The Story of China 1 Ancestors

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-It is believed that Xia dynasty was the first dynasty which ruled china,although
there are no written records of it.

-Worshipping of ancestors is a recurring theme in chinese history. The emperors

were believed to be having divine knowledge and talking to their ancestors. The
emperors did rituals and human sacrifices praying the ancestors for rain,prosperity
etc. In the bones of the dead, they used to write about the rituals.

-Family values are very important for the Chinese.

They believe that a harmonious society is created out of a harmonious family.
-The ancestors are buried in tombs and the current generation goes to worship them.
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The chinese script is very similar to the scripts found in their archeological
discoveries and they are the only culture in the world which knows its roots
distinctively.

-There are recurring themes of ruling the kingdom according to the arrangement of
stars in ancient china.

-Early chinese believed that their rulers should protect their people,by keeping
harmony with the order of heaven.
-The kings were believed to be the recipients of the "mandate of heaven"
. and the society was supposed to be ruled according to the mandate received by the
king from heaven.

-There was focus on the rulers being virtuous,king protecting their subjects,and
observance of the heavens and rule of society according to the heavens.

The last shang king in 1059 BC offered himself as sacrifice when he recieved the
mandate from heaven that he would be overthrown.

-Daoism is the china's oldest religion.

-Daoism was inherited from the Xia,Shang and Zhou dynasties

-Confucius was born in China in 551 BC .when there were many states fighting each
other,divided among themselves.
At that time,all over the world there were different schools of thought.
And there were hundred schools of thought in China itself.

- He was born in the state of Lu.

-He influenced the society of China in a big way, and united the warring clans.

-He advocated humaneness, benevolence, ritual worships, worship of family

traditions

-He said to govern people by virtue not by law.

-It was after his death that his teachings were accepted.

-in 221 BC, Qin dynasty started its rule in China

The first emperor of Qin dynasty was Qin Shi Huang Di

The Qin name, from which China is derived,is now used to refer to that country.

-Qin unified the 7 warring clans of that period,brought about poilitcal reforms
which reduced power of the aristocrats.

This brought direct control of large labour force of peasants under the king.

The Great Wall of China was built by them during this period.

The imperial system started by Qin dynasty continued till 1912.

He started a coinage system,started weights and measures

-Han dynasty followed the Qin dynasty

-Liu Bang was the first ruler of Han dynasty

Majority of Chinese people belong to the Han dynasty

The story of China 2 Silk Roads and China Ships

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Xian - Capital of the Tong Dynasty

-Tong Dynasty

Silk road is a series of roads which connected China to India and mediterranean
during the Tong dynasty

Huien Tsang

Buddhism impacted Tang dynasty a lot

Chinese called Silk Road as the road carrying the jewel of truth.

-Legend has it that the empress had a dream that buddha will come along the silk
road. the empress sent messengers who reached a buddhist monastery in afghanistan
and convinced 2 buddhist monks to come along with them. They came and reached a
place in Tang dynasty and established a buddhist monastery

-600 AD Hsiuen Tsang was born. HE was inspired by the 2 buddhist masters and wanted
to know about the land of their origins.

So he left in secret for india

He travelled with buddhist pilgrims down the river ganges.

He reached Bodh Gaya and the sacred Bodhi tree

"When i saw it, i say on the ground and shed many tears" said Xuan zang or Huein
tsang

He stayedd for 10 years in india

He returned back to China in 643 AD

-Lots of people came to see him and meet him.

He brought a lot of buddhist scriptures to China,written in pali.

He brought 657 books ,520 packages of scriptures.
Tai Zong , a tang ruler , himself a learned man and confucius follower, ordered him
to translate the scriptures to chinese.

The emperor said that "the scriptures of buddhism are as unfathomable depths of the
sea or the height of the sky.In comparison the teachings of confucius and Lao Tzu
or the nine schools are just _____ in a great ocean"

he spent 17 years translating the scriptures.

the house of white pagoda was built to house the scriptures he brought back from
india

During this time there is an introduction of civil service exams and development of
beuraucracy

Tong's reign was called Golden Age of China's history

The modern idea of greater china started in his time

Beginning of trading cities started during this time. The south china was developed
into strong trading centers

There were lakhs of ships plying along the grand canal and yellow river

The grand canal was built during this time which helped the trade enormously

to help transport goods through ships

In 7th century AD the economy was booming. the grand canal shipped 165 thousand
tonnes of grain each year to feed the new garrisons in the south.

Japan was also influenced by China .Nara , the capital had an architecture very
similar to that of China

Prophet muhammad had died , and one year had passed when xuan tzang came to china.

He had told his followers to "seek knowledge as far as china"

In 638 AD , a monument which commemorated the coming of a luminous religion from

the west,which was christianity
A man came from Persia , carrying the knowledge of christianity. Its teachings were
translated into chinese in the imperial court

In the next century,

There were many battles. ON the north they were fighting against the troops coming
from beyond the great wall of china.

In the west they were fighting the muslims expanding from the caliphate empire.

Finally they had to let go of the western part to the caliphates.

There were rebellions in the central govt by 2 generals at the same time.

So the stationed troops who were fighting the caliphs in the west were made to
return back to the kingdom to fight the generals.

The govt of Tang dynasty broke down

9th century was a time of famines and more rebellions

The Story of China 3 The golden age

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In 10th century, china almost broke apart in civil war

Tong dynasty was overthrown

In 960 AD Song Dynasty began

A man named Chen Twang fled the settlement for meditation and acquired prophetic
powers.
When he returned to a city KaiFeng, he saw a refugee couple carrying two baby boys.
When he say the baby boys he saw the dragon in them. He laughed and exclaimed that
i didnot expect that the dragons will come so soon.

So he found the twin dragons,who were two brothers.

Thhe older brother found the tong dynasty in 960 AD , by building extensively in a
new area of land.

the Song dynasty focussed on developing food cuisines. Most of today's chinese
cuisine developed during that time.

They inculcated the culture of eating etiquette among the people.

They prepared cook books of their recipes at that time.

Scientific exploration expanded a lot during the song dynasty rule

Gunpowder, MEtallic compass, Theory of evolution, Theory of geological time, Blast

furnace
etc were invented

Daoism and Buddhism were the main religions of Song dynasty

The Song, like the Tong dynasty had many muslim,jews and christian people

The population doubled under the Song dynasty. The population reached 200 million
at the end of 1200

A form of football was played during the Song dynasty,in which there were multiple
goal posts.

Social reforms were brought upon during that time.

In 1069, a university was developed during Song rule. The educataion system helped
the students develop strong character with strong confucian values. Students from
all classes of the society were encouraged to study, with incentives.

The university had hostels for students to stay.

The capacity of the university was 3000

In 1127 the seize of Kai Feng began with the invaders from the north.

The emperor Hui Jong and other members of his court were taken to the north where
they died in prison.

Millions of people fled the city.

In 12th century south china develops

A site was chosen Han Jao as the new song capital

The mongols invaded China in 1279,along with other parts of Asia.

Story of china 4 The Ming

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in 1350 the mongols were overthrown by the chinese

There were civil wars among generals

And one of them was Zhu Yuan Zhang

HE maintained a stronghold in NAnjing and people flocked there for safe haven

HE was originally a peasant so was reluctant to take power

In 1368, he drove away the mongols out of north china and made nan jing the capital
of his new dynasty

He now sets out to unite china not by confucian values but my might,force and fear
He builds strong walls around the capital to show his might, around 33 km of walls
around the city

HE built the city according to the original daoist principles

Hong Wu compiled the great ming code , containing laws and codes of conduct

The law was enforced pretty severely

He wanted to force people to be good

He said"If i am lenient, how will i be a good ruler? How will the people live
peacefully?"

Hong Wu's grandfather was a village diviner and he also believed in divinity

He thought if he would return to the ancient roots, then he can find the Dao,the
way.

The Wu family keeps making divination compasses even today

1n 1398 Hong Wu died and again china is plunged into chaos

Hong Wu's uncle Yung lao came into power

In 1403 he ordered the building of a new capital in the place now called as
beijing.

He built a new city over the mongol capital

The construction of beijing took a million men and 20 years

There were also ritual places built in beijing

The Grand canal was refurbished during that time

In the 15th century china's economy again became one of the world's largest

The ming dynasty continued from 1368-1644

About 200 million people lived under ming rule(1/3rd of the world at that time)

In early 1400s China sent 7 great voyages to the west

Zheng He's voyages( 1405-1433) they were called.The expedition travelled to

India,Sri Lanka,Arabia,Africa and returned back with new knowledge, exotic
plants,animals
.

For the expedition there was well defined map,also a manual containing star
positions.

Yung Lao died after the 6th expedition

A new part of great wall was rebuilt during the ming period
In 1557 ,the ming govt allowed the portuguese to settle in coastal towns,with
constant watch over them. The portuguese had been exploring Chinese coast since
1513-1514.

In August 1582 a visitor arrived at Macau named Richi, near south china sea,at the
portuguese trading port

He travelled to Beijing in order to find someone to convert china into christianity

MAtteo Richi prepared a world map for the emperor in 1602

He introduced Euclid's elements to China

He was buried in china itself after he died

1n 1644 the Manchus attacked beijing

At that time china had weakened due to flood in the yellow river, and the govt's
power was gone

The manchus attacked Ming dynasty china

Story of China 5 The Last Empire

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The ming emperor committed suicide and Qing dynasty completely invaded the south

In that battle 300000 people died

Zhang Jou , the city which was once a great city, lay in ruins

The manchu war took 30 years

For the first time since Tong dynasty, China ruled over the central asian people of
XinJiang.

Xinjiang, a western province of China,contains a lot of Uighur muslims

Since it was very near to central asia, it is a great place of multicultural mix

The govt was relaxed towards multiple cultures,so there was a rethinking and
redevelopment of different religions.Chinese islam expecially developed, the role
of women was debated, a surprising result of that was the development of women
islam mosques with women imams

Tibet was freed of mongol rule and was also incorporated into china

Chinese rule promoted tibetan culture

Kang Xi the first ruler was very wise and compassionate

He used to listen to people's grievances
Yang Zhou was the commercial hub of Qing dynasty

They developed a good salt industry,and the salt merchants became the major players
of the economy

At Canton/Guang zhou, in the 1700s , the britishers came into contact with china

The britishers were growing in india, and wanted to expand into china

The britishers bought tea from china in the beginning of 1700s by paying with
silver but couldnt continue paying so much because of problem with payments

Tea export was 10% of national revenue of china

The britishers were obsessed with tea

But the problem was britishers didnt have much goods which they could exchange with
the chinese. So the britishers set out to create demand

By 1790s ,the british figured out that the chinese were buying opium

in 1793 the british sent a messenger to china asking for favoured nation status

The emperor refused to meet the british in beijing because the british refused to
prostrate or KOWTOW

The british displayed their goods in front of the emperor , the emperor looked at
them and said that these things are not good enough. To amuse a child

So the british east india company continued to smuggle opium into China,despite the
public outrage

Millions of people had gotten into opium addiction by 1820s

Also silver supply was decreasing

Incorruptible commissioner Lin came into power and ordered for the destruction of
all the opium stored in british warehouses
The destruction began in june 1839,1200 tonnes of it

The chinese had a very weak navy

British gathered men and ships from india

in retaliation to opium destruction,

in new year 1841 the british entered the pearl river
(The chinese guns were weak in front of british. The british fleet had 374
warships,15 troop ships,and a 200 ft boat made entirely of iron,called Nemesis
retribution,contained heavy machinery.)At the climax of the war, the gunpowder
store was hit by british ship, which blew up in a tremendous explosion

then stormed into port city Ning Bo,ravaging the city,

In nanjing the chinese negotiated the first of "unequal treaties" with the
british,

china 1. opened up territory 2. Paid war damages in silver 3.trading rights

The treaty was signed in Yangtze river, in admiral HMS Corn wallace's cabin

China's century of humiliation began in this way

Shanghai and China were among the treaty ports

The Story of China 6 The age of revolution

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In Canton/GuangZhou there were traders selling opium, missionaries preaching christ

was going on

In Canton , Churches,warehouses were built

There was a rebellion of Jinping and they ruled for about 16 years in a small
portion of china, but they were defeated by the Qing with the help of british

There was a second opium war between the french,british and China

Railway,banks,Trams, came along with british rule

.

HSBC was founded by a british trader in China in 1865- Hong Kong Shanghai Bank
corporation

In 1895 japan warred against china

Because of constant wars,famines, common people rose up against the authorities

In 1895 boxer rebellion also took place. MArtial artists stormed into beijing, and
kept the europeans at seige

A relief army from 8 different nations marched from the coast to suppress the boxer
rebellion. martial artists of china were called boxers by the foreign powers

The boxers were crushed mercilessly and people were looted and killed.

Heavy financial reparations were demanded by the foreigners

In may the 4th 1919 a student rebellion took place

Ideas were discussed about how to create a new china and discard the old values

Marxism was adopted

In july 1921 Communist party of China was formed

MAo Zedong a hunan peasant was among the people who formed the party

Shanghai was a brimming modern city

New students were inspired from the western world

During that time peasants were dying ,selling their children in poverty

Mao Ze Dong rose during that time

He was born in 1893, the son a Hunan peasant

He was haunted by the childhood memories of famine stricken protestors in his

hometown

He was trained as a school teacher

But he studied western ideas, learned about Communism,Socialism

He began with establishing an independent communist enclave in the countryside of

south china

Mao's wife and sister were killed by the ruling KMT govt when Shang Kai shek tried
to suppress the communists

In 1934 the survivors went on a 6000 mile trek from south east china in the
direction of north east to interior china

They reached Yan'an and made their base there

In december 1937 japan attacked nanjing city in an attempt to invade china

A united front was formed with the communists under mao and the KMT govt under
shang kai shek, to fight the japanese

In 1945 the national front fell apart

The nationalists and the communists fought a bitter civil war

in 1st october 1949, mao announced birth of new china

in early 1950s china stalin was a god

Mao developed a repressive society in which the freedom of speech and press was
controlled

Mao had many achievements as the improvement of health, improvement of life of

women

But the system of industrialising and mass division of agriculture led to more
famines

In 1959 and 1960 there was famine and many people died

In 1964 Mao launched a cultural revolution

He urged millions of young people called the red guards, to smash old ideas, old
beliefs

,confucian values

The red guards searched homes destroyed old art work

After Mao's death in 1976, the party turned back to chinese culture

His successor was Dong Shao Ping who brought up a lot of industrial reforms