HISTORY
According to Chinese tradition, the Chinese people originated in the Huang He (Yellow River) Valley. The legends tell of
a creator, P’an Ku, who was succeeded by a series of heavenly, terrestrial, and human sovereigns. Archaeological evidence
is scant, although remains of Homo erectus , found at Zhoukoudian, near Beijing, have been dated up to 500,000 years
old. Rice was grown in China, in the middle Yangtze Valley, as early as 7000 bc, and in the lower Yangtze Valley and in northwestern
China in the Huang He Valley, about 5000 bc. There is strong evidence of two so-called pottery cultures, the 
YANG-SHAO CULTURE, (c. 5000–c. 1700 bc) and the LUNG-SHAN CULTURE, (c. 2000–c. 1850 bc) (qq.v.).
THE EARLIEST DYNASTIES
Tradition names the Hsia (c. 1994–c. 1766 bc) as the first hereditary Chinese dynasty, which ended only when a Hsia
ruler fell into debauchery, mistreated his people, and was subsequently overthrown. No archaeological record, however, confirms
this story; the Shang is the earliest dynasty for which reliable historical evidence exists.
The Shang Dynasty
(c. 1766–c. 1027 bc). The Shang dynasty ruled the territory of the present-day north-central Chinese provinces of
Henan, Hubei, and Shandong and the northern part of Anhui. The capital, from about 1384 bc on, was situated at Anyang near
the northern border of Henan. The economy was based on agriculture. Millet, wheat, barley, and possibly some rice were grown.
Silkworms were cultivated, and pigs, dogs, sheep, and oxen were raised. Bronze vessels, weapons, and other tools have been
uncovered, indicative of a high level of metallurgy and craftsmanship.
The Shang was an aristocratic society. At the head of the dynasty was a king who presided over a military nobility. Territorial
rulers were appointed by the king and compelled to support him in military endeavors. Between this aristocratic class and
the commoners was a literate priestly class that maintained the records of government and was responsible for divination.
Shang people worshiped their ancestors and a multitude of gods, the principal of whom was known as Shang Ti (“the Lord
on High”).
The account of the fall of the Shang dynasty that appears in traditional Chinese histories follows closely the story of
the fall of the Hsia. The last Shang monarch, a cruel and debauched tyrant, was overthrown by a vigorous king of Chou, a state
in the Wei River Valley. Situated on the northwestern fringes of the Shang domain, the culture of Chou was a blend of the
basic elements of Shang civilization and certain of the martial traditions characteristic of the non-Chinese peoples to the
north and west.
The Chou Dynasty
(c. 1027–256 bc ). Chinese civilization was gradually extended over most of China proper north of and including the
Yangtze Valley under the Chou dynasty. The broad expanse of this area and the primitive state of overland communications made
it impossible for the Chou to exercise direct control over the entire region. They therefore delegated authority to vassals,
each of whom ordinarily ruled a walled town and the territory surrounding it. The hierarchy of these feudallike states was
headed by the lord, whose position was hereditary. Below him were hereditary fighting men and, lowest in the social scale,
the peasants and domestic slaves. In time these vassal states became more and more autonomous.
Chou society was organized around agricultural production. The land was ideally divided into square tracts, each of which
was subdivided into nine square plots forming an equilateral grid. The eight outer plots were assigned to eight peasant families,
who pooled their efforts and resources to cultivate the center plot for the support of the ruling class. The extent to which
this system of land distribution was employed is uncertain, but later dynasties thought it the most equitable manner of apportioning
land.
Religious practices corresponded to the hierarchical social system. The Chou believed that heaven gave a mandate to rule,
which sanctioned the political authority of the kings. The Chou kings sacrificed to the Lord on High, now called T’ien
(“Heaven”), and to their ancestors. The lords of the states sacrificed to local nature and agricultural deities,
as well as to their ancestors. Individual families offered sacrifices to their ancestors. If sacrifices were neglected, misfortunes
and calamities were expected to result.
The Eastern Chou.
The Chou kings were able to maintain effective control over their domain until finally, in 770 bc , several of the states
rebelled and together with non-Chinese forces routed the Chou from their capital near the site of present-day Xi’an.
Subsequently, the Chou established a new capital to the east, at Luoyang. Although they were now safer from barbarian attack,
the Eastern Chou could no longer exercise much political or military authority over the vassal states, many of which had grown
larger and stronger than the Chou. As custodians of the mandate of heaven, however, the Chou continued the practice of confirming
the right of new lords to rule their lands and thus remained titular overlords until the 3d century bc . From the 8th to the
3d century bc rapid economic growth and social change took place against a background of extreme political instability and
nearly incessant warfare. During these years China entered the Iron Age. The iron-tipped, ox-drawn plow, together with improved
irrigation techniques, brought higher agricultural yields, which, in turn, supported a steady rise in population. The growth
in population was accompanied by the production of much new wealth, and a new class of merchants and traders arose. Communication
was improved by an increase in horseback riding.
Economic integration enabled rulers to exercise control over greater expanses of territory. States situated on the outer
fringes of the Chinese cultural zone expanded at the expense of their less advanced non-Chinese neighbors and, in expanding,
invigorated and diversified their own cultures through selective borrowing from the non-Chinese civilizations. It was from
non-Chinese in the northwest, for example, that the Chinese of the border areas first adopted the use of mounted cavalry units.
For the states in the heartland of the North China Plain, expansion meant aggression against other states that shared the
same basic civilization, and the uniformity of culture among the states tended to promote cultural stagnation. By the 6th
century bc seven powerful states surrounded the few smaller, relatively weak ones on the North China Plain.
With the decline of the political authority of the Chou dynasty and the emergence of the powerful peripheral states, interstate
relations became increasingly unstable. During the 7th and 6th centuries bc , brief periods of stability were achieved by
organizing interstate alliances under the hegemony of the strongest member. By the late 5th century bc , however, the system
of alliances had proved untenable, and Chou China was plunged into a condition of interstate anarchy. The era is known as
the Period of the Warring States (403–221 bc ).
The Golden Age of Chinese philosophy.
The intellectual response to the extreme instability and insecurity produced the political formulas and philosophies that
shaped the growth of the Chinese state and civilization during the next two millennia. The earliest and by far the most influential
of the philosophers of the period was K’ung Fu-tzu, or Confucius, as he is known in the West. The educated son of a
minor aristocratic family of the state of Lu (in present-day Shandong), Confucius represented the emergent class of administrators
and advisers that now were needed to help the ruling aristocracy deal with the complicated problems of domestic administration
and interstate relations. In essence, Confucius’s proposals called for a restoration of the political and social institutions
of the early Chou. He believed that the sage rulers of that period had worked to create an ideal society by the example of
great personal virtue. Therefore he attempted to create a class of virtuous and cultivated gentlemen who could take over the
high positions of government and lead the people through their personal example.
The doctrines of Taoism, the second great school of philosophy during the Period of the Warring States, are set forth in
the Tao-te Ching (Classic of the Way and Its Virtue), which is attributed to the semihistorical figure Lao-tzu, and
in the works of Chuang-tzu (369?–286 bc ). The Taoists disdained the intricately structured system that the Confucians
favored for the cultivation of human virtue and establishment of social order. At the political level Taoism advocated a return
to primitive agricultural communities, in which life could follow the most natural course. Government policy should be one
of extreme laissez-faire, permitting a spontaneous response to nature by the people.
A third school of political thought that flourished during the same period and subsequently exercised a lasting influence
on Chinese civilization was legalism. Reasoning that the extreme disorders of their day called for new and drastic measures,
the legalists advocated the establishment of a social order based on strict and impersonal laws governing every aspect of
human activity. To enforce such a system they desired the establishment of a powerful and wealthy state, in which the ruler
would have unquestioned authority. The legalists urged the socialization of capital, establishment of government monopolies,
and other economic measures designed to enrich the state, strengthen its military power, and centralize administrative control.
CREATION OF THE EMPIRE
During the 4th century bc , the state of Ch’in, one of the newly emergent peripheral states of the northwest, embarked
on a program of administrative, economic, and military reform suggested by a leading legalist theoretician. At the same time
the vestigial power of the Chou grew ever weaker until the regime collapsed in 256 bc . A generation later, the Ch’in
had subjugated the other warring states.
The Ch’in Dynasty
(221–206 bc ). In 221 bc , the king of Ch’in proclaimed himself Shih Huang Ti, or First Emperor of the Ch’in
dynasty. The name China is derived from this dynasty.
With the assistance of a shrewd legalist minister, the First Emperor welded the loose configuration of quasi-feudal states
into an administratively centralized and culturally unified empire. The hereditary aristocracies were abolished and their
territories divided into provinces governed by bureaucrats appointed by the emperor. The Ch’in capital, near the present-day
city of Xi’an, became the first seat of imperial China. A standardized system of written characters was adopted, and
its use was made compulsory throughout the empire. To promote internal trade and economic integration the Ch’in standardized
weights and measures, coinage, and axle widths. Private landholding was adopted, and laws and taxation were enforced equally
and impersonally. The quest for cultural uniformity led the Ch’in to outlaw the many contending schools of philosophy
that had flourished during the late Chou. Only legalism was given official sanction, and in 213 bc the books of all other
schools were burned, except for copies held by the Ch’in imperial library.
The First Emperor also attempted to push the perimeter of Chinese civilization far beyond the outer boundaries of the Chou
dynasty. In the south his armies marched to the delta of the Red River, in what is now Vietnam. In the southwest the realm
was extended to include most of the present-day provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. In the northwest his conquests
reached as far as Lanzhou in present-day Gansu Province; and in the northeast, a portion of what today is Korea acknowledged
the superiority of the Ch’in. The center of Chinese civilization, however, remained in the Huang He Valley. Aside from
the unification and expansion of China, the best-known achievement of the Ch’in dynasty was the completion of the GREAT WALL, (q.v.).
The foreign conquests of the Ch’in and the wall building and other public works were accomplished at an enormous
cost of wealth and human life. The ever increasing burden of taxation, military service, and forced labor bred a deep-seated
resentment against the Ch’in rule among the common people of the new empire. In addition, the literate classes were
alienated by government policies of thought control, particularly the burning of books. The successor of Shih Huang Ti came
under the domination of a wily palace eunuch. A power struggle ensued, crippling the central administration, and the indignant
population rose in rebellion.
The Earlier Han Dynasty
(206 bc – ad 9). From the turbulence and warfare that marked the last years of the Ch’in dynasty, there arose
a rebel leader of humble origin, Liu Pang (see KAO TSU,). Crushing other contenders for the throne, Liu Pang proclaimed himself emperor in 206 bc . The
Han dynasty, which he established, was the most durable of the imperial age. The Han built on the unified foundation laid
by the Ch’in, modifying the policies that had resulted in the downfall of the Ch’in. Burdensome laws were abrogated, taxes
were sharply reduced, and a policy of laissez-faire was adopted to promote economic recovery. At first Liu Pang granted hereditary
kingdoms to some of his allies and relatives, but by the middle of the 2d century bc most of these kingdoms had been eliminated,
and almost all Han territory was under direct imperial rule.
One of the most important contributions of the Han was the establishment of Confucianism as the official ideology. In an
attempt to provide an all-inclusive ideology of empire, however, the Han incorporated ideas from many other philosophical
schools into Confucianism, and employed popular superstitions to augment and elaborate the spare teachings of Confucius. In
staffing the administrative hierarchy inherited from the Ch’in, the Han emperors followed the Confucian principle of
appointing men on the basis of merit rather than birth. Written examinations were adopted as a means of determining the best
qualified people. In the late 2d century bc an imperial university was established, in which prospective bureaucrats were
trained in the five classics of the Confucian school.
The Earlier Han reached the zenith of its power under Emperor Wu Ti, who reigned from 140 to 87 bc . Almost all of what
today constitutes China was brought under imperial rule, although many areas, particularly south of the Yangtze, were not
thoroughly assimilated. Chinese authority was established in southern Manchuria and northern Korea. In the west, Han armies
battled a tribe known as the Hsiung-nu, who were possibly related to the Huns, and penetrated to the valley of the Jaxartes
River (the present-day Syrdarya in Central Asia). In the south the island of Hainan was brought under Han control, and colonies
were established around the Xi Jiang delta and in Annam and Korea.
Emperor Wu’s expansionist policies consumed the financial surpluses that had been accumulated during the laissez-faire
administrations of his predecessors and necessitated a restoration of legalist policies to replenish the state treasuries.
Taxes were increased, government monopolies revived, and the currency debased. Hardships suffered by the peasants were aggravated
by the growth in population, which reduced the size of individual landholdings at a time when taxes were increasing. During
the 1st century bc , conditions worsened further. On several occasions the throne was inherited by infants, whose mothers
often filled government posts with unqualified members of their own family. Factionalism and incompetence weakened the imperial
government. Great landholding families in the provinces challenged the tax-collecting authority of the central government
and acquired a kind of tax-exempt status. As the number of tax-free estates grew, the tax base of the government shrank, and
the burden borne by the taxpaying peasants became more and more onerous. Agrarian uprisings and banditry reflected popular
discontentment.
The Hsin Dynasty
(ad 9–23). During this period of disorder an ambitious courtier, Wang Mang, deposed an infant emperor, for whom he
had been acting as regent, and established the short-lived Hsin dynasty. Wang Mang attempted to revitalize the imperial government
and relieve the plight of the peasant. He moved against the big tax-free estates by nationalizing all land and redistributing
it among the actual cultivators. Slavery was abolished. Imperial monopolies on salt, iron, and coinage were strengthened,
and new monopolies were established. The state fixed prices to protect the peasants from unscrupulous merchants and provided
low-interest state loans to those needing capital to begin productive enterprises. So great was the resistance of the powerful
propertied classes, however, that Wang Mang was forced to repeal his land legislation. The agrarian crisis intensified, and
matters were made worse by the breakdown of major North China water-control systems that had been neglected by the fiscally
weakened government. A large-scale rebellion broke out in northern China under the leadership of a group known as the Red
Eyebrows. They were soon joined by the large landholding families, who finally succeeded in killing Wang Mang and reestablishing
the rule of the Han dynasty.
The Later Han
(25–220). Administrative weakness and inefficiency plagued the Later or Eastern Han dynasty from the very beginning.
As under the Earlier or Western Han, the central government became demoralized by the appointment of incompetent maternal
relatives of infant emperors. With the help of court eunuchs, subsequent emperors were able to get rid of these incompetents,
but only at the cost of granting equally great influence to the eunuchs. As a result, the government was again torn by factionalism.
Between 168 and 170 warfare erupted between the eunuchs and the bureaucrats, who felt that the eunuchs had usurped their rightful
position of influence in government. By 184 two great rebellions, led by Taoist religious groups, had also broken out. For
two decades the Yellow Turbans, as one of the sects was called, ravaged Shandong and adjacent areas, and not until 215 was
the great Han general Ts’ao Ts’ao (155–220) able to pacify the other group, the Five Pecks of Rice Society
in Sichuan.
Period of Disunion.
The Han Empire began to fall apart as the large landholding families, taking advantage of the weakness of the imperial
government, established their own private armies. Finally, in 220 the son of Ts’ao Ts’ao seized the throne and
established the Wei dynasty (220–65). Soon, however, leaders with dynastic aspirations sprang up in other parts of the
country. The Shu dynasty (221–63) was established in southwestern China, and the Wu dynasty (222–80) in the southeast.
The three kingdoms waged incessant warfare against one another. In 265 Ssu-ma Yen (d. 290), a powerful general of the Wei
dynasty, usurped that throne and established the Western Tsin, or Chin, dynasty (265–317) in North China. By 280 he
had reunited the north and south under his rule. Soon after his death in 290, however, the empire began to crumble. One important
reason for this internal weakness was the influence of the principal landholding families. They made their power felt through
the nine-grade controller system, by which prominent individuals in each administrative area were given the authority to rank
local families and individuals in nine grades according to their potential for government service. Because the ranking was
arbitrarily decided, it frequently reflected the wishes of the leading families in the area rather than the merit of those
being ranked.
The non-Chinese tribes of the north, which the Han had fought to a standstill along the border, seized the opportunity
afforded by the weakness of the government to extend their search for pastoral lands into the fertile North China Plain. Invasions
began in 304, and by 317 the tribes had wrested North China from the Tsin dynasty. For almost three centuries North China
was ruled by one or more non-Chinese dynasties, while the south was ruled by a sequence of four Chinese dynasties, all of
which were centered in the area of the present-day city of Nanjing. None of the non-Chinese dynasties was able to extend control
over the entire North China Plain until 420, when the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534) did so.
During the second half of the 5th century the Northern Wei adopted a policy of Sinification. The agricultural area of North
China was administered bureaucratically, as it had been by earlier Chinese dynasties, and military service was imposed on
the tribesmen. Chinese-style clothing and customs were adopted, and Chinese was made the official language of the court. The
tribal chieftains, pushed beyond their endurance by the Sinification policies, rebelled, and in 534 the dynasty toppled. For
the next 50 years, North China was again ruled by non-Chinese dynasties.
THE REESTABLISHED EMPIRE
China was reunited under the rule of the Sui dynasty (589–618). The first Sui emperor was Yang Chien (541–604),
a military servant who usurped the throne of the non-Chinese Northern Chou in 581. During the next eight years he completed
the conquest of South China and established his capital at Changan (now Xi’an). The Sui revived the centralized administrative
system of the Han and reinstated competitive examinations for the selection of officials. Although Confucianism was officially
endorsed, Taoism and Buddhism were also acknowledged in formulating a new ideology for the empire. Buddhism, which had been
brought to China from India during the Later Han dynasty and the ensuing period of disunion, flourished.
The brief Sui reign was a time of great activity. The Great Wall was repaired at an enormous cost in human life. A canal
system, which later formed the Grand Canal, was constructed to carry the rich agricultural produce of the Yangtze delta to
Luoyang and the north. Chinese control was reasserted over northern Vietnam and, to a limited degree, over the Central Asian
tribes to the north and west. A prolonged and costly campaign against a kingdom in southern Manchuria and northern Korea,
however, ended in defeat. With its prestige seriously tarnished and its population impoverished, the Sui dynasty fell in 617
to domestic rebels led by Li Yuan (565?–635).
The T’ang Dynasty
(618–906). Founded by Li Yuan, the T’ang dynasty was an era of strength and brilliance unprecedented in the
history of Chinese civilization. The system of civil service examinations for recruitment of the bureaucracy was so well refined
at that time that its basic form survived into the 20th century. The organs of the imperial and local governments were restructured
and amplified to provide a centralized administration, and an elaborate code of administrative and penal law was enacted.
The T’ang capital at Changan was a center of culture and religious toleration. Many religions were practiced, including
Nestorian Christianity. Foreign trade was conducted with Central Asia and the West over the caravan routes, and merchants
from the Middle East plied their seaborne trade through the port of Guangzhou. Under the T’ang, Chinese influence was
extended over Korea, southern Manchuria, and northern Vietnam. In the west, by means of alliances with Central Asian tribes,
the T’ang controlled the Tarim Basin and eventually made their influence felt as far as present-day Afghanistan.
Administrative system.
The economic and military strength of the T’ang Empire was founded on a system of equal land allotments made to the
adult male population. The per capita agricultural tax paid by the allotment holders was the greatest source of government
income, and the periodic militia service required of them was the basis of T’ang military power. Difficulties arose,
however, for the government continued to honor tax-free estates and made large grants of land to those whom it favored. As
a result of population growth, by the 8th century individual allotment holders inherited greatly reduced plots of land, but
the annual per capita tax remained the same. Peasants fled their allotments, thereby reducing government income and depleting
the armed forces. Frontier areas could no longer be protected by militia forces. A system of commanderies was established
along the borders, and defense was entrusted to non-Chinese troops and commanders.
An Lu-shan’s rebellion.
The early T’ang rulers, including the Empress Wu (r. 683–705), a former imperial concubine, were generally
able monarchs. The brilliant emperor Hsüan Tsung (685–762; r. 712–56), however, became enamored of the courtesan
Yang Kuei-fei (718?–56), a woman much younger than he, and neglected his duties. Yang was allowed to place her friends
and relatives in important positions in the government. One of Yang’s favorites was the able general An Lu-shan, who
quarreled with Yang’s brother over control of the government, precipitating a revolt in 755. Peace was not restored
until 763 and then only by means of alliances that the T’ang formed with Central Asian tribes. After the rebellion of
An Lu-shan, the central government was never again able to control the military commanderies on the frontiers. Some commanderies
became hereditary kingdoms and regularly withheld tax returns from the central government. The commandery system spread to
other areas of China proper, and by the 9th century the area effectively under central government control was limited to Shaanxi
Province.
A great cultural flowering occurred during the later years of the T’ang. The poets Li Po, Tu Fu, and Po Chü-i and
the prose master Han Yü (768–824) appeared at a time when the process of political decline had already begun. The printing
of books promoted cultural unity.
Religious persecution and disunion.
The decline of Buddhism and a revival of Confucianism in the late T’ang resulted in a vigorous new ideology, which
provided a basis for the growth of an enduring civilization in subsequent centuries. Although Buddhism had reached the highest
point of its popularity during the peaceful and prosperous years of the early T’ang, a literate official class, primarily
of Confucian persuasion, had developed by the middle of the dynasty, and these officials regarded Buddhism as a disruptive
force in Chinese society. In 845 the T’ang emperor began a full-scale persecution of the Buddhists. More than 4600 monasteries
and 40,000 temples and shrines were destroyed, and more than 260,000 Buddhist monks and nuns were forced to return to secular
life. Other religious groups were also brought under state control.
Social and economic growth tended to preserve unity during the years of political fragmentation. Handicraft guilds, the
use of paper money, and commercial centralization all started during the late T’ang.
Five Dynasties Period
(907–60). The dispersal of political and economic power that marked the collapse of the T’ang dynasty resulted
in a brief period of disunion known as the Five Dynasties. Not only did five short-lived dynasties follow one another in the
Huang He Valley of North China, but ten independent states were established, most of them in South China. Although foreign
invaders did not overrun China during this period, the Liao dynasty (907–1125) of the Khitan Mongols, based in Manchuria
and Mongolia, was able to extend its influence over parts of northern Hebei and Shanxi provinces, with Yen-ching (modern Beijing)
as capital.
The Sung Dynasty
(960–1279). The Five Dynasties period was ended when a military leader, Chao K’uang-yin (927–76), seized
the throne and proclaimed the establishment of the Sung dynasty. By 978 the Sung controlled most of China, excluding only
those areas in northern Hebei and Shanxi provinces held by the Liao dynasty of the Khitan Mongols. The period is usually subdivided
into the Northern Sung, when the capital was situated at Kaifeng, and the Southern Sung, when the capital was at Hangzhou.
The Northern Sung
(960–1126). Fearing the dispersal of military power to the frontiers, a development that had weakened the T’ang,
the early Sung severely limited the provincial military and subordinated the army to the civil government. Indeed, civil bureaucrats
dominated every aspect of government and society. The T’ang civil service examination system was expanded to provide
the dynasty with a constant flow of talent. The Sung reorganized the imperial government, centralizing effective control at
the capital to a greater degree than ever before. The local administrative structure was left much the same as it had been
under the T’ang. Literature, the arts, and philosophy continued to develop along the lines established in the late T’ang
period. Education flourished, and the economy continued to expand and diversify. Military weakness, however, proved to be
a chronic defect.
After repeated defeats at the hands of the Liao, the Sung signed a treaty in 1004, ceding permanently the area that the
Liao occupied along the northern border and agreeing to pay an annual tribute. After a prolonged struggle with the Hsi Hsia
(proclaimed 1038) of the Tangut, a Tibetan people on the northwest border, the Sung again bought peace with tribute in 1044.
By the middle of the 11th century the Sung began to experience fiscal difficulties. The population increase had outstripped
economic growth. Military expenses associated with northern border defense consumed a major portion of annual income; so did
the administrative costs of a growing civil bureaucracy. As the military and fiscal situation deteriorated, the civil bureaucracy
was torn by factions proposing different measures for reform.
In 1069 a young Sung emperor appointed the able Wang An-shih as his chief counselor. Wang conceived a series of sweeping
reforms that were designed to increase government income, reduce government expenditure, and strengthen the military. Realizing
that government income was ultimately linked to the prosperity of the individual peasant taxpayer, Wang proposed land reform
measures that would give equal holdings to all, provide loans to cultivators to assist in planting and harvesting, eliminate
compulsory labor service for the peasantry, impose a graduated tax on wealth, and ensure state purchase of surplus commodities
for resale or distribution in times of famine. Parts of Wang’s programs were adopted, but they were soon abandoned because
of bureaucratic opposition.
Prompted by their own military and fiscal weakness, the Sung entered into an alliance, in the early 1120s, with the Chin
(or Kin) dynasty (1122–1234) of the Juchen people of northern Manchuria against the Liao (Khitan). After the defeat
of the Liao, the Chin turned against their Sung allies and marched into North China, taking the capital of Kaifeng in 1126,
thereby ending the Northern Sung period.
The Southern Sung
(1127–1279). South China remained under the Sung dynasty, which in 1135 reestablished their capital at Hangzhou in
Zhejiang Province, and continued to develop rapidly. The economic prosperity and intellectual achievements of the southern
Chinese far surpassed those of their conquered brethren to the north. Rapid economic development enabled the government to
strengthen its defenses to a greater degree than that achieved by the Northern Sung. Neo-Confucianism, synthesized in its
final form by Chu Hsi (1130–1200), remained primarily a human-centered system of thought, although it borrowed metaphysical
doctrines from Buddhism to present a more balanced and durable philosophy of the universe. Although the bureaucracy burgeoned
and administrative deterioration was apparent, the Southern Sung showed no sign of internal collapse. The dynasty was brought
to its knees by a clearly superior military force only after years of bitter fighting.
In 1206 an assembly of all Mongol tribes convened at Karakorum in Outer Mongolia in order to confirm the establishment
of Mongol unity under the leadership of Genghis Khan. The Mongols promptly embarked on a series of conquests that resulted
in the establishment of the largest empire in the world at the time. In China it was the alien Chin dynasty that first fell
to the Mongol armies. Genghis Khan captured the Chin capital at Yenking (now Beijing) in 1215 and subsequently extended his
power over the remainder of North China. The conquest of the Southern Sung was not completed until 1279, after Kublai Khan,
grandson of Genghis, had succeeded to Mongol leadership.
Mongol rule.
Kublai moved the Mongol capital from Karakorum to a site close to Beijing. From there he ruled an empire that stretched
from eastern Europe to Korea and from northern Siberia south to the northern rim of India. Kublai and his successors adopted
much of the administrative machinery that had existed under the Sung. They ruled as Chinese monarchs under the dynastic title
Yüan (1279–1368) and are so regarded by the Chinese. The reign of Kublai Khan was the high point of Mongol power. Communications
were vastly improved. The Central Asian trade routes, entirely under Mongol control, were more secure than ever before. The
traffic from West to East increased correspondingly. Missionaries and traders came to China, bringing new ideas, techniques,
foods, and medicines. Best known of the foreigners to reach China was the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, whose writings vividly
portray the splendor of the Mongol Empire to the West.
Meanwhile, discontent was growing within China. The Confucian official class resented Mongol proscriptions against the
Chinese holding important offices. Inflation and oppressive taxes alienated Chinese peasants. The 1330s and ’40s were
marked by crop failure and famine in North China and by severe flooding of the Huang He. Uprisings occurred in almost every
province during the 1340s. By the following decade several major rebel leaders had emerged, and in the 1360s Chu Yüan-chang,
a former Buddhist monk, was successful in extending his power throughout the Yangtze Valley. In 1371, while Mongol commanders
were paralyzed by internal rivalries, he marched north and seized Beijing. The Mongols eventually withdrew to their base in
Mongolia, from which they continued to harass the Chinese.
IMPERIAL POWER
Two major dynasties dominated Chinese history after Chu’s seizure of power in the 14th century.
The Ming Dynasty
(1368–1644). Founded by Chu, the Ming first established its capital at Nanjing and revived the characteristically
Chinese civilization of the T’ang and the Sung. Chinese power was reasserted in China and throughout East Asia. Civil
government was reestablished. Literature was patronized, schools were founded, and the administration of justice was reformed.
The Great Wall was extended and the Grand Canal improved. The empire was divided into 15 provinces, most of which still bear
their original names. Each province was supervised by three commissioners—one for finances, one for military affairs,
and one for judicial matters. The financial commissioner, who headed the administration, was superseded in the last years
of the dynasty by a governor.
The early Ming also reestablished the system of tributary relations by which the non-Chinese states of East Asia acknowledged
the cultural and moral supremacy of China and sent periodic tribute to the Chinese court. During the first quarter of the
15th century the tribes of Mongolia were decisively defeated, and the capital was again moved north to Beijing. Chinese naval
expeditions revealed the power of the Ming Empire throughout Southeast Asia, the states of India, and as far away as Madagascar.
From the middle of the 15th century, however, Ming power began to decline. The quality of imperial leadership deteriorated,
and court eunuchs came to exercise great control over the emperor, fostering discontent and factionalism in the government.
The imperial treasuries were depleted by the costs of defense against repeated Mongol incursions and raids by Japanese pirates
who ravaged the southeast coast throughout the 16th century. A seven-year campaign against Japanese troops in Korea during
the 1590s left the Ming exhausted.
In the declining years of the Ming, maritime relations were initiated between the Western world and China. The Portuguese
arrived first, in 1514. By 1557 they had acquired a trading station at Macao. After 1570 trade began between China and Spanish
settlements in the Philippines. In 1619 the Dutch settled in Taiwan and took possession of the nearby Pescadores. Meanwhile,
in the latter half of the 16th century, Jesuit missionaries arrived in China from Europe and began the dissemination of Western
secular knowledge and Christianity. The wisdom and learning of the Jesuits soon won them positions of respect at the Ming
court, but the Neo-Confucian scholars of Ming China remained preoccupied with problems of individual merit and social order.
The Jesuits proved unable to implant either Christianity or Western scientific thought.
The downfall of the Ming was brought about by a rebellion originating in Shaanxi Province as a result of the inability
of the government to provide relief in a time of famine and unemployment. When the rebels reached Beijing in 1644, the best
Ming troops were deployed at the Great Wall, guarding against invasion by the Manchus, a Tungusic tribe that had recently
gained power in Manchuria. The Ming commander decided to accept Manchu aid to drive the rebels from the capital. Once this
collaboration had been effected, the Manchus refused to leave Beijing, forcing the Ming to withdraw to South China, where
they attempted, unsuccessfully, to reestablish their regime.
