Zheng He

Zheng He was a sick nasty explorer who started in 1405 C.E. by commanding the first of seven expeditions. He departed a with a huge fleet of ships, larger than ever before, to explore Southeast Asia and India.

In 1435, the year he died, the Ming emperor suddenly banned the building of seagoing ships. Later, ships with more than two masts were banned. Confucian scholars had little interest in overseas adventure and commerce. Rigid loyalty to tradition would eventually weaken China and leave it prey to foreign invasion. All of Zheng He's ships and travel logs were destroyed.

60 years later Christopher Columbus would discover the New World. Regretful much?

Song Dynasty

Zhao Kuangyin reunited much of China and founded the Song Dynasty (960 C.E.).

The Song was the Golden Age of China. Just about everything possible flourished: trade, fast growing rice, and the creation of paper money. There was surpluses which allowed people to pursue commerce, learning, and the arts.

The Grand Canal was built under the Song. Food was grown in the south and sent up the canal to the North. The Grand Canal reached its peak under the Song.

China was an ordered an ordered society. It had an emperor, aristocratic families, and a huge bureaucracy.

China had two main social classes: the Gentry and the peasantry. The Gentry was the wealthy land owning class. The Song scholar-gentry valued learning more than physical labor. Social order was based on duty, rank, and proper behavior. The ideal Confucian was a wise, virtuous scholar who knew how to ensure harmony in society. The merchants were on the lowest part of the social scale. Their riches came from the labor of others. An ambitious merchant might buy land and educate one son to enter the ranks of the scholar-gentry.

There was an abundance of rich culture. Artists painted harmony, architecture and porcelain were dominated by Buddhist themes, and Chinese writing had poetry, scholars producing philosophy, history and religion. There were short stories that blended fantasy, adventure and romance. They also invented gunpowder, the mechanical clock, block printing and the movable print.

The Song Dynasty was the greatest dynasty in China and perhaps even the world.

In the late 1200's the Mongols invaded and overthrew the Song Dynasty.

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty (618 C.E.-907 C.E.) followed the brief Sui Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty reunifies China. The first Tang emperor, Li Yuan, was a general under the Sui Dynasty. Him and his son, Li Shimin, crushed all rivals and established the Tang Dynasty. 8 years later, Li Shimin forced his aging father to step down and took the throne himself, taking the name Tang Taizong. He was a brilliant general, government reformer, historian, and master of the calligraphy brush. He would become China's most admired emperor.

Chinese armies forced the neighboring lands of Vietnam, Tibet, and Korea to become tributary states. That is, while these states remained self-governing, their rulers had to acknowledge Chinese supremacy and send regular tribute to the Tang emperor. At the same time, students from Korea and Japan traveled to the Tang capital to learn about Chinese government, law and arts.

Tang rulers helped restore the Han system of uniform government throughout China. They rebuilt bureaucracy and enlarged the civil service system to recruit talented officials trained in Confucian philosophy. They also set up schools to prepare male students for the exams and developed a flexible new law code. Tang emperors instituted a system of land reform in which they broke up large agricultural holdings and redistributed the land to peasants. This policy strengthened the central government by weakening the power of large landowners. It also increased government revenues, since the peasants who farmed their own land would be able to pay taxes.

The Tang Dynasty was the Golden Age of Poetry thanks to Li-Po and his bro Du Fu.

The Tang Dynasty eventually weakened due to corruption, high taxes, drought, famine, rebellions, and they lost territories to Arab invaders (907 C.E.).

Mongols take China

It's 1200 B.C.E. and us Mongols have a sick leader by the name of Genghis Khan. He is going to take over everyone in his path to the Pacific Ocean.

Genghis Khan did not live to complete the siege of China, but over a 150 year period his heirs dominated much of Asia. Of his heirs was his grandson Kublai Khan. Kublai Khan tried to prevent the Mongols from being absorbed into Chinese civilization. When he was ruling in China he reserved the highest government jobs for the Mongols if they did not serve in the army.

The Mongols were not mean to you, as long as you regularly paid tribute to them. Genghis Khan had set up an example for his successors by ruling conquered lands with toleration and justice. He had no use for city life, but he did respect scholars, artists, and artisans. He also listened to the ideas of other religions such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism. The sons and grandsons of Genghis Khan established peace and order within their domains. Political stability paved the path for economic growth. Cultural exchanged increased substantially. Under Mongol rule, an uneasy mix of Chinese and foreign customs developed. Kublai Khan had named his dynasty the Yuan Dynasty.

Marco Polo, a Venician merchant, traveled to China and spent some 17 years in Kublai Khan's service. His writings of his time in China were extremely detailed and left a vivid account of the wealth and splendor of China. He described the royal palace of Kublai Khan and also described China's efficient mail system. His also told of how cities were 10 times larger than that of Venice. In the next centuries Polo's writings sparked European interest in the riches of Asia.

The Yuan Dynasty declined after the death of Kublai Khan in 1294.

Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty has now taken the place of the Qin Dynasty here in the year of 206 B.C.E. Liu Bang has expressed his plan of extending the Great Wall. The population is booming up to about 50 million people. Peace has been restored to China. Also, the Han Dynasty has adopted Confucianism. They rely on well-educated scholars to run a bureaucratic government. A scholar-official is expected to match the Confucian ideal of a gentleman. Emperors have adopted the idea of civil servants should win their position by merit, rather than through family ties.

Year 141 B.C.E.
Emperor Wudi has strengthened the government and economy. He is also making improvements to canals and roads. He has begun reorganizing finances and is imposing a government monopoly on salt and iron. His policy is expansionism, which is expanding China's territory by increasing the amount of land. He has also opened up a major trade route, the Silk Road.

Year 184 C.E.
Burdened by heavy taxes and enormous debt, the peasants have revolted. Many peasants have left their villages and fled to the mountains. I hear they have been forming secret groups, but who knows what that is about.

Year 220 C.E.
The Han Dynasty has aged and signs of decay are appearing. Emperors can no longer control military rules. The weak emperors in the past have let canals and roads fall into disrepair. Warlords have overthrown the last Han emperor. After 400 years of unity, China is now broken up into several kingdoms. Due to the disorder, many invaders have gotten over the Great Wall and set up their own states. So much for a "Great" Wall.

Buddhism comes to China

Here in the year 100, I have been hearing a lot about Mahayana Buddhism. Apparently missionaries and merchants have spread this religion from India to here in China. It seems a lot of people are having trouble with this new faith. Chinese tradition and Buddhism seem too different to be in the same area. But many people are accepting Buddhism and following its guidelines. I have noticed a lot of new Buddhist when China is in distress. Mahayana Buddhism offers the hope of eternal happiness and presents the Buddha as a compassionate, merciful god. Through prayer, good works, and devotion, anyone could hope to gain salvation, which neither Daoism or Confucianism emphasizes. Maybe Buddhism isn't so bad.

Great Wall

So I'm hanging out with my buddies at poker night and the table talk is that Shi Huangdi is rounding up the citizens of China to build something he calls the "Great Wall." Everyone is saying that although it would be a great construction to keep invaders out of China and the people of China in, it would have huge consequences. Shi Huangdi is forcing all the men to help him consruct this wall. Large groups of men have died builidng the Great Wall. I don't know if Shi Huangdi's architectural idea will pay off. But he does say that the Great Wall will become an important symbol to the Chinese people, dividing and protecting their civilized world from the nodmadic bands north of the wall. We'll see.

Taoism or Daoism

Taoism is the basic fundamental of "The Way." Taoism is an philosophy of China, that has come with Confucius' philosophy (around 500).  I was chilling with Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, and he slapped me in the face with some knowledge. He was telling about his philosophy, Taoism. Knowing Lao Tzu, I knew he was all business. He was a wandering teacher just trying to find his way in the hard streets of China. He was just going around telling people to attain harmony with the Tao and the Three Senses of Tao. Lao Tzu wrote the Dao De Jing (The Way of Virtue), and this book has had enormous influence on Chinese life. Many Daoists have turned from the "unnatural" ways of society. Some of those people have become hermits, artists, or poes. Daoists view government as unnatural, therefore is the cause of many problems. But I have noticed that people are taking views from Daoism and Confucianism and sort of blending these things together. I know Lao Tzu and Confucius were both righteous dudes, so we will see what becomes of this.

Confucius

Confucius was my father. He lived from 551-479. I wish he could have been around longer to spread his great philosophy. At an early age he decided he would dedicate himself to education and public service. He felt that educated people had a responsibility to serve in government so they could turn their good ideas into action. He spread education to both the rich and the poor, money did not matter to him. He inspired thousands of people with his guidelines about the right way to live. He did not serve well as a public servant, though. His high standards of conduct often brought him into conflict with corrupt officials. My father said, "The superior man understands righteousness. The inferior man understands profit." He also taught that harmony resulted when people accepted their place in sociey. He stessed 5 key relationships: ruler to subject, parent to child, husband to wife, elder brother to younger brother, and friend to friend. He believed that, except for friendship, none of these relationships were equal. He also believed that it was a ruler's responsibility to provide good government. In return, the people would be respectful and loyal subjects. He said, "The best ruler is a virtuous one who leads poeple by good example." He also believed that governments leaders and officials should be well educated.

My father was a great man and will be missed by thousands.

Unification of China

It's the period of warring states as the localists here in China call it. My grandfather said that this period began in 475 and it's still going on now in 221. China has been fighting for these years within our nation trying to unify the nation but all attempts have been unsuccessful. But the Qin are very close to conquering all of China. They have done this with large amounts of horses and foot soldiers.

Next week...

The Qin have done it. They have unified all 7 kingdom of China. Their ruthless leader, Qin Sin Huangdi, has done the unthikable by leading a group to unify China. They have begun what they call the "Silk Road". They have also begun mass weapon construction. Qin Sin Huangdi has called this the official start of the Qin Dynasty.