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.

Han Dynasty: A period of prosperity

The Han Dynasty (漢朝) emerged in 202 BC; it was the first dynasty to embrace Confucianism, which became the ideological underpinning of all regimes until the end of imperial China. Under the Han Dynasty, the Chinese civilization made great advances in historiography, arts and science. Emperor Wu of Han China (Han Wudi) consolidated and extended the Chinese empire by pushing back the Xiongnu (sometimes identified with the Huns) into the steppes of modern Inner Mongolia and wrested the modern areas of Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai from the Xiongnu; this enabled the first opening of trading connections between China and the occident: the Silk Road.

Related Topics:
Han Dynasty - 202 BC - Confucianism - Emperor Wu of Han China - Xiongnu - Huns - Inner Mongolia - Gansu - Ningxia - Qinghai - Occident - Silk Road

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Nevertheless land acquisitions by elite families had gradually drained the tax base. In AD 9 the usurper Wang Mang founded the short-lived Xin ("New") Dynasty and started an extensive program of land reform and innovative monetary and economic reforms. These programs, however, were never supported by land-holding families; and, though they favored the peasant and lesser gentry, the instability they produced brought on chaos and uprisings. Emperor Guangwu reinstated the Han Dynasty with the support of land-holding and merchant families at Luoyang, east of Xi'an; hence the new era is termed the Eastern Han Dynasty (東漢朝). Han power declined again in the midst of land acquisitions, invasions and struggles of consort clans and eunuchs. The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184, ushering in an era of warlords. In the ensuing turmoil, three states tried to gain predominance in the Period of the Three Kingdoms (三国), a time that has since been greatly romanticized in works such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Related Topics:
AD 9 - Wang Mang - Emperor Guangwu - Luoyang - Xi'an - Eastern Han Dynasty - Consort clan - Eunuch - Yellow Turban Rebellion - 184 - Warlords - Three Kingdoms - Romance of the Three Kingdoms

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References

• de Crespigny, Rafe. 1977. The Ch’iang Barbarians and the Empire of Han: A Study in Frontier Policy. Papers on Far Eastern History 16, Australian National University. Canberra.
• de Crespigny, Rafe. 1984. Northern Frontier. The Policies and Strategies of the Later Han Empire. Rafe de Crespigny. 1984. Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University. Canberra.
• de Crespigny, Rafe. 1989. "South China under the Later Han Dynasty" (Chapter One from Generals of the South: the Foundation and early history of the Three Kingdoms state of Wu by Rafe de Crespigny, in Asian Studies Monographs, New Series No. 16 Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra 1989)http://www.anu.edu.au/asianstudies/south_china.html
• de Crespigny, Rafe. 1996. "Later Han Military Administration: An Outline of the Military Administration of the Later Han Empire." Rafe de Crespigny. Based on the Introduction to Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling being the Chronicle of Later Han for the years 189 to 220 AD as recorded in Chapters 59 to 69 of the Zizhi tongjian of Sima Guang, translated and annotated by Rafe de Crespigny and originally published in the Asian Studies Monographs, New Series No. 21, Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra 1996. http://www.anu.edu.au/asianstudies/decrespigny/mil_org.html
• Dubs, Homer H. 1938. The History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku. Vol. One. Baltimore. Waverly Press, Inc.
• Dubs, Homer H. 1944. The History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku. Vol. Two. Baltimore. Waverly Press, Inc.
• Dubs, Homer H. 1955. The History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku. Vol. Three. Ithaca, New York. Spoken Languages Services, Inc.
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. Draft annotated English translation.http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/texts/hhshu/hou_han_shu.html
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html
• Hirth, Friedrich. 1875. China and the Roman Orient. Shanghai and Hong Kong. Unchanged reprint. Chicago, Ares Publishers, 1975.
• Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
• Twitchett, Denis and Loewe, Michael, eds. 1986. The Cambridge History of China. Volume I. The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220. Cambridge University Press.