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Chinese History extends as far back as that of Egypt, India and Mesopotamia and so is one of the roots of human civilization. But removed geographically from the other three, it had developed in its own unique way. Some of the key figures of the period are looked at in this article: Duke of Zhou, Confucius, Lao Zi, the First Emperor.
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The Han Dynasty in China paralleled the rise of the Roman Empire on the other side of the Eurasian Continent at the same time. Both controlled great expanses of land by their strength of arms, and left behind a great legacy of art and knowledge, defining the culture of succeeding generations. When the Han Dynasty ended after four hundred years, China split into three competing kingdoms. The fifty years of almost continuous warfare had the side effect of inspiring one of literature’s great epics.
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The six dynasties is a period of three hundred years during which China was politically fragmented into disparate small kingdoms and states, some more successful than others and many, particularly in the north, not Chinese at all. On the other hand it was also a period of great development in religion, with both Buddhism and Daoism gaining ground in a world ill-suited to Confucian notions of order. At the end of the three hundred years China was reunited again by the remarkable Sui Wendi, who was able not only to conquer an Empire, but is one of the great builders and reformers in Chinese History.
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Tang Dynasty is the glory days of Chinese Civilisation. At the time when Europe was entering its Dark Ages and the Islamic World was only just stirring, China reached the peak of both its cultural and military influence. The early part of the Dynasty, 7th century AD, saw the rule of two great Emperors: Taizong and Wu Zetian. The first a great warrior, the second the only woman to ever ascend the throne of the Empire in her own right.
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The later Tang was a time of artistic development and the golden age of Chinese Poetry, with its peak reached in the work of the poets Li Bai and Du Fu. At the same time the influence of the Emperors steadily eroded, as they slowly succumbed to luxury and poisoned themselves through alchemy.
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After decades of warfare between rival generals that broke out with the collapse of the Tang Dynasty, China was finally reunited in the year 960 by the Song. If Tang Dynasty was China’s golden age, then this must have been its silver, for in many areas, such as art and trade the Song not only matched their predecessors but surpassed them. However, the Song were never in as strong a military position and there was no hope of regaining the Central Asian provinces, once commanded by the Tang at their height but since falling under the cultural influence of Islam and the far away Caliphs of Baghdad.
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The arrival of the Mongols on the scene changed the course of history in a manner so sudden and final and far reaching, as to make it a unique event in history. China did not remain unaffected and for a century and a half was under the rule of the Khans. Of these Khubilai was by far the most far sighted, fully deserving the sobriquet Great Khan given to him by that famous Venetian traveller, Marco Polo.
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Emperor Hongwu finally drove out the Mongol invaders in 1368, establishing the Ming Dynasty. This was the last ethnically Chinese Dynasty and for three hundred years the glory days of the Tang and the Song and the Han before them were regained. The famous admiral Zheng He sailed with his fleet through the Indian Ocean and beyond, the Forbidden Palace was built in Beijing, the great novels “Journey to the West”, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and “Water Margin” were written. China was the richest and most powerful nation in the post–Mongol world.
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The inevitable decline came as always from weakness at the centre. As with the Tang before them, Ming Dynasty Emperors found themselves succumbing to the luxuries their own success was providing. Some far-sighted scholars and officials tried to warn their countrymen, but they were pushing against the tide.
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In 1644 the Manchus invaded China following in the foot-steps of the Mongols before them. Although not ethnically Chinese, they quickly adopted the culture of their new subjects and many of the Qing Emperors were exemplary scholars and painters. For another century and a half China retained its military strength, but times were changing and the Europeans were catching up fast.
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The late Qing saw the decline of the Chinese Empire, buffeted by its defeats in the Opium Wars and the internecine slaughter of the Taiping Rebellion. This is the period that will be most familiar to the many fans of the kung fu films produced in Hong Kong, for the tension of a society in flux inevitably produced many developments in Chinese Martial Arts.
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The first quarter of the twentieth century saw great political upheavals, starting with the Boxer Rebellion, then the abdication of the last Emperor and the struggle between rival warlords for power. These changes left China vulnerable to invasion from its old neighbour Japan. And all the while in the face of this threat some politicians, like Sun Yat Sen, struggled to form a new constitution and a new society for their country.
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The 1930s and 1940s witnessed a three-way struggle for China between Japan on the one hand and the Communists and the Nationalists on the other, who sometimes co-operated to resist the Japanese and at other times openly fought each other. Ultimately it was the Communist Party that won and in 1949 declared the birth of the People’s Republic of China.
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Over the last five decades China has been undergoing dramatic socio-political changes, first as it adjusted to life under Communism, and then, more recently, as it opened itself up to the global economy. Will traditional Chinese Culture be able to survive these changes, or will the continuity with its past civilization be finally broken? The Conclusion attempts to answer this question, looking back at the preceding articles.
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Bibliography to the special
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