"LACONIC HISTORY OF CHINA"

 

CHINESE history has been centered around in between its great rivers most notably the Yangtze River Valley in the south and in the north the Yellow River.

 Even in Neolithic times the fertile plains surrounding the rivers could support large populations with large surpluses of food. These early peoples were extremely vulnerable to the flooding of these great rivers many thousands could die from an unexpected flood.

Xia dynasty is the first dynasty in traditional chinese history.Xia dynasty had sophisticated irrigation techniques which protect the cities from flooding and further increased crop yields.This possibly enabled the first emperors to rule over multiple peoples ensuring they were fed and protected from natural disasters and they were said to have the Mandate of Heaven.The Xia would be conquered by the Shang these extremely warlike people brought the Middle Kingdom fully into the Bronze Age.They were so cruel and builded a strong army. They would be conquered by the Zhuo dynasty who were aided by many slaves. The long live Zhuo dynasty worked for the development of some fundamental institutions within society chiefly:

~ The taoist philosophy, which taught humility and religious piety, and to live in a harmonious and fulfilling life.

~Confucianism, which emphasizes that intelligent life will be complete.

 A complex feat allistic system also developed in which seventy Quasi independent states paid respect to a single emperor over the centuries.These states developed independent cultures identities and the Empire devolved in the nation states entangled in near constant warfare with each other.In these centuries of chaos the state of Qin under the Emperor "Qin Shihuang" is considered the first leader of a unified China.In order that China stay unified he is said to have ordered a massive amount of book burnings and executed scholars to erase the histories of the individual states so that the nation should only have one identity in one history."Ginger Huang"ordered the construction of large portions of the Great Wall of China built a massive canal connecting the north and south of the country and built an impressive tomb among many other projects during his reign. His dynasty would not last long though following the death of Qin Shi Huang the Empire descended into revolt and chaos.

The province of 'Han' consolidated power and maintained the unified kingdom. The Han were the contemporary of the Roman empire, and export the large quantities of silk, for which it became known as the" Silk Road " because it was so profitable.They expanded the Empire westwards to control the vital trade route.This is considered China's first golden age and this period saw many famous generals and scientific advancement.The Han Empire eventually split in three partition. There was an emperor claiming legitimate succession from the Han.The Jin were descended from generals who take over the imperial throne.They would unite China again but their reins were rarely peaceful and were marked with violence and disorganization.During the period known as the northern and southern dynasties, in this time period is often thought of as the dark Ages, and it was largely dominated by china: a new history of the robbery of the country.Barbarian incursions the soui dynasty was a short-lived imperial dynasty in China of pivotal significance the so unified northern and southern dynasties and reinstalled the rule of ethnic Han Chinese and began a process of cultural integration of the barbarians and migrated into China during the centuries of chaos it was succeeded by the tang dynasty which largely inherited its foundations the tang dynasty is often considered the zenith of Chinese civilization and is the second Golden Age this period was marked with internal stability scientific advancement and cultural refinement it was during this period that the Chinese culture spread throughout Asia fuelled by many merchants artisans and philosophers from the surrounding kingdoms which were welcomed into the courts in halls of study throughout the tang period all good things come to an end and so did the tang they began to persecute Buddhists and were increasingly authoritarian by the end of their dynasty and after putting down several rebellions they were deposed in China once again entered a period of chaos out of this period the Song Dynasty unified China their dynasty is marked for its technological achievement including the magnetic compass gunpowder and mass printing which they used to create the world's first national paper currency this age of enlightenment would be brought to a swift end where the mongols invaded and Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan would establish the yuan dynasty for the first time the entire Silk Road connecting China to Europe was ruled by one power and the Yuan Dynasty saw a great period of diversity of culture and material goods flowing into China this dynasty would be short-lived and was supplanted by the Ming Dynasty this dynasty is seen as a prosperous time and a high point for art and literature they were succeeded by the long-lived ching dynasty which began like a golden age and ended in disaster that was first triggered by the british obsession with tea they loved drinking it but they hated pain the chain ton after ton of gold and silver for it so It came up with solutions to the Evil Empire if there ever was one and illegally flooded China with opium when the Qin clamped down on the British opium trade the British went to war to make sure that the opium kept flowing into China China stagnated afterwards and closed itself off as much as possible from the West and in 1911 the last emperor of China was removed from the throne in a deal made by the boy Emperor's advisers which they did not inform him of and pretended he was still in Bern for some time Imperial China was succeeded by the Republic of China and then the People's Republic of China this has been Epimetheus.