Chinese Dynasties

The Qing Dynasty also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, until the founding of the Republic of China in 1911.

Before the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, there was a regime called ´Latter Jin´ that had been set up by Nurhaci, leader of the Man Ethnic Minority. Actually, Man people were the offspring of the Jurchen people who had always been living in Northeast China. After reunifying all the Jurchen tribes, Nurhaci proclaimed himself emperor in 1616. Thus a new regime called Latter Jin was founded in Hetuala (in current Liaoning Province) during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644).

In 1636, Huang Taiji, son of Nurhaci moved the capital to Shenyang (currently the capital city of Liaoning Province) and changed the regime title into ´Qing´. He thus established the Qing Dynasty. In 1644 when peasant´s uprising leader Li Zicheng ended the Ming Dynasty and set up a new regime in Beijing, the Qing army seduced a general named Wu Sangui to rebel against Li Zicheng. With Wu´s help, the Qing army successfully captured Beijing and rooted their regime there.

Throughout the reigns of Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, the Qing reached its peak, displaying a period when the Manchus embraced Chinese cultural traditions and the court became a leading patron in the arts as China enjoyed an extended period of political stability and economic prosperity. This was known as the Kang Qian Sheng Shi (flourishing age from Kang to Qian, 1662-1759). During this period, Emperor Kangxi recaptured Taiwan and put down the rebellion of the Zhun Geer tribe. With a vast territory, the Qing gradually gained stability, which enabled a steady development of economy, culture, industry and commerce. And during the reign of Qianglong, the borders of China were expanded to their greatest extent ever. His reign was the time of the greatest prosperity during the Qing Dynasty.

Internal rebellions further weakened China. The Tai Ping Rebellion is one of the most famous. Other uprisings which greatly affected China were known as the Mohammedan risings, which were more separate events than uprisings connected to each other.

Finally, the Revolution of 1911 led by Sun Yat-sen broke out and overthrew the Qing Dynasty, bringing two thousand years of Chinese feudal monarchy to an end, and the Republic of China arose.

With a total of 16 emperors, the Ming Dynasty lasted 276 years, from 1368 to 1644.

In the late period of the Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368), a peasant´s uprising – Red Turban (army with red scarf in the head) uprising broke out. In 1352 when the rebel army captured Haozhou (currently Fengyang in Anhui Province), Zhu Yuanzhang, a local young man from a peasant family joined the army. After that, Zhu served with distinction in the battles. In 1356, Zhu led his army into the city of Jiqing (currently Nanjing in Jiangsu Province), changed the city name into Yingtian and established his own military base there. Through several years´ efforts, both the military and economical strength of Zhu´s army quickly became stronger. From 1360 to 1367, his army managed to eliminate the remaining separatist military forces. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang officially proclaimed himself emperor in Yingtian and founded the Ming Dynasty. In the same year, the Ming army captured Dadu (currently Beijing), the capital city of Yuan, ultimately ending the Yuan Dynasty.

After the founding of the new dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang implemented a series of policies to reduce the peasants´ burden and to resume the production of the whole society. On the other hand, he focused much attention on the punishment and prevention of corruption among court officials. Additionally, he sent his sons to supervise the local administration so as to strengthen his hold on imperial power. After Zhu Yuanzhang died, his grandson Zhu Yunwen took over the throne. However, his reign only lasted for four years, ending in a coup launched by Zhu Di, the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang. Hence, Zhu Di was Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, whose reign was considered as one of the most prosperous periods in the Ming Dynasty. During his reign, an unprecedented encyclopedia called Yongle Dadian was regarded as the biggest and earliest encyclopedia in the world. From 1405 to 1433, Emperor Chengzu sent a eunuch named Zhenghe to lead Ming´s fleets across the Indian Ocean. They visited many countries in Southeast Asia, expanding the influence of the Ming Dynasty in the world. Meanwhile, Emperor Chengzu began to construct an imperial palace from 1406 and moved the capital city from Yingtian to Beijing in 1421.

The golden age of the Ming Dynasty thrived under Emperor Chengzu´s reign, known as the Yongle period (circa 1402). During this period, foreign relations were further strengthened via Zheng He´s voyage to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. The Ming regime also strengthened its relations with ethnic minority groups, promoting the economic and cultural exchanges among different nationalities. Its jurisdiction extended to the inside and outside of the Hinggan Mountains, Tianshan Mountains and Tibet.

Throughout the Ming reign, arts and literature flourished. There was a great revival of traditional Han "Chinese" culture.

A great cultural development of the Ming Dynasty was that of the novel. These novels developed from the writings of Chinese story tellers. As a result, they were written in the everyday language, not the language of the nobility. Also, they were divided into chapters at the points where the storyteller would have stopped to collect money. Some of the best known novels of the Ming Dynasty are still read today. Wood-cut and block-printing of art also became more popular at this time. The main market for these prints came from the people who had recently moved into the cities from the country areas. Porcelain production and diversification occurred. Blue and white porcelain became the normal form, but experimentation in two color and even three color porcelain began. Encyclopedias were written containing important information from a variety of fields, such as geography, music and medicine. Dictionaries were also written; the one that had the most influence on the future was written in 1615 A.D. and reduced the number of signs for Chinese characters to 214, as opposed to the 540 plus signs of previous dictionaries.

Another accomplishment of the Ming was the building of the Great Wall. While Great Walls had been built in earlier times, most of what is seen today was either built or repaired by the Ming. The brick and granite work was enlarged, the watch towers were redesigned and cannons were placed along the wall.

The turning point of the Ming Dynasty from prosperity to decline was the reign of Emperor Shenzong. In the early period, under the wise assistance of a skillful chancellor, Zhang Juzheng, Emperor Shenzong made much improvement in the national economy, agriculture, water conservancy and military affairs. However, after the death of Zhang Juzheng, the emperor began to neglect state affairs. In his late reign, the Ming army was defeated by the leader of the so-called ´Latter Jin´ regime – Nurhachu in the Battle of Sarhu. Since then, the Ming court fell into a passive state in confrontation with the ´Latter Jin´ set up by Nuzhen ethnic minority.

The end of the Ming Dynasty started from the last emperor, Emperor Weizong´s reign – the reign went by the name Chongzhen. The crisis of the Ming Dynasty was caused by the corruption of the court officials and the domination of the eunuchs. In that period, both the exploitation from the ruling class and natural disasters in successive years caused the people to live in extreme hardship.  In 1628, dozens of rebel military forces launched battles in the northern area of Shaanxi Province. Among them, one of the leaders of the rebel army was named Li Zicheng, and he was deeply trusted and supported by most peasants. In 1644, Li Zicheng captured Xian and founded a new regime called Dashun. In the same year, Emperor Weizong hanged himself in Jingshan Hill of Beijing, signifying the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Since the late period of the 12th century, an ethnic minority group called Mongolian had grown up in the northern areas of China. In 1204, one of the leaders of the Mongolian tribes, Tie Muzhen, unified all the internal tribes. Two years later, Tie Muzhen was honored as Genghis Khan (meaning – the ruler of the world) and soon established the Mongolian Empire. Successively, it captured West Xia and the Jin Dynasty (1115 – 1234), after which the combative Mongolian army sent its military forces into Central Asia and Europe.

By the mid-thirteenth century, the Mongols had subjugated north China, Korea, and the Muslim kingdoms of Central Asia and had twice penetrated Europe. With the resources of his vast empire, Kublai Khan (1215-94), a grandson of Genghis Khan (1162-1227) and the supreme leader of all Mongol tribes, began his drive against the Southern Song. Even before the extinction of the Song dynasty, Kublai Khan had established the Yuan Dynasty(1279-1368).

The Mongols were culturally very different from the Chinese. This made ruling them very difficult. The Mongols and the Chinese spoke different languages, had a different form of dress and many different customs. These background differences proved impossible to overcome. Despite attempting to rule in a Chinese custom, the government of the Yuan Dynasty had virtually no Chinese. Mongols and other foreigners were given all government positions. The cultural gap resulted in lighter government than that of previous empires, punishments were much less severe. The Chinese nobility were better educated than the Mongol invaders and the best scholars refused to teach in government schools, rather they founded private academies. The Mongols did not succeed in censoring Chinese literature and drama or in providing intellectual or cultural leadership.

As the Chinese nobility were not allowed to be involved in government, they were free to pursue art and literature. Poetry, while being vastly popular, was not greatly improved upon. The greatest advances in literature were in the forms of theatre and opera. The theatre was a favorite form of entertainment for the emperors and for wealthy families. Educated people began to write librettos for the operas, however they wrote under pseudonyms because playwriting was not an occupation acceptable for scholars. Most of these operas, while their names are known, have been destroyed. Some of the most famous existing ones are The Story of Lute, The Story of the Orphan of Chao, The Romance, and the Western Chamber.

The Yuan regime can be roughly divided into three periods: the early, middle and late periods. The early period began from the reign of Kublai Khan, Yuan Emperor Shizu, until 1294. During this period rulers adopted laws from the Han nationality and set up political, economic and cultural systems that promoted social development.

The middle years (1307 to 1323) marked a period of decline. During this period, social conflicts and the competition for imperial power became intensified and included continuous uprisings all around the country. The New Deal carried out by Emperor Yingzong was like a flash in the pan, but it could not save the Yuan Dynasty from declining. Finally, the New Deal failed and Emperor Yingzong died an unnatural death.

From 1329 in the late-Yuan period, peasant uprisings accelerated the decline of the regime. Zhu Yuanzhang joined a peasant force and later took command to defeat other forces and rebuild the dynasty of the Han nationality, namely the Ming Dynasty.

Starting in 960 and ending in 1279, the Song Dynasty which followed the Period of the Five Dynasties and the Ten States and preceded the Yuan Dynasty in China consisted of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1126) and the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). With a prosperous economy and radiant culture, the Song Dynasty was considered as another period of ´golden age´ after the glorious Tang Dynasty (618 – 907).

The Northern Song was founded by Zhao Kuangyin, a military general in the Latter Zhou Dynasty (951 – 960). In 960, Zhao Kuangyin launched a mutiny in Chenqiao county (in current Henan Province).It was not long before the last king of the Latter Zhou was forced to abdicate. Thus a new dynasty – Song Dynasty was established in Kaifeng. In that period, most part of China´s territory was unified. However, in late Northern Song, the political corruption was serious and the regime began to decline. In 1127, the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Jin Dynasty (1115 – 1234).

The Southern Song Dynasty was set up by Zhao Gou, son of the last emperor of Northern Song. After Jin defeated the Northern Song, many imperial clansmen were captured by Jin´s army. Fortunately, Zhao Gou had a luck escape. In 1127, he fled to Nanjing Yingtianfu (in current Shangqiu of Henan Province) and established the Southern Song Dynasty there. Later, the capital city was moved to Lin´an (currently Hangzhou City in Zhejiang Province).The Southern Song´s regime was subject to the Jin Dynasty. Many patriotic generals were killed in the late period. In 1279, the army of the Yuan Dynasty captured Lin´an, putting the Southern Song to an end.

Arts, culture and economy

The founders of the Song dynasty built an effective centralized bureaucracy staffed with civilian scholar-officials. Regional military governors and their supporters were replaced by centrally appointed officials. This system of civilian rule led to a greater concentration of power in the emperor and his palace bureaucracy than had been achieved in the previous dynasties.

The Song dynasty is notable for the development of cities not only for administrative purposes but also as centers of trade, industry, and maritime commerce. The landed scholar-officials, sometimes collectively referred to as the gentry, lived in the provincial centers alongside the shopkeepers, artisans, and merchants. A new group of wealthy commoners – the mercantile class – arose as printing and education spread, private trade grew, and a market economy began to link the coastal provinces and the interior. Landholding and government employment were no longer the only means of gaining wealth and prestige.

Culturally, the Song refined many of the developments of the previous centuries. Included in these refinements were not only the Tang ideal of the universal man, who combined the qualities of scholar, poet, painter, and statesman, but also historical writings, painting, calligraphy, and hard-glazed porcelain. Song intellectuals sought answers to all philosophical and political questions in the Confucian Classics. This renewed interest in the Confucian ideals and society of ancient times coincided with the decline of Buddhism, which the Chinese regarded as foreign and offering few practical guidelines for the solution of political and other mundane problems.

The Song Neo-Confucian philosophers, finding a certain purity in the originality of the ancient classical texts, wrote commentaries on them. The most influential of these philosophers was Zhu Xi (1130-1200), whose synthesis of Confucian thought and Buddhist, Taoist, and other ideas became the official imperial ideology from late Song times to the late 19th century. As incorporated into the examination system, Zhu Xi´s philosophy evolved into a rigid official creed, which stressed the one-sided obligations of obedience and compliance of subject to ruler, child to father, wife to husband, and younger brother to elder brother. The effect was to inhibit the societal development of premodern China, resulting both in many generations of political, social, and spiritual stability and in a slowness of cultural and institutional change up to the 19th century. Neo-Confucian doctrines also came to play the dominant role in the intellectual life of Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.

Tang Dynasty followed Sui Dynasty and preceded the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms Period in China.From its establishment in 618 to its downfall in 907, the Tang Dynasty is the most prosperous dynasty in Chinese history.

Establishment

At the end of Sui Dynasty (581 – 618), the whole country fell into chaos due to the tyranny of Emperor Yang; rebellions roused by peasants were everywhere. The Li family belonged to the northwest military aristocracy prevalent during the reign of the Sui emperors. The mothers of both Emperor Yang of Sui and the founding emperor of Tang were sisters, making these two emperors of different dynasties first cousins. Resenting Emperor Yang´s ruling, the chief officer of Taiyuan – Li Yuan, who was also known as Tangguo Gong (a vassal in Sui Court) raised an army in Taiyuan from May 617. In November of the same year, Li Yuan´s army captured the capital city Chang´an (currently Xian) and put a new monarch, Yang You, on the throne as Emperor Gong. Meanwhile, Li Yuan proclaimed himself Da Chengxiang (prime minister) and Tang Wang (King of Tang). In 618 after Emperor Yang was killed by his chancellor, Yuwen Huaji, Li Yuan seized the chance to proclaim himself emperor and changed the state title into Tang, still with Chang´an as the capital city.

The Glorious Period

The first glorious period was from 627 to 649 when the Tang Dynasty was just set up and its national strength was recovering from the previous weak condition. Under Emperor Taizong Li Shimin´s wise governing, the national strength and social development of the Tang Dynasty reached an unparalleled prosperity – economy and commerce flourished, the social order was stable, corruption never existed in the court and the national boundaries were even open to foreign countries.

After Li Shimin died, the throne passed to his ninth son Li Zhi who was later crowned as Emperor Gaozong and married Li Shimin´s imperial concubine Wu Meiniang. Wu Meiniang was officially named Wu Zetian and afterwards became the empress. Actually it was Wu Zetian who had the real power during Emperor Gaozong´s reign since the emperor suffered from bad health. After Li Zhi died, Wu successively enthroned and dethroned her two sons – Li Xian and Li Dan. In 690, disregarding the objections and criticisms of all chancellors, Wu Zetian proclaimed herself Emperor Shengshen and established a new dynasty – Zhou, which lasted for 15 years. During her reign, the state economy continued to develop rapidly.

In 705, a coup broke out which brought one of the former emperors, Li Xian, to the throne as Emperor Zhongzong. However, Emperor Zhongzong´s ruling was manipulated by his wife, Empress Wei. In 710, plotting to be the second woman emperor, Empress Wei along with Princess Anle poisoned Zhongzong. At that time, Li Longji (son of Li Dan) launched a coup with the assistance of his parental aunt Princess Taiping, killing Empress Wei and Princess Anle. After that, Li Dan was crowned as Emperor Ruizong.

The second glorious period was during Emperor Xuanzong´s reign. In 712, Emperor Ruizong abdicated and Li Longji was enthroned as Emperor Xuanzong. Under his ruling, the national economy, politics and culture all developed rapidly and the social development entered a new heyday. In that period, Chang´an City was the largest and the most prosperous metropolis in the world. Since the title of Xuanzong´s reign was Kaiyuan, that period was called the Heyday of Kaiyuan, in which the Tang Dynasty reached its summit of prosperity.

Decline and Ruin

The late-Tang period fell into a political turmoil, with strife between the Niu Faction and Li Faction and eunuch monopoly. Continuous peasant uprisings culminated in Huang Chao´s uprising where Commander Zhu Wen turned his back on Huang and joined the Tang side. Later, Zhu deposed the Tang emperor and proclaimed himself emperor of the later Liang Dynasty, which ushered in the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten States.

Started from 581 and ended in 618, the Sui Dynasty lasted for only 38 years and had only three emperors.

At the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (386 – 589), the whole nation had undergone a long period of division. People who had endured sufferings of war were longing for the unification but neither the Northern Dynasties nor Southern Dynasties realized this goal.

In Northern Zhou Dynasty (557 – 581), Yang Jian, who was born to the noble class and was the Chengxiang (Prime Minister) of the last emperor, monopolized the political and military power and suppressed the separatist forces as well as some other royal forces. In 581, Yang Jian replaced Northern Zhou with Sui and proclaimed himself Emperor Wen. Thus the Sui Dynasty was founded, with Chang´an (currently Xian) the capital and Luoyang the auxiliary capital. In 589, the Sui Court defeated the last of the Southern Dynasties, Chen, and unified the whole nation.

The decline of the Sui Dynasty started from the second monarch, Emperor Yang, who was a typical tyrant. His reputation was that of a son who lacked respect for his parents, committed patricide and usurped the throne.

Emperor Yang led a luxurious and corrupt life. Upon gaining the throne, he employed two million laborers to build the second capital city of Luoyang and was even reputed to have cruised along the river in a large dragon ship, with thousands of ships following in attendance.

map of Sui Dynasty

Craving greatness and success, Emperor Yang also waged war against Gaoli (currently Korea). Both burdensome military service and heavy corvee labor forced peasants to leave their farmland. Later, famine was common and caused by the resulting desolation leaving all the countryside in extreme misery.

In 611, peasants from Mt. Changbaishan in Shandong began a rebellion. Before long, rebels from all over the country formed into several powerful groups. Among them, the main military force was called the Wagang Army which was led by Zhai Rang and Li Mi. The force captured the granary of the Sui Court and issued the food to the peasants.

As a result, the regime of the Sui Dynasty became rather unstable and in 618, when Emperor Yang was strangled by one of his subordinates, it completely collapsed.

With the tyrannical second emperor – Emperor Yang, the Sui Dynasty was often compared to the Qin Dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC). However, the whole nation was reunified and certain economic and political advances were achieved in the period.

Emperor Wen contributed a lot to Chinese history during this period, namely the reform of official systems. He abolished the six-officials system adopted by the Northern Zhou and replaced it with three departments and six boards — a system that was retained by the Tang and acquired by Japan during the reform. The Sui Emperor also implemented the system of imperial examinations to replace the Wei-Jin system, where local officials were selected based on the recommendation of prefects. This system was hailed as a great achievement that was more impartial and reasonable than the previous ones, enabling more talented people to assume official careers.

 
Sui Dynasty costumes

During the reign of Emperor Yang, the Grand Canal was constructed — a water transport artery that helped promote economic development and unify the country.

portraits of Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan (from left to right)

The Three Kingdoms period 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. In a strict academic sense it refers to the period between the foundation of the Wei in 220 and the conquest of the Wu by the Jin Dynasty in 280.

map of the Three Kingdoms

In 189 when Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han dynasty died, Liu Bian was put on the throne as Emperor Shao . Resenting the manipulation of eunuchs, two generals Yuan Shao and He Jin plotted to murder them. During the chaos caused by the fighting between the eunuchs and generals, Dong Zhuo, a treacherous court official of the Eastern Han drove his army into Luoyang. With full political power in his hand, Dong Zhuo dethroned Emperor Shao and put Emperor Xian on the throne. All Dong´s deeds aroused strong protest from the courtiers and many local officials. As the political situation became acute, a large-scale civil war finally broke out.

After Dong Zhuo invaded Luoyang, Cao Cao fled to Chenliu (currently southeast of Kaifeng in Henan Province) and began to assemble military forces to revolt. In 193, Dong was killed in a mutiny but the melee remained. This period of unrest continued until 196, Balkanized areas were formed among which the most two powerful ones were those of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

In 196, Cao Cao held Emperor Xian under duress and took this advantage to strengthen his military power. In 201, with comparatively weaker strength, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu after which he gradually unified the northern area of China. In 209, Cao Cao drove his troops to the southern area and captured Jingzhou. But when he wanted to expand his power further to the south, he was defeated by the allied forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan in the Battle of Red Cliff and thus he withdrew his army back to the central plains of China.

After Cao Cao´s death in 220, his eldest son Cao Pi, proclaimed himself Emperor of Wei, with Luoyang as his capital. The following year, Liu Bei declared himself Emperor of Han with Chengdu as his capital. In 222, Sun Quan called himself Emperor of Wu with the capital at Jianye(Nanjing at present). Three kingdoms– Wei, Shu and Wu– are known as the Three Kingdoms in Chinese history. On the whole, Wei occupied the north, Shu occupied the southwest and Wu occupied the southeast.

Upon the founding of the three kingdoms, rulers of each kingdom all committed to improve the way of ruling and develop their national economy. In the Kingdom of Wei, Cao Cao made many reforms to discard old policies inform previous dynasties. The Tun Tian (farming done by soldiers) System was also carried out, which greatly promoted the national productivity. In the Kingdom of Shu, Zhuge Liang set up strict social order and tried to govern the kingdom by law. With his assistance, Shu´s agriculture and handicraft industry developed rapidly. Additionally, Shu formed a friendly relationship with ethnic minorities in southwestern areas. In the Kingdom of Wu, the shipbuilding industry was much more prosperous. As for the national strength, the Kingdom of Wei ranked first, Wu second and Shu third.

artifacts of the Three Kingdoms

Throughout the Three Kingdoms Period, battles between the three countries were countless. Among those, battles between Shu and Wu fighting for Jingzhou, Shu and Wei fighting for Hanzhong as well as Wei defeating Shu were all illustrious ones in Chinese history.

Finally, the end of the Three Kingdoms Period started from the Sima Yan (son of Sima Yi and chancellor of Wei)´s usurpation of Wei and the establishment of the Jin Dynasty (265 – 420). In 282 when the Jin army conquered the last kingdom – Wu´s capital, the Three Kingdoms Period was ended.

 
Artifacts of the Three Kingdoms