would become the most durable dynasty of the imperial age. The Han Empire used all achievements of Qin dynasty and also modified politics. The Han Empire reached the peak of its development during the emperor Wu Ti (140 - 87 BC). He wanted to expand his kingdom but his reforms led to the revolt (Gascoigne, 2000: 73). During a revolt Wang Ming - a courtier, deposed emperor and established short Xin dynasty. At this period slavery was abolished and he tried to rearrange land politics but it caused a large rebellion during which the emperor was killed the Han dynasty was restored. The weakness of the administration had bad influence on the Later (Eastern) Han dynasty (25 - 220 AD) from the every beginning. As it was under the Earlier Han dynasty, the central government was weakened by infant emperors' mothers being appointed to leadership roles. Between 168 and 170 warfare exploded between the eunuchs and bureaucrats. The end of the Han dynasty was marked by separation of the big families of this dynasty and a lot of new dynasties were established that period. Three separated kingdoms were founded Wei Dynasty (220 AD - 265 AD), Shu Dynasty (221 AD - 263 AD), Wu Dynasty (222 AD - 280 AD). These kingdoms were in constant war with each other. As Han dynasty had conquered many non-Chinese tribes in 534 AD they attacked and captured Northern China (Gascoigne, 2000: 81). At the times of Sui dynasty (581 - 618 AD) the Chinese empire was reunited and the territory returned. Even though the Sui Dynasty was very short, it was filled with activity. The fall of this dynasty was caused by losses in southern Manchuria and Northern Korea. Then was a period of Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) and Northern Sung dynasty followed it. The Northern Sung dynasty (969 - 1126) brought its own changes into the governing of the imperia. Military of this dynasty was not strong. And there was not full agreement in opinions between the civil bureaucrats and this led to the falling of the dynasty. And because of its weakness Sung dynasty decided to make an alliance with Ching dynasty (1122-1234) of northern Manchuria. But it was not a reliable ally and soon they turned on the Sung. This made the Sung to retreat and to form a new capital in the South in 1135. The new Sung dynasty exceeded the old one in the development of economics. The fall began at 1206 when Mongol tribes began to conquer the surrounding territories. First Genghis Khan captured the Manchurian Chin dynasty and only in 1279 his grandson Kublai Khan took control over the Southern Sung dynasty (Robert, 1999). The Mongolian dynasty tried to rule China as if they were Chinese: they even adopted the Chinese name Yuan. At this time external connections were very developed. In the 1360s the growing of discontent started in every province of China and Chu Yuan-Chang was successful in exerting control throughout the Yellow River Valley. In 1371, Chu pushed the Mongols back into Mongolia. He was the founder of Ming dynasty and re-asserted the Chinese government. He had repaired the Grand Wall and the Great Canal. The power of Ming was great and it began to fall down in 15th century when eunuchs began to take control above the emperors that caused great discontent among bureaucrats (Morton and Lewes, 2004: 126). The downfall of the Ming dynasty was brought by a revolt that was caused by inability of the government to supply people with food when was the period of famine and when rebels attacked the Ming troops they were not able to accept the battle because much of them were defeated the Great Wall against Mongols. So at this time the Manchu or Qing dynasty established its ruling (1644-1912) and the China reached the highest point in its history. The Manchus began to absorb Chinese culture and the government was based on the Ming and was more centralized. The Manchu dynasty eventually controlled Manchuria, Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet. Even Nepalm Burma, Korea, and Vietnam recognized China as a major power. In 18th century was peacetime and was developed trade with the West (Gascoigne, 2000: 145). The literature on Chinese history is abundant: there is hardly any other Asian country that won as much attention from the researchers as China did. The history of Chinese dynasties is unalienable part of the country's past and bloodlines of Chinese rulers are also well explored. Some of the dynasties were successful and ruled for centuries; some remained at power for several years only. Normally, the dynasties declined for one reason: a wise and able ruler had successors whom failed to maintain the power and high standards of ruling. WORKS CITED Robert, J. A Concise History of China. Harvard University Press, 1999 Gascoigne, B. The Dynasties of China: A History. Cambridge University Press, 2000 Morton, S., and Lewes, C. China: It's History and Culture, McGraw Hill 2004 Read More