China to 1700

        Remains of various humanlike creatures who lived as early as several hundred thousand years ago have been found in many parts of China. Neolithic agricultural settlements dotted the Huanghe basin from about 5000 BC. Their language, religion, and art were the sources of later Chinese civilization. A succession of [2a b] dynasties and interdynastic warring kingdoms ruled China all the way into the 20th century.

        King Gou Jian [496-465 BC] of Yue had Xi Shi--the first of China's Four Beauties--and Zheng Dan (not ranked in the top four) presented to King Fu Chai [495-473 BC] of Wu. Bewitched by their beauty, he neglected his duties and followed their bad advice, enabling Gou Jian to defeat him in 473 BC.

        [2c] Three philosophers of note--Confucius [551-479 B.C.], Mencius [372-289 B.C.], and Laozi--developed [2d] Confucianism and [2e] Taoism. [2f] Confucius' father died when he was 4, so his mother had to work hard to support the family, sometimes leaving him at home alone. He became a farm worker, married at the age of 19, and had a son. After his mother's death he became a teacher and started his own school at age 22. He later entered government service, where he became a chief justice and compiled his writings on social and ethical philosophy--the Confuscian Classics. They were concerned with benevolence (jen), virtue (te), and rituals (li). At the age of 52 he became the governor of his province, but was removed four years later by jealous neighboring governors. He wandered for the next 13 years returning to Lu where he died three years later.
        In the 5th century BC Laozi (also known as Lao Tzu or Lao Tse) compiled Tao Teh Ching (also called Dao De Jing)--Classic of the Way and Its Power. This Philosophical Tao (Tao-chia) advocates that people "embrace the primitive and have few desires".

        In 221 B.C. a large portion of eastern China was unified under Shi Huang [258-210 B.C.] the first Chinese emperor. Thus began the [3a] Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.). On the advice of Li Si many Confucian scholars were bannished or put to death--460 of them buried alive. Written Chinese was systemized, and work was begun to connect walls built by various warring states into the 5,000 kilometer [3b] Great Wall. After the emperor's death, however, power struggles between emperors and their powerful advisors destroyed the dynasty.
        The [3c] Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-9A.D. and 25 A.D.-220) continued to build a strong chinese empire, but adopted Confucian ideals of government. During this period paper and porcelain were invented and the Silk Road to Antioch, Baghdad, and Alexandria was established.

Han Chinese clothing

        But some really nasty power struggles continued. After the first emperor Gao's death, his wife Lu Zhi brutally destroyed the favored concubine Qi and her son Ruyi. She then ruled China using the next three emperors--her son and two grandsons--as puppets. Upon her death advisors took control, slaughtered her whole clan, and placed the son of one of Emperor Gao's relatively neglected concubines--consort Bo--on the throne as Emperor Wen.

Women contributed to peace as well.
Four Beauties
Wang Zhaojun
Diaochan

Emperor Xuan of Han

        With the collapse of the Han dynasty three separate kingdoms emerged: Wei (220-265), She (221-263), and Wu (229-280). Not until 589 was Chinese unity restored under the Turkic-Chinese general Sui Wen-ti [569-618]. Around the time of the Sui Dynasty (589-617) Buddhism, which had come from India, made great gains. Believing that Buddha was a disciple of Lao Tzu, Chinese flocked to the new religion. Then with the assassination of Sui Yang-ti, power passed into the hands of General Li Yuan, who started the Tang Dynasty (618-907). And here we reach a high point in Chinese civilization--a golden age of literature and art.

Balad of Mulan

Four Beauties
Yang Guifei
Wu Zetian

        In 960 Chao K'uang Yin founded the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Nomadic invaders forced abandonment of northern China in 1127. Neo-Confucianists, such as Zhu Xi [1130-1200] created a rigid official creed from Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist ideas.

        In 1215 Mongolian tribes united nine years earlier under Genghis Khan [1167-1227] (known in his youth as Temujin) captured Beijing. By 1279 his grandson Kublai Khan [1215-1294] established the first alien dynasty--the [5a] Yuan (1279-1368). Failure to adopt Chinese language and customs, heavy taxes, famine, floods, and revolts eventually brought an end to this dynasty.
        Stranded for three years after detouring to avoid a war on their return from a trading trip, Maffeo and Niccilo Polo were escourted to Bejing, arriving in 1266. Kublai Khan sent them back with a letter for Pope Clement IV asking for 100 highly educated men to teach the Chinese about Christianity and science. In 1271 they headed back to China from Venice with their 17 year-old nephew [5b] Marco Polo [1254-1324]. Marco spent the next 24 years on [5c] his famous journey through Asia, where he became a close advisor of Kublai Khan.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Water Margin
Journey to the West

        In the Yangtze Valley a former Buddhist monk named Chu Yu-chang led a peasant army and established the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). When the dynasty became weak and rebels took Beijing, it formed a union with the Manchus of Manchuria. The Manchus took over, forced the Ming emperor to commit suicide, and established the [5d] Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), but did not alter the underlying culture.

Qipao

Chinese clothing

Fashion of China

Dream of the Red Chamber