History of China

China is the world's oldest continuous civilization, with written records dating back at least 3,500 years. Turtle shells with ancient Chinese writing reminiscent of those of the Shang dynasty have been found and dated to almost 9000 years old. This suggests that the origins of the Chinese civilization, starting first with city-states may be older than 10,000 years. Although 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization when China became a large kingdom or Empire. Successive dynasties developed systems of bureaucratic control, which gave the agrarian-based Chinese an advantage over neighboring nomadic and mountain-dwelling cultures. The forced imposition of a common system of writing by the Qin emperor (200 BC) and the development of a state ideology based on Confucianism (100 BC) strengthened the Chinese civilization. Politically, China alternated between periods of political union and disunion, and was occasionally conquered by external ethnicities, of which many were eventually assimilated into the Chinese identity. These cultural and political influences from many parts of Asia as well as successive waves of immigration and emigration merged to create the familiar image of Chinese culture and people today.

Ching Dynasty

The Ching Dynasty (清朝, 1644–1911) was founded after the defeat of the Ming, the last Han Chinese dynasty, by the Manchus, formerly known as the Jurchen, who invaded from the north in the late seventeenth century. For many decades, historians played down the differences between the Manchu rulers and their Chinese subjects. Even though the Manchus started out as alien conquerors, they quickly adopted the Confucian norms of traditional Chinese government, in effect becoming honorary Chinese as they ruled in the manner of traditional native dynasties.

Related Topics:
Ching Dynasty - 1644 - 1911 - Han Chinese - Manchu - Jurchen

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The Manchus antagonized the Han Chinese as a result of enforcing the 'queue order' forcing the Han Chinese to adopt the Manchu hairstyle (the pigtail) and Manchu-style clothing. During the 268 years of Manchu rule, numerous Chinese rebellions had occurred because of the strict rule of hair cutting. The Manchus had a special hair style: the infamous "queue". They cut hair off the front of their heads and made the remaining hair into a long pigtail. The penalty for not complying was death. The traditional Chinese clothing, or Hanfu was also replaced by Manchu-style clothing. Qipao (or Chinese dress ) and Tangzhuang, usually regarded as traditional Chinese clothing nowadays, are actually Manchu-style clothing.

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The Manchus edited and forged the history of the former dynasty, Ming Shi (History of the Ming Dynasty). One good example would be the claim that Zhang Xianzhong, who was killed in 1646, had made a stone monument entitled "seven killings". Manchu historians tried to cover up their slaughter of Sichuan Chinese as well as to legitimize Manchu rule over China. To be noted would be the dramatic population drop during the Ming–Ching dynastic transition: In 1620, the first year of Ming Emperor Guangzong's Taichang Era, China boasted a population of 51.66 million people, but in 1651, the eighth year of Ching Emperor Shizu's Shunzhi Era, China only had 10.63 million people. The conclusion is that China's brave men had fallen in martyrdom in the resistance to the Manchu invasion.

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To further suppress the Chinese intellectuals, Manchu emperors, like the Chianlong Emperor, resorted to "literary inquisition" for controlling the minds and thoughts of Chinese. Wen Zi Yu forbade political writings. Many people died from Wen Zi Yu without even having written anything politically provocative. The Manchu forbade the assembly of scholars or intellectuals into societies, and moreover advocated the "eight-part essay" as the format for imperial civil service exams.

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Emperor Kangxi commanded the most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever put together at the time, and under Emperor Chianlong, the compilation of a catalogue of the important works on Chinese culture was made. Tens of thousands of books viewed by Manchu emperors as politically unacceptable were destroyed when compiling the catalogue.

Related Topics:
Emperor Kangxi - The most complete dictionary - Emperor Chianlong

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The Manchu also adopted predatory methods of land deprivation. They set up the Eight Banners system in an attempt to avoid the possibility of being assimilated into Chinese society. Eight Banners were military institutions set up to provide a structure with which the Manchu 'bannermen' were meant to identify. Banner membership was to be based on traditional Manchu skills such as archery, horsemanship, and frugality. In addition, they were encouraged to use the Manchu language, rather than Chinese. Bannermen were given economic and legal privileges in Chinese cities, meaning that they could often avoid working because they had an 'iron rice bowl of privilege'.

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Over the next half-century, the Manchus consolidated control of some areas originally under the Ming, including Yunnan, and further stretched their sphere of influence over Xinjiang, Tibet and Mongolia.

Related Topics:
Yunnan - Xinjiang - Tibet - Mongolia

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During the 19th century, Ching control weakened. China suffered massive social strife, economic stagnation, explosive population growth, and Western penetration and influence. Britain's desire to continue its illegal opium trade with China collided with imperial edicts prohibiting the addictive drug, and the First Opium War erupted in 1840. China lost the war; subsequently, Britain and other Western powers, including the United States, forcibly occupied "concessions" and gained special commercial privileges. Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking. In addition, the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) and the Nian Rebellion

Related Topics:
19th century - First Opium War - 1840 - Hong Kong - Britain - 1842 - Treaty of Nanking - Taiping Rebellion - 1851 - 1864 - Nian Rebellion

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The 2 opium wars and the opium trade were costly outcomes for the Chinese not just in monetary terms but also social cost.The Manchu Imperial treasury had declared bankrupt twice due to indemities incurred in Opium wars and large outflow of silver due to opium trade(in terms of tens of billions ounces). China's wealth was, in this case, simply sucked dry. Subsequently China suffered two extreme famines exactly twenty years after each opium war in 1860s and 1880s, and the Manchu imperial authority literally left the general population to fend for themselves, even at the time of the Taiping insurrection in 1860s. In such extent, whole countryside was devoid of vegetation, and widespread cannibalism had been reported. Socially it had been crippling. Of the 400 million population in China then, 300 million were children and the remaining 100 million were adults. One third of these adults were serious opium addicts. With this in mind, the pressure on the remaining (67 million) sober adults, having to support the whole Chinese population, was immense. As result, the country was in a semi-anarchy.

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This situation had been far-reaching for the generations that followed and until now. China remains poor and has never fully recovered from such a purge. A sizable outflow of able-bodied population left China to look for living. Some returned and some settled down in variable extent notably in Europe, North Amercia and Southeast Asia. These people are the ancestors of most of the 40 million oversea Chinese (Chinese that live outside China) today.

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(捻軍起義) (1853-1868), along with Russian-supported Muslim separatist movements in Gansu province and Chinese Turkestan (i.e. Xinjiang province), drained Chinese resources and almost toppled the dynasty. Indeed the largest rebellion, the Taiping Rebellion, involved around a third of China falling under control of the Taiping Tianguo ruled by the "Heavenly King" Hong Xiuquan. Only after almost fourteen years were the Taipings finally crushed - the Taiping army was destroyed in the Third Battle of Nanking in 1864. In total between twenty million and fifty million lives had been lost, making it the second deadliest war in human history, only surpassed by the Second World War. Imperial unity and strength was seriously impacted and the decline of the Qing Dynasty towards terminal collapse was inevitable.

Related Topics:
1853 - 1868 - Gansu - Turkestan - Xinjiang - Taiping Rebellion - Third Battle of Nanking - 1864

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China's problems were compounded by the Manchus' policy of suppressing Han Chinese. Manchu officials were slow to adopt modernity and suspicious of social and technological advances which they viewed as a threat to their absolute control over China. (Gunpowder was widely used by the army of the Song and Ming Dynasty and then forbidden by the Manchu rulers after they took over China.) Therefore, the dynasty was ill-equipped to handle Western encroachment. Western powers did intervene militarily to quell domestic chaos, such as the horrific Taiping Rebellion and the anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion. General Gordon, later killed in the siege of Khartoum, was often credited with having saved the Manchu dynasty from the Taiping insurrection.

Related Topics:
Boxer Rebellion - General Gordon - Khartoum

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By the 1860s, the Ching Dynasty had put down the rebellions at enormous cost and loss of life. Further, the suppression of the rebellions was achieved chiefly by armies commanded or advised by western leaders -- thus undermining the credibility of the Ching regime -- and by local initiatives spearheaded by provincial leaders and gentry, that decentralized authority within the Empire and helped contribute to the rise of warlordism in China. The Ching Dynasty then proceeded to deal with problem of modernization, through the Self-Strengthening Movement. However, the Empress Dowager, with the help of conservatives, initiated a military coup, effectively removed the young Emperor from power, and overturned most of the more radical reforms. Official corruption, cynicism, and imperial family quarrels made most of the military reforms useless. Some of China's new battleships didn't even have gunpowder, because the officials in charge had embezzled the maintenance money, and a huge amount of the capital had been spent to construct the Summer Palace, Yiheyuan. As a result, the Ching's "New Armies" were soundly defeated in the Sino-French War (1883-1885) and the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895).

Related Topics:
1860s - Self-Strengthening Movement - Yiheyuan - New Armies - Sino-French War (1883-1885) - Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)

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After the start of the 20th century, the Ching Dynasty was in shambles. Corruption was rampant and population growth had impoverished the people. The Ching court was dominated by Empress Dowager Cixi, a conservative figure who resisted most efforts at reform. The reformist Emperor Guangxu died one day before the death of Cixi (some believe Guangxu was poisoned by Cixi).

Related Topics:
20th century - Empress Dowager Cixi - Emperor Guangxu

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