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China

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Florian Ion T.
PETRESCU

CHINA

USA 2012
Copyright
Title book: China
Author book: Florian Ion T. PETRESCU

© 2012, Florian Ion T. PETRESCU

petrescuflorian@yahoo.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book

contains material protected under
International and Federal Copyright Laws and
Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of
this material is prohibited. No part of this book
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system
without express written permission from the
authors / publisher.

ISBN 978-1-4699-7362-3

2
Welcome! A Short
Book Description

China (Zhōngguó/Zhōnghuá), officially

the People's Republic of China (PRC),
is the most populous state in the world,
with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in
East Asia, the country covers
approximately 9.6 million square
kilometers (3.7 million square miles). It
is the world's second-largest country by
land area, and the third- or fourth-
largest in total area, depending on the
definition of total area.

The People's Republic of China is a

single-party state governed by the
Communist Party of China. It exercises
jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five
autonomous regions, four directly
controlled municipalities (Beijing,
Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing),
and two mostly self-governing special
administrative regions (SARs), Hong

3
Kong and Macau. Its capital city is
Beijing. The PRC also claims the island
of Taiwan, which is controlled by the
government of the Republic of China,
as its 23rd province, a claim
controversial due to the complex
political status of Taiwan and the
unresolved Chinese Civil War.

China’s landscape is vast and diverse,

with forest steppes and the Gobi and
Taklamakan deserts occupying the arid
north and northwest near Mongolia and
Central Asia, and subtropical forests
being prevalent in the wetter south
near Southeast Asia. The terrain of
western China is rugged and elevated,
with the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir
and Tian Shan mountain ranges
separating China from South and
Central Asia. The world’s apex, Mt.
Everest (8,848 m), lies on the China-
Nepal border, while the world's second-
highest point, K2 (8,611 m), is situated
on China's border with Pakistan. The
country’s lowest and the world’s third-
lowest point, Lake Ayding (-154 m), is
located in the Turpan Depression. The

4
Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third-
and sixth-longest in the world, have
their sources in the Tibetan Plateau
and continue to the densely populated
eastern seaboard. China’s coastline
along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500
kilometres (9,000 mi) long (the 11th-
longest in the world), and is bounded
by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South
China Seas.

The ancient Chinese civilization—one

of the world's earliest—flourished in the
fertile basin of the Yellow River in the
North China Plain. China's political
system was based on hereditary
monarchies, known as dynasties,
beginning with the semi-mythological
Xia of the Yellow River basin (approx.
2000 BC) and ending with the fall of
the Qing Dynasty in 1912. Since 221
BC, when the Qin Dynasty first
conquered several states to form a
Chinese empire, the country has
fractured and been reformed numerous
times. The Republic of China (ROC),
founded in 1912 after the overthrow of
the Qing dynasty, ruled the Chinese

5
mainland until 1949. In the 1946–1949
phase of the Chinese Civil War, the
Chinese Communists defeated the
Chinese Nationalists (Kuomintang) on
the mainland and established the
People's Republic of China in Beijing
on 1 October 1949. The Kuomintang
relocated the ROC government to
Taiwan, establishing its capital in
Taipei. The ROC's jurisdiction is now
limited to Taiwan and several outlying
islands, including Penghu, Kinmen and
Matsu. Since 1949, the People's
Republic of China and the Republic of
China (now widely known as "Taiwan")
have remained in dispute over the
sovereignty of China and the political
status of Taiwan, mutually claiming
each other's territory and competing for
international diplomatic recognition. In
1971, the PRC gained admission to
United Nations and took the Chinese
seat as a permanent member of the
U.N. Security Council. China is also a
member of numerous formal and
informal multilateral organizations,
including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
and the G-20.
6
As of September 2011, all but 23
countries have recognized the PRC as
the sole legitimate government of
China.

Since the introduction of market-based

economic reforms in 1978, China has
become the world's fastest-growing
major economy, and the world's largest
exporter and second-largest importer
of goods. It is the world's second-
largest economy, after the United
States, by both nominal GDP and
purchasing power parity (PPP). On per
capita terms, China ranked 90th by
nominal GDP and 91st by GDP (PPP)
in 2011, according to the IMF. China is
a recognized nuclear weapons state
and has the world's largest standing
army, with the second-largest defense
budget. In 2003, China became the
third nation in the world, after the
former Soviet Union and the United
States, to independently launch a
successful manned space mission.
China has been characterized as a
potential superpower by a number of

7
academics, military analysts, and
public policy and economics analysts.

The word "China" is derived from Cin,

a Persian name for China popularized
in Europe by the account of the 13th-
century explorer Marco Polo. The first
recorded use in English dates from
1555. The Persian word is, in turn,
derived from the Sanskrit word Cīna,
which was used as a name for China
as early as AD 150. There are various
scholarly theories regarding the origin
of this word. The traditional theory,
proposed in the 17th century by
Martino Martini, is that "China" is
derived from "Qin", the westernmost of
the Chinese kingdoms during the Zhou
Dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin
Dynasty (221–206 BC). The word Cīna
is used in two Hindu scriptures – the
Mahābhārata of the 5th century BC
and the Laws of Manu of the 2nd
century BC – to refer to a country
located in the Tibetan-Burman
borderlands east of India.

8
In China, common names for the
country include Zhōngguó (literally
"Middle Kingdom") and Zhōnghuá,
although the country's official name
has been changed numerous times by
successive dynasties and modern
governments. The term Zhongguo
appeared in various ancient texts, such
as the Classic of History of the 6th
century BC, and in pre-imperial times it
was often used as a cultural concept to
distinguish the Huaxia from the
barbarians. Sometimes Zhongguo,
which can be either singular or plural,
referring to the group of states in the
central plain. The Chinese were not
unique in regarding their country as
"central", since other civilizations had
the same view.

9
History of China

Chinese civilization originated in

various regional centers along both the
Yellow River and the Yangtze River
valleys in the Neolithic era, but the
Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of
Chinese Civilization. With thousands of
years of continuous history, China is
one of the world's oldest civilizations.
The written history of China can be
found as early as the Shang Dynasty
(c. 1700 – 1046 BC), although ancient
historical texts such as the Records of
the Grand Historian (ca. 100 BC) and
Bamboo Annals assert the existence of
a Xia Dynasty before the Shang.
Oracle bones with ancient Chinese
writing have been dated to the late
Shang Dynasty around 1200 BC. Much
of Chinese culture, literature and
philosophy further developed during
the Zhou Dynasty (1045–256 BC).

The Zhou Dynasty began to bow to

external and internal pressures in the
8th century BC, and the kingdom

10
eventually broke apart into smaller
states, beginning in the Spring and
Autumn Period and reaching full
expression in the Warring States
period. This is one of multiple periods
of failed statehood in Chinese history
(the most recent of which was the
Chinese Civil War).

In between eras of multiple kingdoms

and warlordism, Chinese dynasties (or,
more recently, republics) have ruled all
of China (minus Xinjiang and Tibet)
(and, in some eras, including the
present, they have controlled Xinjiang
and/or Tibet as well). This practice
began with the Qin Dynasty: in 221 BC,
Qin Shi Huang united the various
warring kingdoms and created the first
Chinese empire. Successive dynasties
in Chinese history developed
bureaucratic systems that enabled the
Emperor of China to directly control
vast territories.

The conventional view of Chinese

history is that of alternating periods of

11
political unity and disunity, with China
occasionally being dominated by Inner
Asian peoples, most of whom were in
turn assimilated into the Han Chinese
population. Cultural and political
influences from many parts of Asia,
carried by successive waves of
immigration, expansion, and cultural
assimilation, are part of the modern
culture of China.

Paleolithic
What is now China was inhabited by
Homo erectus more than a million
years ago. Recent study shows that
the stone tools found at
Xiaochangliang site are
magnetostratigraphically dated to 1.36
million years ago. The archaeological
site of Xihoudu in Shanxi Province is
the earliest recorded use of fire by
Homo erectus, which is dated 1.27
million years ago. The excavations at
Yuanmou and later Lantian show early
habitation. Perhaps the most famous
specimen of Homo erectus found in

12
China is the so-called Peking Man
discovered in 1923-27.

Neolithic
The Neolithic age in China can be
traced back to between 12,000 and
10,000 BC. Early evidence for proto-
Chinese millet agriculture is
radiocarbon-dated to about 7000 BC.
The Peiligang culture of Xinzheng
county, Henan was excavated in 1977.
With agriculture came increased
population, the ability to store and
redistribute crops, and the potential to
support specialist craftsmen and
administrators. In late Neolithic times,
the Yellow River valley began to
establish itself as a cultural center,
where the first villages were founded;
the most archaeologically significant of
those was found at Banpo, Xi'an. The
Yellow River was so named because of
loess forming its banks gave a
yellowish tint to the water.

13
The early history of China is made
obscure by the lack of written
documents from this period, coupled
with the existence of accounts written
during later time periods that attempted
to describe events that had occurred
several centuries previously. In a
sense, the problem stems from
centuries of introspection on the part of
the Chinese people, which has blurred
the distinction between fact and fiction
in regards to this early history.

By 7000 BC, the Chinese were farming

millet, giving rise to the Jiahu culture.
At Damaidi in Ningxia, 3,172 cliff
carvings dating to 6000-5000 BC have
been discovered "featuring 8,453
individual characters such as the sun,
moon, stars, gods and scenes of
hunting or grazing." These pictographs
are reputed to be similar to the earliest
characters confirmed to be written
Chinese. Later Yangshao culture was
superseded by the Longshan culture
around 2500 BC.

14
Ancient era

Xia Dynasty (c. 2100 - c. 1600

BC)
The Xia Dynasty of China (from c.
2100 to c. 1600 BC) is the first dynasty
to be described in ancient historical
records such as Records of the Grand
Historian and Bamboo Annals.

Although there is disagreement as to

whether the dynasty actually existed,
there is some archaeological evidence
pointing to its possible existence. The
historian Sima Qian (145-90 BC), who
wrote the Shiji or Records of the Grand
Historian, and the so-called Bamboo
Annals date the founding of the Xia
Dynasty to 4,200 years ago, but this
date has not been corroborated. Most
archaeologists now connect the Xia to
excavations at Erlitou in central Henan
province, where a bronze smelter from
around 2000 BC was unearthed. Early
markings from this period found on
pottery and shells are thought to be
ancestral to modern Chinese

15
characters. With few clear records
matching the Shang oracle bones or
the Zhou bronze vessel writings, the
Xia era remains poorly understood.

According to mythology, the dynasty

ended around 1600 BC as a
consequence of the Battle of Mingtiao.

Shang Dynasty (c. 1700-1046

BC)
Archaeological findings providing
evidence for the existence of the
Shang Dynasty, c. 1600–1046 BC, are
divided into two sets.
The first set, from the earlier Shang
period comes from sources at Erligang,
Zhengzhou and Shangcheng.

The second set, from the later Shang

or Yin period at Anyang, in modern-day
Henan, which has been confirmed as
the last of the Shang's nine capitals (c.
1300–1046 BC).

16
The findings at Anyang include the
earliest written record of Chinese past
so far discovered, inscriptions of
divination records on the bones or
shells of animals – the so-called
"oracle bones", dating from around
1200 BC.

17
The Shang Dynasty featured 31 kings,
from Tang of Shang to King Zhou of
Shang. In this period, the Chinese
worshipped many different gods -
weather gods and sky gods - and also
a supreme god, named Shangdi, who
ruled over the other gods. Those who
lived during the Shang Dynasty also
believed that their ancestors - their
parents and grandparents - became
like gods when they died, and that their
ancestors wanted to be worshipped
too, like gods. Each family worshipped
its own ancestors.

The Records of the Grand Historian

states that the Shang Dynasty moved
its capital six times.
The final (and most important) move to
Yin in 1350 BC led to the dynasty's
golden age.
The term Yin Dynasty has been
synonymous with the Shang dynasty in
history, although it has lately been
used to specifically refer to the latter
half of the Shang Dynasty.

18
Chinese historians living in later
periods were accustomed to the notion
of one dynasty succeeding another, but
the actual political situation in early
China is known to have been much
more complicated.
Hence, as some scholars of China
suggest, the Xia and the Shang can
possibly refer to political entities that
existed concurrently, just as the early
Zhou is known to have existed at the
same time as the Shang.

Although written records found at

Anyang confirm the existence of the
Shang dynasty, Western scholars are
often hesitant to associate settlements
that are contemporaneous with the
Anyang settlement with the Shang
dynasty.
For example, archaeological findings at
Sanxingdui suggest a technologically
advanced civilization culturally unlike
Anyang.
The evidence is inconclusive in proving
how far the Shang realm extended
from Anyang.

19
The leading hypothesis is that Anyang,
ruled by the same Shang in the official
history, coexisted and traded with
numerous other culturally diverse
settlements in the area that is now
referred to as China proper.

Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC)

The Zhou Dynasty was the longest-
lasting dynasty in Chinese history, from
1066 BC to approximately 256 BC.
By the end of the 2nd millennium BC,
the Zhou Dynasty began to emerge in
the Yellow River valley, overrunning
the territory of the Shang.
The Zhou appeared to have begun
their rule under a semi-feudal system.
The Zhou lived west of the Shang, and
the Zhou leader had been appointed
"Western Protector" by the Shang.
The ruler of the Zhou, King Wu, with
the assistance of his brother, the Duke
of Zhou, as regent, managed to defeat
the Shang at the Battle of Muye.

20
The king of Zhou at this time invoked
the concept of the Mandate of Heaven
to legitimize his rule, a concept that
would be influential for almost every
succeeding dynasty.

Bronze ritual vessel (You), Western Zhou Dynasty

Like Shangdi, Heaven (tian) ruled over

all the other gods, and it decided who
would rule China.
It was believed that a ruler had lost the
Mandate of Heaven when natural
disasters occurred in great number,
and when, more realistically, the
sovereign had apparently lost his
concern for the people.

21
In response, the royal house would be
overthrown, and a new house would
rule, having been granted the Mandate
of Heaven.

The Zhou initially moved their capital

west to an area near modern Xi'an, on
the Wei River, a tributary of the Yellow
River, but they would preside over a
series of expansions into the Yangtze
River valley.
This would be the first of many
population migrations from north to
south in Chinese history.

Spring and Autumn Period (722-

476 BC)
In the 8th century BC, power became
decentralized during the Spring and
Autumn Period, named after the
influential Spring and Autumn Annals.
In this period, local military leaders
used by the Zhou began to assert their
power and vie for hegemony.
The situation was aggravated by the
invasion of other peoples from the

22
northwest, such as the Qin, forcing the
Zhou to move their capital east to
Luoyang.

Chinese pu vessel with interlaced dragon design, Spring and

Autumn Period

This marks the second major phase of

the Zhou dynasty: the Eastern Zhou.
23
In each of the hundreds of states that
eventually arose, local strongmen held
most of the political power and
continued their subservience to the
Zhou kings in name only.

For instance, local leaders started

using royal titles for themselves.
The Hundred Schools of Thought of
Chinese philosophy blossomed during
this period, and such influential
intellectual movements as
Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism and
Mohism were founded, partly in
response to the changing political
world.

The Spring and Autumn Period is

marked by a falling apart of the central
Zhou power.

China now consists of hundreds of

states, some of them only as large as a
village with a fort.

24
Chinese dragon
Chinese dragons are legendary
creatures in Chinese mythology and
folklore, with mythic counterparts
among Japanese, Korean,
Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and
Turkic dragons. In Chinese art,
dragons are typically portrayed as long,
scaled, serpentine creatures with four
legs. In yin and yang terminology, a
dragon is yang and complements a yin
fenghuang ("Chinese phoenix").

In contrast to European dragons, which

are considered evil, Chinese dragons
traditionally symbolize potent and
auspicious powers, particularly control
over water, rainfall, hurricane, and
floods. The dragon is also a symbol of
power, strength, and good luck. With
this, the Emperor of China usually uses
the dragon as a symbol of his imperial
power.

In Chinese daily language, excellent

and outstanding people are compared
25
to the dragon while incapable people
with no achievements are compared
with other, disesteemed creatures,
such as the worm. A number of
Chinese proverbs and idioms feature
references to the dragon, for example:
"Hoping one's son will become a
dragon" (i.e. be as a dragon).

Historically, the dragon was the symbol

of the Emperor of China. In the Zhou
Dynasty, the 5-clawed dragon was
assigned to the Son of Heaven, the 4-
clawed dragon to the nobles (zhuhou,
seigneur), and the 3-clawed dragon to
the ministers (daifu). In the Qin
Dynasty, the 5-clawed dragon was
assigned to represent the Emperor
while the 4-clawed and 3-clawed

26
dragons were assigned to the
commoners. The dragon in the Qing
Dynasty appeared on national flags.

The dragon is sometimes used in the

West as a national emblem of China.
However, this usage within both the
People's Republic of China and the
Republic of China on Taiwan as the
symbol of nation is not common.
Instead, it is generally used as the
symbol of culture. In Hong Kong, the
dragon is part of the design of Brand
Hong Kong, a symbol used to promote
Hong Kong as an international brand
name.

In European-influenced cultures, the

dragon has aggressive, warlike
connotations and it is conjectured that
the Chinese government wishes to
avoid using it as a symbol, but most
Chinese disagree with this decision.
Westerners only sometimes confuse
the disposition of the benevolent
Chinese dragon with the aggressive
Western dragon.

27
Sometimes Chinese people use the
term "Descendants of the Dragon" as a
sign of ethnic identity, as part of a trend
started in the 1970s when different
Asian nationalities were looking for
animal symbols for representations.
The wolf was used among the
Mongols, the monkey among Tibetans.

In Chinese culture today, the dragon is

mostly used for decorative purposes. It
is a taboo to disfigure a depiction of a
dragon; for example, an advertisement
campaign commissioned by Nike,
which featured the American basketball
player LeBron James slaying a dragon
(as well as beating up an old Kung Fu
master), was immediately banned by
the Chinese government after public
outcry over disrespect.

The origin of the Chinese dragon is not

certain. The presence of dragons
within Chinese culture dates back
several thousands of years with the
discovery of a dragon statue dating

28
back to the fifth millennium BC from the
Yangshao culture in Henan in 1987,
and jade badges of rank in coiled form
have been excavated from the
Hongshan culture circa 4700-2900 BC.

The coiled snake or dragon form

played an important role in early
Chinese culture.
The character for "dragon" in the
earliest Chinese writing has a similar
coiled form, as do later jade dragon
amulets from the Shang period.

Ancient Chinese referred to unearthed

dinosaur bones as dragon bones and
documented them as such.
For example, Chang Qu in 300 BC
documents the discovery of "dragon
bones" in Sichuan.
The modern Chinese word for dinosaur
is konglong (meaning "terrible
dragon"), and villagers in central China
have long unearthed fossilized "dragon
bones" for use in traditional medicines,
a practice that continues today.

29
The binomial name for a variety of
dinosaur discovered in China, Mei
long, in Chinese means "sleeping
dragon."
Fossilized remains of Mei long have
been found in China in a sleeping and
coiled form, with the dinosaur nestling
its snout beneath one of its forelimbs
while encircling its tail around its entire
body.

Some have further suggested that the

Chinese dragon form comes from
stylized depictions of existing animals,
such as snakes, fish, or crocodiles.
A view advocated by He Xin is that the
early dragon depicted a species of
crocodile, specifically, Crocodylus
porosus, the saltwater crocodile, which
is the largest living reptile, and once
ranged into China during ancient times.
The crocodile is known to be able to
accurately sense changes in air
pressure, and be able to sense coming
rain.

30
This may have been the origin of the
dragon's mythical attributes in
controlling the weather, especially the
rain.
The association with the crocodile is
also supported by the view in ancient
times that large crocodiles are a variety
of dragon.
For example, in the Story of Zhou Chu,
about the life of a Jin Dynasty warrior,
he is said to have killed a "dragon" that
infested the waters of his home village,
which appears to have been a
crocodile.

Some scholars believe that the

Chinese dragon form originated from
totems of different tribes in China, as a
merger of totems of various tribes
consequential to tribal mergers.
Legendary figures like Nüwa and Fuxi
are depicted as having snake bodies.
Some scholars have noted that a myth
arose that the first legendary Emperor
of China, Huangdi (Yellow Emperor)
used a snake for his coat of arms.
According to the myth, every time he

31
conquered another tribe, he
incorporated his defeated enemy's
emblem into his own, thus explains
why the dragon appears to have
features of various animals.

From its origins as totems or the

stylized depiction of natural creatures,
the Chinese dragon evolved to become
a mythical animal.

The Han Dynasty scholar Wang Fu

recorded Chinese myths that long
dragons had nine anatomical
resemblances.

32
 The people paint the dragon's shape
with a horse's head and a snake's tail.
Further, there are expressions as 'three
joints' and 'nine resemblances' (of the
dragon), to wit: from head to shoulder,
from shoulder to breast, from breast to
tail.

These are the joints; as to the nine

resemblances, they are the following:
his horns resemble those of a stag, his
head that of a camel, his eyes those of
a demon, his neck that of a snake, his
belly that of a clam (shen), his scales
those of a carp, his claws those of an
eagle, his soles those of a tiger, his
ears those of a cow. Upon his head he
has a thing like a broad eminence (a
big lump), called [chimu]. If a dragon
has no [chimu], he cannot ascend to
the sky.

Further sources give variant lists of the

nine animal resemblances.

33
Sinologist Henri Doré lists these
characteristics of an authentic dragon:
"The horns of a deer.
The head of a camel.
A demon's eyes.
The neck of a snake.
A tortoise's viscera.
A hawk's claws.
The palms of a tiger.
A cow's ears.
And it hears through its horns, its ears
being deprived of all power of hearing."
He notes that, "Others state it has a
rabbit's eyes, a frog's belly, a carp's
scales."
The anatomy of other legendary
creatures, including the chimera and
manticore, is similarly amalgamated
from fierce animals.

Chinese dragons were considered to

be physically concise.
Of the 117 scales, 81 are of the yang
essence (positive) while 36 are of the
yin essence (negative).

34
Initially, the dragon was benevolent but
the Buddhists introduced the concept
of malevolent influence among some
dragons. Just as water destroys, they
said, so can some dragons destroy via
floods, tidal waves and storms.
They suggested that some of the worst
floods were believed to have been the
result of a mortal upsetting a dragon.

Many pictures of oriental dragons show

a flaming pearl under their chin.
The pearl is associated with wealth,
good luck, and prosperity.

Chinese dragons are occasionally

depicted with bat-like wings growing
out of the front limbs, but most do not
have wings, as their ability to fly (and
control rain/water, etc.) are mystical
and not seen as a result of their
physical attributes.

This description accords with the

artistic depictions of the dragon down
to the present day.

35
The dragon has also acquired an
almost unlimited range of supernatural
powers. It is said to be able to disguise
itself as a silkworm, or become as
large as our entire universe.
It can fly among the clouds or hide in
water (according to the Guanzi).
It can form clouds, can turn into water,
can change color as an ability to blend
in with their surroundings, as an
effective form of camouflage or glow in
the dark (according to the Shuowen
Jiezi).

In many other countries, folktales

speak of the dragon having all the
attributes of the other 11 creatures of
the zodiac, this includes the whiskers
of the rat, the face and horns of an ox,
claws and teeth of a tiger, belly of a
rabbit, body of a snake, legs of a
horse, the beard of a goat, wit (or
brain) of a monkey, crest of a rooster,
ears of a dog, the snout of a pig.

In some circles, it is considered bad

luck to depict a dragon facing
36
downwards, as it is seen as
disrespectful to place a dragon in such
manner that it cannot ascend to the
sky.

Also, depictions of dragons in tattoos

are prevail as they are symbols of
strength and power, especially criminal
organizations where dragons hold a
meaning all on their own.

As such, it is believed that one must be

fierce and strong enough, hence
earning the right to wear the dragon on
his skin, lest his luck be consumed by
the dragon.

37
Chinese dragons are strongly
associated with water in popular belief.
They are believed to be the rulers of
moving bodies of water, such as
waterfalls, rivers, or seas. They can
show themselves as water spouts
(tornado or twister over water). In this
capacity as the rulers of water and
weather, the dragon is more
anthropomorphic in form, often
depicted as a humanoid, dressed in a
king's costume, but with a dragon head
wearing a king's headdress.

There are four major Dragon Kings,

representing each of the four seas: the
East Sea (corresponding to the East
China Sea), the South Sea
(corresponding to the South China
Sea), the West Sea (sometimes seen
as the Indian Ocean and beyond), and
the North Sea (sometimes seen as
Lake Baikal).

Because of this association, they are

seen as "in charge" of water-related
weather phenomenon. In premodern

38
times, many Chinese villages
(especially those close to rivers and
seas) had temples dedicated to their
local "dragon king". In times of drought
or flooding, it was customary for the
local gentry and government officials to
lead the community in offering
sacrifices and conducting other
religious rites to appease the dragon,
either to ask for rain or a cessation
thereof.

The King of Wu-Yue in the Five

Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period
was often known as the "Dragon King"
or the "Sea Dragon King" because of
his extensive hydro-engineering
schemes which "tamed" the sea.

According to Chinese legend, both

Chinese primogenitors, the earliest
Emperors, Yandi and Huangdi, were
closely related to 'Long' (Chinese
Dragon). At the end of his reign, the
first legendary Emperor, Huangdi, was
said to have been immortalized into a
dragon that resembled his emblem,

39
and ascended to Heaven. The other
legendary Emperor, Huangdi's brother,
Yandi was born by his mother's
telepathy with a mythic dragon. Since
the Chinese consider Huangdi and
Yandi as their ancestors, they
sometimes refer to themselves as "the
descendants of the dragon". This
legend also contributed towards the
use of the Chinese dragon as a symbol
of imperial power.

The dragon, especially yellow or

golden dragons with five claws on each
foot, was a symbol for the emperor in
many Chinese dynasties. The imperial
throne was called the Dragon Throne.
During the late Qing Dynasty, the
dragon was even adopted as the
national flag. The dragon is featured in
the carvings on the steps of imperial
palaces and tombs, such as the
Forbidden City in Beijing.

In some Chinese legends, an Emperor

might be born with a birthmark in the
shape of a dragon. For example, one

40
legend tells the tale of a peasant born
with a dragon birthmark who eventually
overthrows the existing dynasty and
founds a new one; another legend
might tell of the prince in hiding from
his enemies who is identified by his
dragon birthmark.

In contrast, the Empress of China was

often identified with the Fenghuang.

Warring States Period (476-221

BC)
After further political consolidation,
seven prominent states remained by
the end of 5th century BC, and the
years in which these few states battled
each other are known as the Warring
States Period.
Though there remained a nominal
Zhou king until 256 BC, he was largely
a figurehead and held little real power.
As neighboring territories of these
warring states, including areas of
modern Sichuan and Liaoning, were
annexed, they were governed under
41
the new local administrative system of
commandery and prefecture.
This system had been in use since the
Spring and Autumn Period, and parts
can still be seen in the modern system
of Sheng & Xian (province and county).
The final expansion in this period
began during the reign of Ying Zheng,
the king of Qin.
His unification of the other six powers,
and further annexations in the modern
regions of Zhejiang, Fujian,
Guangdong and Guangxi in 214 BC,
enabled him to proclaim himself the
First Emperor (Qin Shi Huang).

The Spring and Autumn Period was a

period in Chinese history that roughly
corresponds to the first half of the
Eastern Zhōu Dynasty, which is
reckoned to have existed from 771 until
476 BC (or, by some authorities, until
403 BC) in the alluvial plain of the
Yellow River, the Shandong Peninsula
and the river valleys of the Huái and
Hàn. Its name comes from the Spring
and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the

42
state of Lǔ between 722 and 479 BC,
which tradition associates with
Confucius. The period can also be
further divided into three sub-periods:

Age of regional cultures (Early):

771–643, up to the death of Duke
Huán of Qí
Age of encroachments (Middle):
643–546, up to the peace conference
between Jìn and Chǔ
Age of reforms (Late): 546–403, up
to the partition of Jìn

During the Spring and Autumn period,

China's feudal system of fēngjiàn
became largely irrelevant.
The Zhōu Dynasty kings held nominal
power, but only had real control over a
small royal demesne centered on their
capital Luò yì.
During the early part of the Zhōu
Dynasty period, royal relatives and
generals had been given control over
fiefdoms in an effort to maintain Zhōu
authority over vast territory, many of

43
these broke up into smaller states
when the dynasty weakened.

The most important feudal princes

(known later as the twelve vassals),
met during regular conferences where
important matters, such as military
expeditions against foreign groups or
offending nobles, were decided.
During these conferences, one vassal
leader was sometimes declared
hegemon and given leadership over
the armies of all Zhōu states.

As the era unfolded, larger and more

powerful states annexed or claimed
suzerainty over smaller ones.
By the 6th century BC, most small
states had disappeared and only a few
large and powerful principalities
dominated China.
Some southern states, such as Chǔ
and Wú, claimed independence from
the Zhōu.
Wars were undertaken to oppose some
of these states (Wú and Yuè).

44
Amid the interstate power struggles,
internal conflict was also rife: six elite
landholding families waged war on
each other in Jìn; the Chen family was
eliminating political enemies in Qí; and
legitimacy of the rulers was often
challenged in civil wars by various
royal family members in Qín and Chǔ.

Once all these powerful rulers had

firmly established themselves within
their respective dominions, the
bloodshed focused more fully on
interstate conflict in the Warring States
Period, which began in 403 BC when
the three remaining elite families in Jìn
– Zhào, Wèi and Hán – partitioned the
state.

Beginning of the Eastern Zhōu

Dynasty
After the Zhōu capital was sacked by
the Marquess of Shēn and Quǎnróng
barbarians, the Zhōu moved the capital
east from the now desolated
45
Zōngzhōu, to Chéngzhōu, in the Yellow
River Valley.
The Zhōu royalty was then closer to its
main supporters, particularly Qín, Jìn,
and Zhèng; the Zhōu royal family had
much weaker authority and relied on
lords from these vassal states for
protection, especially during their flight
to the eastern capital.
In Chéngzhōu, prince Jī Yíjìu was
crowned by his royal supporters as
King Píng of Zhōu.
However, with the Zhōu domain greatly
reduced to Chéngzhōu and nearby
areas, the court could no longer
support six groups of standing troops
as it had in the past; Zhōu kings had to
request help from neighbouring
powerful states for protection from
raids and for resolution of internal
power struggles.

The Zhōu court would never regain its

original authority; instead, it was
relegated to being merely a figurehead
of the feudal states.

46
Though the king de jure retained the
Mandate of Heaven, the title held no
actual power.

With the decline of Zhōu power, the

Yellow River drainage basin was
divided into hundreds of small,
autonomous states, most of them
consisting of a single city, though a
handful of multi-city states, particularly
the four that surrounded the others,
had power and opportunity to expand
outward.
A total of 148 states are mentioned in
the chronicles for this period, 128 of
which were absorbed by the four
largest states by the end of the period.

While the Zhèng rulers initially

supported the Zhōu royalty, relations
soured enough that Duke Zhuāng of
Zhèng (757–701 BC) raided Zhōu
territory in 707 BC, defeating King
Húan's army in battle and injuring the
king himself; the display of Zhèng's
martial strength was effective until

47
succession problems after Zhuāng's
death weakened the state.

Imperial era

Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)

Historians often refer to the period from
Qin Dynasty to the end of Qing
Dynasty as Imperial China.
Though the unified reign of the Qin
Emperor lasted only 12 years, he
managed to subdue great parts of what
constitutes the core of the Han
Chinese homeland and to unite them

48
under a tightly centralized Legalist
government seated at Xianyang (close
to modern Xi'an).
The doctrine of Legalism that guided
the Qin emphasized strict adherence to
a legal code and the absolute power of
the emperor.
This philosophy, while effective for
expanding the empire in a military
fashion, proved unworkable for
governing it in peacetime.
The Qin Emperor presided over the
brutal silencing of political opposition,
including the event known as the
burning of books and burying of
scholars.
This would be the impetus behind the
later Han synthesis incorporating the
more moderate schools of political
governance.

The Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang.

The Qin Dynasty is well known for

beginning the Great Wall of China,

49
which was later augmented and
enhanced during the Ming Dynasty.
The other major contributions of the
Qin include the concept of a
centralized government, the unification
of the legal code, development of the
written language, measurement, and
currency of China after the tribulations
of the Spring and Autumn and Warring
States Periods.
Even something as basic as the length
of axles for carts had to be made
uniform to ensure a viable trading
system throughout the empire.

50
Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC),
personal name Ying Zheng, was king
of the Chinese State of Qin from 246
BC to 221 BC during the Warring
States Period.
He became the first emperor of a
unified China in 221 BC. He ruled until
his death in 210 BC at the age of 49.

Calling himself the First Emperor after

China's unification, Qin Shi Huang is a
pivotal figure in Chinese history,
ushering nearly two millennia of
imperial rule.
After unifying China, he and his chief
advisor Li Si passed a series of major
economic and political reforms.
He undertook gigantic projects,
including the first version of the Great
Wall of China, the now famous city-
sized mausoleum guarded by a life-
sized Terracotta Army, and a massive
national road system, all at the
expense of numerous lives.
To ensure stability, Qin Shi Huang
outlawed and burned many books and
buried some scholars alive.
51
First unification of China
In 230 BC, King Zheng unleashed the
final campaigns of the Warring States
Period, setting out to conquer the
remaining independent kingdoms, one
by one.

The first state to fall was Han

(sometimes called Hann to distinguish
it from the Han of Han dynasty), in 230
BC.

Then Qin took advantage of a natural

disaster, the 229 BC Zhao state
earthquake, to invade and conquer
Zhao where Qin Shi Huang had been
born.

He now avenged his poor treatment as

a child hostage there, seeking out and
killing his enemies.

Qin armies conquered the state of

Zhao in 228 BC, the northern country
of Yan in 226 BC, the small state of
Wei in 225 BC, and the largest state
52
and greatest challenge, Chu, in 223
BC.

In 222 BC, the last remnants of Yan

and the royal family were captured in
Liaodong in the northeast.

The only independent country left was

now state of Qi, in the far east, what is
now the Shandong peninsula.
Terrified, the young king of Qi sent
300,000 people to defend his western
borders. In 221 BC, the Qin armies
invaded from the north, captured the
king, and annexed Qi.

For the first time, all of China was

unified under one powerful ruler. In that
same year, King Zheng proclaimed
himself the "First Emperor", no longer a
king in the old sense and now far
surpassing the achievements of the old
Zhou Dynasty rulers.

In the South, military expansion

continued during his reign, with various

53
regions being annexed to what is now
Guangdong province and part of
today's Vietnam.

Qin Shi Huang and Li Si unified China

economically by standardizing the
Chinese units of measurements such
as weights and measures, the
currency, the length of the axles of

54
carts to facilitate transport on the road
system.

The emperor also developed an

extensive network of roads and canals
connecting the provinces to improve
trade between them.

The currency of the different states

were also standardized to the Ban
liang coin.
Perhaps most importantly, the Chinese
script was unified.

Under Li Si, the seal script of the state

of Qin was standardized through
removal of variant forms within the Qin
script itself.

This newly standardized script was

then made official throughout all the
conquered regions, thus doing away
with all the regional scripts to form one
language, one communication system
for all of China.

55
Later in his life, Qin Shi Huang feared
death and desperately sought the
fabled elixir of life, which would
supposedly allow him to live forever.

He was obsessed with acquiring

immortality and fell prey to many who
offered him supposed elixirs.
He visited Zhifu Island three times in
order to achieve immortality.

After the unification, Qin Shi Huang

moved out of Xianyang palace, and
began building the gigantic Epang
palace south of the Wei river, Epang is
the most loved concubine of Qin Shi
Huang.

56
Other achievements such as the 12
bronze colossi were also made from
the melted-down collected weapons.

57
Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220)

Western Han
The Han Dynasty (202 BC – AD 220)
emerged in 206 BC, with its founder
Liu Bang proclaimed emperor in 202
BC.
It was the first dynasty to embrace the
philosophy of Confucianism, which
became the ideological underpinning of
all regimes until the end of imperial
China.
Under the Han Dynasty, China made
great advances in many areas of the
arts and sciences.
Emperor Wu consolidated and
extended the Chinese empire by
pushing back the Xiongnu into the
steppes of modern Inner Mongolia,
wresting from them the modern areas
of Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai.
This enabled the first opening of
trading connections between China
and the West, along the Silk Road.
Han Dynasty general Ban Chao
expanded his conquests across the

58
Pamirs to the shores of the Caspian
Sea.

The first of several Roman embassies

to China is recorded in Chinese
sources, coming from the sea route in
AD 166, and a second one in AD 284.

The Terracotta Army or the "Terra

Cotta Warriors and Horses", is a
collection of terracotta sculptures
depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang,
the first Emperor of China.

It is a form of funerary art buried with

the emperor in 210–209 BC and whose
purpose was to protect the emperor in
his afterlife.

The figures, dating from 3rd century

BC, were discovered in 1974 by some
local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an,
Shaanxi province, near the Mausoleum
of the First Qin Emperor (Qín Shǐhuáng
Ling).

59
The figures vary in height according to
their roles, with the tallest being the
generals.

The figures include warriors, chariots

and horses.

Current estimates are that in the three

pits containing the Terracotta Army
there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130
chariots with 520 horses and 150
cavalry horses, the majority of which
are still buried in the pits.

60
Other terracotta non-military figures
were also found in other pits and they
include officials, acrobats, strongmen
and musicians.

61
62
63
64
Xin Dynasty
Nevertheless, land acquisitions by elite
families gradually drained the tax base.
In AD 9, the usurper Wang Mang
claimed that the Mandate of Heaven
called for the end of the Han dynasty
and the rise of his own, and founded
the short-lived Xin ("New") Dynasty.
Wang Mang started an extensive
program of land and other economic
reforms, including the outlawing of
slavery and land nationalization and
redistribution.
These programs, however, were never
supported by the landholding families,
because they favored the peasants.
The instability brought about chaos and
uprisings and loss of territories.
This was compounded by mass
flooding resulting from silt buildup in
the Yellow River which caused it to
split into two channels and displace
large numbers of farmers.
Wang Mang was eventually killed in
Weiyang Palace by an enraged
peasant mob in 23 CE.

65
Eastern Han
Emperor Guangwu reinstated the Han
Dynasty with the support of landholding
and merchant families at Luoyang, east
of Xi'an.

This new era would be termed the

Eastern Han Dynasty.

Han power declined again amidst land

acquisitions, invasions, and feuding
between consort clans and eunuchs.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out

in AD 184, ushering in an era of
warlords.

In the ensuing turmoil, three states

tried to gain predominance in the
period of the Three Kingdoms.

This time period has been greatly

romanticized in works such as
Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

66
Wei and Jin Period (AD 265–
420)
After Cao Cao reunified the north in
208, his son proclaimed the Wei
dynasty in 220.
Soon, Wei's rivals Shu and Wu
proclaimed their independence, leading
China into the Three Kingdoms Period.
This period was characterized by a
gradual decentralization of the state
that had existed during the Qin and
Han dynasties, and an increase in the
power of great families.
Although the Three Kingdoms were
reunified by the Jin Dynasty in 280, this
structure was essentially the same until
the Wu Hu uprising.

Wu Hu Period (AD 304–439)

Taking advantage of civil war in the Jin
Dynasty, the contemporary non-Han
Chinese (Wu Hu) ethnic groups
controlled much of the country in the
early 4th century and provoked large-

67
scale Han Chinese migrations to south
of the Yangtze River.
In 303 the Di people rebelled and later
captured Chengdu, establishing the
state of Cheng Han.
Under Liu Yuan, the Xiongnu rebelled
near today's Linfen County and
established the state of Han Zhao.
Liu Yuan's successor Liu Cong
captured and executed the last two
Western Jin emperors.
Sixteen kingdoms were a plethora of
short-lived non-Chinese dynasties that
came to rule the whole or parts of north
China in the 4th and 5th centuries.
Many ethnic groups were involved,
including ancestors of the Turks,
Mongols, and Tibetans.

Most of these nomadic peoples had, to

some extent, been "sinicized" long
before their ascent to power. In fact,
some of them, notably the Qiang and
the Xiongnu, had already been allowed
to live in the frontier regions within the
Great Wall since late Han times.

68
Southern and Northern
Dynasties (AD 420–589)

Signaled by the collapse of East Jin

Dynasty in 420, China entered the era
of the Southern and Northern
Dynasties.
The Han people managed to survive
the military attacks from the nomadic
tribes of the north, such as the Xianbei,
and their civilization continued to thrive.

In southern China, fierce debates

about whether Buddhism should be
allowed to exist were held frequently by
the royal court and nobles.
Finally, near the end of the Southern
and Northern Dynasties era, both
Buddhist and Taoist followers
compromised and became more
tolerant of each other.

In 589, Sui annexed the last Southern

Dynasty, Chen, through military force,
and put an end to the era of Southern
and Northern Dynasties.

69
Sui Dynasty (AD 589–618)
The Sui Dynasty, which managed to
reunite the country in 589 after nearly
four centuries of political fragmentation,
played a role more important than its
length of existence would suggest.
The Sui brought China together again
and set up many institutions that were
to be adopted by their successors, the
Tang.
Like the Qin, however, the Sui
overused their resources and
collapsed.
Also similar to the Qin, traditional
history has judged the Sui somewhat
unfairly, as it has stressed the
harshness of the Sui regime and the
arrogance of its second emperor,
giving little credit for the Dynasty's
many positive achievements.

Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907)

Tang Dynasty was founded by
Emperor Gaozu on June 18, 618.

70
It was a golden age of Chinese
civilization with significant
developments in art, literature,
particularly poetry, and technology.

Buddhism became the predominant

religion for common people.

Chang'an (modern Xi'an), the national

capital, was the largest city in the world
of its time.

Since the second emperor Taizong,

military campaigns were launched to
dissolve threats from nomadic tribes,
extend the border, and submit
neighboring states into tributary
system.

Military victories in the Tarim Basin

kept the Silk Road open, connecting
Chang'an to Central Asia and areas far
to the west.

71
In the south, lucrative maritime trade
routes began from port cities like
Guangzhou.

There was extensive trade with distant

foreign countries, and many foreign
merchants settled in China, boosting a
vibrant cosmopolitan culture.

The Tang culture and social systems

were admired and adapted by
neighboring countries like Japan.

Internally, the Grand Canal linked the

political heartland in Chang'an to the
economic and agricultural centers in
the eastern and southern parts of the
empire.

Underlying the prosperity of the early

Tang Dynasty was a strong centralized
government with efficient policies.

The government was organized as

"Three Departments and Six Ministries"

72
to separately draft, review and
implement policies.

These departments were run by royal

family members as well as scholar
officials who were selected from
imperial examinations.

These practices, which matured in the

Tang Dynasty, were to be inherited by
the later dynasties with some
modifications.

The land policy, the "Equal-field

system" claimed all lands as imperially
owned, and were granted evenly to
people according to the size of the
households.

The associated military policy, the

"Fubing System", conscripted all men
in the nation for a fixed period of duties
each year in exchange for their land
rights.

73
These policies stimulated rapid growth
of productivity, while boosting the army
without much burden on the state
treasury.

However, lands gradually fell into the

hands of private land owners and
standing armies were to replace
conscription towards the middle period
of the dynasty.

The dynasty continued to flourish

under Empress Wu Zetian, the only
empress regnant in Chinese history,
and reached the zenith during the reign
of Emperor Xuanzong, who oversaw
an empire that stretched from the
Pacific to the Aral Sea with at least 50
million people.

At the zenith of prosperity of the

empire, the An Lushan Rebellion was a
watershed event that caused massive
loss of lives and drastic weakening of
the central imperial government.

74
Regional military governors, known as
Jiedushi, would gain increasingly
autonomous status, which eventually
led to an era of division in the 10th
century, while formerly submissive
states would raid the empire.

Nevertheless, after the rebellion, the

Tang civil society would recover and
thrive amidst a weakened imperial
authority.

From about 860, the Tang Dynasty

began to decline due to a series of
rebellions within China itself and in the
former subject Kingdom of Nanzhao to
the south.

One warlord, Huang Chao, captured

Guangzhou in 879, killing most of the
200,000 inhabitants, including most of
the large colony of foreign merchant
families there.

75
In late 880, Luoyang surrendered to
him, and on 5 January 881 he
conquered Chang'an.

The emperor Xizong fled to Chengdu,

and Huang established a new
temporary regime which was
eventually destroyed by Tang forces.

Another time of political chaos

followed.

A Chinese Tang Dynasty tricolored glaze porcelain horse

(ca. AD 700)

76
Five Dynasties and Ten
Kingdoms (AD 907–960)
The period of political disunity between
the Tang and the Song, known as the
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
Period, lasted little more than half a
century, from 907 to 960.
During this brief era, when China was
in all respects a multi-state system, five
regimes succeeded one another
rapidly in control of the old Imperial
heartland in northern China.
During this same time, 10 more stable
regimes occupied sections of southern
and western China, so the period is
also referred to as that of the Ten
Kingdoms.

Song, Liao, Jin, and Western

Xia Dynasties (AD 960–1234)
In 960, the Song Dynasty gained
power over most of China and
established its capital in Kaifeng (later
known as Bianjing), starting a period of
economic prosperity, while the Khitan
Liao Dynasty ruled over Manchuria,
77
present-day Mongolia, and parts of
Northern China.
In 1115, the Jurchen Jin Dynasty
emerged to prominence, annihilating
the Liao Dynasty in 10 years.
Meanwhile, in what are now the
northwestern Chinese provinces of
Gansu, Shaanxi, and Ningxia, there
emerged a Western Xia Dynasty from
1032 to 1227, established by Tangut
tribes.

The Jin Dynasty took power over

northern China and Kaifeng from the
Song Dynasty, which moved its capital
to Hangzhou.
The Southern Song Dynasty also
suffered the humiliation of having to
acknowledge the Jin Dynasty as formal
overlords. In the ensuing years, China
was divided between the Song
Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty and the
Tangut Western Xia.
Southern Song experienced a period of
great technological development which
can be explained in part by the military
pressure that it felt from the north.

78
This included the use of gunpowder
weapons, which played a large role in
the Song Dynasty naval victories
against the Jin in the Battle of Tangdao
and Battle of Caishi on the Yangtze
River in 1161.
Furthermore, China's first permanent
standing navy was assembled and
provided an admiral's office at Dinghai
in 1132, under the reign of Emperor
Renzong of Song.

The Song Dynasty is considered by

many to be classical China's high point
in science and technology, with
innovative scholar-officials such as Su
Song (1020–1101) and Shen Kuo
(1031–1095).
There was court intrigue between the
political rivals of the Reformers and
Conservatives, led by the chancellors
Wang Anshi and Sima Guang,
respectively.
By the mid-to-late 13th century the
Chinese had adopted the dogma of
Neo-Confucian philosophy formulated
by Zhu Xi.

79
There were enormous literary works
compiled during the Song Dynasty,
such as the historical work of the Zizhi
Tongjian.
Culture and the arts flourished, with
grandiose artworks such as Along the
River During the Qingming Festival and
Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute,
while there were great Buddhist
painters such as Lin Tinggui.

Yuan Dynasty (AD 1271–1368)

The Jurchen-founded Jin Dynasty was
defeated by the Mongols, who then
proceeded to defeat the Southern
Song in a long and bloody war, the first
war in which firearms played an
important role.
During the era after the war, later
called the Pax Mongolica, adventurous
Westerners such as Marco Polo
travelled all the way to China and
brought the first reports of its wonders
to Europe. In the Yuan Dynasty, the
Mongols were divided between those
who wanted to remain based in the

80
steppes and those who wished to
adopt the customs of the Chinese.

Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis

Khan, wanting to adopt the customs of
China, established the Yuan Dynasty.
This was the first dynasty to rule the
whole of China from Beijing as the
capital.
Beijing had been ceded to Liao in AD
938 with the Sixteen Prefectures of
Yan Yun.
Before that, it had been the capital of
the Jin, who did not rule all of China.

Before the Mongol invasion, Chinese

dynasties reportedly had approximately
120 million inhabitants; after the
conquest was completed in 1279, the
1300 census reported roughly 60
million people.
While it is tempting to attribute this
major decline solely to Mongol ferocity,
scholars today have mixed sentiments
regarding this subject.

81
Scholars such as Frederick W. Mote
argue that the wide drop in numbers
reflects an administrative failure to
record rather than a de facto decrease
whilst others such as Timothy Brook
argue that the Mongols created a
system of enserfment among a huge
portion of the Chinese populace
causing many to disappear from the
census altogether.
Other historians like William McNeill
and David Morgan argue that the
Bubonic Plague was the main factor
behind the demographic decline during
this period. The 14th century epidemics
of plague (Black Death) is estimated to
have killed 30% of the population of
China.

Ming Dynasty (AD 1368–1644)

Throughout the Yuan Dynasty, which
lasted less than a century, there was
relatively strong sentiment among the
populace against the Mongol rule.
The frequent natural disasters since
the 1340s finally led to peasant revolts.

82
The Yuan Dynasty was eventually
overthrown by the Ming Dynasty in
1368.

Urbanization increased as the

population grew and as the division of
labor grew more complex. Large urban
centers, such as Nanjing and Beijing,
also contributed to the growth of
private industry. In particular, small-
scale industries grew up, often
specializing in paper, silk, cotton, and
porcelain goods.
For the most part, however, relatively
small urban centers with markets
proliferated around the country.
Town markets mainly traded food, with
some necessary manufactures such as
pins or oil.

Despite the xenophobia and intellectual

introspection characteristic of the
increasingly popular new school of
neo-Confucianism, China under the
early Ming Dynasty was not isolated.
Foreign trade and other contacts with

83
the outside world, particularly Japan,
increased considerably.
Chinese merchants explored all of the
Indian Ocean, reaching East Africa
with the voyages of Zheng He.

Zhu Yuanzhang or Hong-wu, the

founder of the dynasty, laid the
foundations for a state interested less
in commerce and more in extracting
revenues from the agricultural sector.
Perhaps because of the Emperor's
background as a peasant, the Ming
economic system emphasized
agriculture, unlike that of the Song and
the Mongolian Dynasties, which relied
on traders and merchants for revenue.
Neo-feudal landholdings of the Song
and Mongol periods were expropriated
by the Ming rulers.
Land estates were confiscated by the
government, fragmented, and rented
out.
Private slavery was forbidden.
Consequently, after the death of
Emperor Yong-le, independent peasant

84
landholders predominated in Chinese
agriculture.
These laws might have paved the way
to removing the worst of the poverty
during the previous regimes.

The dynasty had a strong and complex

central government that unified and
controlled the empire.
The emperor's role became more
autocratic, although Zhu Yuanzhang
necessarily continued to use what he
called the "Grand Secretaries" to assist
with the immense paperwork of the
bureaucracy, including memorials
(petitions and recommendations to the
throne), imperial edicts in reply, reports
of various kinds, and tax records.
It was this same bureaucracy that later
prevented the Ming government from
being able to adapt to changes in
society, and eventually led to its
decline.

Emperor Yong-le strenuously tried to

extend China's influence beyond its

85
borders by demanding other rulers
send ambassadors to China to present
tribute.
A large navy was built, including four-
masted ships displacing 1,500 tons.
A standing army of 1 million troops was
created.
The Chinese armies conquered
Vietnam for around 20 years, while the
Chinese fleet sailed the China seas
and the Indian Ocean, cruising as far
as the east coast of Africa.
The Chinese gained influence in
eastern Moghulistan.
Several maritime Asian nations sent
envoys with tribute for the Chinese
emperor.
Domestically, the Grand Canal was
expanded and proved to be a stimulus
to domestic trade.
Over 100,000 tons of iron per year
were produced.
Many books were printed using
movable type.

86
The imperial palace in Beijing's
Forbidden City reached its current
splendor.
It was also during these centuries that
the potential of south China came to be
fully exploited.
New crops were widely cultivated and
industries such as those producing
porcelain and textiles flourished.

In 1449 Esen Tayisi led an Oirat

Mongol invasion of northern China
which culminated in the capture of the
Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu.
In 1542 the Mongol leader Altan Khan
began to harass China along the
northern border. In 1550 he even
reached the suburbs of Beijing.
The empire also had to deal with
Japanese pirates attacking the
southeastern coastline; General Qi
Jiguang was instrumental in defeating
these pirates.
The deadliest earthquake of all times,
the Shaanxi earthquake of 1556 that
killed approximately 830,000 people,

87
occurred during the Jiajing Emperor's
reign.

During the Ming dynasty the last

construction on the Great Wall was
undertaken to protect China from
foreign invasions.
While the Great Wall had been built in
earlier times, most of what is seen
today was either built or repaired by
the Ming.
The brick and granite work was
enlarged, the watch towers were
redesigned, and cannons were placed
along its length.

Qing Dynasty (AD 1644–1911)

The Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) was
the last imperial dynasty in China.
Founded by the Manchus, it was the
second non-Han Chinese dynasty.
The Manchus were formerly known as
Jurchen residing in the northeastern
part of the Ming territory outside the
Great Wall.

88
They emerged as the major threat to
the late Ming Dynasty after Nurhaci
united all Jurchen tribes and
established an independent state.
However, the Ming Dynasty would be
overthrown by Li Zicheng's peasants
rebel, with Beijing captured in 1644
and the last Ming Emperor Chongzhen
committed suicide.
The Manchu then allied with the Ming
Dynasty general Wu Sangui and
seized Beijing, which was made the
capital of the Qing dynasty, and
proceeded to subdue the remaining
Ming's resistance in the south.
The decades of Manchu conquest
caused enormous loss of lives and the
economic scale of China shrank
drastically.
Nevertheless, the Manchus adopted
the Confucian norms of traditional
Chinese government in their rule and
was considered a Chinese dynasty.

The Manchus enforced a 'queue order'

forcing the Han Chinese to adopt the

89
Manchu queue hairstyle and Manchu-
style clothing.
The traditional Han clothing, or Hanfu,
was also replaced by Manchu-style
clothing Qipao (bannermen dress and
Tangzhuang).
Emperor Kangxi ordered the creation
of the most complete dictionary of
Chinese characters ever put together
at the time.

The Qing dynasty set up the "Eight

Banners" system that provided the
basic framework for the Qing military
organization.

The bannermen were prohibited from

participating in trade and manual
labour unless they petitioned to be
removed from banner status.

They were considered a form of nobility

and were given preferential treatment
in terms of annual pensions, land and
allotments of cloth.

90
 Territory of Qing China in 1765

In the 19th century, the empire was

internally stagnated and externally
threatened by imperialism.
The defeat in the First Opium War
(1840) by the British Empire led to the
Treaty of Nanjing (1842), under which
Hong Kong was ceded and opium
import was legitimized.
Subsequent military defeats and
unequal treaties with other imperial

91
powers would continue even after the
fall of the Qing Dynasty.

Internally, the Taiping Rebellion (1851–

1864), a quasi-Christian religious
movement led by the "Heavenly King"
Hong Xiuquan, would raid roughly a
third of Chinese territory for over a
decade until they were finally crushed
in the Third Battle of Nanking in 1864.
Arguably one of the largest warfares in
the 19th century in terms of troops
involvement, there were massive lost
of lives, with a death toll of about 20
millions.
A string of rebellions would follow,
which included Punti-Hakka Clan
Wars, Nien Rebellion, Muslim
Rebellion, Panthay Rebellion and the
Boxer Rebellion.
All rebellions were eventually put down
at enormous cost and casualties, the
weakened central imperial authority
would gradually give rise to regional
warlordism.
Eventually, China would descend into
civil war immediately after the 1911
92
revolution that overthrew the Qing's
imperial rule.

In response to the calamities within the

empire and threats from imperialism,
the Self-Strengthening Movement was
an institutional reform to modernize the
empire with prime emphasis to
strengthen the military. However, the
reform was undermined by the
corruption of officials, cynicism, and
quarrels of the imperial family. As a
result, the "Beiyang Navy" were
soundly defeated in the Sino-Japanese
War (1894-1895). Guangxu Emperor
and the reformists then launched a
more comprehensive reform effort, the
Hundred Day's Reform (1898), but it
was shortly overturned by the
conservatives under Empress Dowager
Cixi in a military coup.

At the turn of the 20th century, a

conservative anti-imperialist
movement, the Boxer Rebellion
violently revolted against foreign

93
suppression over vast areas in
Northern China.
The Empress Dowager, probably
seeking to ensure her continual grip on
power, sided with the Boxers as they
advanced on Beijing.
In response, a relief expedition of the
Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China to
rescue the besieged foreign missions.
Consisting of British, Japanese,
Russian, Italian, German, French, US
and Austrian troops, the alliance
defeated the Boxers and demanded
further concessions from the Qing
government.

Empress Dowager Cixi

Empress Dowager Cixi1 (29 November
1835 – 15 November 1908), of the
Manchu Yehenara clan, was a
powerful and charismatic woman who
unofficially but effectively controlled the
Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47
years from 1861 to her death in 1908.

94
Selected by the Xianfeng Emperor as
an imperial concubine in her
adolescence, she gave birth to his son,
who became the Tongzhi Emperor
upon Xianfeng's death.

Cixi ousted a group of regents

appointed by the late emperor and
assumed regency over her young son
with the Empress Dowager Ci'an.

Cixi then consolidated control over the

dynasty when, at the death of the
Tongzhi Emperor, contrary to the rules
of succession, she installed her
nephew as the Guangxu Emperor in
1875.

Although she refused to adopt Western

models of government, she
nonetheless supported the
technological and military Self-
Strengthening Movement.

Cixi rejected the Hundred Days'

Reforms of 1898 as impractical and

95
detrimental to dynastic power and
placed the Guangxu Emperor under
house arrest for supporting reformers.

After the Boxer Rebellion and the

invasion of Allied armies, external and
internal pressures led Cixi to effect
institutional changes of just the sort
she had resisted and appoint reform-
minded officials.

The dynasty collapsed a few years

after her death.

Although she was known at the time as

"Old Buddha," historians and popular
culture in China and abroad portrayed
her as the villain responsible for the
disintegration of the dynasty.

However, some have argued that her

opponents among the reformers
succeeded in making her a scapegoat
for problems beyond her control, that
she stepped in to prevent disorder, that
she was no more ruthless than other

96
rulers, and that she was even an
effective if reluctant reformer in the last
years of her life.

Regency: 11 November 1861 – 15 November 1908

(47 years, 4 days)

97
Hundred Days' Reform
After taking power, the Guangxu
Emperor was more reform-minded than
the conservative-leaning Empress
Dowager Cixi. After a humiliating
defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War
of 1894, during which China's Beiyang
Navy was crushed by the Japanese
forces, the Qing government faced
numerous unprecedented challenges
internally and abroad, with its very
existence at stake. Under the influence
of reformers Kang Youwei and Liang
Qichao, Guangxu believed that by
learning from constitutional monarchies
like Japan and Germany, China would
become more powerful politically and
economically. In June 1898, the
Guangxu Emperor began the Hundred
Days' Reform (aimed at a series of
sweeping changes politically, legally,
and socially. For a brief time, after the
supposed retirement of the Empress
Dowager Cixi, the Guangxu Emperor
issued edicts for a massive number of
far-reaching modernizing reforms.

98
The reforms, however, were too
sudden for a China still under
significant neo-Confucian influence,
and displeased Cixi as it served as a
serious check on her power. Some
government and military officials
warned Cixi that the ming-shih
(reformation bureau) had been geared
toward conspiracy. Allegations of
treason against the Emperor, as well
as suspected Japanese influence
within the reform movement, including
a suspicious visit from the Japanese
Prime Minister, led Empress Dowager
Cixi to resume the role of regent and
once again take control of the country.

In another coup d'etat carried out by

General Ronglu's personnel on 21
September 1898, the Guangxu
Emperor was taken to Ocean Terrace,
a small palace on an island in the
middle of Zhongnanhai linked to the
rest of the Forbidden City with only a
controlled causeway. Empress
Dowager Cixi would follow with an
edict dictating the Guangxu Emperor's
total disgrace and "not being fit to be

99
Emperor". The Guangxu Emperor's
reign had effectively come to an end.

A crisis followed in the Qing court on

the issue of abdication. However,
bowing to increasing western pressure
and general civil discontent over the
issue, Cixi did not forcibly remove
Guangxu from the throne, although she
attempted crowning Punji, a boy of
fourteen who was from a close branch
of the Imperial family, as the crown
prince. The Guangxu era nominally
continued until 1908, but the Emperor
lost all honours, respect, power, and
privileges, including his freedom of
movement. Most of his supporters,
including his former tutor Weng
Tonghe, and the man he had
recommended, Kang Youwei, were
exiled, while six prominent reformers
led by Tan Sitong were executed in
public by Empress Dowager Cixi. Kang
continued to work for a more
progressive Qing Empire while in exile,
remaining loyal to the Guangxu
Emperor and hoping eventually to

100
restore him to power. His efforts would
prove to be in vain.

The Boxer Uprising and Late Qing

Reforms
In 1900, the Boxer Uprising broke out
in northern China.
Perhaps fearing further foreign
intervention, Cixi threw in her support
to these anti-foreign bands, making an
official announcement of her support
for the movement and a formal
declaration of war on the European
powers.
The Manchu General Ronglu
deliberately sabotaged the
performance of the Imperial army
during the rebellion.
Dong Fuxiang's Muslim troops were
able and eager to destroy the foreign
military forces in the legations, but
Ronglu stopped them from doing so.
The Manchu prince Zaiyi was
xenophobic and was friends with Dong
Fuxiang. Zaiyi wanted artillery for Dong

101
Fuxiang's troops to destroy the
legations.
Ronglu blocked the transfer of artillery
to Zaiyi and Dong, preventing them
from destroying the legations. When
artillery was finally supplied to the
Imperial Army and Boxers, it was only
done so in limited amounts; Ronglu
deliberately held back the rest of them.
The Chinese forces defeated the Allied
Western invasion force at the Battle of
Langfang and scored numerous small
victories around Tianjin, such as the
Battle of Beicang.
Due to the fact that moderates at the
Qing court tried to appease the
foreigners by moving the Muslim
Kansu Braves out of their way, the
Allied army was able to march into
Beijing and seize the capital.

During the war, Cixi displayed concern

about China's situation and foreign
aggression, saying, "Perhaps their
magic is not to be relied upon; but can
we not rely on the hearts and minds of
the people?

102
Today China is extremely weak. We
have only the people's hearts and
minds to depend upon. If we cast them
aside and lose the people's hearts,
what can we use to sustain the
country?" The Chinese people were
almost unanimous in their support for
the Boxers due to the Western Allied
invasion.

When Cixi received an ultimatum

demanding that China surrender total
control over all its military and financial
affairs to foreigners, she defiantly
stated before the entire Grand Council,
"Now they [the Powers] have started
the aggression, and the extinction of
our nation is imminent.

If we just fold our arms and yield to

them, I would have no face to see our
ancestors after death. If we must
perish, why not fight to the death?" It
was at this point that Cixi began to
blockade the legations with the Peking
Field Force armies, which began the
siege.

103
Cixi stated that "I have always been of
the opinion, that the allied armies had
been permitted to escape too easily in
1860. Only a united effort was then
necessary to have given China the
victory.
Today, at last, the opportunity for
revenge has come", and said that
millions of Chinese would join the
cause of fighting the foreigners since
the Manchus had provided "great
benefits" on China.

During the Battle of Peking, the Entire

Chinese Imperial Court, including the
Empress Dowager and Emperor
Guangxu, safely escaped from Beijing
and evacuated to Xi'an in Shaanxi
province, deep behind protective
mountain passes that the foreigners
could not penetrate. The foreigners
were unable to pursue, and in any case
had no orders to do so, so they
decided to take no action. The Kansu
Braves protected the Imperial Court
from the foreigners, since Xi'an was

104
deep in Chinese Muslim territory.
Several foreigners commented that the
Chinese shrewdly outsmarted the
foreign forces, and succeeded in
making the foreigners look foolish by
escaping from their grasp into regions
where they could not be attacked. The
Qing dynasty was by no means
defeated when the Allies took control of
Beijing. As a result, the Allies had to
temper their demands in a message
sent to Xi'an to get the Dowager
Empress to come to an agreement with
them. Among the concessions was a
guarantee that China would not have to
give up any land at all. Many of the
Dowager Empress's advisers in the
Imperial Court insisted that the war be
carried on against the foreigners,
arguing that China could defeat the
foreigners. In their view, it was disloyal
and traitorous people within China who
allowed Beijing and Tianjin to be
captured by the Allies, and the interior
of China was impenetrable. They
recommended that Dong Fuxiang be
given responsibility to continue the war
effort. The Dowager was practical,
however, and decided that the terms
105
were generous enough for her to
acquiesce and stop the war, at least
after she was assured of her continued
reign when the war was concluded.
The Western powers needed a
government strong enough to suppress
further anti-foreign movements, but too
weak to act on its own; they supported
the continuation of the Qing, rather
than allowing it to be overthrown. Cixi
turned once more to Li Hongzhang to
negotiate. Li agreed to sign the Boxer
Protocol, which stipulated the presence
of an international military force in
Beijing and the payment of £67 million
(almost $333 million) in war
reparations. The United States used its
share of the war indemnity to fund the
creation of China's prestigious
Tsinghua University. The Emperor and
the Empress Dowager did not return to
the capital from Xi'an until January
1902.

Upon their return, the Empress

Dowager made a remarkable reversal
in her political attitude, wooing the
powers she had attempted to destroy

106
and supporting the policies she had
suppressed. First she invited the wives
of the diplomatic corps for an afternoon
tea in the Forbidden City, had her
portrait painted in oils, and promoted
the very reformist officials who had
resisted her orders in 1900, principally
Yuan Shikai. High officials were
dispatched to Japan and Europe to
gather facts and draw up plans for
sweeping administrative reforms in law,
education, government structure, and
social policy, many of which were
modeled on the reforms of the Meiji
Restoration. The abolition of the
examination system in 1905 was only
the most visible of these sweeping
reforms. Ironically, Cixi sponsored the
implementation of a reform program
more radical than the one proposed by
the reformers she had beheaded in
1898.

In 1903, a strategy emerged to use

photographic portraiture to rehabilitate
her public image. Cixi allowed a young
aristocratic photographer named
Xunling to take elaborately staged

107
shots of her and her court, designed to
convey imperial authority, aesthetic
refinement, and religious piety. As the
only photographic series taken of
Cixi—the supreme leader of China for
more than forty-five years—it
represents a unique convergence of
Qing court pictorial traditions, modern
photographic techniques, and Western
standards of artistic portraiture. The
rare glass plates have been blown up
into full-size images, included in the
exhibition "The Empress Dowager" at
the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C.

Empress Dowager Cixi died in the Hall

of Graceful Bird at the Middle Sea of
Zhongnanhai on 15 November 1908,
after having installed Puyi as the new
Emperor of the Qing Dynasty on
November 14. Her death came only a
day after the death of the Guangxu
Emperor.

108
On 4 November 2008, forensic tests
were reported that the death of the
Emperor was caused by acute arsenic
poisoning. China Daily quoted a
historian, Dai Yi, who speculated that
Cixi may have known of her imminent
death and may have worried that
Guangxu would continue his reforms
after her death. CNN has recently
reported that the level of arsenic in his
remains were 2,000 times higher than
that of ordinary people.

Empress Dowager Cixi was interred

amidst the Eastern Qing Tombs, 125
km (78 mi) east of Beijing, in the Dong
Dingling, along with Empress Dowager
Ci'an. More precisely, Empress
Dowager Ci'an lies in the Pu Xiang Yu
Ding Dong Ling (literally: the "Tomb
East of the Ding Ling Tomb in the
Broad Valley of Good Omen"), while
Empress Dowager Cixi built herself the
much larger Pu Tuo Yu Ding Dong Ling
(literally: the "Tomb East of the Ding
Ling Tomb in the Potala Valley"). The
Dingling tomb (literally: the "Tomb of
quietude") is the tomb of the Xianfeng

109
Emperor, the spouse of Empress
Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager
Cixi, which is located indeed west of
the Ding Dong Ling. The Putuo Valley
owes its name to Mount Putuo, one of
the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of
China.

Empress Dowager Cixi, unsatisfied

with her tomb, ordered its destruction
and reconstruction in 1895. The new
tomb was a lavish grandiose complex
of temples, gates, and pavilions,
covered with gold leaf, and with gold
and gilded-bronze ornaments hanging
from the beams and the eaves. In July
1928, Empress Dowager Cixi's tomb
was occupied by warlord and
Kuomintang general Sun Dianying and
his army who methodically stripped the
complex of its precious ornaments,
then dynamited the entrance to the
burial chamber, opened Empress
Dowager Cixi's coffin, threw her corpse
(said to have been found intact) on the
floor, and stole all the jewels contained
in the coffin, as well as the massive
pearl that had been placed in Empress

110
Dowager Cixi's mouth to protect her
corpse from decomposing (in
accordance with Chinese tradition).
Urban legend states that the large
pearl on Empress Dowager Cixi's
crown was offered by Sun Dianying to
Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek
and ended up as an ornament on the
gala shoes of Chiang's wife, Soong
May-ling, but this is unconfirmed.

After 1949, the complex of Empress

Dowager Cixi's tomb was restored by
the People's Republic of China, and it
is still today one of the most impressive
imperial tombs of China.

Modern era

Republic of China
Frustrated by the Qing court's
resistance to reform and by China's
weakness, young officials, military
officers, and students began to
advocate the overthrow of the Qing
Dynasty and the creation of a republic.

111
They were inspired by the revolutionary
ideas of Sun Yat-sen.
When Sun Yat-sen was asked by one
of the leading revolutionary generals to
what he ascribed the success, he said,
"To Christianity more than to any other
single cause.
Along with its ideals of religious
freedom, and along with these it
inculcates everywhere a doctrine of
universal love and peace.
These ideals appeal to the Chinese;
they largely caused the Revolution,
and they largely determined its
peaceful character."

Slavery in China was abolished in

1910.

A revolutionary military uprising, the

Wuchang Uprising, began on October
10, 1911 in Wuhan. The provisional
government of the Republic of China
was formed in Nanjing on March 12,
1912 with Sun Yat-sen as President,
but Sun was forced to turn power over

112
to Yuan Shikai, who commanded the
New Army and was Prime Minister
under the Qing government, as part of
the agreement to let the last Qing
monarch abdicate (a decision Sun
would later regret). Over the next few
years, Yuan proceeded to abolish the
national and provincial assemblies, and
declared himself emperor in late 1915.
Yuan's imperial ambitions were fiercely
opposed by his subordinates; faced
with the prospect of rebellion, he
abdicated in March 1916, and died in
June of that year. His death left a
power vacuum in China; the republican
government was all but shattered. This
ushered in the warlord era, during
which much of the country was ruled
by shifting coalitions of competing
provincial military leaders.

In 1919, the May Fourth Movement

began as a response to the terms
imposed on China by the Treaty of
Versailles ending World War I, but
quickly became a protest movement
about the domestic situation in China.
The discrediting of liberal Western

113
philosophy amongst Chinese
intellectuals was followed by the
adoption of more radical lines of
thought. This in turn planted the seeds
for the irreconcilable conflict between
the left and right in China that would
dominate Chinese history for the rest of
the century.

In the 1920s, Sun Yat-Sen established

a revolutionary base in south China,
and set out to unite the fragmented
nation. With Soviet assistance, he
entered into an alliance with the
fledgling Communist Party of China.
After Sun's death from cancer in 1925,
one of his protégés, Chiang Kai-shek,
seized control of the Kuomintang
(Nationalist Party or KMT) and
succeeded in bringing most of south
and central China under its rule in a
military campaign known as the
Northern Expedition. Having defeated
the warlords in south and central China
by military force, Chiang was able to
secure the nominal allegiance of the
warlords in the North. In 1927, Chiang
turned on the CPC and relentlessly

114
chased the CPC armies and its leaders
from their bases in southern and
eastern China. In 1934, driven from
their mountain bases such as the
Chinese Soviet Republic, the CPC
forces embarked on the Long March
across China's most desolate terrain to
the northwest, where they established
a guerrilla base at Yan'an in Shaanxi
Province.

During the Long March, the

communists reorganized under a new
leader, Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung).
The bitter struggle between the KMT
and the CPC continued, openly or
clandestinely, through the 14-year long
Japanese occupation (1931–1945) of
various parts of the country. The two
Chinese parties nominally formed a
united front to oppose the Japanese in
1937, during the Sino-Japanese War
(1937-1945), which became a part of
World War II. Following the defeat of
Japan in 1945, the war between the
KMT and the CPC resumed, after
failed attempts at reconciliation and a
negotiated settlement. By 1949, the

115
CPC had established control over most
of the country. (see Chinese Civil War)

At the end of WWII in 1945 as part of

the overall Japanese surrender,
Japanese troops in Taiwan
surrendered to Republic of China
troops giving Chiang Kai-shek effective
control of Taiwan. When Chiang was
defeated by CPC forces in mainland
China in 1949, he retreated to Taiwan
with his government and his most
disciplined troops, along with most of
the KMT leadership and a large
number of their supporters.

Major combat in the Chinese Civil War

ended in 1949 with the Communist
Party of China in control of mainland
China, and the Kuomintang (KMT)
retreating to Taiwan, Republic of China
(ROC), reducing the ROC territory to
only Taiwan and surrounding islands.
On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong
proclaimed the People's Republic of
China. "Communist China" and "Red

116
China" were two common names for
the PRC.

Chairman Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the

People's Republic in 1949.

The economic and social plan known

as the Great Leap Forward resulted in
an estimated 45 million deaths. In
1966, Mao and his allies launched the
Cultural Revolution, which would last
until Mao's death a decade later.
The Cultural Revolution, motivated by
power struggles within the Party and a
fear of the Soviet Union, led to a major
upheaval in Chinese society.
In 1972, at the peak of the Sino-Soviet
split, Mao and Zhou Enlai met Richard
117
Nixon in Beijing to establish relations
with the United States.
In the same year, the PRC was
admitted to the United Nations in place
of the Republic of China for China's
membership of the United Nations, and
permanent membership of the Security
Council.

After Mao's death in 1976 and the

arrest of the Gang of Four, blamed for
the excesses of the Cultural
Revolution, Deng Xiaoping quickly
wrested power from Mao's anointed
successor Hua Guofeng.
Although he never became the head of
the party or state himself, Deng was in
fact the Paramount Leader of China at
that time, his influence within the Party
led the country to significant economic
reforms.
The Communist Party subsequently
loosened governmental control over
citizens' personal lives and the
communes were disbanded with many
peasants receiving multiple land
leases, which greatly increased

118
incentives and agricultural production.
This turn of events marked China's
transition from a planned economy to a
mixed economy with an increasingly
open market environment, a system
termed by some "market socialism",
and officially by the Communist Party
of China "Socialism with Chinese
characteristics". The PRC adopted its
current constitution on 4 December
1982.

In 1989, the death of pro-reform official

Hu Yaobang helped to spark the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989,
during which students and others
campaigned for several months,
speaking out against corruption and in
favour of greater political reform,
including democratic rights and
freedom of speech.
However, they were eventually put
down on 4 June when PLA troops and
vehicles entered and forcibly cleared
the square, resulting in numerous
casualties.

119
This event was widely reported and
brought worldwide condemnation and
sanctions against the government. The
"Tank Man" incident in particular
became famous.

CPC General Secretary, President

Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji,
both former mayors of Shanghai, led
post-Tiananmen PRC in the 1990s.
Under Jiang and Zhu's ten years of
administration, the PRC's economic
performance pulled an estimated 150
million peasants out of poverty and
sustained an average annual gross
domestic product growth rate of 11.2%.
The country formally joined the World
Trade Organization in 2001.

Although the PRC needs economic

growth to spur its development, the
government has begun to worry that
rapid economic growth has negatively
impacted the country's resources and
environment.

120
Another concern is that certain sectors
of society are not sufficiently benefiting
from the PRC's economic
development; one example of this is
the wide gap between urban and rural
areas.

As a result, under current CPC General

Secretary, President Hu Jintao and
Premier Wen Jiabao, the PRC has
initiated policies to address these
issues of equitable distribution of
resources, but the outcome remains to
be seen.

More than 40 million farmers have

been displaced from their land, usually
for economic development, contributing
to the 87,000 demonstrations and riots
across China in 2005.

For much of the PRC's population,

living standards have seen extremely
large improvements, and freedom
continues to expand, but political
controls remain tight and rural areas
poor.
121
Clockwise from top: A view of the Pudong skyline; Yuyuan
Garden, China Pavilion along with the Expo Axis, neon
signs on Nanjing Road, and The Bund

122
 A composite satellite image showing the topography of
China.

Political geography
The People's Republic of China is the
second-largest country in the world by
land area after Russia and is either the
third- or fourth-largest by total area,
after Russia, Canada and, depending
on the definition of total area, the
United States.

China's total area is generally stated as

being approximately 9,600,000 km2
(3,700,000 sq mi).

123
 Longsheng Rice Terrace in Guangxi.

124
Specific area figures range from
9,572,900 km2 (3,696,100 sq mi)
according to the Encyclopædia

125
Britannica, 9,596,961 km2 (3,705,407
sq mi) according to the UN
Demographic Yearbook, to 9,596,961
km2 (3,705,407 sq mi) according to the
CIA World Factbook, and 9,640,011
km2 (3,722,029 sq mi) including Aksai
Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract,
which are controlled by China and
claimed by India.

None of these figures include the 1,000

square kilometres (386.1 sq mi) of
territory ceded to China by Tajikistan
following the ratification of a Sino-Tajik
border agreement in January 2011.

According to the Encyclopædia

Britannica, the total area of the United
States, at 9,522,055 km2 (3,676,486
sq mi), is slightly smaller than that of
China.

Meanwhile, the CIA World Factbook

states that China's total area was
greater than that of the United States
until the coastal waters of the Great

126
Lakes was added to the United States'
total area in 1996.

China has the longest combined land

border in the world, measuring 22,117
km (13,743 mi) from the mouth of the
Yalu River to the Gulf of Tonkin.

China borders 14 nations, more than

any other country except Russia, which
also borders 14. China extends across
much of East Asia, bordering Vietnam,
Laos, and Burma in Southeast Asia;
India, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan in
South Asia; Afghanistan, Tajikistan,
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central
Asia; a small section of Russian Altai
and Mongolia in Inner Asia; and the
Russian Far East and North Korea in
Northeast Asia.

Additionally, China shares maritime

boundaries with South Korea, Japan,
Vietnam and the Philippines.

127
The PRC and the Republic of China
(Taiwan) make mutual claims over
each other's territority and the frontier
between areas under their respective
control is closest near the islands of
Kinmen and Matsu, off the Fujian
coast, but otherwise run through the
Taiwan Strait.

The PRC and ROC assert identical

claims over the entirety of the Spratly
Islands in the South China Sea, and
the southern-most extent of these
claims reach Zengmu Ansha (James
Shoal), which would form a maritime
frontier with Malaysia.

The Li River in Guangxi.

128
 Boat cruises transport visitors from Guilin to Yangshuo
County

Guilin is a prefecture-level city in the

northeast of the Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region of far southern China,
sitting on the west bank of the Li River.
Its name means "forest of Sweet
Osmanthus", owing to the large number of

129
fragrant Sweet Osmanthus trees located in
the city. The city has long been renowned for
its unique scenery.

Lijiang River connects Guilin and Yangshuo County

Longsheng Rice Terrace (Ping An)

130
 Da Zhai

Guilin Li River 1

131
 Guilin Scenery

Guilin landscapes

132
 Pagodas in Guilin

Songs and Performances in Guilin

133
 Seven Star Park

The Guilin Street

134
Pagodas in Fir Lake in downtown Guilin

135
 Elephant Trunk Hill, the symbol of Guilin

136
137
138
139
 View of Moon Hill

Yangshuo inspiration for Doom

140
The territory of China lies between
latitudes 18° and 54° N, and longitudes
73° and 135° E.
The country's vast size gives it a wide
variety of landscapes.

In the east, along the shores of the

Yellow Sea and the East China Sea,
there are extensive and densely
populated alluvial plains, while on the
edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau
in the north, broad grasslands are
visible.

Southern China is dominated by hill

country and low mountain ranges,
while the central-east hosts the deltas
of China's two major rivers, the Yellow
River and the Yangtze River.

Other major rivers include the Xi,

Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur.

To the west, major mountain ranges,

most notably the Himalayas, and high

141
plateaus feature among the more arid
landscapes of the north, such as the
Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert.

Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, in Tibet.

142
China's highest point, Mt. Everest
(8848m), lies on the Sino-Nepalese
border.

The country's lowest point is the dried

lake bed of Ayding Lake (-154m) in the
Turpan Depression.

A major environmental issue in China

is the continued expansion of its
deserts, particularly the Gobi Desert,
which is currently the world's fifth-
largest desert.

Although barrier tree lines planted

since the 1970s have reduced the
frequency of sandstorms, prolonged
drought and poor agricultural practices
have resulted in dust storms plaguing
northern China each spring, which then
spread to other parts of East Asia,
including Korea and Japan.

According to China's environmental

watchdog, Sepa, China is losing a

143
million acres (4,000 km²) per year to
desertification.

Water quality, erosion, and pollution

control have become important issues
in China's relations with other
countries. Melting glaciers in the
Himalayas could potentially lead to
water shortages for hundreds of
millions of people.

China's climate is mainly dominated by

dry seasons and wet monsoons, which
lead to a pronounced temperature
differences between winter and
summer.

In the winter, northern winds coming

from high-latitude areas are cold and
dry; in summer, southern winds from
coastal areas at lower latitudes are
warm and moist.
The climate in China differs from region
to region because of the country's
extensive and complex topography.

144
The South China Sea coast at Hainan

145
146
147
148
149
The Reed Flute Cave, also known as “the Palace of Natural Arts”, is
a natural limestone cave situated in the northwest of Guilin City,
China. It is said that locals gave this name from the reeds growing
outside it, as they were used for making flutes. With a length of
240 meters, the cave is like a magic fairyland of stalagmites,
stalactites, stone curtains, stone pillars with unique shapes and
colors.

150
151
152
153
154
 Visiting Fingal’s Cave. Even though the cave has a large
arched entrance, it is impossible for boats to get in. Visiting
is possible from April to September, when sightseeing
cruises are being organized. It is also possible to land
anywhere on the island (tip for the professional sailors only)
on your own and then walk to the cave and explore the cave
on foot.

155
156
157
158
159
160
The Lake Lugu

Daocheng

161
 Xinjiang

Kuerdening Valley

162
163
 Lake Shanghai

164
The Pearl Shoal Falls

165
166
Lake Wuhua Hai

167
 Lake Jian Zhuhai

168
Lake Long

169
170
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172
173
 Panda Bears at home

174
Yangshan Deep-water Port

175
The Port of Shanghai, located in the
vicinity of Shanghai, comprises a deep-
sea port and a river port.

In 2010, Shanghai port overtook

Singapore port to become the world's
busiest container port. Shanghai's port
handled 29.05 million TEUs, whereas
Singapore port was a half million TEU's
behind.

During the Ming Dynasty, what is now

the city of Shanghai was a part of
Jiangsu Province (with a small part in
Zhejiang Province). While Shanghai
had become a county seat in the Yuan
Dynasty, it remained a relatively small
town.

Its location at the mouth of the Yangtze

led to its development as coastal trade
developed during the Qing Dynasty,
especially the Qianlong era. Gradually,
the port of Shanghai surpassed the
port of Ningbo and the port of
Guangzhou to became the largest port
of China at the time.
176
In 1842, Shanghai became a treaty
port, thus developing into an
international commercial city. By the
early 20th century, it was the largest
city in the Far East, and the largest port
in the Far East.

In 1949, with the Communist takeover

in Shanghai, overseas trade was cut
dramatically. The economic policy of
the People's Republic had a crippling
effect on Shanghai's infrastructure and
capital development.

In 1991, the central government

allowed Shanghai to initiate economic
reform. Since then, the port of
Shanghai has developed at an
increasing pace. By 2005, the
Yangshan deep water port was built on
the Yangshan islands, a group of
islands in Hangzhou Bay, linked to
Shanghai by the Donghai Bridge. This
development allowed the port to
overcome shallow water conditions in
its current location, and to rival another

177
deep-water port, the nearby Ningbo-
Zhoushan port.

Shanghai Stock Exchange

178
 Skyline of Pudong

Shanghai Port is the world’s busiest container port

179
Nanjing Road is one of the world's busiest shopping streets

180
East Nanjing Road is a dedicated
commercial zone.

181
At its eastern end is the central section
of the Bund, featuring the Peace Hotel.

Immediately west of the Bund precinct

was traditionally the hub of European-
style restaurants and cafes, although in
recent years these have become less
of a feature as the demographics of
visitors to Nanjing Road have shifted
from affluent local residents to visitors
from around the country.

Close by is the Central Market, a

century-old outdoor market today
specializing in electronic components
and digital media.

Further west is the Nanjing Road

pedestrian mall.

Located here are most of Shanghai's

oldest and largest department stores,
as well as a variety of domestic retail
outlets, and some traditional eateries
with a long history.

182
Night view down Yan'an Road, the former Avenue Edward
VII, just south of the Bund, in Shanghai.

Longhua Temple inner courtyard

183
 University City District in Songjiang

The Maglev with a top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph) exiting
the Shanghai Pudong International Airport

Shanghai is a major hub of China's

expressway network.
184
Many national expressways (prefixed
with G) pass through or terminate in
Shanghai, including G2 Beijing–
Shanghai Expressway (overlapping
G42 Shanghai–Chengdu), G15
Shenyang–Haikou, G40 Shanghai–
Xi'an, G50 Shanghai–Chongqing, G60
Shanghai–Kunming (overlapping G92
Shanghai–Ningbo), and G1501
Shanghai Ring Expressway.

In addition, there are also numerous

municipal expressways prefixed with S
(S1, S2, S20, etc.).

In the city center, there are several

elevated expressways to lessen traffic
pressure on surface streets, but traffic
in and around Shanghai is often heavy
and traffic jams are commonplace
during rush hour.

There are bicycle lanes separate from

car traffic on many surface streets, but
bicycles and motorcycles are banned
from most main roads including the
elevated expressways.
185
Private car ownership in Shanghai has
been rapidly increasing in recent years,
but a new private car cannot be driven
until the owner buys a license in the
monthly private car license plate
auction.

Around 8,000 license plates are

auctioned each month and the average
price is about 45,291 RMB (€5,201).

The purpose of this policy is to limit the

growth of automobile traffic and to
alleviate congestion.

The Shanghai World Financial Center

is a supertall skyscraper located in the
Pudong district of Shanghai, China. It
was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox
and developed by Mori Building. It is a
mixed-use skyscraper, consisting of
offices, hotels, conference rooms,
observation decks, and ground-floor
shopping malls.

186
Park Hyatt Shanghai is the hotel
component, containing 174 rooms and
suites.
Occupying the 79th to the 93rd floors, it
is the second-highest hotel in the
world, surpassing the Grand Hyatt
Shanghai on the 53rd to 87th floors of
the neighboring Jin Mao Tower.
On 14 September 2007, the skyscraper
was topped out, at 492.0 meters
(1,614.2 ft) making it the second-tallest
building in the world and the tallest
structure in the People's Republic of
China at the time.
It also had the highest occupied floor
and the highest height to roof, two
categories used to determine the title
of "world’s tallest building". The SWFC
will be exceeded in height by the
nearby Shanghai Tower, which is due
for completion in 2014.
The SWFC opened on 28 August
2008, with its observation deck
opening two days later. This
observation deck, currently the world's
tallest, offers views from 474 m (1,555
ft) above ground level.

187
The SWFC has been lauded for its
design, and in 2008 it was named by
architects as the year's best completed
skyscraper.

The Shanghai World Financial Center in 2010.

188
Shanghai World Financial Center (left) and Jin Mao Tower
(right)

189
The Shanghai International Exhibition Center, an example
of Soviet neoclassical architecture in Shanghai

The Mercedes-Benz Arena, previously known as the Expo

Cultural Center during the world expo in 2010.

190
Although often viewed as a modern metropolis, Shanghai
still contains some picturesque rural suburban areas.

The Shanghai Museum, located in People's Square

191
 Shaolin Temple (Monastery)

The first Shaolin Monastery abbot was

Batuo (also called Fotuo or
Buddhabhadra, not to be confused with
Bodhidharma) a dhyana master who
came to China from India in AD 464 to
spread Buddhist teachings.

According to the Continued

Biographies of Eminent Monks (AD
645) by Dàoxuān, the Shaolin
Monastery was built on the north side
of Shaoshi, the central peak of Mount
Song, one of the Sacred Mountains of
China, by Emperor Xiaowen of the

192
Northern Wei Dynasty in AD 477. Yang
Xuanzhi, in the Record of the Buddhist
Monasteries of Luoyang (AD 547), and
Li Xian, in the Ming Yitongzhi (AD
1461), concur with Daoxuan's location
and attribution. The Jiaqing Chongxiu
Yitongzhi (AD 1843) specifies that this
monastery, located in the province of
Henan, was built in the 20th year of
theTàihé era of the Northern Wei
Dynasty, that is, the monastery was
built in AD 497.

Kangxi, the second Qing emperor, was

a supporter of the Shaolin temple in
Henan and he wrote the calligraphic
inscriptions that hang over the
Heavenly King Hall and the Buddha
Hall to this day.

The monastery has been destroyed

and rebuilt many times. In 1641 the
troops of anti-Ming rebel Li Zicheng
sacked the monastery due to the
monks' support of the Ming and the
possible threat they posed to the

193
rebels. This effectively destroyed the
temple's fighting force.

Perhaps the best-known story of the

Temple's destruction is that it was
destroyed by the Qing government for
supposed anti-Qing activities. Variously
said to have taken place in 1647 under
the Shunzhi Emperor, in 1674 under
the Kangxi Emperor, or in 1732 under
the Yongzheng Emperor, this
destruction is also supposed to have
helped spread Shaolin martial arts
through China by means of the five
fugitive monks.

Some accounts claim that a supposed

southern Shaolin Temple was
destroyed instead of, or in addition to,
the temple in Henan: Ju Ke, in the Qing
bai lei chao (1917), locates this temple
in Fujian Province. These stories
commonly appear in legendary or
popular accounts of martial history, and
in martial arts fiction.

194
While these latter accounts are
common among martial artists, and
often serve as origin stories for various
martial arts styles, their accuracy is
questionable. The accounts are known
through often inconsistent 19th-century
secret society histories and popular
literature, and also appear to draw on
both Fujianese folklore and popular
narratives such as the Water Margin.
Modern scholarly attention to the tales
is mainly concerned with their role as
folklore.

There is evidence of Shaolin martial

arts techniques being exported to
Japan in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Okinawan Shōrin-ryū karate, for
example, has a name meaning "Small
[Shao]lin". Other similarities can be
seen in centuries-old Chinese and
Japanese martial arts manuals.

In 1928, the warlord Shi Yousan set

fire to the monastery, burning it for over
40 days, destroying 90 percent of the

195
buildings including many manuscripts
of the temple library.

The Cultural Revolution launched in

1966 targeted religious orders
including the monastery. The five
monks who were present at the
monastery when the Red Guard
attacked were shackled and made to
wear placards declaring the crimes
charged against them. The monks
were jailed after publicly being flogged
and paraded through the street as
people threw rubbish at them. The
government purged Buddhist materials
from within the monastery walls,
leaving it barren for years.

Martial arts groups from all over the

world have made donations for the
upkeep of the temple and grounds, and
are subsequently honored with carved
stones near the entrance of the temple.

According to Matthew Polly, a travel

writer and martial artist, during the
Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong
196
granted the Shaolin Temple extra land
and special "imperial dispensation" to
eat meat, and drink, which would make
Shaolin the only temple in China that
did not prohibit alcohol, although this
practice has ceased today.

Polly's statement is not corroborated in

any period documents, such as the
Shaolin Stele erected in 728 AD. The
stele does not list any such imperial
dispensation as reward for the monks'
assistance during the campaign
against Wang Shichong, only land and
a water mill are granted. Historian Meir
Shahar is unsure if the popular tale
about wine and meat consumption
originated after the released of films
like Shaolin Temple.

In the past, many have tried to

capitalize on Shaolin Monastery fame
by building their own schools on Mount
Song. However, the Chinese
government eventually outlawed this;
the schools were moved to the nearby
towns. However, as of 2010, the Ta

197
Gou kung fu school, one of the largest
kung fu schools in China, owns and
practices on land below the Shaolin
Temple.

A Dharma gathering was held from

August 19 to August 20, 1999, in the
Shaolin Monastery for Master Shi
Yongxin's assumption of office as
abbot. In March 2006 Vladimir Putin,
then President of Russia, became the
first foreign leader to visit the
monastery. In 2007 the Chinese
government partially lifted the 300-year
ban of the Jieba. The Jieba is the
ancient ceremony of the nine marks,
which are burned onto the head with
sticks of incense. The ban was partially
lifted only for those who were mentally
and physically prepared to participate
in the tradition.

Two modern bathrooms were recently

added to the temple for use by monks
and tourists. The new bathrooms
reportedly cost three million yuan.

198
199
 Jin Mao Tower

200
 The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China

One of the New Seven Wonders of the

World

The Great Wall of China was selected

as one of the new Seven Wonders of
the World in a global poll announced
on July 7, 2007. "If you haven't climbed
the Great Wall, you haven't seen
China." Many of your friends who
visited China before might have told

201
you this. It is, indeed, an experience of
lifetime.

The Great Wall of China, one of the

most awe-inspiring man-made projects
in the world, lies across the northern
part of China like a great sleeping
dragon, winding its way through
China's vast northern territory. With a
history of over 2,500 years, the Great
Wall attracts visitors from all over the
world. In 1987, the Great Wall was
listed on UNESCO's World Heritage
List.
History & Function

The construction of the Great wall

began during 770-476 BC. During that
period Ducal states built walls to
defend their territories. In 221 BC, Qin
Shi Huang conquered the six kingdoms
and unified China to become its fist
emperor. To consolidate the country
and ward off invasion by the ethnic
minority tribes in the north, he had the
separate walls joined together and
extended to form a united defensive

202
system. Construction continued up to
the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when
the Great Wall became the world's
largest military structure.
Construction-He who does not reach
the Great Wall is not a real hero!

The Great Wall was constructed using

the Chinese people's sweat, blood, and
muscle. Ancient records show that at
least one million slaves and prisoners
of war were conscripted to build the
great wall which followed the contour of
the land, taking advantage of the
natural landscape. As many died from
exhaustion and starvation while
working on this colossal task, the Wall
was also known as "the longest
cemetery in the world."

The bricks, rocks and lime used to

build the wall had to be carried up the
mountains on bare backs. Those who
succeeded in climbing the wall today
are often regarded as "real heroes",
but as visitors realize the difficulty in
climbing the wall, they should try to

203
imagine how difficult it must have been
to build the Great Wall without any
modern machinery.

Chairman Mao proclaimed that any

person who wanted to be a real hero
must climb the Great Wall, which has
inspired many ambitious visitors.
The legend of Meng Jiangnu bringing
down a section of the Great Wall with
her tears

Many beautiful legends have survived

about the construction of the Great
Wall. Among them, the most popular is
the story about Lady Meng Jiangnu.

On the night of their wedding, Meng

Jiangnu's husband was conscribed to
work on the Great Wall by the Qin
soldiers. Before he went away, Lady
Meng broke her white jade hairpin in
two and gave her husband one half as
a token of love. One day, lady Meng
dreamed that her husband was
constantly yelling "Cold, cold". She

204
recalled that her husband was wearing
very thin clothes. She made some
padded clothes for her husband and
left home to look for her husband. She
didn't expect that her husband had
already died of exhaustion. Upon
hearing this, she burst into tears. The
Great Wall was moved and more than
20 Kilometers collapsed, revealing the
body of her husband and many others.
On seeing this, she committed suicide
by jumping into the sea.

A temple can be found at Shanhai

Pass near the sea in memory of this
loyal lady.
Length

The current measurement of this

defensive wall, which stretches from
Shanhaiguan Pass in the east to
Jiayuguan Pass in the west, is 7300
kilometers (4300 miles). Its thickness
ranges from about 4.5 to 9 meters (15
to 30 feet), and at its highest point is
7.5 meters (25 feet) tall.
Structure
205
The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was
the last dynasty in which large scale
construction of the Great Wall took
place, and most of the walls we see
today were built during the Ming
Dynasty.
Its historic and strategic importance is
matched only by its architectural
significance. It is constructed of locally
available materials – stone, rammed
earth, large blocks of granite and
bricks. The Great Wall is comprised of
not only the walls, but also gates,
beacon towers, watchtowers, castles
and fortresses.
Beacon Towers

Along the 7300 kilometers (4300 miles)

long wall, there are countless beacon
towers that were used as signal tower
to deliver messages from one place to
another. When the enemy invaded in
the daytime, heavy smoke was used as
a signal; while at night, a large fire
would be lit, because fire was easy to
see in the distance. The scale of the

206
smoke and fire signals could reveal the
number of invading enemies. The
beacon towers were set at regular
intervals along the Great Wall, and
each tower upon seeing a signal from
the previous one would light their
signal to signal the next tower. A signal
could be sent from one end of the
Great Wall to the other, a distance of
7300 kilometers (4300 miles) in just
over one hour.
Watch Towers

The watchtowers are built at intervals

of 1,500 feet except where the terrain
is more complicated, and then they are
even closer. In ancient time, everyday
thousands of soldiers were stationed
there to make sure the whole nation
was safe. At night, they slept inside
the towers.
The Great Wall Near Beijing

Factors, such as season, accessibility,

safety, health condition, should be
taken into account when visiting the
Great Wall. The view as you climb to
207
the top is stunning. Badaling and
Juyong Pass is the most visited and
most easily accessible part of the Wall.
The section between Jinshanling and
Simatai requires more physical stamina
to climb. The scenery of Mutianyu
Great Wall is extremely beautiful in
autumn when the trees covering the
mountainsides have turned golden.
Badaling Great Wall

The best-preserved and most imposing

section of the Great Wall is at
Badaling, which is located 72
kilometers (45 miles) away at the
northwest of Beijing. In Chinese, 'Bada'
means 'giving access to every
direction'. The name itself suggests its
strategic importance. This section is
made of large blue bricks. The wall
has an average height of 7 meters (24
feet) and a width of 6 meters (19 feet)
at the bottom, and 5 meters (16 feet) at
the top. It is wide enough to allow ten
soldiers to march side by side along
the wall. The highest point here is more
than 731 meters (2,400 feet) above
sea level.
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Mutianyu Great Wall

Mutianyu Great Wall is located

70kilometers (43 miles) from the center
of Beijing. It is much steeper than
Badaling Great Wall, and a more
challenging climb. This section, older
than Badaling, is considered by
Chinese and foreign tourists as the
best part of the Great Wall. There are
fewer people here because the location
is less accessible than Badaling.
Surrounded by woodland and streams,
this section takes on a different look in
each season. Blossoming flowers in
spring, flowing streams in summer, red
leaves in autumn and white snow in
winter make this one of the Great Walls
most photographic spots.
Simatai Great Wall

The Simatai Great Wall is located 120

kilometers (74 miles) from Beijing. It is
often described with the following three
words: perilous, diverse, and peculiar.
This section has not been restored as
much as Badaling and much of the

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section is in a state of ruin with
exposed bricks and the ruins of watch
towers. A famous specialist of Great
Wall history has stated: "The Great
Wall is the best of the Chinese
buildings, and Simatai section is the
best of the Great Wall." This section
has been named as one of the most
"excellent cultural relics of the world"
by UNESCO.
Jinshanling Great Wall

The Jinshanling Great Wall is located

140 kilometers (87 miles) northeast of
Beijing. It features complicated and
well preserved fortification systems.
The walls are more solid, the
watchtowers are taller and it retains its
original Ming Dynasty appearance.
Here you can see the Wall relatively
undisturbed and in its original
condition. The wall follows the contours
of the mountains, and stretches off into
the distance. The wall has not been
restored, so it has a special beauty. It
is the section that foreign visitors like
the most.

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Juyong Pass
Juyong Pass, located in a valley more
than 50 kilometers (31 miles) from
Beijing, is one of the three greatest
passes of Great Wall. (The other two
passes are Jiayu Pass and Shanhai
Pass)
The wall we can see today was built in
the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
The valley where Juyong Pass lies is
steep and precipitous, giving Juyong
Pass the reputation of being the most
steep and dangerous pass. Juyong
Pass and Badaling in the south are
vital gateways in the northwest region
of Beijing.
Jiayu Pass

Jiayu Pass, located in northwestern

part of Gansu Province, was a pass of
strategic importance on the Ancient
Silk Road. This section, first built in
1539, is the representative of the Great
Wall in western China, and is also the
western starting point of the Ming
Dynasty built section. It has been
called: "the most important pass in the

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world" and "the most strategically
significant pass in Hexi".

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 A Taoist Temple

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 Temple of Heaven

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The Temple Complex

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