Việt cộng muốn gì?
Nam cộng muốn "tự trị". Mượn con dao "đả ruồi", Bắc cộng muốn diệt Nam cộng.
Đám Nam Cộng cuống cuồng sợ mất quyền lực, bắt đầu muốn "tự trị"
HOUSTON P2 1/6/2022:
https://youtu.be/ZYn_SRfF6Ok
41:33 Phong trào phản chiến
VÔ ĐỀ SÁNG CHỦ NHẬT 5/6/2022
https://youtu.be/_ar5gO0M7a4
41:07 Nguồn Gốc Phong Trào Phản Chiến
Đọc thêm:
Những tổ Chức của Phong Trào Phản Chiến tại miền nam
HOUSTON P2 13/6/2022
https://youtu.be/ZPUxpUtxL4Q
Nhất đới nhất lộ: thâu tóm nguồn năng lượng và nguồn nhiên liệu
Will the world boycott China?
Một vòng đai một con đường: Bá đạo thế giới?
https://youtu.be/8rwVTIJ8EU4
Test Kít Việt Á, trùm cuối Đại Án là AI?
HOUSTON P2 14/6/2022
https://youtu.be/PNtQ_6gNIcs
Nguyễn Công Khế hạ cánh an toàn tại Mỹ, tiểu bang (?)
Tiểu sử
Nguyễn Công Khế sinh năm 1954 tại Quảng Nam, là nhà báo, đồng sáng lập báo Thanh Niên và Tổng Biên tập Báo Thanh Niên từ năm 1988 đến năm 2008. Ông từng là Ủy viên Ban chấp hành Hội Nhà báo Việt Nam, được huy chương vì sự nghiệp báo chí, hiện là Chủ tịch Hội đồng quản trị Công ty cổ phần Tập đoàn Truyền Thông Thanh Niên.[1]
Hoạt động Link:
Tội ác sinh viên Việt cộng ở Sài Gòn
Trước 1975 ông hoạt động trong phong trào sinh viên, học sinh tại Đà Nẵng và Sài Gòn chống chính quyền VNCH (cũ).
Sau 1975 ông công tác tại Thành đoàn TP H C M, sau đó chuyển sang công tác tại báo Phụ nữ Việt Nam.
Năm 1986 ông cùng Huỳnh Tấn Mẫm sáng lập báo Thanh Niên - diễn đàn của Hội Liên hiệp thanh niên Việt Nam, ông giữ vai trò phó Tổng biên tập.
Từ 1988 đến nay ông làm Tổng biên tập báo này,
Ông là Trưởng ban Giám khảo nhiều cuộc thi:
- Hoa hậu Hoàn vũ Việt Nam 2008.
- Hoa hậu Trái Đất 2007,
- Hoa hậu Hoàn vũ 2008 và
- Hoa hậu Trái Đất 2011.
Nam Việt cộng sau khi phá nát đất nước, chúng được "Hạ cánh an toần" ở Mỹ, Úc, Canada...
.........................................................
Bảng Chữ Cái
3
Nam cộng muốn "tự trị". Mượn con dao "đả ruồi", Bắc cộng muốn diệt Nam cộng.
Đám Nam Cộng cuống cuồng sợ mất quyền lực, bắt đầu muốn "tự trị"
HOUSTON P2 1/6/2022:
https://youtu.be/ZYn_SRfF6Ok
41:33 Phong trào phản chiến
VÔ ĐỀ SÁNG CHỦ NHẬT 5/6/2022
https://youtu.be/_ar5gO0M7a4
41:07 Nguồn Gốc Phong Trào Phản Chiến
Đọc thêm:
Những tổ Chức của Phong Trào Phản Chiến tại miền nam
HOUSTON P2 13/6/2022
https://youtu.be/ZPUxpUtxL4Q
Nhất đới nhất lộ: thâu tóm nguồn năng lượng và nguồn nhiên liệu
Will the world boycott China?
Một vòng đai một con đường: Bá đạo thế giới?
https://youtu.be/8rwVTIJ8EU4
Test Kít Việt Á, trùm cuối Đại Án là AI?
HOUSTON P2 14/6/2022
https://youtu.be/PNtQ_6gNIcs
Nguyễn Công Khế hạ cánh an toàn tại Mỹ, tiểu bang (?)
Tiểu sử
Nguyễn Công Khế sinh năm 1954 tại Quảng Nam, là nhà báo, đồng sáng lập báo Thanh Niên và Tổng Biên tập Báo Thanh Niên từ năm 1988 đến năm 2008. Ông từng là Ủy viên Ban chấp hành Hội Nhà báo Việt Nam, được huy chương vì sự nghiệp báo chí, hiện là Chủ tịch Hội đồng quản trị Công ty cổ phần Tập đoàn Truyền Thông Thanh Niên.[1]
Hoạt động Link:
Tội ác sinh viên Việt cộng ở Sài Gòn
Trước 1975 ông hoạt động trong phong trào sinh viên, học sinh tại Đà Nẵng và Sài Gòn chống chính quyền VNCH (cũ).
Sau 1975 ông công tác tại Thành đoàn TP H C M, sau đó chuyển sang công tác tại báo Phụ nữ Việt Nam.
Năm 1986 ông cùng Huỳnh Tấn Mẫm sáng lập báo Thanh Niên - diễn đàn của Hội Liên hiệp thanh niên Việt Nam, ông giữ vai trò phó Tổng biên tập.
Từ 1988 đến nay ông làm Tổng biên tập báo này,
Ông là Trưởng ban Giám khảo nhiều cuộc thi:
- Hoa hậu Hoàn vũ Việt Nam 2008.
- Hoa hậu Trái Đất 2007,
- Hoa hậu Hoàn vũ 2008 và
- Hoa hậu Trái Đất 2011.
Nam Việt cộng sau khi phá nát đất nước, chúng được "Hạ cánh an toần" ở Mỹ, Úc, Canada...
.........................................................
Sử 10-Bài 14: CÁC QUỐC GIA CỔ ĐẠI TRÊN ĐẤT NƯỚC VIỆT NAM.
Sử 10- Bài 14: CÁC QUỐC GIA CỔ ĐẠI TRÊN ĐẤT NƯỚC VIỆT NAM.
1. Quốc gia Văn Lang – Âu Lạc :
* Thời gian đầu của cư dân văn hóa Đông Sơn (thiên niên kỷ I TCN đến thế kỷ I sau CN):
+ Công cụ bằng đồng thau, bằng sắt, nông nghiệp trồng lúa nước tại châu thổ sông Hồng, sông Mã, sông Cả, săn bắt, chăn nuôi, đánh cá, làm nghề thủ công như đúc đồng, làm gốm.
+ Xuất hiện sự phân công lao động giữa nông nghiệp và thủ công nghiệp.
+ Sự phân hóa xã hội: kẻ giàu, người nghèo.
+ Do nhu cầu trị thủy và chống ngoại xâm dẫn đến sự ra đời của nhà nước Văn Lang – Âu Lạc.
Cơ cấu tổ chức nhà nước thời Hùng Vương
* Tổ chức nhà nước Văn Lang - Âu Lạc:
+ Đứng đầu nhà nước Văn Lang là vua Hùng, nhà nước Âu Lạc là vua Thục An Dương Vương.
+ Giúp vua có Lạc Hầu và Lạc Tướng, cả nước chia làm 15 bộ, dưới bộ là các xóm làng do Bồ chính cai quản.
+ Kinh đô của Văn Lang là Bạch Hạc (Việt Trì), kinh đô của Âu Lạc là Cổ Loa ( Đông Anh – Hà Nội)
* Nhận xét:
- Nhà nước Văn Lang đơn giản, sơ khai chưa có luật pháp và quân đội.
- Nhà nước Âu Lạc được mở rộng hơn về mặt lãnh thổ, hoàn chỉnh hơn về bộ máy nhà nước như có quân đội mạnh, có vũ khí tốt, và thành Cổ Loa kiên cố nên đã đánh thắng được cuộc xâm lược của Triệu Đà năm 179 TCN.
* Xã hội có các tầng lớp: vua, quý tộc, dân tự do và nô tỳ, cuộc sống vật chất và tinh thần khá phong phú.
* Lương thực chính là thóc gạo, khoai sắn, thức ăn có cá, thịt, rau, củ.
* Tập quán:ở nhà sàn, nhuộm răng đen, ăn trầu, xâm mình, dùng đồ trang sức; nữ mặc áo váy, nam đóng khố.
* Tín ngưỡng: thờ thần Mặt Trời, thần Sông thần Núi và tục phồn thực, thờ cúng tổ tiên, các anh hùng dân tộc.
* Tục lệ: cưới xin, ma chay, lễ hội…
Lưỡi cày đồng Cổ Loa
Nhà cửa thời Văn Lang
Trang phục nam nữ thời Văn Lang
Lược đồ Giao Châu và Cham pa giữa thế kỷ VI đến X
2. Quốc gia cổ Cham pa
* Hình thành ở ven biển miền Trung và Nam Trung phần:
- Nhà Hán đặt quận Nhật Nam chia thành 5 huyện (từ Hoành Sơn đến Quảng Nam); huyện Tượng Lâm xa nhất (Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định).
- Cuối thế kỷ II, Khu Liên lãnh đạo nhân dân Tượng Lâm giành độc lập từ tay nhà Hán, Khu Liên lên làm vua, đặt tên nước là Lâm Ấp.
- Các vua Lâm Ấp mở rộng lãnh thổ từ sông Gianh (Quảng Bình) đến Bình Thuận và đổi tên nước là Cham pa.
* Kinh tế:
+ Nông nghiệp trồng lúa, sử dụng công cụ sắt, sức kéo của trâu bò, dùng guồng nước.
+ Nghề thủ công như dệt, đồ trang sức, vũ khí bằng kim loại, đóng gạch và xây dựng, khu Thánh địa Mỹ Sơn.
* Chính trị: theo thể chế quân chủ, vua nắm mọi quyền hành về chính trị, kinh tế, tôn giáo, giúp việc có tể tướng và các đại thần, kinh đô ở Sin - ha-pu-ra (Quảng Nam), rồi In- đra-pu-ra (Quảng Nam), dời đến Vi-giay-a (Chà Bàn – Bình Định).
* Văn hóa:
+ Chữ viết bắt nguồn từ chữ Phạn.
+ Theo đạo Hin đu và Phật Giáo .
+ Ở nhà sàn, ăn trầu cau, hỏa táng người chết.
* Xã hội : tầng lớp quý tộc, dân tự do, nông dân lệ thuộc và nô lệ.
Thế Kỷ X-XV phát triển, sau đó suy thoái và là một thành phần của lãnh thổ, dân cư và văn hóa Việt Nam .
Toàn cảnh Thánh Địa Mỹ Sơn của nhiếp ảnh gia Trần Thanh Sang
Mỹ Sơn vẫn còn những tấm bia đá mang chữ Phạn cổ.
Vương quôc Phù Nam
3. Quốc gia cổ Phù Nam : hình thành tại châu thổ sông Cửu Long (An giang, Kiên Giang, Đồng Tháp, Bình Dương, Tây Ninh, Đồng Nai, Sài Gòn)
* Cách ngày nay 1500 đến 2000 năm văn hóa Óc Eo (nguồn là văn hóa Đồng Nai).
* Là một quốc gia phát triển ở Đông Nam Á (thế kỷ III-V), có tiếng nói thuộc ngữ hệ Tam Đảo, thể chế quân chủ do vua đứng đầu nắm mọi quyền hành.
* Sản xuất nông nghiệp, làm nghề thủ công, đáng cá và buôn bán.
* Ở nhà sàn, theo đạo Phật và đạo Hin đu/Ấn Độ Giáo.
* Nghệ thuật: ca, múa, nhạc.
* Xã hội phân hóa giàu nghèo, tầng lớp quý tộc, bình dân và nô lệ.
Cuối thế kỷ VI, Phù Nam suy yếu, bị Chân Lạp thôn tính.
Đoàn thị Hồng Điệp sưu tầm và biên tập.
Bảng Chữ Cái
3
Tại sao chúng ta nói Tần Thủy Hoàng Là người thống nhất đầu tiên của Trung Quốc khi Trung Quốc đã thống nhất dưới triều đại Hạ, Thương và Chu?
The word 'China' derives from 'Qin,'
Why do we say Qin Shihuangdi was the first unifier of China when China was already unified under the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties?
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-say-Qin-Shihuangdi-was-the-first-unifier-of-China-when-China-was-already-unified-under-the-Xia-Shang-and-Zhou-dynasties
《示儿》
China was first unified under Qin dynasty.
For the Xia dynasty, most scholars now consider it mythical. Its kings were more like a warlord of a clan. The territories that Xia dynasty owned were very small as well.
For the Shang dynasty, Shang never ruled every single group of Chinese people. Some only paid tribute to Shang court (Zhou was one of them). You could also realize that at the end of dynasty, many feudal states joined with King Wu of Zhou to destroy Shang.
For the Zhou dynasty, the king of Zhou distributed the lands to many of his followers, officials and aristocrats. He was only a titular leader of northern China. Every state accepted the King of Zhou as a universal ruler. However, the real power within the feudal states were in the dukes’hands. In the western Zhou dynasty, these states followed the King of Zhou’s order, however, in the eastern zhou dynasty, no one cared about the King anymore.
The Zhou also failed to subjugate the Chu tribes (later became the state of Chu) at the south.
Unlike three dynasties above, Qin was the first dynasty that united the entire of Chinese lands at that time into a single, centralized state. There was no feudal states anymore. Every province was governed by a governor sent by the emperor. It was the feat that no dynasty before Qin had ever achieved.
Unlike three dynasties above, Qin was the first dynasty that united the entire of Chinese lands at that time into a single, centralized state.
Robert Leo
· May 7, 2021
Xia dynasty so far hasn’t been proven, we shall say.
Archaeological sites have been found for diverse civilizations to coexist in that period, but without writing it is difficult to understand their relationship with each other. Also even Shang dynasty hasn’t been proven for a century, give it some time for breakthroughs.
I don’t know but the archaeological evidence required to accept other civilizations seem to be of a different standard. For example we mostly still can’t read Egyptian scripts, but somehow their long history have been proven? Because the same system of historians and archaeologists made the discoveries and studies while doubting others they were not involved?
Hu Shi Xiong
· September 21
There were descendant states of xia and shang dynasties during zhou era . Its whether they're what was recorded or a different form altogether
Chico Oliveira
· November 11, 2020
If we take seriously everything "western" scholars say then China didn't even exist until recently while Greeks and Romans were "European" blondes rather than Mediterranean (racially, culturally and geographically)
Irin Yuyanlin · March 2, 2017
Your knowledge about chinese history almost can pretend yourself as a chinese.
Phen Su , Historian Answered Sep 21
Because China has different definitions in different periods China originally referred to the Luoyang area, because Luoyang is located in the geographic center of China, so it is called the Central Kingdom, and the Chinese are also called the Central Plains people.
The three dynasties of Xia, Shang, and Zhou ruled only the Central Plains. Chinese scholars believe that what they have achieved is just the unification of the Central Plains.
As the Central Plains people continue to move around, the scope of China has also become larger. King of Zhou more than one hundred feudal states when he was at most, but these countries gradually became stronger, and many countries even developed their own languages and scripts. At this time, China was more like a federal state, and with the decline of King of Zhou, many big countries engaged in annexation wars, and many small countries destroyed.
The State of Qin became the ultimate winner and established the Qin Dynasty. The Qin State abolished the feudal system and established a centralized power system. The Qin Dynasty also included the North and the South under its rule, which added many ethnic minorities to China, and they merged with the Central Plains to become the Han. Chinese scholars believe that it is the china proper that unified it.
The three dynasties of Yuan, Ming, and Qing unified the greater China. The Qing Dynasty used the Eight Banners system to unite China's nomadic and agricultural peoples, and successfully established a multi-ethnic country. Chinese scholars believe that they unified modern China.
Many people will misunderstand the difference between the Han and chinese due to the modern concept of nation-state. so they believe that the Qin State unified China. Many Western history textbooks also use the Qin Dynasty as a starting point to describe China. but The real China has different definitions in different periods.
Qin Shihuang’s historical importance in terms of unification was emphasized in the 19th century as the result of the awakening of nationalism. On the contrary, he was considered a tyrant (a man with a great achievement at the start but fucked it up in his last days so that his regime collapsed shortly).
There wasn’t a clear sense of so-called “unification of China” for the ancient Chinese because, in their view, feudalism and centralization were not much different as long as the legitimacy and supremacy of the central regime were acknowledged. It’s a bit like centralization and decentralization in a modern sense that America is still America even with the neoliberal reform done by Ronald Reagan to cut this and cut that.
So in the fall of the Ming Dynasty, it was a popular belief that the Zhou Dynasty was a very great example as it was able to last for 800 years with feudalism while no other central state can make up even half of it except for the Han Dynasty.
This only changed since the Chinese entered the 19th century that suddenly Qin Shihuang was the first one to “unite” China. For ancient Chinese, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou were all supreme regimes that “ruled” China. They didn’t give much crap, ideologically, that if it was done by bureaucrats or submissive nobles and elites.
I agree that China was ‘unified’ during Xia, Shang, and Zhou but the situations and results are different. During Xia China turns from the Mongol system of selection of a Khan to hereditary succession, Shang is loosely a hereditary confederation like Xia, and Zhou is hereditary succession plus feudalism in the parsing of the land to sons, relatives, those who help to form the empire, and remainders of the previous dynasty. They did not conquer all opponents just win from the head honcho. Qin is different in the following ways, all opponents are won over by the Qin army, ‘one inch of land, one inch of blood’.
Qin unify the writing, unify the measures such as weight and length, unify the roads, change the government to provincial system with local control appointed by the central government and institute the rule of law (at least theoretically with the Emperor above all). Giving all the bad things that Qin did. The major accomplishment of Qin is that it set up a system of government that China more or less follow till 1911. One can always split hairs and argue on terminology, this is what should historians do to present a different point of view. And that is all we can do to question history to see if we can have a different interpretation. Since we do not exist during that time, we are all colored by our own upbringing and ideology.
Brilliance Lee
· November 25
南宋陆游的《示儿》
死去元知万事空，但悲不见九州同。
王师北定中原日，家祭无忘告乃翁。
—
Confucianism has always had the idea of "great unification".
Jay Liu , I've been told I'm Chinese... Answered May 28, 2015 The key word is "unified".
It's probably more accurate to use the word "centralized". Qin SH's real achievement, as Franny Fukuyama points out, is to have established the world's first centralized, standardized, non-regional centric, national bureaucracy.
He made sure that the Imperial bureaucrats were predominantly not from the regions they worked in. He would also regularly rotated the staff so as to prevent any deep, multi-generational ties with the land. Both the people and the local administrators were to be loyal to the Emperor, and not to each other.
In terms of actual "unification" in the strict sense of the word, that came in the form of language (written only of course) and weights and measures standardization.
Before The Qin Empire, the ruling hierarchy in China was quite like that of Europe in the Middle Ages, where a king divides his land and gives each piece of it to a landlord. Each landlord would also divide his land and give a piece to his inferiors. These landlords would only answer to their immediate superiors. More importantly, each landlord would have complete control of his land, even the king could not much about it. That's why the English landlords could force their king to sign a treaty that restrains the king's power. That's also why the king's power was significantly subdued in the era of "Warring States" of China.
It was Qin Shihuang who broke the system. He eliminated all the states and unified them as an empire, where the emperor alone would own all the land and everybody else could only be his servants. All the land under the heaven belongs to the emperor, who would gift some of his land to some of his servants but he could take it back whenever he feels like it. This is what we call "unification".
The big distinction is that before Qin dynasty, because China was so big (i.e. about a quarter of the size of Europe by Zhou dynasty in ~ 1000 BC), the consensus was that one had to have "kings" to govern each region, and all of the "kings" had to have both civilian and military control of his territory, and only went to see the emperor once every couple of years. The generals who fought for the emperor usually get the hereditary title of "king" and get a region to govern in perpetuity. This is similar to the armed aristocracy in Europe.
When Qin Shihuang conquered all the other kingdoms and united China, he had a big debate with the court officials on whether he needed to appoint "kings" to govern each region as before. He decided to eliminate "kings", and instead, divided China into 36 provinces, with court-appointed officials for civilian administration. He also eliminated the military forces traditionally associated with each region, and gathered all the weapons and destroyed them at the Capital.
The Qin dynasty was short-lived and many of its reformed did not last, but over the next thousand years, it became the consensus of China's emperors that regional kings with their private armies was a recipe for endless civil wars, and thus should not be tolerated.
Yes, federal system died in China at that day
Because there was a tremendous difference between the 2.
The former were like the Holy Roman Empire, where there is a emperor, but he only controlled his own duchy and everything else was controlled by various lords, The Qin was essentially the Empire of France under Napoleon.
Xiaolan Yang · May 28, 2015
Probably, the Chinese people will think Napoleon is a pity, almost completed the final unification of Europe.
Kilpatrick Kirksimmons Answered May 17, 2015
The Xia and Shang actually had relatively limited scopes of influence. They may be described as the first civilizations in what we now call China, but they hardly "unified" it. Just as the Etruscans came before the Romans but it was the Romans who united and came up with the concept of "Italia." The Zhou were a bit more powerful, but most of their history saw their power waning after a brief initial period of dominance.
There was a Zhou emperor right up until the Qin period, but he had about as much power as the Holy Roman Emperor, or the Japanese emperor during the Shogun period. So Shihuangdi and the state of Qin really were the first to unite all of the various Chinese states under one ruler. Including, importantly, the non-Han states of southern China. All previous dynasties were focused entirely in the north.
Jie Guang Liu · May 19, 2015
More like Zhou King. Considering that the domain he actually ruled over was actually pretty small if you think about it.
Tris Nguyen · June 7, 2015
The Zhou kings' royal domains were pretty large when it began, and also the most fertile and prosperous. It became "relatively" small at later stages because:
- The western (and larger) part of the royal domains was lost to the Quanrongs.
The Zhou king afterwards granted the (already lost) lands to the state of Qin on the condition that they reconquer them back by themselves. Thus, the state of Qin (relative large even in its earlier stage) was centred on the former western part of Zhou's royal domains.
- Peripheral vassals (Chu in the south, Qin in the west, Qi in the east, Jin and Yan in the north) conquered lands from barbarians and became larger and more powerful.
Noel Leong
, Keen reader of Chinese historical books
Answered Nov 18
Xia, Shang and Zhou were different from the Qin Dynasty and every dynasty since.
Prior to Qin, the ruler of the dynasty used the “King” title and was referred to as 天下共主 (Common/Universal Ruler of the World). It’s basically like the European Union where the leader of a state, say Germany, is considered as the leader of the Union with the declaration of support by the leader of every state in the Union.
The Universal Ruler only ruled its own state but had the power to command the rulers of other states in any military campaign by the possession of an item/items called the Nine Tripod Cauldron (九鼎), which is a reference to the land of China and a symbol of ruler ship by the mandate of heaven. During those days, the land of China was considered as made up by nine regions or states (州): Yang State (扬州), Jing State (荆州), Liang State (粱州), Xu State (徐州), Yu State (豫州), Yong State (雍州), Qing State (青州), Yan State (兖州) and Yi State (翼州).
The Nine Tripod Cauldron or Jiu Ding was lost after Qin State (秦国) conquered the Zhou State (周国) and confiscated the Jiu Ding. When Qin Shihuang became the first emperor of China, the original Jiu Ding was never seen again and disappeared from history. Hence, no one really know whether there were nine items representing the nine region or just one item engraved with the landmarks of the nine regions. Whatever it is, the Jiu Ding was said to be forged by the founder of the Xia Dynasty, Yu the Great (大禹) who tamed the flooding of the Yellow River, and had been passed from ruler to ruler who commanded the support of rulers of all states comprising the dynasty. Each ruler was a feudal lord who had absolute political, economic and military control over the ares ruled by him. The areas ruled by the Universal Ruler was considered as the capital and power center of the dynasty but the King of the dynasty only ruled the areas under his command and not the other states.
The Qin Dynasty was different in that it was the first dynasty in Chinese history that ruled with a de facto central government. It’s like the European Union becomes a Federation with only one ruler who rule all states. Qin Shihuang assumed the title of “Emperor” and exercised effective control over the whole dynasty and not only the areas surrounding the capital. He “nationalized” taxation, civil service and the military; implemented standardization of writing and units of measurement and ruled the whole empire as a state. The dynasty was divided into administrative region and ruled by nobles (later governors) with limited power. Real power rest with central government who set policies and laws for the entire dynasty. The Jiu Ding was no longer relevant though some emperors, like Wu Zetian, forged their own to symbolize they have the Mandate of Heaven to rule.
Those xia, shang and zhou could be half true and half mythologic, but the point is that, in those eras, the known world of the ancestors of Hua xia people was divided into different kingdoms,
each sectors of these places are governed by their own jerks, those that were NOT immediately unified by Qin Shihuangdi are lucky that they were not discovered by the ancestors of Huaxia people, for those that did, even the Chu state which claimed of itself to be a barbarian state, and thus it doesn’t want any business to do with the civil one(the middle state), it also eventually got targeted and ate up.
, history enthusiast
Answered Jan 19
Because Qin Shihuangdi was the first real historical person that we know of that actually unified China. So much of prior periods is veiled in mystery it’s hard to anchor one’s history on it. With Qin, we have concrete evidence and knowledge of how that state was organize, how people lived, much details of its history, how the Shihuangdi grew up, who his mother and father were etc. As oppose to mythical Yellow emperor who supposedly united China 4600 years ago and who was an actual deity.
-> China already stopped to exist and restored back to the countries Dali, Western Xia, Jin, and Song for several hundreds of years before 1200s and
-> it was the Mongolians that ruled these countries from 1200s to 1300s
In the 1600s the Manchus, who were a different people and from a different country, conquered and ruled China for 300 years until 1900s.
So excluding about 500 years when China either was restored into independent countries or ruled by different countries (Mongolia and the Manchus), China has existed only about 1,500 years, and its existence was not continuous.
Mike Chow
Before Qin, it was more like a loose confederation under a Son of Heaven who had a little more actual power compared to the local lords.
Qin Shihuang introduced the first imperial system which consolidated all power under one roof. The system was used for the next two thousand years with sight modifications.
Because the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties were myths and they did not exist. China was first formed in 22 B.C. after Qin Shihuangdi conquered six other countries (Zhao, Wei, Han, Yan, Qi, and Chu) and formed China. See
Mike Chow , ex-Quoran Answered May 17, 2015
Before Qin, it was more like a loose confederation under a Son of Heaven who had a little more actual power compared to the local lords. Qin Shihuang introduced the first imperial system which consolidated all power under one roof. The system was used for the next two thousand years with sight modifications.
Johnny Bai , I know a little bit. Answered Aug 14, 2015
Because it is the first time that whole China is under one centralised government. Before that China was a federal state, where the high King did not govern the whole country directly, the federal court do not have direct control over the whole country.
Xiaolan Yang , Ningbo,China Answered May 17, 2015
Originally Answered: Why do we say Qin Shihuangdi was the first unifier of China when China was already unified under the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties? Because before him,is a national system of enfeoffment,have many kings they had their own country.The king is hereditary But,after Qin Shihuang, only one king ,o no ,only one Emperor,all the land occupation by bureaucratic management,They are not hereditary,only be appointed by the Emperor. The former is like Europe,The latter is like Napoleon
Shannon Chen Answered May 24, 2015
Because before Qin unified China, China existed 6 countries at the same time. It's Qin who defeated all of them and became the empire of China.And the Xia ,Shang,and Zhou dynasties' background were differrent from Qin.
Joseph Boyle , lives in California (1988-present) Answered May 27, 2015
I think we think of it that way because so much about China developed during the Warring States period. The total source material on the early eras is much smaller. The Warring States period has been compared to Classical Greece where thought flourished and was abundantly recorded, becoming a canon for following eras.
Alex Yan , B.A. History & Classics, University of Toronto Answered Jul 11, 2015
Under the Hsia, Shang, and Chou Dynasties, China (term used loosely) was unified in that most regional powers recognized a senior ruler in the person of the King (Hsia and Shang) or Son of Heaven (Chou). These regional powers continue to be autonomous and often belligerent with their neighbours; they also signed treaties and formed alliances with each other freely. The senior ruler, aside from enjoying tributes and ritualistic deference from other rulers, did not govern those other states.
Under the Ch'in Dynasty, China was unified under one government and one ruler. His policy became valid throughout the land, instead of being limited to his own state. More precisely, China, which previously consisted of many states, has come under the dominion of one state and her ruler.
Xiao Chen , programmer Answered May 27, 2015
Zhou was feudal while Qin was centralistic.
Zhou was divided to hundreds of small feudal states which were very much autonomous. The feudal royals can have their own armies and laws. The emperor had little power in those states though he had his own direct ruled region. That's why in the East Zhou those states fought and annexed each other and finally even the emperor's direct land were conquered by Qin Kingdom.
Qin was divided to many Jun's and each Jun was further divided to many Xian's. (Both Jun/郡 and Xian/县 are translated to County in English, but in Qin dynasty, Jun was a higher level administrative unit than Xian). The head officer of Jun's and Xian's were named by the central government. Qin dynasty formed the centralistic tradition of China's political system. Dynasty after Qin typical didn't allow a feudal nobility have his own land ruled by its own law. West Han after Qin was a transition: only those nobility from the emperor's family were allowed to own their own feuds.
Joseph Boyle · May 27, 2015
Didn't the early Zhou have more central power?
Xiao Chen · May 28, 2015
nobility had the right of self-governing in both west and east Zhou. however, in west zhou, the emperor had the right of giving out and taking back the feuds. and the emperor also had the right to name 2~3 ministers in each of nobility's feuds to “help“ the governing. those rights were lost when the emporer was no longer the strongest power after too much land were given out and the nobility became stronger by annexed each other.
Gwydion Madawc Williams
Read a lot about history, and note some general patterns.
Answered May 27, 2015
He re-unified it in a form that persisted down to the Revolution of 1911-12. Earlier dynasties had rather different values. The various Warring States had their own cultures and might feasibly have developed into separate traditions, as happened with the heirs of the Roman Empire.
Minh , Complete Annals of Đại Việt
Answered Oct 20
It depends on the successor dynasty.
Son of Heaven, will choose a political history to suit his dynasty.
Thiên tử (chữ Hán: 天子)
The title "Son of Heaven" stems from the concept of the Mandate of Heaven, created by the Zhou dynasty monarchs to justify their having deposed the Shang dynasty. They held that Heaven had revoked its mandate from the Shang and given it to the Zhou in retribution for Shang corruption and misrule. Heaven bestowed the mandate on whomever was most fit to rule. The title held the emperor responsible for the prosperity and security of his people by the threat of taking away his mandate.
"Son of Heaven" was often one of several titles adopted by East Asian monarchs. Emperor Taizong of Tang held the Chinese title, Son of Heaven", alongside the Central Asian title, Tengeri Qaghan ("Tenger Khan", or God-like Emperor), which he had gained after defeating the Tujue.
Japanese monarchs likewise used a second title, tennō (天皇, "Heavenly Emperor"), that, like "Son of Heaven", appealed to the emperor's connection to Heaven. The title carried widespread influence across East Asia as the ancient Han Chinese imperial title, tianzi (天子), "Son of Heaven", was later adopted by the Emperor of Japan during the Asuka period.
Japan sent diplomatic missions to China, then ruled by the Sui dynasty, and formed cultural and commercial ties with China.
Japan's Yamato state modeled its government after the Chinese Confucian imperial bureaucracy. A Japanese mission of 607 CE delivered a message from "the Son of Heaven in the land where the sun rises ... to the Son of Heaven in the land where the sun sets."
But the Japanese emperor's title was less contingent than that of his Chinese counterpart; there was no divine mandate that would punish Japan's emperor for failing to rule justly. The right to rule of the Japanese emperor, descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu, was absolute.
Based on epitaphs dating to the 4th and 5th centuries in medieval Korea, the kingdom of Goguryeo had concepts of Son of Heaven (天帝之子) and independent tianxia.
The rulers of Goryeo used the titles of emperor and Son of Heaven and positioned Goryeo at the center of the Haedong "East of the Sea" tianxia, which encompassed the historical domain of the "Samhan", another name for the Three Kingdoms of Korea.
The title was also adopted in Vietnam, known in Vietnamese as Thiên tử (Chữ Hán: 天子). A divine mandate gave the Vietnamese emperor the right to rule, based not on his lineage but on his competence to govern.
Vietnam's adoption of a Confucian bureaucracy, presided over by Vietnam's Son of Heaven, led to the creation of a Vietnamese tributary system in Southeast Asia, modeled after the Chinese Sinocentric system in East Asia.
The burning of books and burying of scholars (Chinese: 焚書坑儒; pinyin: fénshū kēngrú), also known as burning the books and executing the ru scholars, refers to the purported burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE by the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty. This was alleged to have destroyed philosophical treatises of the Hundred Schools of Thought, with the goal of strengthening the official Qin governing philosophy of Legalism.
Punishment of the scholars
According to the Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), after Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China, unified China in 221 BCE, his chancellor Li Si suggested suppressing intellectual discourse to unify thought and political opinion.
Chancellor Li Si said: "I, your servant, propose that all historians' records other than those of Qin's be burned. With the exception of the academics whose duty includes possessing books, if anyone under heaven has copies of the Shi Jing [Classic of Poetry], the Shujing [Classic of History], or the writings of the hundred schools of philosophy, they shall deliver them (the books) to the governor or the commandant for burning. Anyone who dares to discuss the Shi Jing or the Classic of History shall be publicly executed. Anyone who uses history to criticize the present shall have his family executed. Any official who sees the violations but fails to report them is equally guilty. Anyone who has failed to burn the books after thirty days of this announcement shall be subjected to tattooing and be sent to build the Great Wall. The books that have exemption are those on medicine, divination, agriculture, and forestry. Those who have interest in laws shall instead study from officials."
— Shiji Chapter 6. "The Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin" thirty-fourth year (213 BC)
Three categories of books were viewed by Li Si to be most dangerous politically. These were poetry (particularly the Shi Jing), history (Shujing and especially historical records of other states than Qin), and philosophy. The ancient collection of poetry and historical records contained many stories concerning the ancient virtuous rulers. Li Si believed that if the people were to read these works they were likely to invoke the past and become dissatisfied with the present. The reason for opposing various schools of philosophy was that they advocated political ideas often incompatible with the totalitarian regime.
Some of the diversity in terms of points of agreement and even outright divergences in modern evaluations of Wu Zetian can be seen in the following quotes by
modern non-Chinese authors:
"Wu Zetian (690–705) was an extraordinary woman, attractive, exceptionally gifted, politically astute and an excellent judge of men. With single minded determination, she overcame the opposition of the Confucian establishment through her own efforts, unique among palace women by not using her own family. "Her rise to power was steeped in blood..." Ann Paludan "To the horror of traditional Chinese historians, all members of the shih class, the continued success of the T'ang was in large measure due to an ex-concubine who finally usurped the throne itself... Though she was ruthless towards her enemies, the period of her ascendency was a good one for China. Government was sound, no rebellions occurred, abuses in the army and administration were stamped out and Korea was annexed, an achievement no previous Chinese had ever managed." Yong Yap Cotterell and Arthur Cotterell.
• "China's only woman ruler, Empress Wu was a remarkably skilled and able politician, but her murderous and illicit methods of maintaining power gave her a bad reputation among male bureaucrats. It also fostered overstaffing and many kinds of corruption." John King Fairbank
The start of the Cultural Revolution brought huge numbers of Red Guards to Beijing, with all expenses paid by the government, and the railway system was in turmoil. The revolution aimed to destroy the "Four Olds" (i.e., old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas) and establish the corresponding "Four News", which could range from changing of names and cutting of hair to the ransacking of homes, vandalizing cultural treasures, and desecrating temples.
: 61–64 In a few years, countless ancient buildings, artifacts, antiques, books, and paintings were destroyed by Red Guards. The status of traditional Chinese culture and institutions within China was also severely damaged as a result of the Cultural Revolution, and the practice of many traditional customs weakened.
The revolution also aimed to "sweep away" all "cow demons and snake spirits", that is, all the class enemies who promoted bourgeois ideas within the party, the government, the army, among the intellectuals, as well as those from an exploitative family background or who belonged to one of the Five Black Categories. Large numbers of people perceived to be "monsters and demons" regardless of guilt or innocence were publicly denounced, humiliated, and beaten. In their revolutionary fervor, students especially the Red Guards denounced their teachers, and children denounced their parents.
: 59–61 Many died through their ill-treatment or committed suicide. In 1968, youths were mobilized to go to the countryside in the Down to the Countryside Movement so they may learn from the peasantry, and the departure of millions from the cities helped end the most violent phase of the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution - Wikipedia
1966–1976 Maoist sociopolitical movement in China Cultural Revolution Duration May 16, 1966 – October 6, 1976 (1966-05-16 – 1976-10-06) (10 years and 143 days) Location People's Republic of China Motive Preserve communism by purging capitalist and traditional elements. Outcome Economic activity halted, historical and cultural material destroyed. Deaths Hundreds of thousands to millions of civilian, Red Guards and military deaths (exact number not known) Property damage Cemetery of Confucius, Temple of Heaven, Ming Tombs Arrests Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen arrested aftermath.
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in China from 1966 until Mao Zedong's death in 1976. Launched by Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC), its stated goal was to preserve Chinese communism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society, and to re-impose Mao Zedong Thought (known outside China as Maoism) as the dominant ideology in the PRC.
The Revolution marked Mao's return to the central position of power in China after a period of less radical leadership to recover from the failures of the Great Leap Forward , which caused the Great Chinese Famine (1959–61). However, the Revolution failed to achieve its main goals. [1] Mao charged that bourgeois elements had infiltrated the government and society with the aim of restoring capitalism. Mao called on young people to " bombard the headquarters ", and proclaimed that "to rebel is justified". The youth responded by forming Red Guards and "rebel groups" around the country. A selection of Mao's sayings were compiled into the Little Red Book , which became a sacred text for Mao's personality cult . They held " denunciation rallies " against revisionists regularly, and grab power from local governments and CCP branches, eventually establishing the revolutionary committees in 1967.
The committees often split into rival factions and involved in armed fights known as ' violent struggles ', to which the army had to be sent to restore order. The Cultural Revolution was characterized by violence and chaos. Death toll estimates vary widely, with roughly 250,000 to 20 million people perishing during the Revolution, [2] a number comparable to various disasters in China by death toll. Beginning with the Red August of Beijing , massacres took place nationwide, including the Guangxi Massacre, in which massive cannibalism also occurred; [3] [4] the Inner Mongolia incident ; the Guangdong Massacre ; the Yunnan Massacres; and the Hunan Massacres. Red Guards destroyed historical relics and artifacts , as well as ransacking cultural and religious sites. The 1975 Banqiao Dam failure, one of the world's greatest technological catastrophes, also occurred during the Cultural Revolution. Meanwhile, tens of millions of people w
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution?wprov=sfla1
Wu Zetian - Wikipedia
Founding empress, Zhou Dynasty (r. 665–690); empress regnant of Wu Zhou (r. 690–705 Wu Zhao , commonly known as Wu Zetian (17 February 624 [note 8] [note 9] – 26 November 705), [3] [4] alternatively Wu Hou , and during the later Tang dynasty as Tian Hou , was the de facto ruler of the Tang dynasty , as a empress consort , first through her husband the Emperor Gaozong and then as a empress dowager , through her sons the Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong , from 665 to 690. She subsequently became empress regnant of the Wu Zhou dynasty of China, ruling from 690 to 705. [3] She was the only legitimate female sovereign in the history of China.
Under her 40-year reign, China grew larger, corruption in the court was reduced, its culture and economy were revitalized, and it was recognized as one of the great powers of the world. Wu was the concubine of Emperor Taizong. After his death, she married his successor—his ninth son, Emperor Gaozong, officially becoming Gaozong's huanghou (皇后 ), or empress consort, in 655, although having considerable political power prior to this. After Gaozong's debilitating stroke in 660, Wu Zetian became administrator of the court, a position equal to the emperor's, until 705.
After re-entering the Emperor Gaozong's harem, she clashed with Empress Wang and Consort Xiao to gain the emperor's affection, and eventually expelled and killed them. After her wedding to Gaozong in 655, Empress Wu's rise to power was swift.
A strong, charismatic, cunning, vengeful, ambitious and well-educated woman who enjoyed the absolute interest of her husband, Wu was the most powerful and influential woman at court during a period when the Tang Empire was at the peak of its glory. She was more decisive and proactive than her husband, and she is considered by historians to have been the real power behind the throne during the reign of Emperor Gaozong for more than twenty years until his death. “She was at the helm of the country for long years, her power is no different from that of the emperor.” She was wholly present when the Emperor held court, and even held court independently when the Emperor was unwell.
She was given charge of the Heirloom Seal of the Realm, implying that her perusal and consent were necessary before any document or order received legal validity. Gaozong sought her views on all matters before issuing orders. In the last years of his reign until death, Emperor Gaozong was unable to run the state due to illness, so he delegated his responsibilities to Empress Wu. Wu was granted certain honors and privileges which were not enjoyed by any Chinese empresses before or after. After Gaozong's death, Empress Wu as empress dowager and regent conquered power completely and solely, used absolute power more forcefully and violently than before, and suppressed her overt and covert opponents, and seven years later, she seized the throne in the Zhou dynasty, becoming the only empress regnant in Chinese history. Wu Zetian is depicted in
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Zetian?wprov=sfla1
Burning of books and burying of scholars - Wikipedia
213–212 BCE philosophical purge in ancient China Qin dynasty Qin Empire in 210 BCE Qin region Outlying regions The burning of books and burying of scholars (Chinese: 焚書坑儒; pinyin: fénshū kēngrú), also known as burning the books and executing the ru scholars, [1] refers to the purported burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE by the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty. This was alleged to have destroyed philosophical treatises of the Hundred Schools of Thought, with the goal of strengthening the official Qin governing philosophy of Legalism.
Modern historians doubt the details of the story, which first appeared more than a century later in the Han Dynasty official Sima Qian 's Records of the Grand Historian. As a court scholar, Sima had every reason to denigrate the previous emperor to flatter his own, and later Confucians did not question the story. As one recent historian put it, their message was, "If you take our life, Heaven will take the life of your dynasty." [2] Modern scholars agree that Qin Shi Huang indeed gathered and destroyed many works that he regarded as incorrect or subversive, but he ordered two copies of each school to be preserved in imperial libraries (some were destroyed in the fighting following the fall of the dynasty). He did have scholars killed, but not by being buried alive, and the victims were not "Confucians", since that school had not yet been formed as such.
Punishment of the scholars [ edit ] According to the Sima Qian 's Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), after Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China , unified China in 221 BCE, his chancellor Li Si suggested suppressing intellectual discourse to unify thought and political opinion. Chancellor Li Si said: "I, your servant, propose that all historians' records other than those of Qin 's be burned. With the exception of the academics whose duty includes possessing books, if anyone under heaven has copies of the Shi Jing [Classic of Poetry], the Shujing [Classic of History], or the writings of the hundred schools of philosophy, they shall deliver them (the books) to the governor or the commandant for burning.
Anyone who dares to discuss the Shi Jing or the Classic of History shall be publicly executed. Anyone who uses history to criticize the present shall have his family executed. Any official who sees the violations but fails to report them is equally guilty. Anyone who has failed to burn the books after thirty days of this announcement shall be subjected to tattooing and be sent to build the Great Wall. The books that have exemption are those on medicine, divination, agriculture, and forestry. Those who have interest in laws shall instead study from officials." [a] — Shiji Chapter 6. "The Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin" thirty-fourth year (213 BC) Three categories of books were viewed by Li Si to be most dangerous politically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_books_and_burying_of_scholars?wprov=sfla1
Son of Heaven - Wikipedia
Sacred imperial title of the Chinese emperor Son of Heaven was a title of the King Wu of Zhou and subsequent Chinese sovereigns. Son of Heaven, or Tianzi (Chinese: 天子; pinyin: Tiānzǐ), was the sacred monarchical title of the Chinese sovereign. It originated with the Zhou dynasty and was founded on the political and spiritual doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven . Since the Qin dynasty, the secular imperial title of the Son of Heaven was " Huangdi ". The title, "Son of Heaven", was subsequently adopted by other Sinospheric monarchs to justify their rule. The Son of Heaven was the supreme universal monarch, who ruled tianxia (means "all under heaven"). His status is rendered in English as "ruler of the whole world." [1]
The title, "Son of Heaven", was interpreted literally only in China and Japan , whose monarchs were referred to as demigods, deities, or "living gods", chosen by the gods and goddesses of heaven . [2]
History and adoption [edit] The title "Son of Heaven" stems from the concept of the Mandate of Heaven, created by the Zhou dynasty monarchs to justify their having deposed the Shang dynasty. They held that Heaven had revoked its mandate from the Shang and given it to the Zhou in retribution for Shang corruption and misrule. Heaven bestowed the mandate on whomever was most fit to rule. The title held the monarch responsible for the prosperity and security of his people by the threat of taking away his mandate. [2] "Son of Heaven" was often one of several titles adopted by Sinospheric monarchs. The Emperor Taizong of Tang held the title "Son of Heaven", alongside The title " Tengeri Qaghan " which he had gained after defeating the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. [3]
Japanese monarchs likewise used a second title, tennō (天皇, "Heavenly Emperor"), that, like "Son of Heaven", appealed to the emperor's connection to Heaven. [4]
The title carried widespread influence across East Asia as the ancient Chinese monarchical title, tianzi (天子), "Son of Heaven", was later adopted by the Emperor of Japan during the Asuka period. [5]
Japan sent diplomatic missions to China, then ruled by the Sui dynasty, and formed cultural and commercial ties with China. [6] Japan's Yamato state modeled its government after the Chinese Confucian imperial bureaucracy. A Japanese mission of 607 CE delivered a message from "the Son of Heaven in the land where the sun rises... to the Son of Heaven in the land where the sun sets." [5] But the Japanese emperor's title was less contingent than that of his Chinese counterpart; there was no divine mandate that would punish Japan's emperor for failing to rule justly. The right to rule of the Japanese emperor, descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu, was absolute. [7]
Based on epitaphs dating to the 4th and 5th centuries, Gaogouli had concepts of the Son of Heaven (天帝之子) and tianxia. [8] [9] [10]
The rulers of Goryeo used the titles of emperor and Son of Heaven and positioned Goryeo at the center of the Haed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Heaven?wprov=sfla1
Quincy Bilge , studied Computer Science Answered Nov 28
This is the most stupid question I ever read about China. Qin Emperor was the first unifier because he unified the classes of people from China into only one. 士: combined 100 schools of ideology into one.
others: measurement system like length, weighth, standards of roads, towns, city. It cannot be like this because Xia or Shang let the feudal lords decided those standards and if you move from Shu to Zhao, your trade could be canceled and your 100 square meters garden you bought could only be 50 square feet. After Qin emperor unified them, trading became more fidelity so the foreign traders can trust merchants from any where in China, such the origin of theory that China was from Cin or Qin .
Rob Harris
, Lived in China 7 years; extensively studied their literature Answered Jan 6, 2021
“China” wasn’t unified under either of those dynasties. Neither of them controlled more than roughly what is now Zhejiang Province.
Ada Help , studied History Answered Mar 11, 2016
1. china was very backward at that time, china was a tribe, not a country.
China was the last of the "ancient" civilizations to develop writing. China invented writing about 3500 years ago, Oraclebone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Middle East invented writing 5000 years ago.
China entered Iron age 600 years later than Europe and Near East, At the time, European used iron tools, Chinese used primitive tools. Iron Age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. China was enslaved for 2000 years. China were enslaved by Mongol, Manchu, Xianbei, Khitan, Jurchen empires. Genghis Khan's law, Killing a chinese = killing a donkey. Manchus ruled China for 300 years till 1911.
The word 'China' derives from 'Qin,'
Why do we say Qin Shihuangdi was the first unifier of China when China was already unified under the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties?
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-say-Qin-Shihuangdi-was-the-first-unifier-of-China-when-China-was-already-unified-under-the-Xia-Shang-and-Zhou-dynasties
《示儿》
China was first unified under Qin dynasty.
For the Xia dynasty, most scholars now consider it mythical. Its kings were more like a warlord of a clan. The territories that Xia dynasty owned were very small as well.
For the Shang dynasty, Shang never ruled every single group of Chinese people. Some only paid tribute to Shang court (Zhou was one of them). You could also realize that at the end of dynasty, many feudal states joined with King Wu of Zhou to destroy Shang.
For the Zhou dynasty, the king of Zhou distributed the lands to many of his followers, officials and aristocrats. He was only a titular leader of northern China. Every state accepted the King of Zhou as a universal ruler. However, the real power within the feudal states were in the dukes’hands. In the western Zhou dynasty, these states followed the King of Zhou’s order, however, in the eastern zhou dynasty, no one cared about the King anymore.
The Zhou also failed to subjugate the Chu tribes (later became the state of Chu) at the south.
Unlike three dynasties above, Qin was the first dynasty that united the entire of Chinese lands at that time into a single, centralized state. There was no feudal states anymore. Every province was governed by a governor sent by the emperor. It was the feat that no dynasty before Qin had ever achieved.
Unlike three dynasties above, Qin was the first dynasty that united the entire of Chinese lands at that time into a single, centralized state.
Robert Leo
· May 7, 2021
Xia dynasty so far hasn’t been proven, we shall say.
Archaeological sites have been found for diverse civilizations to coexist in that period, but without writing it is difficult to understand their relationship with each other. Also even Shang dynasty hasn’t been proven for a century, give it some time for breakthroughs.
I don’t know but the archaeological evidence required to accept other civilizations seem to be of a different standard. For example we mostly still can’t read Egyptian scripts, but somehow their long history have been proven? Because the same system of historians and archaeologists made the discoveries and studies while doubting others they were not involved?
Hu Shi Xiong
· September 21
There were descendant states of xia and shang dynasties during zhou era . Its whether they're what was recorded or a different form altogether
Chico Oliveira
· November 11, 2020
If we take seriously everything "western" scholars say then China didn't even exist until recently while Greeks and Romans were "European" blondes rather than Mediterranean (racially, culturally and geographically)
Irin Yuyanlin · March 2, 2017
Your knowledge about chinese history almost can pretend yourself as a chinese.
Phen Su , Historian Answered Sep 21
Because China has different definitions in different periods China originally referred to the Luoyang area, because Luoyang is located in the geographic center of China, so it is called the Central Kingdom, and the Chinese are also called the Central Plains people.
The three dynasties of Xia, Shang, and Zhou ruled only the Central Plains. Chinese scholars believe that what they have achieved is just the unification of the Central Plains.
As the Central Plains people continue to move around, the scope of China has also become larger. King of Zhou more than one hundred feudal states when he was at most, but these countries gradually became stronger, and many countries even developed their own languages and scripts. At this time, China was more like a federal state, and with the decline of King of Zhou, many big countries engaged in annexation wars, and many small countries destroyed.
The State of Qin became the ultimate winner and established the Qin Dynasty. The Qin State abolished the feudal system and established a centralized power system. The Qin Dynasty also included the North and the South under its rule, which added many ethnic minorities to China, and they merged with the Central Plains to become the Han. Chinese scholars believe that it is the china proper that unified it.
The three dynasties of Yuan, Ming, and Qing unified the greater China. The Qing Dynasty used the Eight Banners system to unite China's nomadic and agricultural peoples, and successfully established a multi-ethnic country. Chinese scholars believe that they unified modern China.
Many people will misunderstand the difference between the Han and chinese due to the modern concept of nation-state. so they believe that the Qin State unified China. Many Western history textbooks also use the Qin Dynasty as a starting point to describe China. but The real China has different definitions in different periods.
Qin Shihuang’s historical importance in terms of unification was emphasized in the 19th century as the result of the awakening of nationalism. On the contrary, he was considered a tyrant (a man with a great achievement at the start but fucked it up in his last days so that his regime collapsed shortly).
There wasn’t a clear sense of so-called “unification of China” for the ancient Chinese because, in their view, feudalism and centralization were not much different as long as the legitimacy and supremacy of the central regime were acknowledged. It’s a bit like centralization and decentralization in a modern sense that America is still America even with the neoliberal reform done by Ronald Reagan to cut this and cut that.
So in the fall of the Ming Dynasty, it was a popular belief that the Zhou Dynasty was a very great example as it was able to last for 800 years with feudalism while no other central state can make up even half of it except for the Han Dynasty.
This only changed since the Chinese entered the 19th century that suddenly Qin Shihuang was the first one to “unite” China. For ancient Chinese, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou were all supreme regimes that “ruled” China. They didn’t give much crap, ideologically, that if it was done by bureaucrats or submissive nobles and elites.
I agree that China was ‘unified’ during Xia, Shang, and Zhou but the situations and results are different. During Xia China turns from the Mongol system of selection of a Khan to hereditary succession, Shang is loosely a hereditary confederation like Xia, and Zhou is hereditary succession plus feudalism in the parsing of the land to sons, relatives, those who help to form the empire, and remainders of the previous dynasty. They did not conquer all opponents just win from the head honcho. Qin is different in the following ways, all opponents are won over by the Qin army, ‘one inch of land, one inch of blood’.
Qin unify the writing, unify the measures such as weight and length, unify the roads, change the government to provincial system with local control appointed by the central government and institute the rule of law (at least theoretically with the Emperor above all). Giving all the bad things that Qin did. The major accomplishment of Qin is that it set up a system of government that China more or less follow till 1911. One can always split hairs and argue on terminology, this is what should historians do to present a different point of view. And that is all we can do to question history to see if we can have a different interpretation. Since we do not exist during that time, we are all colored by our own upbringing and ideology.
Brilliance Lee
· November 25
南宋陆游的《示儿》
死去元知万事空，但悲不见九州同。
王师北定中原日，家祭无忘告乃翁。
—
Confucianism has always had the idea of "great unification".
Jay Liu , I've been told I'm Chinese... Answered May 28, 2015 The key word is "unified".
It's probably more accurate to use the word "centralized". Qin SH's real achievement, as Franny Fukuyama points out, is to have established the world's first centralized, standardized, non-regional centric, national bureaucracy.
He made sure that the Imperial bureaucrats were predominantly not from the regions they worked in. He would also regularly rotated the staff so as to prevent any deep, multi-generational ties with the land. Both the people and the local administrators were to be loyal to the Emperor, and not to each other.
In terms of actual "unification" in the strict sense of the word, that came in the form of language (written only of course) and weights and measures standardization.
Before The Qin Empire, the ruling hierarchy in China was quite like that of Europe in the Middle Ages, where a king divides his land and gives each piece of it to a landlord. Each landlord would also divide his land and give a piece to his inferiors. These landlords would only answer to their immediate superiors. More importantly, each landlord would have complete control of his land, even the king could not much about it. That's why the English landlords could force their king to sign a treaty that restrains the king's power. That's also why the king's power was significantly subdued in the era of "Warring States" of China.
It was Qin Shihuang who broke the system. He eliminated all the states and unified them as an empire, where the emperor alone would own all the land and everybody else could only be his servants. All the land under the heaven belongs to the emperor, who would gift some of his land to some of his servants but he could take it back whenever he feels like it. This is what we call "unification".
The big distinction is that before Qin dynasty, because China was so big (i.e. about a quarter of the size of Europe by Zhou dynasty in ~ 1000 BC), the consensus was that one had to have "kings" to govern each region, and all of the "kings" had to have both civilian and military control of his territory, and only went to see the emperor once every couple of years. The generals who fought for the emperor usually get the hereditary title of "king" and get a region to govern in perpetuity. This is similar to the armed aristocracy in Europe.
When Qin Shihuang conquered all the other kingdoms and united China, he had a big debate with the court officials on whether he needed to appoint "kings" to govern each region as before. He decided to eliminate "kings", and instead, divided China into 36 provinces, with court-appointed officials for civilian administration. He also eliminated the military forces traditionally associated with each region, and gathered all the weapons and destroyed them at the Capital.
The Qin dynasty was short-lived and many of its reformed did not last, but over the next thousand years, it became the consensus of China's emperors that regional kings with their private armies was a recipe for endless civil wars, and thus should not be tolerated.
Yes, federal system died in China at that day
Because there was a tremendous difference between the 2.
The former were like the Holy Roman Empire, where there is a emperor, but he only controlled his own duchy and everything else was controlled by various lords, The Qin was essentially the Empire of France under Napoleon.
Xiaolan Yang · May 28, 2015
Probably, the Chinese people will think Napoleon is a pity, almost completed the final unification of Europe.
Kilpatrick Kirksimmons Answered May 17, 2015
The Xia and Shang actually had relatively limited scopes of influence. They may be described as the first civilizations in what we now call China, but they hardly "unified" it. Just as the Etruscans came before the Romans but it was the Romans who united and came up with the concept of "Italia." The Zhou were a bit more powerful, but most of their history saw their power waning after a brief initial period of dominance.
There was a Zhou emperor right up until the Qin period, but he had about as much power as the Holy Roman Emperor, or the Japanese emperor during the Shogun period. So Shihuangdi and the state of Qin really were the first to unite all of the various Chinese states under one ruler. Including, importantly, the non-Han states of southern China. All previous dynasties were focused entirely in the north.
Jie Guang Liu · May 19, 2015
More like Zhou King. Considering that the domain he actually ruled over was actually pretty small if you think about it.
Tris Nguyen · June 7, 2015
The Zhou kings' royal domains were pretty large when it began, and also the most fertile and prosperous. It became "relatively" small at later stages because:
- The western (and larger) part of the royal domains was lost to the Quanrongs.
The Zhou king afterwards granted the (already lost) lands to the state of Qin on the condition that they reconquer them back by themselves. Thus, the state of Qin (relative large even in its earlier stage) was centred on the former western part of Zhou's royal domains.
- Peripheral vassals (Chu in the south, Qin in the west, Qi in the east, Jin and Yan in the north) conquered lands from barbarians and became larger and more powerful.
Noel Leong
, Keen reader of Chinese historical books
Answered Nov 18
Xia, Shang and Zhou were different from the Qin Dynasty and every dynasty since.
Prior to Qin, the ruler of the dynasty used the “King” title and was referred to as 天下共主 (Common/Universal Ruler of the World). It’s basically like the European Union where the leader of a state, say Germany, is considered as the leader of the Union with the declaration of support by the leader of every state in the Union.
The Universal Ruler only ruled its own state but had the power to command the rulers of other states in any military campaign by the possession of an item/items called the Nine Tripod Cauldron (九鼎), which is a reference to the land of China and a symbol of ruler ship by the mandate of heaven. During those days, the land of China was considered as made up by nine regions or states (州): Yang State (扬州), Jing State (荆州), Liang State (粱州), Xu State (徐州), Yu State (豫州), Yong State (雍州), Qing State (青州), Yan State (兖州) and Yi State (翼州).
The Nine Tripod Cauldron or Jiu Ding was lost after Qin State (秦国) conquered the Zhou State (周国) and confiscated the Jiu Ding. When Qin Shihuang became the first emperor of China, the original Jiu Ding was never seen again and disappeared from history. Hence, no one really know whether there were nine items representing the nine region or just one item engraved with the landmarks of the nine regions. Whatever it is, the Jiu Ding was said to be forged by the founder of the Xia Dynasty, Yu the Great (大禹) who tamed the flooding of the Yellow River, and had been passed from ruler to ruler who commanded the support of rulers of all states comprising the dynasty. Each ruler was a feudal lord who had absolute political, economic and military control over the ares ruled by him. The areas ruled by the Universal Ruler was considered as the capital and power center of the dynasty but the King of the dynasty only ruled the areas under his command and not the other states.
The Qin Dynasty was different in that it was the first dynasty in Chinese history that ruled with a de facto central government. It’s like the European Union becomes a Federation with only one ruler who rule all states. Qin Shihuang assumed the title of “Emperor” and exercised effective control over the whole dynasty and not only the areas surrounding the capital. He “nationalized” taxation, civil service and the military; implemented standardization of writing and units of measurement and ruled the whole empire as a state. The dynasty was divided into administrative region and ruled by nobles (later governors) with limited power. Real power rest with central government who set policies and laws for the entire dynasty. The Jiu Ding was no longer relevant though some emperors, like Wu Zetian, forged their own to symbolize they have the Mandate of Heaven to rule.
Those xia, shang and zhou could be half true and half mythologic, but the point is that, in those eras, the known world of the ancestors of Hua xia people was divided into different kingdoms,
each sectors of these places are governed by their own jerks, those that were NOT immediately unified by Qin Shihuangdi are lucky that they were not discovered by the ancestors of Huaxia people, for those that did, even the Chu state which claimed of itself to be a barbarian state, and thus it doesn’t want any business to do with the civil one(the middle state), it also eventually got targeted and ate up.
, history enthusiast
Answered Jan 19
Because Qin Shihuangdi was the first real historical person that we know of that actually unified China. So much of prior periods is veiled in mystery it’s hard to anchor one’s history on it. With Qin, we have concrete evidence and knowledge of how that state was organize, how people lived, much details of its history, how the Shihuangdi grew up, who his mother and father were etc. As oppose to mythical Yellow emperor who supposedly united China 4600 years ago and who was an actual deity.
-> China already stopped to exist and restored back to the countries Dali, Western Xia, Jin, and Song for several hundreds of years before 1200s and
-> it was the Mongolians that ruled these countries from 1200s to 1300s
In the 1600s the Manchus, who were a different people and from a different country, conquered and ruled China for 300 years until 1900s.
So excluding about 500 years when China either was restored into independent countries or ruled by different countries (Mongolia and the Manchus), China has existed only about 1,500 years, and its existence was not continuous.
Mike Chow
Before Qin, it was more like a loose confederation under a Son of Heaven who had a little more actual power compared to the local lords.
Qin Shihuang introduced the first imperial system which consolidated all power under one roof. The system was used for the next two thousand years with sight modifications.
Because the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties were myths and they did not exist. China was first formed in 22 B.C. after Qin Shihuangdi conquered six other countries (Zhao, Wei, Han, Yan, Qi, and Chu) and formed China. See
Mike Chow , ex-Quoran Answered May 17, 2015
Before Qin, it was more like a loose confederation under a Son of Heaven who had a little more actual power compared to the local lords. Qin Shihuang introduced the first imperial system which consolidated all power under one roof. The system was used for the next two thousand years with sight modifications.
Johnny Bai , I know a little bit. Answered Aug 14, 2015
Because it is the first time that whole China is under one centralised government. Before that China was a federal state, where the high King did not govern the whole country directly, the federal court do not have direct control over the whole country.
Xiaolan Yang , Ningbo,China Answered May 17, 2015
Originally Answered: Why do we say Qin Shihuangdi was the first unifier of China when China was already unified under the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties? Because before him,is a national system of enfeoffment,have many kings they had their own country.The king is hereditary But,after Qin Shihuang, only one king ,o no ,only one Emperor,all the land occupation by bureaucratic management,They are not hereditary,only be appointed by the Emperor. The former is like Europe,The latter is like Napoleon
Shannon Chen Answered May 24, 2015
Because before Qin unified China, China existed 6 countries at the same time. It's Qin who defeated all of them and became the empire of China.And the Xia ,Shang,and Zhou dynasties' background were differrent from Qin.
Joseph Boyle , lives in California (1988-present) Answered May 27, 2015
I think we think of it that way because so much about China developed during the Warring States period. The total source material on the early eras is much smaller. The Warring States period has been compared to Classical Greece where thought flourished and was abundantly recorded, becoming a canon for following eras.
Alex Yan , B.A. History & Classics, University of Toronto Answered Jul 11, 2015
Under the Hsia, Shang, and Chou Dynasties, China (term used loosely) was unified in that most regional powers recognized a senior ruler in the person of the King (Hsia and Shang) or Son of Heaven (Chou). These regional powers continue to be autonomous and often belligerent with their neighbours; they also signed treaties and formed alliances with each other freely. The senior ruler, aside from enjoying tributes and ritualistic deference from other rulers, did not govern those other states.
Under the Ch'in Dynasty, China was unified under one government and one ruler. His policy became valid throughout the land, instead of being limited to his own state. More precisely, China, which previously consisted of many states, has come under the dominion of one state and her ruler.
Xiao Chen , programmer Answered May 27, 2015
Zhou was feudal while Qin was centralistic.
Zhou was divided to hundreds of small feudal states which were very much autonomous. The feudal royals can have their own armies and laws. The emperor had little power in those states though he had his own direct ruled region. That's why in the East Zhou those states fought and annexed each other and finally even the emperor's direct land were conquered by Qin Kingdom.
Qin was divided to many Jun's and each Jun was further divided to many Xian's. (Both Jun/郡 and Xian/县 are translated to County in English, but in Qin dynasty, Jun was a higher level administrative unit than Xian). The head officer of Jun's and Xian's were named by the central government. Qin dynasty formed the centralistic tradition of China's political system. Dynasty after Qin typical didn't allow a feudal nobility have his own land ruled by its own law. West Han after Qin was a transition: only those nobility from the emperor's family were allowed to own their own feuds.
Joseph Boyle · May 27, 2015
Didn't the early Zhou have more central power?
Xiao Chen · May 28, 2015
nobility had the right of self-governing in both west and east Zhou. however, in west zhou, the emperor had the right of giving out and taking back the feuds. and the emperor also had the right to name 2~3 ministers in each of nobility's feuds to “help“ the governing. those rights were lost when the emporer was no longer the strongest power after too much land were given out and the nobility became stronger by annexed each other.
Gwydion Madawc Williams
Read a lot about history, and note some general patterns.
Answered May 27, 2015
He re-unified it in a form that persisted down to the Revolution of 1911-12. Earlier dynasties had rather different values. The various Warring States had their own cultures and might feasibly have developed into separate traditions, as happened with the heirs of the Roman Empire.
Minh , Complete Annals of Đại Việt
Answered Oct 20
It depends on the successor dynasty.
Son of Heaven, will choose a political history to suit his dynasty.
Thiên tử (chữ Hán: 天子)
The title "Son of Heaven" stems from the concept of the Mandate of Heaven, created by the Zhou dynasty monarchs to justify their having deposed the Shang dynasty. They held that Heaven had revoked its mandate from the Shang and given it to the Zhou in retribution for Shang corruption and misrule. Heaven bestowed the mandate on whomever was most fit to rule. The title held the emperor responsible for the prosperity and security of his people by the threat of taking away his mandate.
"Son of Heaven" was often one of several titles adopted by East Asian monarchs. Emperor Taizong of Tang held the Chinese title, Son of Heaven", alongside the Central Asian title, Tengeri Qaghan ("Tenger Khan", or God-like Emperor), which he had gained after defeating the Tujue.
Japanese monarchs likewise used a second title, tennō (天皇, "Heavenly Emperor"), that, like "Son of Heaven", appealed to the emperor's connection to Heaven. The title carried widespread influence across East Asia as the ancient Han Chinese imperial title, tianzi (天子), "Son of Heaven", was later adopted by the Emperor of Japan during the Asuka period.
Japan sent diplomatic missions to China, then ruled by the Sui dynasty, and formed cultural and commercial ties with China.
Japan's Yamato state modeled its government after the Chinese Confucian imperial bureaucracy. A Japanese mission of 607 CE delivered a message from "the Son of Heaven in the land where the sun rises ... to the Son of Heaven in the land where the sun sets."
But the Japanese emperor's title was less contingent than that of his Chinese counterpart; there was no divine mandate that would punish Japan's emperor for failing to rule justly. The right to rule of the Japanese emperor, descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu, was absolute.
Based on epitaphs dating to the 4th and 5th centuries in medieval Korea, the kingdom of Goguryeo had concepts of Son of Heaven (天帝之子) and independent tianxia.
The rulers of Goryeo used the titles of emperor and Son of Heaven and positioned Goryeo at the center of the Haedong "East of the Sea" tianxia, which encompassed the historical domain of the "Samhan", another name for the Three Kingdoms of Korea.
The title was also adopted in Vietnam, known in Vietnamese as Thiên tử (Chữ Hán: 天子). A divine mandate gave the Vietnamese emperor the right to rule, based not on his lineage but on his competence to govern.
Vietnam's adoption of a Confucian bureaucracy, presided over by Vietnam's Son of Heaven, led to the creation of a Vietnamese tributary system in Southeast Asia, modeled after the Chinese Sinocentric system in East Asia.
The burning of books and burying of scholars (Chinese: 焚書坑儒; pinyin: fénshū kēngrú), also known as burning the books and executing the ru scholars, refers to the purported burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE by the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty. This was alleged to have destroyed philosophical treatises of the Hundred Schools of Thought, with the goal of strengthening the official Qin governing philosophy of Legalism.
Punishment of the scholars
According to the Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), after Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China, unified China in 221 BCE, his chancellor Li Si suggested suppressing intellectual discourse to unify thought and political opinion.
Chancellor Li Si said: "I, your servant, propose that all historians' records other than those of Qin's be burned. With the exception of the academics whose duty includes possessing books, if anyone under heaven has copies of the Shi Jing [Classic of Poetry], the Shujing [Classic of History], or the writings of the hundred schools of philosophy, they shall deliver them (the books) to the governor or the commandant for burning. Anyone who dares to discuss the Shi Jing or the Classic of History shall be publicly executed. Anyone who uses history to criticize the present shall have his family executed. Any official who sees the violations but fails to report them is equally guilty. Anyone who has failed to burn the books after thirty days of this announcement shall be subjected to tattooing and be sent to build the Great Wall. The books that have exemption are those on medicine, divination, agriculture, and forestry. Those who have interest in laws shall instead study from officials."
— Shiji Chapter 6. "The Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin" thirty-fourth year (213 BC)
Three categories of books were viewed by Li Si to be most dangerous politically. These were poetry (particularly the Shi Jing), history (Shujing and especially historical records of other states than Qin), and philosophy. The ancient collection of poetry and historical records contained many stories concerning the ancient virtuous rulers. Li Si believed that if the people were to read these works they were likely to invoke the past and become dissatisfied with the present. The reason for opposing various schools of philosophy was that they advocated political ideas often incompatible with the totalitarian regime.
Some of the diversity in terms of points of agreement and even outright divergences in modern evaluations of Wu Zetian can be seen in the following quotes by
modern non-Chinese authors:
"Wu Zetian (690–705) was an extraordinary woman, attractive, exceptionally gifted, politically astute and an excellent judge of men. With single minded determination, she overcame the opposition of the Confucian establishment through her own efforts, unique among palace women by not using her own family. "Her rise to power was steeped in blood..." Ann Paludan "To the horror of traditional Chinese historians, all members of the shih class, the continued success of the T'ang was in large measure due to an ex-concubine who finally usurped the throne itself... Though she was ruthless towards her enemies, the period of her ascendency was a good one for China. Government was sound, no rebellions occurred, abuses in the army and administration were stamped out and Korea was annexed, an achievement no previous Chinese had ever managed." Yong Yap Cotterell and Arthur Cotterell.
• "China's only woman ruler, Empress Wu was a remarkably skilled and able politician, but her murderous and illicit methods of maintaining power gave her a bad reputation among male bureaucrats. It also fostered overstaffing and many kinds of corruption." John King Fairbank
The start of the Cultural Revolution brought huge numbers of Red Guards to Beijing, with all expenses paid by the government, and the railway system was in turmoil. The revolution aimed to destroy the "Four Olds" (i.e., old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas) and establish the corresponding "Four News", which could range from changing of names and cutting of hair to the ransacking of homes, vandalizing cultural treasures, and desecrating temples.
: 61–64 In a few years, countless ancient buildings, artifacts, antiques, books, and paintings were destroyed by Red Guards. The status of traditional Chinese culture and institutions within China was also severely damaged as a result of the Cultural Revolution, and the practice of many traditional customs weakened.
The revolution also aimed to "sweep away" all "cow demons and snake spirits", that is, all the class enemies who promoted bourgeois ideas within the party, the government, the army, among the intellectuals, as well as those from an exploitative family background or who belonged to one of the Five Black Categories. Large numbers of people perceived to be "monsters and demons" regardless of guilt or innocence were publicly denounced, humiliated, and beaten. In their revolutionary fervor, students especially the Red Guards denounced their teachers, and children denounced their parents.
: 59–61 Many died through their ill-treatment or committed suicide. In 1968, youths were mobilized to go to the countryside in the Down to the Countryside Movement so they may learn from the peasantry, and the departure of millions from the cities helped end the most violent phase of the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution - Wikipedia
1966–1976 Maoist sociopolitical movement in China Cultural Revolution Duration May 16, 1966 – October 6, 1976 (1966-05-16 – 1976-10-06) (10 years and 143 days) Location People's Republic of China Motive Preserve communism by purging capitalist and traditional elements. Outcome Economic activity halted, historical and cultural material destroyed. Deaths Hundreds of thousands to millions of civilian, Red Guards and military deaths (exact number not known) Property damage Cemetery of Confucius, Temple of Heaven, Ming Tombs Arrests Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen arrested aftermath.
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in China from 1966 until Mao Zedong's death in 1976. Launched by Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC), its stated goal was to preserve Chinese communism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society, and to re-impose Mao Zedong Thought (known outside China as Maoism) as the dominant ideology in the PRC.
The Revolution marked Mao's return to the central position of power in China after a period of less radical leadership to recover from the failures of the Great Leap Forward , which caused the Great Chinese Famine (1959–61). However, the Revolution failed to achieve its main goals. [1] Mao charged that bourgeois elements had infiltrated the government and society with the aim of restoring capitalism. Mao called on young people to " bombard the headquarters ", and proclaimed that "to rebel is justified". The youth responded by forming Red Guards and "rebel groups" around the country. A selection of Mao's sayings were compiled into the Little Red Book , which became a sacred text for Mao's personality cult . They held " denunciation rallies " against revisionists regularly, and grab power from local governments and CCP branches, eventually establishing the revolutionary committees in 1967.
The committees often split into rival factions and involved in armed fights known as ' violent struggles ', to which the army had to be sent to restore order. The Cultural Revolution was characterized by violence and chaos. Death toll estimates vary widely, with roughly 250,000 to 20 million people perishing during the Revolution, [2] a number comparable to various disasters in China by death toll. Beginning with the Red August of Beijing , massacres took place nationwide, including the Guangxi Massacre, in which massive cannibalism also occurred; [3] [4] the Inner Mongolia incident ; the Guangdong Massacre ; the Yunnan Massacres; and the Hunan Massacres. Red Guards destroyed historical relics and artifacts , as well as ransacking cultural and religious sites. The 1975 Banqiao Dam failure, one of the world's greatest technological catastrophes, also occurred during the Cultural Revolution. Meanwhile, tens of millions of people w
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution?wprov=sfla1
Wu Zetian - Wikipedia
Founding empress, Zhou Dynasty (r. 665–690); empress regnant of Wu Zhou (r. 690–705 Wu Zhao , commonly known as Wu Zetian (17 February 624 [note 8] [note 9] – 26 November 705), [3] [4] alternatively Wu Hou , and during the later Tang dynasty as Tian Hou , was the de facto ruler of the Tang dynasty , as a empress consort , first through her husband the Emperor Gaozong and then as a empress dowager , through her sons the Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong , from 665 to 690. She subsequently became empress regnant of the Wu Zhou dynasty of China, ruling from 690 to 705. [3] She was the only legitimate female sovereign in the history of China.
Under her 40-year reign, China grew larger, corruption in the court was reduced, its culture and economy were revitalized, and it was recognized as one of the great powers of the world. Wu was the concubine of Emperor Taizong. After his death, she married his successor—his ninth son, Emperor Gaozong, officially becoming Gaozong's huanghou (皇后 ), or empress consort, in 655, although having considerable political power prior to this. After Gaozong's debilitating stroke in 660, Wu Zetian became administrator of the court, a position equal to the emperor's, until 705.
After re-entering the Emperor Gaozong's harem, she clashed with Empress Wang and Consort Xiao to gain the emperor's affection, and eventually expelled and killed them. After her wedding to Gaozong in 655, Empress Wu's rise to power was swift.
A strong, charismatic, cunning, vengeful, ambitious and well-educated woman who enjoyed the absolute interest of her husband, Wu was the most powerful and influential woman at court during a period when the Tang Empire was at the peak of its glory. She was more decisive and proactive than her husband, and she is considered by historians to have been the real power behind the throne during the reign of Emperor Gaozong for more than twenty years until his death. “She was at the helm of the country for long years, her power is no different from that of the emperor.” She was wholly present when the Emperor held court, and even held court independently when the Emperor was unwell.
She was given charge of the Heirloom Seal of the Realm, implying that her perusal and consent were necessary before any document or order received legal validity. Gaozong sought her views on all matters before issuing orders. In the last years of his reign until death, Emperor Gaozong was unable to run the state due to illness, so he delegated his responsibilities to Empress Wu. Wu was granted certain honors and privileges which were not enjoyed by any Chinese empresses before or after. After Gaozong's death, Empress Wu as empress dowager and regent conquered power completely and solely, used absolute power more forcefully and violently than before, and suppressed her overt and covert opponents, and seven years later, she seized the throne in the Zhou dynasty, becoming the only empress regnant in Chinese history. Wu Zetian is depicted in
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Zetian?wprov=sfla1
Burning of books and burying of scholars - Wikipedia
213–212 BCE philosophical purge in ancient China Qin dynasty Qin Empire in 210 BCE Qin region Outlying regions The burning of books and burying of scholars (Chinese: 焚書坑儒; pinyin: fénshū kēngrú), also known as burning the books and executing the ru scholars, [1] refers to the purported burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE by the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty. This was alleged to have destroyed philosophical treatises of the Hundred Schools of Thought, with the goal of strengthening the official Qin governing philosophy of Legalism.
Modern historians doubt the details of the story, which first appeared more than a century later in the Han Dynasty official Sima Qian 's Records of the Grand Historian. As a court scholar, Sima had every reason to denigrate the previous emperor to flatter his own, and later Confucians did not question the story. As one recent historian put it, their message was, "If you take our life, Heaven will take the life of your dynasty." [2] Modern scholars agree that Qin Shi Huang indeed gathered and destroyed many works that he regarded as incorrect or subversive, but he ordered two copies of each school to be preserved in imperial libraries (some were destroyed in the fighting following the fall of the dynasty). He did have scholars killed, but not by being buried alive, and the victims were not "Confucians", since that school had not yet been formed as such.
Punishment of the scholars [ edit ] According to the Sima Qian 's Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), after Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China , unified China in 221 BCE, his chancellor Li Si suggested suppressing intellectual discourse to unify thought and political opinion. Chancellor Li Si said: "I, your servant, propose that all historians' records other than those of Qin 's be burned. With the exception of the academics whose duty includes possessing books, if anyone under heaven has copies of the Shi Jing [Classic of Poetry], the Shujing [Classic of History], or the writings of the hundred schools of philosophy, they shall deliver them (the books) to the governor or the commandant for burning.
Anyone who dares to discuss the Shi Jing or the Classic of History shall be publicly executed. Anyone who uses history to criticize the present shall have his family executed. Any official who sees the violations but fails to report them is equally guilty. Anyone who has failed to burn the books after thirty days of this announcement shall be subjected to tattooing and be sent to build the Great Wall. The books that have exemption are those on medicine, divination, agriculture, and forestry. Those who have interest in laws shall instead study from officials." [a] — Shiji Chapter 6. "The Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin" thirty-fourth year (213 BC) Three categories of books were viewed by Li Si to be most dangerous politically.
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Son of Heaven - Wikipedia
Sacred imperial title of the Chinese emperor Son of Heaven was a title of the King Wu of Zhou and subsequent Chinese sovereigns. Son of Heaven, or Tianzi (Chinese: 天子; pinyin: Tiānzǐ), was the sacred monarchical title of the Chinese sovereign. It originated with the Zhou dynasty and was founded on the political and spiritual doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven . Since the Qin dynasty, the secular imperial title of the Son of Heaven was " Huangdi ". The title, "Son of Heaven", was subsequently adopted by other Sinospheric monarchs to justify their rule. The Son of Heaven was the supreme universal monarch, who ruled tianxia (means "all under heaven"). His status is rendered in English as "ruler of the whole world." [1]
The title, "Son of Heaven", was interpreted literally only in China and Japan , whose monarchs were referred to as demigods, deities, or "living gods", chosen by the gods and goddesses of heaven . [2]
History and adoption [edit] The title "Son of Heaven" stems from the concept of the Mandate of Heaven, created by the Zhou dynasty monarchs to justify their having deposed the Shang dynasty. They held that Heaven had revoked its mandate from the Shang and given it to the Zhou in retribution for Shang corruption and misrule. Heaven bestowed the mandate on whomever was most fit to rule. The title held the monarch responsible for the prosperity and security of his people by the threat of taking away his mandate. [2] "Son of Heaven" was often one of several titles adopted by Sinospheric monarchs. The Emperor Taizong of Tang held the title "Son of Heaven", alongside The title " Tengeri Qaghan " which he had gained after defeating the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. [3]
Japanese monarchs likewise used a second title, tennō (天皇, "Heavenly Emperor"), that, like "Son of Heaven", appealed to the emperor's connection to Heaven. [4]
The title carried widespread influence across East Asia as the ancient Chinese monarchical title, tianzi (天子), "Son of Heaven", was later adopted by the Emperor of Japan during the Asuka period. [5]
Japan sent diplomatic missions to China, then ruled by the Sui dynasty, and formed cultural and commercial ties with China. [6] Japan's Yamato state modeled its government after the Chinese Confucian imperial bureaucracy. A Japanese mission of 607 CE delivered a message from "the Son of Heaven in the land where the sun rises... to the Son of Heaven in the land where the sun sets." [5] But the Japanese emperor's title was less contingent than that of his Chinese counterpart; there was no divine mandate that would punish Japan's emperor for failing to rule justly. The right to rule of the Japanese emperor, descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu, was absolute. [7]
Based on epitaphs dating to the 4th and 5th centuries, Gaogouli had concepts of the Son of Heaven (天帝之子) and tianxia. [8] [9] [10]
The rulers of Goryeo used the titles of emperor and Son of Heaven and positioned Goryeo at the center of the Haed
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Quincy Bilge , studied Computer Science Answered Nov 28
This is the most stupid question I ever read about China. Qin Emperor was the first unifier because he unified the classes of people from China into only one. 士: combined 100 schools of ideology into one.
others: measurement system like length, weighth, standards of roads, towns, city. It cannot be like this because Xia or Shang let the feudal lords decided those standards and if you move from Shu to Zhao, your trade could be canceled and your 100 square meters garden you bought could only be 50 square feet. After Qin emperor unified them, trading became more fidelity so the foreign traders can trust merchants from any where in China, such the origin of theory that China was from Cin or Qin .
Rob Harris
, Lived in China 7 years; extensively studied their literature Answered Jan 6, 2021
“China” wasn’t unified under either of those dynasties. Neither of them controlled more than roughly what is now Zhejiang Province.
Ada Help , studied History Answered Mar 11, 2016
1. china was very backward at that time, china was a tribe, not a country.
China was the last of the "ancient" civilizations to develop writing. China invented writing about 3500 years ago, Oraclebone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Middle East invented writing 5000 years ago.
China entered Iron age 600 years later than Europe and Near East, At the time, European used iron tools, Chinese used primitive tools. Iron Age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. China was enslaved for 2000 years. China were enslaved by Mongol, Manchu, Xianbei, Khitan, Jurchen empires. Genghis Khan's law, Killing a chinese = killing a donkey. Manchus ruled China for 300 years till 1911.
The first Yan Emperor Shennong tastes herbs to discover their qualities
Yan Emperor
Flame Emperor / Đế Viêm
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Hanyu Pinyin | Yándì |
| Wade–Giles | Yen-ti |
| Yue Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | Yim4 Dai3 |
The Yan Emperor (: 炎帝; pinyin: Yán Dì) or the Flame Emperor /Đế Viêm was a legendary ancient Bai Yue ruler in pre-dynastic times. Modern scholarship has identified the Sheep's Head Mountains (Yángtóu Shān) just north of Baoji in Shaanxi Province as his homeland and territory.[1]
A long debate has existed over whether or not the Yan Emperor was the same person as the legendary Shennong. An academic conference achieved general consensus that the Yan Emperor and Shennong were the same person.[2] Another possibility is that the term "flame emperor" was a title, held by dynastic succession of tribal lords, with Shennong being known as Yandi perhaps posthumously. Accordingly, the term "flame emperors" would be generally more correct. The succession of these flame emperors, from Shennong, the first Yan Emperor have been some more than 500 years, until the time of the last Yan Emperor's defeat by the Yellow Emperor.[3]
Historical records[edit]
No written records are known to exist from the era of Yan Emperor's reign. However, he and Shennong are mentioned in many of the classic works of ancient Yue people. Yan literally means "flame", implying that Yan Emperor's people possibly uphold a symbol of fire as their tribal totems. K. C. Wu speculates that this appellation may be connected with the use of fire to clear the fields in slash and burn agriculture.[4] In any case, it appears that agricultural innovations by Shennong and his descendants contributed to some sort of socioeconomic success that led them to style themselves as di (帝; 'emperors'), rather than hou (侯; 'lord'), as in the case of lesser tribal leaders. At this time it appears that there were only the bare beginnings of written language, and that for record keeping a system of knotting strings (perhaps similar to quipu) was in use.[5] The Zuo Zhuan states that in 525 BC, the descendants of Yan were recognized as long having been masters of fire and having used fire in their names.[6] Yan Emperor was known as "Emperor of the South"[7]
Downfall[edit]
The last Yan Emperor, Yuwang, met the end of his reign in the third of a series of three battles, known as the Battle of Banquan. The exact location of this battle is disputed among modern historians, due to multiple locations adopting the same name at various points through history. Possible candidates include Zhuolu County and Huailai County in Zhangjiakou, Hebei, Yanqing District in Beijing, Fugou County in Zhoukou, Henan, and Yanhu District in Yuncheng, Shanxi.
The Yan Emperor, retreating from a recent invasion from the forces of Chiyou, came into territorial conflict with its neighbouring Youxiong tribes, led by the Yellow Emperor. The Yan Emperor was defeated after three successive battles and surrendered to the Yellow Emperor, who assumed the title of overlord (共主) Yanhuang tribe. Under Battle of Zhuolu, and established their cultural and political dominance in Yue people.
Historicity[edit]
Since the Battle of Banquan is treated as a historical fact by Sima Qian in his Records of the Grand Historian, it would appear that this is a pivotal transition point between mythology and history. Ironically, Yan Emperor enters history only with his submission to the will of the Yellow Emperor. In any case, the title of flame emperor through intermarriage with that of the Yellow Emperor, normad tribe ".
In traditional culture[edit]
Yandi was considered the ancestral to yue culture and people. Also, the tradition of associating a certain color with a particular dynasty may have begun with the Flame Emperors. [8]
According to the records of ancient history books such as The "Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư", the earliest monarch of Vietnam, Hồng Bàng, was a descendant of Emperor Yan. Because of it, all the ancient Vietnamese dynasties regarded Emperor Yan as their common ancestor.
List of Flame Emperors / Đế Viêm / Yan di
This is the most common list given by Huangfu Mi, Xu Zheng, and Sima Zhen:
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