The history of China is told in traditional historical records that refer as far back
as the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors about 5,000 years ago,
supplemented by archaeological records dating to the 16th century BC. China is one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations.
Turtle shells with markings reminiscent of ancient Chinese
writing from the Shang Dynasty have been carbon dated to around 1500 BC. Chinese civilization originated
with city-states in the Yellow River valley.The yellow river was named that because of the
loess that would build up on the bank and down in the earth then it would sink creating a yellowish tint to the water.
221 BC is the commonly accepted year when China became unified under a large kingdom or empire.
Successive dynasties in Chinese history developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the Emperor of China to control
the large territory.
China was first united by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC.
China alternated between periods of political unity and disunity, occasionally becoming dominated by foreign peoples, most of
whom were assimilated into the Chinese population. Cultural and political influences from many parts of Asia, carried by successive waves of immigration, expansion, and assimilation, merged to create Chinese culture.
From hunter-gatherers to farmers
What is now China was inhabited by Homo erectus more than
a million years ago.[1] Recent study shows that the stone tools found at Xiaochangliang site are magnetostratigraphically dated as 1.36 million years ago.[2] The archaeological site of
Xihoudu (西侯渡) in Shanxi Province is
the earliest recorded of use of fire by Homo erectus, which is dated 1.27 million years ago.[1] The
excavations at Yuanmou and later Lantian show early
habitation. Perhaps the most famous specimen of Homo erectus found in China is the so-called Peking Man discovered in 1923. Two pottery pieces were unearthed at Liyuzui Cave in Liuzhou, Guangxi Province dated 16,500 and 19,000 BC.[3] Early evidence for proto-Chinese millet
agriculture is carbon-dated to about 7,000 BC, and associated with the
Jiahu site (also the site of the earliest playable music instruments). This period also includes
the earliest stage of the Chinese written language (still under debate) and the earliest
wine production in the world. Jiahu contains the Peiligang culture of Xinzheng county, Henan, of which only 5% has been excavated as of 2006. With agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and redistribute crops, and to support
specialist craftsmen and administrators. In late Neolithic times, the Yellow River valley began to establish itself as a cultural center, where the first villages were founded;
the most archaeologically significant of those was found at Banpo, Xi'an.
Prehistory
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and countries linked to
Chinese cultural and political
history.
The early history of China is complicated by the lack of a written language during this period coupled with the existence of
documents from later time periods attempting to describe events that occurred several centuries before. The problem in some sense
stems from centuries of introspection on the part of the Chinese people which has blurred the distinction between fact and
fiction in regards to this early history. By 7000 BC, the Chinese were farming millet,
giving rise to the Jiahu culture. At Damaidi in Ningxia, 3,172 cliff carvings dating to 6,000-5,000 BC have been discovered "featuring 8,453 individual
characters such as the sun, moon, stars, gods and scenes of hunting or grazing." These pictographs are reputed to be similar to
the earliest characters confirmed to be written Chinese.[4][5] Later Yangshao culture was superseded by the Longshan culture
around 2500 BC. Archaeological sites such
as Sanxingdui and Erlitou show evidence of a
Bronze Age civilization in China. The earliest bronze knife was found at Majiayao in Gansu and Qinhai province dated 3000 BC.
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
-
The earliest comprehensive history of China, the Records of the Grand Historian written by Chinese historiographer Sima Qian in the 2nd century BC, and the Bamboo Annals trace Chinese history from about 2800 BC, with
an account of the Three August Ones and the Five Emperors. These
rulers were semi-mythical sage-kings and moral exemplars. Tradition regards one of them, the Yellow Emperor, as the ancestor of the Han Chinese people.
Sima Qian says that the system of inherited ruler-ship was established during the
Xia Dynasty, and that this model was perpetuated in the recorded Shang and Zhou dynasties. It is during this period of the Three
Dynasties (Chinese: 三代; pinyin: sāndài) that the
historical China emerges.
Ancient era
Xia Dynasty
-
- See also: Xia Shang Zhou Chronology
Project
Bronze container Lozenge Carven Ding (菱纹鼎) found at Erlitou site, the Xia palace.
The historian Sima Qian (145 BC-90 BC) and the Bamboo
Annals's account dates the founding of the Xia Dynasty to 4,200 years ago, but
this date has not been corroborated.
There were 17 kings of 14 generations during Xia Dynasty from Yu the Great to
Jie of Xia according to Sima Qian and other earlier records in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States
Period.
The Shang and Zhou people had existed with Xia Dynasty since the beginning of Xia. They were Xia’s loyal vassal. The exact
time length of the Xia Dynasty is hard to define now, but mainly focused on two options, either 431 years or 471 years.
Most archaeologists now connect the Xia to excavations at Erlitou in central
Henan province,[6] where a
bronze smelter from around 2000 BC was unearthed. Early markings from this period, found
on pottery and shells, have been alleged to be ancestors of modern Chinese characters.[7] With few clear written records matching the Shang oracle bones or the Zhou bronze vessel writings, the Xia era remains
poorly understood.
Shang Dynasty
-
Remnants of advanced, stratified societies dating back to the Shang period have been found in the Yellow River Valley.
Simuwu Ding (司母戊) of Late Shang Dynasty. Height 133 cm, length 110 cm, width 79 cm, weight 832.84 kg. It is
the largest discovered bronze piece in the world. It was made by
Zu Jia of Shang for his mother
Wu (戊),
Wu Ding (武丁)'s wife. Unearthed at Anyang in 1939.
The earliest discovered written record of China's past dates from the Shang Dynasty in
perhaps the 13th century BC, and takes the form of inscriptions of divination records on
the bones or shells of animals—the so-called oracle bones. Archaeological findings
providing evidence for the existence of the Shang Dynasty, c 1600–1046 BC is divided into two sets. The first set, from the earlier Shang
period (c 1600–1300 BC) comes from sources at Erligang, Zhengzhou and Shangcheng.
The second set, from the later Shang or Yin (殷) period, consists of a large body of oracle bone writings. Anyang in modern day Henan has been confirmed as the last of the nine capitals of the Shang (c 1300–1046 BC). The
Shang Dynasty featured 31 kings, from Tang of Shang to King Zhou of Shang; it was the longest dynasty in Chinese history.
The Records of the Grand Historian states that the Shang Dynasty moved its capital six times. The final and most important
move to Yin in 1350 BC led to the golden age of the dynasty. The term Yin Dynasty has been synonymous with the Shang dynasty in
history, although lately it has been used specifically in reference to the latter half of the Shang Dynasty.
Chinese historians living in later periods were accustomed to the notion of one dynasty succeeding another, but the actual
political situation in early China is known to have been much more complicated. Hence, as some scholars of China suggest, the Xia
and the Shang can possibly refer to political entities that existed concurrently, just as the early Zhou (successor state of the Shang), is known to have existed at the same time as the Shang.
Written records found at Anyang confirm the existence of the Shang dynasty. However, Western scholars are often hesitant to
associate settlements contemporaneous with the Anyang settlement with the Shang dynasty. For example, archaeological findings at
Sanxingdui suggest a technologically advanced civilization culturally unlike Anyang. The
evidence is inconclusive in proving how far the Shang realm extended from Anyang. The leading hypothesis is that Anyang, ruled by
the same Shang in the official history, coexisted and traded with numerous other culturally diverse settlements in the area that
is now referred to as China proper.
Zhou Dynasty
-
By the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Zhou Dynasty began to emerge in the
Yellow River valley, overrunning the Shang. The Zhou appeared to have begun their rule
under a semi-feudal system. The Zhou were a people who lived west of Shang, and the Zhou leader had been appointed "Western
Protector" by the Shang. The ruler of the Zhou, King Wu, with the assistance of his
uncle, the Duke of Zhou, as regent managed to defeat the Shang at the Battle of Muye. The king of Zhou at this time invoked the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to legitimize his rule, a concept that would be influential for almost every
successive dynasty. The Zhou initially moved their capital west to an area near modern Xi'an, near
the Yellow River, but they would preside over a series of expansions into the Yangtze
River valley. This would be the first of many population migrations from north to south in Chinese history.
Spring and Autumn Period
-
In the 8th century BC, power became decentralized during the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋時代), named after the influential Spring and Autumn Annals. In this period, local military leaders used by the Zhou began to
assert their power and vie for hegemony. The situation was aggravated by the invasion of other
peoples from the northwest, such as the Qin, forcing the Zhou to move their capital east to Luoyang. This marks the second large phase of the Zhou dynasty: the Eastern Zhou. In each of the hundreds of
states that eventually arose, local strongmen held most of the political power and continued their subservience to the Zhou kings
in name only. Local leaders for instance started using royal titles for themselves. The Hundred Schools of Thought (諸子百家) of Chinese philosophy blossomed during this period, and
such influential intellectual movements as Confucianism (儒家), Taoism (道家), Legalism (法家) and Mohism (墨家) were founded, partly in response to the changing political world. The Spring and Autumn Period is
marked by a falling apart of the central Zhou power. China now consists of hundreds of states, some only as large as a village
with a fort.
Warring States Period
-
After further political consolidation, seven prominent states remained by the end of 5th
century BC, and the years in which these few states battled each other is known as the Warring States Period. Though there remained a nominal Zhou
king until 256 BC, he was largely a figurehead and held little real power. As neighboring
territories of these warring states, including areas of modern Sichuan and Liaoning, were annexed, they were governed under the new local administrative system of commandery and prefecture (郡縣). This system had been in use since the
Spring and Autumn Period and parts can still be seen in the modern system of Sheng
& Xian (province and county, 省縣). The final expansion in this period began during the reign of Ying Zheng (嬴政), the
king of Qin. His unification of the other six powers, and further annexations in the modern regions of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and
Guangxi in 214 BC enabled him to proclaim himself the
First Emperor (Qin Shi Huangdi, 秦始皇帝).
Imperial era
Qin Dynasty
-
Historians often refer to the period from Qin Dynasty to the end of Qing Dynasty as Imperial China. Though the unified reign of the Qin
(秦) Emperor lasted only twelve years, he managed to subdue great parts of what constitutes the core of the Han Chinese homeland and to unite them under a tightly centralized Legalist government seated at Xianyang (咸陽) (in modern Xi'an). The doctrine of legalism that guided the Qin emphasized strict adherence to a legal code and the absolute
power of the emperor. This philosophy of Legalism, while effective for
expanding the empire in a military fashion, proved unworkable for governing it in peace time. The Qin presided over the brutal
silencing of political opposition, including the event known as the burning and burying of scholars. This would be the impetus behind the later Han
Synthesis incorporating the more moderate schools of political governance.
The Qin Dynasty is well known for beginning the Great Wall of China, which was later augmented and enhanced during the Ming Dynasty (明朝). The other major contributions of the Qin included the concept of centralized government,
the unification of the legal code, written language, measurement, and currency of China after the tribulations of the Spring and
Autumn and Warring States Periods. Even something as basic as the length of axles for carts had to be made uniform to ensure a
viable trading system throughout the empire.[8]
Han Dynasty
-
(206 BC-220 AD)
The Han Dynasty emerged in 206 BC. It was the first
dynasty to embrace the philosophy of Confucianism, which became the ideological
underpinning of all regimes until the end of imperial China. Under the Han Dynasty, China made great advances in many areas of
the arts and sciences. Emperor Wu (Han Wudi 漢武帝) consolidated and extended the Chinese
empire by pushing back the Xiongnu (sometimes identified with the Huns) into the steppes of modern Inner Mongolia, wresting from them the
modern areas of Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai. This enabled the first opening of trading connections between China and the West, the Silk Road.
Nevertheless, land acquisitions by elite families gradually drained the tax base. In AD 9, the
usurper Wang Mang (王莽) founded the short-lived Xin ("New")
Dynasty (新朝) and started an extensive program of land and other economic reforms. These programs, however, were never
supported by the land-holding families, for they favored the peasant and lesser gentry, and the instability they produced brought
on chaos and uprisings.
Emperor Guangwu (光武帝) reinstated the Han Dynasty with the support of
land-holding and merchant families at Luoyang, east of Xi'an.
This new era would be termed the Eastern Han Dynasty. Han power declined again amidst land
acquisitions, invasions, and feuding between consort clans and eunuchs. The Yellow Turban Rebellion (黃巾之亂) 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. This time period
has been greatly romanticized in works such as Romance of the Three
Kingdoms .
Jin Period
-
Though the three kingdoms were reunited temporarily in 278 by the Jin Dynasty, the contemporary non-Han Chinese (Wu Hu, 五胡) ethnic
groups controlled much of the country in the early 4th century and provoked large-scale Han Chinese migrations to south of the
Chang Jiang. In 303 the Di people rebelled and later captured Chengdu, establishing the state
of Cheng Han. Under Liu Yuan the Xiongnu rebelled near today's Linfen County and established the state of
Han Zhao. His successor Liu Cong captured and
executed the last two Western Jin emperors. Sixteen kingdoms were a plethora of short-lived non-Chinese dynasties that came to rule the whole or
parts of northern China in the 4th and 5th centuries. Many ethnic groups were involved--including ancestors of the
Turks, Mongolians, and Tibetans. Most of these nomadic peoples had to some extent been
"Sinicized" long before their ascent to power. In fact, some of them, notably the Ch'iang and the Xiong-nu, had already been
allowed to live in the frontier regions within the Great Wall since late Han times.
Southern and Northern Dynasties
-
Signaled by the collapse of East Jin (東晉) Dynasty in 420, China entered the era of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The
Han people managed to survive the military attacks from the nomadic tribes of the north, such as the Xian Bei (鲜卑), and their
civilization continued to thrive.
An increasing number of nomadic people in Northern China adopted Confucianism as personal life guidance and state ideology
while becoming gradually assimilated into the Han Chinese civilization. During this rivalry
between Northern and Southern China, Buddhism propagated throughout China for the first time, despite facing opposition from
Taoist followers. Tuo Ba Tao (拓跋焘)，a faithful Taoist believer and emperor of the Northern Wei (北魏) Dynasty (one of the Northern
Dynasties), issued orders to eliminate Buddhism from the country.
In Southern China, fierce debates about whether Buddhism should be allowed to exist were held frequently by the royal court
and nobles. Finally, near the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties era, both Buddhist and Taoist followers compromised and
became more tolerant of each other.
In 589, Sui (隋) annexed the last Southern Dynasty, Chen (陳), through military force, and put an end to the era of Southern and
Northern Dynasties.
Sui Dynasty
-
The Sui Dynasty (隋朝), which managed to reunite the country in 589 after nearly four centuries of political fragmentation, played a role more important than its length of
existence would suggest. In the same way that the Qin rulers of the third century BC had unified China after the Warring States Period, so the Sui brought China together again and set up many institutions that
were to be adopted by their successors, the Tang. Like the Qin, however, the Sui overused their resources and collapsed. Also
similar to the Qin, traditional history has judged the Sui somewhat unfairly; it has stressed the harshness of the Sui regime and
the megalomania of its second emperor, giving little credit for the Dynasty's many positive achievements.
Tang Dynasty
-
On June 18, 618, Gaozu (唐高祖) took the throne, and the Tang Dynasty (唐朝) was
established, opening a new age of prosperity and innovations in arts and technology. Buddhism,
which had gradually been established in China from the first century, became the predominant
religion and was adopted by the royal family and many of the common people.
Chang'an (長安) (modern Xi'an), the national capital, is
thought to have been the world's biggest city at the time. The Tang and the Han are often referred to as the most prosperous
periods of Chinese history.
The Tang, like the Han, kept the trade routes open to the west and south and there was extensive trade with distant foreign
countries and many foreign merchants settled in China.
The Tang introduced a new system into the Chinese government, called the "Equal Field" System. This system gave families land
grants from the Emperor based on their needs, not their wealth.
From about 860 the Tang Dynasty began to decline due to a series of rebellions within China
itself, and in the previously subject Kingdom of Nanzhao (南詔) to the south. One of the warlords,
Huang Chao (黃巢), captured Guangzhou in 879, killing most of the 200,000 inhabitants including most of the large colony of foreign merchant families there.
In late 880 Luoyang surrendered to him and on 5 January, 881 he
conquered Chang'an. The emperor Xizong (唐僖宗) fled to
Chengdu and Huang established a new temporary regime, which was eventually destroyed by Tang
forces, but another time of political chaos followed.
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
-
The period of political disunity between the Tang and the Song, known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (五代十国), lasted little more than half a
century, from 907 to 960. During this brief era, when China was in all respects a multistate system, five regimes succeeded one
another rapidly in control of the old Imperial heartland in northern China. During this same time, 10 more stable regimes
occupied sections of southern and western China, so the period is also referred to as that of the Ten Kingdoms (十国).
Song Dynasty and Liao, Jin, Western Xia
-
In 960, the Song Dynasty (960-1279) (宋朝) gained power over
most of China and established its capital in Kaifeng (汴京/開封), starting a period of economic
prosperity, while the Khitan Liao Dynasty (契丹族遼國)
ruled over Manchuria and eastern Mongolia. In
1115 the Jurchen Jin
Dynasty (1115-1234) (女真族金國) emerged to prominence, annihilating the Liao Dynasty in 10 years. Meanwhile, in what are now
the northwestern Chinese provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, and
Ningxia, there emerged a Western Xia Dynasty (西夏) from 1032 up to 1227, established by
Tangut tribes.
It also took power over northern China and Kaifeng from the Song Dynasty, which moved its capital to Hangzhou (杭州). The Southern Song Dynasty also suffered the humiliation of having to acknowledge the Jin Dynasty
as formal overlords. In the ensuing years China was divided between the Song Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty and the Tangut Western Xia (西夏). Southern Song experienced a period of great
technological development which can be explained in part by the military pressure that it felt from the north. This included the
use of gunpowder weapons, which played a large role in the Song Dynasty naval victories
against the Jin in the Battle of Tangdao and Battle
of Caishi on the Yangtze River in 1161 AD. Furthermore, China's first permanent standing navy was assembled and provided an admiral's office at Dinghai in 1132 AD, under the reign of Emperor Renzong of
Song.
The Song Dynasty is considered by many to be classical China's high point in science and technology, with innovative figures
such as Su Song (1020-1101 AD) and Shen Kuo (1031-1095 AD).
There was court intrigue with the political rivals of the Reformers and Conservatives, led by the chancellors Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, respectively. By the mid to late 13th century
the Chinese had adopted the dogma of Neo-Confucian philosophy formulated by
Zhu Xi. There were enormous literary works compiled during the Song Dynasty, such as the
historical work of the Zizhi Tongjian. Culture and the arts flourished, with
grandiose artworks such as Along the River During Qingming
Festival and Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute, while
there were great Buddhist painters such as Lin Tinggui.
Yuan Dynasty
-
Jurchen tribes' Jin Dynasty, whose names are
also rendered "Jin" in pinyin, was defeated by the Mongols, who then proceeded to defeat the
Southern Song in a long and bloody war, the first war where firearms played an important role. During the era after the war,
later called the Pax Mongolica, adventurous Westerners such as Marco Polo travelled all the way to China and brought the first reports of its wonders to Europe. In the Yuan
Dynasty, the Mongols were divided between those who wanted to remain based in the steppes and those who wished to adopt the
customs of the Chinese.
Kublai Khan (忽必烈/元世祖), grandson of Genghis Khan
(成吉思汗), wanting to adopt the customs of China, established the Yuan Dynasty (元朝). This was
the first dynasty to rule the whole of China from Beijing (北京) as the capital. Beijing had been
ceded to Liao in AD 938 with the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan Yun (燕雲十六州). Before that, it had been
the capital of the Jin, who did not rule all of China.
Before the Mongol invasion, Chinese dynasties reportedly had
approximately 120 million inhabitants; after the conquest was completed in 1279, the 1300 census reported roughly 60 million
people.[9] The 14th century epidemics of plague is
estimated to have killed 30% of the population of China.[10][11]
Ming Dynasty
-
Throughout a short-lived Yuan Dynasty, there was strong sentiment, among the populace, against the rule of the foreigners,
which finally led to peasant revolts. The Mongolians were pushed back to the steppes and replaced by the Ming Dynasty (明朝) in 1368.
Urbanization increased as the population grew and as the division of labor grew more complex. Large urban centers, such as
Nanjing and Beijing, also contributed to the growth of private
industry. In particular, small-scale industries grew up, often specializing in paper, silk, cotton, and porcelain goods. For the
most part, however, relatively small urban centers with markets proliferated around the country. Town markets mainly traded food,
with some necessary manufactures such as pins or oil.
Despite the xenophobia and intellectual introspection characteristic of the increasingly
popular new school of neo-Confucianism, China under the early Ming Dynasty was not
isolated. Foreign trade and other contacts with the outside world, particularly Japan (倭國),
increased considerably. Chinese merchants explored all of the Indian Ocean, reaching
East Africa with the voyages of Zheng He (鄭和, original name Ma
Sanbao 馬三保).
Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) or (Hong-wu, 洪武皇帝/明太祖),
the founder of the dynasty, laid the foundations for a state interested less in commerce and more in extracting revenues from the
agricultural sector. Perhaps because of the Emperor's background as a peasant, the Ming economic system emphasized agriculture,
unlike that of the Song and the Mongolian Dynasties, which relied on traders and merchants for revenue. Neo-feudal landholdings
of the Song and Mongol periods were expropriated by the Ming rulers. Great landed estates were confiscated by the government,
fragmented, and rented out. Private slavery was forbidden. Consequently, after the death of Emperor Yong-le (永樂皇帝/明成祖), independent peasant landholders predominated in Chinese agriculture. These
laws might have paved the way to removing the worst of the poverty during the previous regimes. The laws against the merchants
and the restrictions under which the craftsmen worked remained essentially as they had been under the Song, but now the remnants
of the older foreign merchant class also fell under these new Ming laws. Their influence quickly dwindled.
1580s foreign relations of the Ming Empire (shown in blue)
The dynasty had a strong and complex central government that unified and controlled the empire. The emperor's role became more
autocratic, although Zhu Yuanzhang necessarily continued to use what he called the "Grand Secretaries" to assist with the immense
paperwork of the bureaucracy, including memorials (petitions and recommendations to the throne), imperial edicts in reply,
reports of various kinds, and tax records. It was this same bureaucracy that later prevented the Ming government from being able
to adapt to changes in society, and eventually led to its decline.
Emperor Yong-le strenuously tried to extend China's influence beyond its borders by demanding other rulers send ambassadors to
China to present tribute. A large navy was built, including four-masted ships displacing 1,500 tons. A standing army of 1
million troops (some estimate as many as 1.9 million) was created. The Chinese armies conquered Annam (安南) while the Chinese fleet sailed the China seas and the Indian Ocean, cruising as far as the east coast
of Africa. The Chinese gained influence in Eastern Turkestan. Several maritime Asian nations
sent envoys with tribute for the Chinese emperor. Domestically, the Grand Canal was
expanded, and proved to be a stimulus to domestic trade. Over 100,000 tons of iron per year were produced. Many books were
printed using movable type. The imperial palace in Beijing's Forbidden City reached its
current splendor. The Ming period seems to have been one of China's most prosperous. It was also during these centuries that the
potential of south China came to be fully exploited. New crops were widely cultivated and industries such as those producing
porcelain and textiles flourished.
During the Ming dynasty the last construction on the Great Wall was undertaken to protect China from foreign invasions. While
the Great Wall 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 its length.
Qing Dynasty
-
The Qing Dynasty (清朝, 1644–1911) was founded after the defeat of the Ming, the last Han Chinese dynasty,
by the Manchus (滿族). The Manchus were formerly known as the Jurchen and invaded from the north in the late seventeenth
century. An estimated 25 million people died during the Manchu
conquest of Ming Dynasty (1616-1644).[12] Even
though the Manchus started out as alien conquerors, they quickly adopted the Confucian norms of traditional Chinese government.
They eventually ruled in the manner of traditional native dynasties.
The Manchus enforced a 'queue order' forcing the Han Chinese to adopt the Manchu queue and Manchu-style clothing. The Manchus
had a special hair style: the "queue". They cut hair off the front of their heads and
made the remaining hair into a long pigtail. The traditional Chinese clothing, or Hanfu (漢服) was also replaced by Manchu-style clothing. Qipao
(bannermen dress (旗袍) and Tangzhuang (唐裝)), usually regarded as traditional Chinese clothing nowadays, are actually
Manchu-style clothing. The penalty for not complying was death.
Emperor Kangxi (康熙皇帝/清聖祖) ordered the creation of the most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever put together at the time. Under
Emperor Qianlong, the compilation of a catalogue of the important works on Chinese
culture was made.
The Manchus set up the "Eight Banners" system (八旗制度) in an attempt to avoid being assimilated into Chinese society. The "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.
Over the next half-century, the Manchus consolidated control of some areas originally under the Ming, including Yunnan. They also stretched their sphere of influence over
Xinjiang, Tibet and Mongolia.
During the nineteenth century, Qing control weakened. China suffered massive social
strife, economic stagnation, and increased Western involvement including the destructive trade in opium and the new influence of missionary work.
Britain's desire to continue its opium trade with China collided with imperial edicts prohibiting the addictive drug, and the
First Opium War erupted in 1840. Britain and other Western powers, including the
United States, France, Russia, and Germany thereupon forcibly occupied "concessions" and gained special
commercial privileges. Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanjing . The Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) was
the largest civil war in China.
In addition, more costly rebellions in terms of human lives and economics followed the Taiping Rebellion such as the
Punti-Hakka Clan Wars, Nien Rebellion,
Muslim Rebellion, Panthay Rebellion and the
Boxer Rebellion.[13] In many ways, the rebellions and the treaties the Qing were forced to sign with the imperialist
powers are symptomatic of the inability of the Chinese government to respond adequately to the challenging conditions facing
China in the nineteenth century.
Modern era
Territories occupied by different dynasties as well as modern political states throughout the history of China.
The two Opium wars and the opium trade were costly outcomes for the Qing dynasty and the
Chinese people. The Qing imperial treasury was declared bankrupt twice arising from indemnities incurred in the Opium wars and the large outflow of silver due to the opium trade (in tens of billions of ounces). China
suffered two extreme famines exactly twenty years after each opium war in the 1860s and 1880s,
and the Qing imperial dynasty was ineffective in helping the population. Socially these events had a profound impact as it
challenged the hegemony that the Chinese had enjoyed in Asia for centuries. As a result, the country was in a state of
turmoil.
Famous French political cartoon from the late 1890s. A pie represents "Chine" (French for China) and is being divided between UK,
Germany, Russia, France and Japan.
A large rebellion, the Taiping
Rebellion, involved around a third of China falling under control of the Taiping Tianguo, a quasi-Christian religious
movement led by the "Heavenly King" Hong Xiuquan. Only after fourteen years were the Taipings finally crushed - the Taiping army
was destroyed in the Third Battle of Nanking in
