Prehistoric Age - Ancient Age
According to tradition, the Chinese people originated in the valley of the Huang He or Yellow River. Archaeological evidence is scarce, although remains of Homo erectus have been found near Beijing, dating back 460,000 years, and named Sinanthropus pekinensis. There is credible evidence for the existence of two ceramic cultures, the Yangshao culture (3950?-1700 BC) and the Long-Shan culture (2000?-1850 BC).
The Huang He or Yellow River flows through Gansu, China, near the city of Lanzhou. It is the second longest river in the country, with 4,667 km in length
Tradition has it that the Hia (1994-1766 BC) were the first hereditary Chinese dynasty, although the first one for which there is historical evidence is the Chang.
The Chang dynasty (1766-1027 BC) ruled central and northern China. The capital was situated in Anyang, close to the northern border. The economy was based on agriculture; They practiced metallurgy and handicrafts. Society was aristocratic; at the front, the king stood out, leading a military nobility. They worshiped their ancestors and a multitude of gods. The last Chang monarch was expelled by a Chou ruler from a state in the Wei River valley.
During the Chou dynasty (1122-256 BC), Chinese civilization gradually extended towards the north. The great expansion of the territory made direct control impossible and responsibility was delegated to feudal lords, each of whom was charged with governing a walled city and its surroundings. Over time, these dependent states became increasingly autonomous.
Society was organized around agricultural production. The Chou kings maintained effective control over their domains until, in 770 BC, some states rebelled and together with nomadic invaders from the north drove the rulers from their capital. Later, the Chou founded a new capital, towards the east, in Luoyang. From the 8th to the 3rd century BC, rapid economic growth and profound social change took place, in a context of extreme political instability and an almost incessant state of war.
The Yangtze River in central China, at 5,470 km long, is the longest in Asia and one of the longest in the world. In the photo, it crosses the Chinese province of Sichuan. The river and its tributaries are the main waterways in the interior of the country
States on the outer borders of the Chinese cultural area have expanded at the expense of their less advanced non-Chinese neighbors. During the 7th and 6th centuries BC, there were brief periods of stability, resulting from the organization of alliances between the powerful peripheral states, under the hegemony of the strongest member. However, by the 5th century BC, the alliance system was unsustainable and Chou China moved into the so-called Warring States period (481-221 BC), characterized by anarchy.
The intellectual response to extreme political instability and insecurity produced the philosophical formulas that shaped the growth of the Chinese state and civilization over the next two millennia. The oldest and most influential philosopher of the period was Kongfuci, Confucius. The doctrines of Taoism, the second major philosophical school existing in this period, are attributed to the semi-historical figure of Lao-Tse and the works of Chuang-Tse.
A third school of thought that flourished in this period and exerted a lasting influence on Chinese civilization was legalism, which preached the establishment of a social order based on strict and impersonal laws. To reinforce this system, they fought for the establishment of a State in which the sovereign had undisputed authority. Loyalists preached the socialization of capital, the establishment of government monopoly, and other economic measures to enrich the state, strengthen its military power, and centralize administrative control.
During the 4th century BC, the kingdom of Qin, one of the emerging peripheral states of the northwest, dedicated itself to a program of reforms, following legalist doctrines. At the same time, the power of the Chou collapsed in 256 BC.
The king of Qin proclaimed himself the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC). The name China derives from this dynasty. The emperor unified the feudal states into an administratively centralized and culturally unified empire. Hereditary aristocracies were abolished and their territories were divided into provinces ruled by bureaucrats appointed by the emperor. The capital of Qin became the first seat of imperial China. The first emperor extended the outer borders:in the south to the delta of the Red River; in the southwest, he dominated present-day Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces; in the northwest, he reached Lanzhou, in present-day Gansu Province, and, in the northeast, a sector of what is now Korea. The Qin dynasty completed the Chinese Great Wall.
The increasing burden of taxes, military service and forced labor created deep resentment against the Qin dynasty among the popular classes, while the intellectual classes were offended by the government's policy of thought control. After a power struggle that crippled the central administration, the people rose in rebellion.
Liu Bang (see Li Yuan) proclaimed himself emperor in 206 BC. The Han dynasty (206 BC-9 AD), founded by him, would be the most enduring of the imperial era. The Han established their rule on the unified Qin base, modifying the policy that had brought about their downfall. One of the most important contributions of this dynasty was the establishment of Confucianism as an official ideology; however, the Han incorporated ideas from many other schools of philosophy in addition to superstitions into Confucianism.
The early Han reached the height of their power under Emperor Wu (reigned from 140 BC to 87 BC). Chinese authority was established south of Manchuria and north of Korea; in the west, they penetrated the current territory of Kazakhstan; in the south, the island of Hainan came under Han control and colonies were founded around the Chihchiang Delta, in Anam and in Korea.
Expansionist policies consumed the economic surpluses and taxes were raised, reappearing state monopolies. Dissension and incompetence weakened the imperial government. The uprisings in the countryside reflected popular discontent.
During this period of turmoil, Wang Mang established himself in power, founding the short-lived Qin dynasty (AD 9-23). All land was nationalized and redistributed among farmers, slavery was abolished, and imperial monopolies over salt, iron, and currency were reinforced. The resistance of the powerful land-owning classes was so harsh that the legislation on land was repealed. The agrarian crisis intensified and the situation deteriorated. In the north, a peasant rebellion broke out and the great landowning families joined them, reinstating the Han dynasty.
Administrative weakness and ineffectiveness dominated the last Han or Eastern dynasty (25-220). Between 168 and 170, conflict arose between eunuchs and bureaucrats, and there were two major rebellions, led by Taoist groups, in 184 and 215. The Han dynasty began to split as the great landowning families created their own private armies. In 220, Cao Pei founded the Wei dynasty and kingdom (220-265) in the northern provinces. The Shu Han dynasty (221-263) was established in the southwest and the Wu dynasty (222-280) in the southeast. The three kingdoms sustained incessant wars with each other. In 265, Sima Yang usurped the throne and established the Ts'ins dynasty (265-317) in the north. By 280 he had reunified the north and south under his mandate. However, shortly after Sima's death in 290, the Empire began to crumble.
The non-Chinese tribes of the north took advantage of the weakness of the government to spread out in the north. Invasions began in 304 and, until about 317, the Hiung-nus (probably the same Hunos had snatched northern China from the Ts'ins dynasty. For almost three centuries this territory was ruled by several non-Chinese dynasties, while in In the south the same was done by a succession of four Chinese dynasties. None of the invading dynasties were able to extend their control over the entire northern plain until 420, when the feat fell to the Bei Wei dynasty (or Northern Bei, 386-534). ).
China was reunified under the Suei dynasty (581-618), which re-established the centralized administrative system. Although Confucianism was officially established, Taoism and Buddhism were also admitted into the new imperial ideology, at the same time that Buddhism flourished. The Suei dynasty fell in 617, in the face of an uprising led by Li Yuan.
Middle Ages
Founded by him (Li Yuan), the Tang dynasty (618-907) ushered in a time of strength and brilliance in the history of Chinese civilization. They created a centralized administration and an elaborate code of administrative and penal laws was promulgated. Under the Tang, Chinese influence extended into Korea, southern Manchuria, northern Vietnam, and what is now Afghanistan.
The economic and military strength of the Tang Empire was based on a system of equitable distribution of land for the adult male population. As a result of population growth, by the 8th century, smallholders inherited even smaller properties, but the tax rate remained, which motivated peasants to abandon their land, reducing state revenue.
General An Lushan, in his struggle for control of the government, precipitated a revolt in 755. After the rebellion, the central government was never again able to control the border military commanders, who turned their posts into hereditary kingdoms and withheld taxes from the central government. This situation extended to other regions and, around the 9th century, the area that was effectively controlled by the central government was limited to the province of Chan-Si.
The decline of Buddhism and the reappearance of Confucianism at the end of the Tang era gave way to a vigorous new ideology, which provided the basis for an enduring civilization for centuries to come.
The dispersion of political and economic power that marked the dissolution of the Tang dynasty was followed by the so-called Five Dynasties period (907-960) in the north, while ten independent states were established in the south.
The five dynasties period ended in 960, when a military chief, Zhao Guangyin, proclaimed the establishment of the Song dynasty. By 978, the Song controlled most of China. It is customary to divide the period into the Northern Song stage (960-1126) and the Southern Song stage (1127-1279).
The Northern Song largely limited the power of the provincial military and, by subordinating the army to civilian power, reorganized the imperial government, centralizing effective control in the capital. However, military weakness became a chronic problem.
Around 1050, when the military and fiscal situation was deteriorating, the civil bureaucracy was divided into groups that proposed different reform measures. The Song allied in the early 1120s with the Kin dynasty (1122-1234) of northern Manchuria, in opposition to the Liao, who turned against the Song and marched north. The Song withdrew and in 1135 reestablished their capital at Hangzhou in Zhenjiang Province.
Led by the southern Song, southern China continued to develop rapidly. However, the dynasty was dominated by an unforeseen factor:the military strength of the Mongols who, under the command of Genghis Khan, initiated a series of conquests that resulted in the formation of the largest empire known until then. Genghis Khan conquered Beijing in 1215 and extended his power over the rest of northern China.
Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, moved the Mongol capital near Beijing, from where he ruled an empire that stretched from Eastern Europe to Korea and from northern Siberia to the south of India's northern border. They ruled as emperors with the dynastic title of Yuan (1279-1368). At this time, the Venetian merchant Marco Polo arrived in China.
There was, however, growing discontent. During the 1340s, uprisings broke out in almost every province. In the 1360s, Hongwu extended his power across the Yangtze Valley; in 1371 he took Peking and the Mongols retreated into Mongolian territory, from where they continued to antagonize the Chinese.
Founded by Wu, the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) revitalized Tang and Song civilization. Its power was firmly consolidated throughout East Asia. Civilian government was re-established and the empire was divided into 15 provinces.
The altar of heaven is part of the temple of the same name, the "Tian Tan", built during the Ming dynasty. It is situated in the old part of the city, in Tian Tan Park. The 15th century architecture, with its red walls and golden ornamentation, is typical of the Ming dynasty .
Modern Age
The early Ming re-established the system of tributary relations, whereby non-Chinese East Asian states recognized their cultural and moral supremacy by sending tribute. The capital returned to Beijing. Power extended throughout Southeast Asia and India, reaching as far as Madagascar (see Zheng He). However, from the mid-15th century, Ming power began to decline.
During the period of decline of the Ming, maritime relations with Europe began. The first to arrive were the Portuguese, in 1521. In 1570, trade with Spanish settlements in the Philippines began. In 1619, the Dutch settled in Taiwan and took possession of the Fisherman's Islands.
The downfall of the Ming was sparked by a rebellion that broke out in Changzhi Province as a result of the government's inability to provide aid in times of famine and unemployment. The Ming accepted Manchu help to drive the rebels out of the capital and the Manchus refused to leave Beijing, which forced the Ming to withdraw to southern China.
Under the Tsing dynasty (1644-1912), the Manchus continued to absorb the culture of China. Its political organization was based on that of the Ming, although it was more centralized; the highest administrative body was the Great Council.
In the mid-18th century, during the reign of Emperor Qian-long, the Qing dynasty reached the height of its power. Manchuria, Mongolia, Xinxiang and Tibet were under his control; even in Nepal the Chinese influence was perceived. Korea and North Vietnam recognized Chinese sovereignty and Taiwan was annexed.
Contemporary Age
By the end of the 18th century, the economic situation of the peasants had begun to weaken. The government's financial resources were seriously reduced, due to the cost of external expansion and corruption. The Manchus accepted trade relations with the West with reservation. Around 1800, the opium market, introduced by the British from India, had developed very rapidly.
The 19th century was characterized by a rapid deterioration of the imperial system and a continual increase in foreign pressure from the West and Japan. Trade relations with Great Britain brought about the first serious conflict. The Chinese were eager to stop the opium trade, but the British refused to accept restrictions on the import of the narcotic.
The first opium war ended in 1842 with the signing of the Treaty of Nanking. The terms of the treaty guaranteed Britain the commercial priorities it wanted. After the second opium war (1856-1860), new treaties were signed in Tianjin, which extended Western advantages. When the Beijing government refused to ratify them, hostilities resumed. A Franco-British expeditionary force arrived as far as Beijing. The Beijing Conventions were signed, in which the terms of the previous treaties were ratified. In accordance with its provisions, Chinese ports were reopened to international trade, the establishment of colonies of foreign residents was allowed and the territories of Hong Kong and Kowloon were permanently ceded to Great Britain.
In the 1850s, the foundations of the empire were shaken by the Taiping Rebellion, a popular revolution of religious, social and economic origin; its leader was Hong Xiuquan. By 1853, the Taipings had moved north and established their capital at Nanking. By 1860 they were entrenched in the Yangtze Valley and threatening Shanghai.
The weakened Manchu dynasty tried to reform its politics to ensure the Empire's survival. From 1860 to 1895, attempts were made to restore the government, obeying Confucian principles, with the aim of solving internal, social and economic problems. During the 1860s and 1870s, the Taiping rebellion was put down, internal peace was restored, arsenals and shipyards were established, and several mines were opened. However, the goals of maintaining a Confucian government and developing modern military power were basically incompatible; as a result, efforts aimed at strengthening were, from 1860 to 1895, useless.
In 1875, the West and Japan began to dismantle the Chinese system of tributary states, maintained in Southeast Asia. The Franco-Chinese War of 1884 and 1885 placed Tongking under French colonial empire. the following year, Britain occupied Burma. In 1860, Russia obtained the northern maritime provinces of the Dongbei Pingyuan region (Manchuria) and the territories north of the Amur River. In 1894, Japanese efforts to annex Korea sparked the Sino-Japanese War, and in 1895, it was forced to recognize the loss of Korea and cede Taiwan Island and the Liaodong Peninsula south of Dongbei Pingyuan to Japan. .
Russia, France and Germany reacted immediately to the cession of the Liaodong Peninsula, as it meant granting Japan a strategic position in China's richest region. These three states intervened, demanding that Japan return Liaodong in exchange for greater economic compensation. Having achieved their objective, the three European powers presented new demands.
Around 1898, a group of distinguished reformers pursued a profound program of reform aimed at transforming China into a constitutional monarchy and modernizing its economy and educational system. The program faced opposition from Manchu officers who, with the help of loyal military leaders, stopped the reform movement. A violent reaction spread throughout the country, reaching its critical point in 1900, with an uprising of the Boxer secret society. After a Western expeditionary force crushed the Boxer rebellion in Beijing, the Manchu government adopted its own reform program and made plans to establish a limited constitutional government along the Japanese model.
Besides being the capital, Beijing is the cultural, political and intellectual center of the country. Here appears the Qian Men Gate, at the southern entrance of Tiananmen Square, the occasional stage for national celebrations and demonstrations. It is surrounded by several important buildings such as the Great People's Museum, the Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the Commemorative Monument of Mao Zedong.
During the first decade of the 20th century, the revolutionaries attracted students, merchants, and national groups dissatisfied with the Manchu government. The rebellion broke out in Hangzhou, which then spread to other provinces, while Sun Yat-sen took the lead in the revolt. The Manchu armies were reorganized by General Yuan Che Kai, who negotiated with the rebel leaders his appointment as president of a new republican government. In 1912, a revolutionary assembly elected Yuan the first president of the Republic of China.
The Republic maintained a fragile existence from 1912 to 1949. Even though a Constitution was adopted and a Parliament established in 1912, Yuan Che Kai never allowed these institutions to limit his personal power. The central government maintained a precarious and almost fictitious existence until 1927.
During World War I, Japan presented China with the "Twenty-one Demands", which practically turned China into a Japanese protectorate. China agreed to transfer German possessions in Shandong to Japan. His late entry into the war, in 1917, was intended to participate in the discussion of the peace treaty that would be negotiated and then to re-examine the ambitious Japanese claims with the help of the United States. However, US President Woodrow Wilson withdrew his country's support for Shandong's claims.
The Chinese, disillusioned with the cynical interest of Western imperialist powers, began to approach Marxist-Leninist thought and the Soviet Union. The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921, counting, among its first members, Mao Zedong. In 1923, Sun Yat-sen reorganized the Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang, and accepted the entry of the Communists. The Kuomintang was under the direction of General Chiang Kai-shek, who was trying to reunify China under the Kuomintang's mandate and free the country from imperialism and the strength of provincial military chiefs. In 1928, Chiang carried out a purge among communist party members.
The new national government, established by the Kuomintang in 1928, faced three problems of great magnitude:Chang actually had only five provinces under his control, as the rest of the country was ruled by local military chiefs; in 1930, the internal rebellion of the communists took place, which in 1927 split into two factions:one tried to foment urban uprisings and the other, led by Mao Zedong, mobilized the peasants of central China; the third problem was Japanese aggression in the region of Dongbei Pingyuan, which from this time became better known as Manchuria, and in northern China. In 1932, the Japanese transformed the three provinces of Manchuria into the new Manchukuo State and made Pu-Yi, the last ruler of the Manchu dynasty, Emperor of Manchukuo, which incorporated part of Mongolia in early 1933.
At the end of 1934, the communists moved towards the north, in the so-called Long March. As Japanese aggression intensified, Chang moderated his anti-Communist stance, and in 1937 a united front of the Kuomintang and Communists against the Japanese was formed.
In 1937, Japan and China started a full-scale war. By 1938, Japan controlled most of northeastern China, the interior of the Yangtze Valley as far as Hangzhou, and the area around Guangzhou on the southeastern coast.
During World War II, the Kuomintang government suffered significant military and financial weakening, while the communists had occupied much of northern China and had infiltrated many rural regions. There they organized the peasants so that they entered the ranks of the Communist Party and the Red Army, with which they came out strengthened from World War II.
In 1945, fighting broke out between the Communists and the Kuomintang troops for control of Manchuria. In 1947 the People's Liberation Army (communist) defeated the Nationalists in Manchuria, and in 1949 the resistance collapsed. Chiang Kai-shek's government sought refuge on the island of Taiwan.
In September 1949, the Communists convened the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which adopted political guidelines and principles and an organic law to govern the country. Mao Zedong, appointed chairman of that body, was in fact the head of state. The People's Republic of China was proclaimed on October 1, 1949.
By 1953, communist control had been firmly established. In 1954, the National People's Congress approved the draft Constitution which was sent to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. This Constitution confirmed the hegemony of the Chinese Communist Party and introduced changes aimed at centralizing government control.
The basic policy of the communist regime was to transform China into a socialist society. To this end, the principles of Marxism-Leninism were used and the eradication of anti-communist ideas was ensured. The government's first action was to rebuild the economy, reinforcing agricultural collectivization. Private industry gradually came under the control of state mixed ownership. Soviet economic assistance and technical advice contributed largely to the program's immediate success.
In foreign policy, China and the Soviet Union signed, in 1950, a treaty of friendship and alliance and several complementary agreements, through which the Soviet Union made major concessions, such as the withdrawal from Manchuria. China has also strengthened relations with its communist neighbors.
With its coming to power, the communist regime also tried to recover the territories it considered to be within the historical borders. In 1950, Chinese troops invaded Tibet and the regime never renounced the use of force to conquer Taiwan.
In 1958, stricter controls were imposed on the economy to increase agricultural production, restrict consumption and accelerate industrialization; it was about making the "great leap forward." However, the program failed. The situation worsened in 1960, with the withdrawal of Soviet economic aid and technical advice. During this decade, only Albania remained an unconditional ally.
As communists struggled to build society, differences emerged between Mao, who favored a pure communist ideology, and intellectuals, professionals, and bureaucrats, who wanted a more rational and moderate approach. In 1957, strict controls on freedom of expression were imposed, which put an end to the so-called "Peking spring".
The split between Mao and the moderates widened. In 1959, he abandoned the presidency of the Republic and was succeeded by the moderate Liu Shaoqi. The split turned into conflict in 1966, when Mao and his followers launched the proletarian cultural revolution, to eradicate what remained of bourgeois ideas and customs and to restore the revolutionary zeal of early Chinese communism.
The Cultural Revolution had an adverse effect on foreign relations. Propaganda in favor of the Red Guards and the agitation of Chinese residents abroad hampered relations with many states, especially the USSR. Mao emerged victorious from the Cultural Revolution, and radical thinking was reflected in a new constitution, adopted by the Fourth National People's Congress in 1975. Moderate Deng Xiaoping was named first vice prime minister and vice chairman of the party.
During this period, foreign relations improved substantially, especially with the United States, which in 1971 lifted its veto on the incorporation of the People's Republic of China into the United Nations, after which it was admitted to replace the Republic of China (Taiwan). In 1972, diplomatic relations were established with Japan and, in 1979, with the United States, while ties with Western Europe were strengthened.
Mao died in 1976, leaving a power vacuum. The radicals won their first victory by preventing Deng Xiaoping from being elected prime minister. As a compromise, Hua Guofeng was named Mao's successor as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. Under his rule, moderate policies were imposed.
In 1977, Deng was reinstated as the deputy prime minister. The 21st Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, held in 1977, was dominated by President Huan, Vice President Deng and Ye Jianying.
Deng Xiaoping was the dominant figure throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. He favored a policy that allowed for commercial and industrial development, attracting foreign investment.
In 1982, a new constitution and a new reorganization of the Chinese Communist Party were adopted. The first re-established the largely representative post of President of the Republic (previously President of State), which in 1968 had been abolished by Mao.
In January 1987, Zhao Ziyang was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party. The changes in leadership came after a wave of student demonstrations demanding greater democratization and freedom of expression (see Protests in Tiananmen Square). In the period of political repression that followed, Zhao Ziyang was stripped of his party posts and Jiang Zemin was made secretary general. The Eighth Meeting of the National People's Congress in 1993 elected Jiang President of China and re-elected Li Peng head of Government.
At the 15th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in September 1997, Jiang Zemin's positions were further consolidated with the incorporation of Deng Xiaoping's ideas into the party's statute, at the same level as those of Mao and Marxism-Leninism. As a result, a gigantic privatization program was approved for the majority of the nearly 400,000 state-owned companies, the doors were opened to more diversified foreign investments and the economy as a whole grew at a rate unprecedented in Chinese history. Com a abertura, o comércio exterior chinês acumula enormes superavit anuais, fornecendo recursos para a criação de empregos e melhora dos níveis salariais. Pela primeira vez em quase 20 anos, em 1999 o primeiro ministro Zhou Rongji visitou os Estados Unidos, que se transformaram em um dos principais parceiros comerciais da China.
As inundações provocadas pela enchente do rio Yang-tsé têm renovado o sonho há muito acalentado pelas autoridades chinesas:domar o longo rio construindo a barragem das Três Gargantas, cujos trabalhos foram iniciados em 1997 e devem terminar em 2009. Com a criação de um lago de contenção, a barragem deverá reduzir a pressão das águas sobre as regiões situadas rio abaixo, donde as inundações têm feito inúmeras vítimas. As autoridades do país expressaram seu temor com relação aos diques do Yang-tsé, que vêm sendo submetidos a uma pressão nunca experimentada antes.
Civilização Chinesa
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