History of China

Brief Introduction to History of China:
Chinese civilization originated in various city-states along the Yellow River valley in the Neolithic era. The written history of China begins with the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC - 1100 BC). Turtle shells with ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty have been carbon dated to as early as 1500 BC. The origins of Chinese culture, literature and philosophy, developed during the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC to 256 BC) that followed the Shang. It was the longest lasting dynasty and spans the period in which the written script evolved from ancient oracle script to the beginnings of modern Chinese writing.
The feudal Zhou Dynasty eventually broke apart into individual city states, creating the Warring States period. In 221 BC, Qin Shihuang 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 the vast territories.
The conventional view of Chinese history is that of a country alternating between periods of political unity and disunity and occasionally becoming dominated by foreign people, most of whom were assimilated into the Han Chinese population. Cultural and political influences from many parts of Asia, carried by successive waves of immigration, expansion, and assimilation, merged to create modern Chinese culture.
5000 years have passed. The Chinese nation and society are welcoming much development in the 21st century. With the combined efforts of 1.3 billion people, China will enter a new phase in the 21st century and create a miracle for its people and the world.

The Prehistoric Times refer to the period from about 1,700,000 years ago to the establishment of the Xia Dynasty in the 21 century BC. During this stage, great culture and civilization were achieved by the prehistoric Chinese.
The age of prehistoric was also called Stone Age. It is because people who lived during this period developed the use of stone tools. According to the different implements people used then, the age is divided into two periods: the Paleolithic Age and the Neolithic Age.

Xia Dynasty-The First Country of China
Emperors: 16 emperors, including Qi, Tai Kang, Shao Kang Zhongxing, Kong Jia and Jie and so on.
Replaced by: Shang Dynasty
Xia dynasty is the first prehistoric country in China’s history. According to the history record, Xia was built by Qi, the son of Yu, who killed his brother Yi and abolished the system of demise. It was the first country in China’s history. After that, the demise system has been replaced by hereditary system.
There were 13 generations and 16 kings in Xia dynasty. The capital area of Xia dynasty was located in the western part of Henan and the northern part of Shanxi. It was said that the regime of the Xia has been stopped at some time. It was Shaokang to rebuild Xia dynasty. After that, Xia declined continuously and was replaced by Shang dynasty finishing its 400 years of existing.
Because there were no words to record the events of Xia dynasty, most of the information of Xia was learned from some ancient record, including the remains of the king, officials and the prison conditions.
In recent years, many huge palace, mausoleum and bronze have been unearthed. They also reflected from another side the politics, economic, cultural and life. This help people learn more about the first and special age in China's history.
As the first prehistoric country in China mainland, Xia dynasty is an important dynasty with great history research. Its rich culture plays an important role in the culture of China and the whole history of China.

Shang dynasty is also called Yin dynasty in history. It has been said that Shang dynasty was built by a rebel leader who overthrew the last Xia ruler. Shang dynasty runs from 1700 BC to 1027 BC The civilization of Shang has been known to people for a long time.
There were mainly agriculture, hunting and animal husbandry as the economic forms in Shang dynasty. A number of ceremonial bronze vessels with inscriptions date from the Shang period; the workmanship on the bronzes attests to a high level of civilization.
A line of hereditary Shang kings ruled over much of northern China, and Shang troops fought frequent wars with neighboring settlements and nomadic herdsmen from the inner Asian steppes.
The capitals, one of which was at the site of the modern city of Anyang, were centers of glittering court life. Court rituals to propitiate spirits and to honor sacred ancestors were highly developed.
In addition to his secular position, the king was the head of the ancestor- and spirit-worship cult. Evidence from the royal tombs indicates that royal personages were buried with articles of value, presumably for use in the afterlife.
Perhaps for the same reason, hundreds of commoners, who may have been slaves, were buried alive with the royal corpse.
A line of hereditary Shang kings ruled over much of northern China, and Shang troops fought frequent wars with neighboring settlements and nomadic herdsmen from the inner Asian steppes.

According to Chinese accounts, Zhou was built by a chieftain of a tribe called Zhou. The chieftain overthrew Shang’s last ruler and build the Zhou dynasty. He settled down in Hao, a city near today’s Xi’an city in Shannxi province.
Zhou dynasty has lasted for a long time from 1027BC to 221BC, and the philosophers of Zhou’s period enunciated the doctrine of “mandate of the heaven: and produced the notion that the ruler governed by divine right but his dethronement would prove that he had lost his mandate.
The Zhou Dynasty originated from the Zhou clan whose existence stretches back into history. By the 11th Century BC, the Zhou Clan had become increasingly powerful and had extended throughout the present Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces. The Zhou Clan's mightiness increasingly menaced the Shang Dynasty and the conflict between the two groups intensified.
At that time, the Shang Dynasty was under the rule of King Zhou. He was atrocious to his people and doted on his imperial concubine, Daji. All he did caused great rage amongst his people. The chief of the Zhou Tribe, Zhou Wenwang thought it was the right time to attack the Shang Dynasty and entrusted his son Ji Fa to fulfill his last wish.
After Zhou Wenwang died, his son Ji Fa (Zhou Wuwang) succeeded him. He made full preparations for the war and killed King Zhou. Thus the Shang Dynasty ended in 1046 BC. Later, Zhou Wuwang established the Zhou Dynasty and made Haojing (the present Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province) its capital. The Zhou Dynasty was the longest dynasty in Chinese history. It lasted for over 800 years and included the reigns of 37 emperors. The Zhou Dynasty is divided into two periods: the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC to 771 BC) and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 BC - 221 BC).
It is so divided because the capital cities in the Western Zhou Dynasty of Fengyi (presently in the southwest of Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province) and Haojing lie to the west of the Eastern Zhou's capital of Luoyi (present Luoyang, Henan Province). As to the Eastern Dynasty, it is divided into the Spring and Autumn Periods (770 BC-476 BC), and the Warring States Period (476 BC - 221 BC). Each of the periods featured turbulent wars.
The achievements during the Zhou Dynasty in economy, politics, science and culture, were much more illustrious than any which occurred during the Shang Dynasty.
In the year 221 BC, Qin defeated the other six states which existed during the Warring States Period and unified China. Thus, history moved forward to a new age called the Qin Dynasty.

Although there were many civil strife and in the period of disunity, the Spring and Autumn period saw a great prosperity in cultural movement and development. It has been called the golden age in China’s history.
The civil war of the period was leaded by the different interest of each empire. Each empire tried its best to seize more fields and more people. This situation was also good for the unity of the whole country. But too many wars and civil strife made the people in the period live a sad and depressed life. It was in the depressed society, the reform and new life is eagerly needed by most of people. So there appeared the hundred schools of thoughts in the period.
The regional lords wanted to build a strong and a big administrative are so that they can collect more taxation and build a strong army to defeat other regional lords.
In order to develop the economic and military as well as the production, the regional lords need a lot of skilled and literature officials and excellent teachers to help them. Thus the great thoughts and ideas were produced in the situation.
The uses of iron have improved the production of agriculture and the iron was also used to forge as weapons. Numerous of Walls were built around the cities and the board of every country.
It is in the situation that many philosophies were produced to conduct and analyze the disunity conditions. The hundred schools of thoughts were appeared under the great situations.
The thoughts and the discipline of the great thinkers influenced the Chinese history until today.

In 221 BC, Chinese were unified for the first time to construct a great country that ended the long era of disunity and warring. In that year the western frontier state of Qin, the most aggressive of the Warring States, subjugated the last of its rival state.
Centralization and autarchy were achieved by ruthless methods and focused on standardizing legal codes, bureaucratic procedures, the forms of writing and coinage, and the pattern of thought and scholarship.
To silence criticism of imperial rule, the kings banished or put to death many dissenting Confucian scholars and confiscated and burned their books. Qin expansionism was aided by frequent military expeditions pushing forward the frontiers in the north and south.
In order to fend off barbarian intrusion, the fortification walls built by the various warring states were connected to make a 5,000-kilometer-long great wall. What are commonly referred to as the Great Wall are actually four great walls rebuilt or extended during the Western Han, Sui, Jin, and Ming periods, rather than a single, continuous wall. At its extremities, the Great Wall reaches from northeastern Heilongjiang Province to northwestern Gansu.
A number of public works projects were also undertaken to consolidate and strengthen imperial rule. These activities required enormous levies of manpower and resources, not to mention repressive measures.
Revolts broke out as soon as the first Qin emperor died in 210 BC His dynasty was extinguished less than twenty years after its triumph. The imperial system initiated during the Qin dynasty, however, set a pattern that was developed over the next two millennia

After Qin was overthrew by the peasants rebellion, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were two leaders that struggled to seize the regime position of a new dynasty. They have gone against each other and at last Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu to be the first emperor of Han dynasty. Chang’an became capital during the Han Dynasty after a short national war.
Building upon the base of Qin dynasty, the new empire retained much of the Qin administrative structure but retreated a little from centralized rule by establishing vassal principalities in some areas for the sake of political convenience.
Instead of using the previous harsher and cruel laws and regulation to against the common people, the Han rulers modified some of the harsher aspects of the previous dynasty; Confucian ideals of government, out of favor during the Qin period, were adopted as the creed of the Han Empire, and Confucian scholars gained prominent status as the core of the civil service.
A civil service examination system also was initiated. Intellectual, literary, and artistic endeavors revived and flourished.
The Han period produced China's most famous historian, Sima Qian (145-87 BC?), whose Shiji (Historical Records) provides a detailed chronicle from the time of a legendary Xia emperor to that of the Han emperor Wu Di 141-87 BC).
Technological advances also marked this period. Two of the great Chinese inventions, paper and porcelain, date from Han times.
The Han dynasty, after which the members of the ethnic majority in China, the "people of Han," are named, was notable also for its military prowess. The empire expanded westward as far as the rim of the Tarim Basin (in modern Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region), making possible relatively secure caravan traffic across Central Asia to Antioch, Baghdad, and Alexandria.
The paths of caravan traffic are often called the "silk route" because the route was used to export Chinese silk to the Roman Empire. Chinese armies also invaded and annexed parts of northern Vietnam and northern Korea toward the end of the second century BC.
Han’s control of peripheral regions was generally insecure. However, to ensure peace with non-Chinese local powers, the Han court developed a mutually beneficial "tributary system"
Non-Chinese states were allowed to remain autonomous in exchange for symbolic acceptance of Han overlordship.
Tributary ties were confirmed and strengthened through intermarriages at the ruling level and periodic exchanges of gifts and goods.
After 200 years, Han rule was interrupted briefly (in AD 9-24 by Wang Mang or a reformer), and then restored for another 200 years.
The Han rulers, however, were unable to adjust to what centralization had wrought: a growing population, increasing wealth and resultant financial difficulties and rivalries, and ever-more complex political institutions. Riddled with the corruption characteristic of the dynastic cycle, by AD 220 the Han Empire collapsed.

The Three Kingdoms Period was appeared in the age of civil wars and disunity when the Han dynasty collapses. The period lasted for nearly four centuries under the rule of warlords. (AD 220-280)
In later times, fiction and drama greatly romanticized the reputed chivalry of this period. Unity was restored briefly in the early years of the Jin dynasty (AD 265-420), but the Jin could not long contain the invasions of the nomadic people.
In AD 317 the Jin court was forced to flee from Luoyang and reestablished itself at Nanjing to the south.
The transfer of the capital coincided with China's political fragmentation into a succession of dynasties that was to last from AD 304 to 589. During this period the process of civilization accelerated among the non-Chinese arrivals in the north and among the aboriginal tribesmen in the south.
This process was also accompanied by the increasing popularity of Buddhism (introduced into China in the first century AD) in both north and south China.
Despite the political disunity of the time, there were notable technological advances. The invention of gunpowder (at that time for use only in fireworks) and the wheelbarrow is believed to date from the sixth or seventh century. Advances in medicine, astronomy, and cartography are also noted by historians.

The Jin Dynasty consists of two dynasties, the Western Jin Dynasty (265 -316) and the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 - 420). The Western Jin was founded by Sima Yan with Luoyang as its capital city while the Eastern Jin was founded by Sima Rui with Jiankang (currently Nanjing) as its capital.
In 265, as a chancellor of the Kingdom of Wei, Sima Yan forced the last emperor of Wei, Cao Huan, to turn over his throne. Soon after Sima Yan acceded to the throne, proclaimed himself Emperor Wu in Luoyang and established the Jin Dynasty. In 280, Sima Yan sent his troops to attack the Kingdom of Wu and eventually defeated the last kingdom of the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280). The Jin Dynasty had unified the whole nation.
However, the state of unification did not last long. With the increase of the military strength, some nomadic ethnic groups on the frontier began to wage war to contest the central plains with the Jin Court. After a period of fighting, these groups set up a series of regimes in northern areas, called 'sixteen kingdoms'.
On the positive side, the process of Han-Chinese assimilation with other minority groups was greatly progressed. Meanwhile, the propagation of Buddhism in southern and northern areas became more and more popular. In addition, technological progress in medicine, astronomy and drafting technique was also notable during that time.

From AD420 to AD589, ancient China comes into a disunity country which lasted for 169 years.
China was divided to the northern part and the southern part in Dong Jin dynasty. The northern was opposed by the southern for a long time. There were four dynasties in the south, Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen. They replaced each other from the beginning to the end. The dynasties in the south sharing one capital in Jiang Kang (Nan Jing in today), besides Jiang Ling, which is the capital city of Liang Yuan Di.
During the period, Liu Song was the biggest, strongest and the longest dynasty which has 8 emperors for 7 years. It is the dynasty that emperors changed the most frequently

By the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589), China had witnessed disunity and chaos for about 270 years.
In 577, the Northern Zhou conquered the Northern Qi and reunified the North China. The Northern Zhou, known as the reign of Yuwen family of the Xianbei ethnic group, continued for 24 years with five emperors over three generations.
In 581, Yangjian, a relative of the royal family, usurped the throne and renamed the empire the Sui Dynasty with Chang'an (present Xian City in Shaanxi Province) as his capital city. Yangjian was historically called Emperor Wen.
After the founding of the empire, Emperor Wen quickly carried out a series of military plans to unify the country. Finally in 589, Emperor Wen wiped out the Chen Dynasty and reunified the south and the north.
Sui Dynasty lasted for only 38 years with two generations. History shows it was one of the short-lived Chinese dynasties. The Sui Dynasty's early demise was attributed to the government's tyranny and ceaseless wars.
Emperor Wen died unexpectedly in 604 and his second son Yangguang, historically known as Emperor Yang, succeeded to the throne.
In the early part of his reign Emperor Yang benefited from the reforms introduced by his father and the Sui Dynasty achieved full economic prosperity.
However, lulled by his easy success, Emperor Yang soon began to abuse his power. On the one hand, he continued to carry out lavish construction projects, such as the Great Wall, the Great Canal and the relocation of his capital in Luoyang.
On the other, he repeatedly went on pleasure trips and all too frequently launched wars on his neighbors. Some of Emperor Yang's policy did contribute a lot to the social development and the stability of the country; however, they made the ordinary people 'all out at the elbows'.
Emperor Yang's extravagance and putridness finally led to the exhaustion of the country's resources. Beginning in 613, rebellions broke out one by one. In 616, forced by the chaotic situation, Emperor Yang retreated to Jiangdu (present Yangzhou City in Jiangsu Province).
With the emperor absent, Liyuan, a general stationed in Taiyuan, conquered Chang'an and put a new emperor on the throne.
In 618, Emperor Yang was murdered in Jiangdu by one of his aides. Quickly, Liyuan deposed the new emperor and established his own dynasty in Chang'an - the Tang Dynasty, declaring himself Emperor.

By the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589), China had witnessed disunity and chaos for about 270 years.
In 577, the Northern Zhou conquered the Northern Qi and reunified the North China. The Northern Zhou, known as the reign of Yuwen family of the Xianbei ethnic group, continued for 24 years with five emperors over three generations.
In 581, Yangjian, a relative of the royal family, usurped the throne and renamed the empire the Sui Dynasty with Chang'an (present Xian City in Shaanxi Province) as his capital city. Yangjian was historically called Emperor Wen.
After the founding of the empire, Emperor Wen quickly carried out a series of military plans to unify the country. Finally in 589, Emperor Wen wiped out the Chen Dynasty and reunified the south and the north.
Sui Dynasty lasted for only 38 years with two generations. History shows it was one of the short-lived Chinese dynasties. The Sui Dynasty's early demise was attributed to the government's tyranny and ceaseless wars.
Emperor Wen died unexpectedly in 604 and his second son Yangguang, historically known as Emperor Yang, succeeded to the throne.
In the early part of his reign Emperor Yang benefited from the reforms introduced by his father and the Sui Dynasty achieved full economic prosperity.
However, lulled by his easy success, Emperor Yang soon began to abuse his power. On the one hand, he continued to carry out lavish construction projects, such as the Great Wall, the Great Canal and the relocation of his capital in Luoyang.
On the other, he repeatedly went on pleasure trips and all too frequently launched wars on his neighbors. Some of Emperor Yang's policy did contribute a lot to the social development and the stability of the country; however, they made the ordinary people 'all out at the elbows'.
Emperor Yang's extravagance and putridness finally led to the exhaustion of the country's resources. Beginning in 613, rebellions broke out one by one. In 616, forced by the chaotic situation, Emperor Yang retreated to Jiangdu (present Yangzhou City in Jiangsu Province).
With the emperor absent, Liyuan, a general stationed in Taiyuan, conquered Chang'an and put a new emperor on the throne.
In 618, Emperor Yang was murdered in Jiangdu by one of his aides. Quickly, Liyuan deposed the new emperor and established his own dynasty in Chang'an - the Tang Dynasty, declaring himself Emperor

After Zhu Quanzhong usurped the Tang Dynasty and founded the Latter Liang Dynasty (907 - 923), there were sequentially four dynasties after that, namely Latter Tang (923 - 936), Latter Jin (936 - 946), Latter Han (947 - 950) and Latter Zhou (951 - 960). All these five dynasties were called Five Dynasties in Chinese history. Meanwhile, there were also ten kingdoms originating from the former Jiedushi (regional military attachment) of Tang, including Southern Wu (910 - 937), Southern Chu (907 - 951), Min (933 - 945), Southern Han (917 - 971), Northern Han (951 - 968), Former Shu (907 - 925), Latter Shu (934 - 965), Southern Ping (924 - 963), Wu Yue (907 - 978) and Southern Tang (937 - 975).
The period of the five dynasties lasted for only 53 years, from 907 to 960. In 907, Zhu Quanzhong established the Latter Liang in Kaifeng (provincial capital of Henan Province).In his reign, old conventions of the Tang Dynasty were discarded while new reforms were reinforced. However, Zhu did not pursue the cause of unification and later became corrupt. In 923, Latter Liang was defeated by Li Cunxu.
The Latter Tang lasted for 14 years. During this dynasty, the second emperor of Latter Liang, Emperor Mingzong, was an enlightened emperor. He carried out many favorable policies under which people lived an affluent life. Likewise, rulers of the Latter Tang did not unify the whole country either. Finally, the regime was destroyed by Emperor Mingzong's brother-in-law Shi Jingtang, with the help of the Qidan group from the northern areas.
After the downfall of the Latter Tang, Shi Jingtang was enthroned as emperor of the Latter Jin by the king of the Qidan group. In this way, the regime of the Latter Jin was attached to the Qidan group. Till the reign of Shi Zhonggui, who was the foster son of Shi Jingtang, wanted to break away from the control of Qidan. Unfortunately, the Latter Jin was captured by Qidan who afterwards set up the Liao Dynasty in capital Kaifeng.
Although the Qidan group established a new dynasty, their regime did not last long in the central plain areas because of the objection from the local people. Before long, Liu Zhiyuan, a man from Taiyuan, led his army into the central plain and soon founded a new dynasty - Latter Han. In 950, suspecting that a military general named Guo Wei plotting to rebel, Liu Chengyou (the second emperor of the Latter Han) wanted to kill him. But Liu Chengyou did not fulfill his goal; instead, Guo Wei along with his military force killed Liu Chengyou and founded Latter Zhou in 951.
Comparatively, the Latter Zhou was the most prosperous one among the five dynasties. Under the wise ruling of Guo Wei and his foster son Chai Rong, the national strength was greatly enhanced. In that period, the rulers gradually unified almost the whole country. But the third emperor was a child who was enthroned at the age of seven. In 960 when the regime unstable, a military general in the court, named Zhao Kuangyin, took the chance of resisting the Liao aggressors and launched a mutiny in Chenqiao County. Soon the child emperor had to yield the throne to Zhao, after which a new dynasty - Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) was founded.
Ten States The so called ten states refers to the nine kingdoms existing in the southern areas of China and one kingdom named Latter Han in the northern areas. According to the chronological order, the ten states were Southern Chu, Wu Yue, Former Shu, Southern Wu, Southern Han, Southern Ping, Min, Latter Shu, Southern Tang and Northern Han. Actually, almost all these ten states' predecessors were regional military attachments called Jiedushi in the Tang Dynasty. The Northern Han was an exception. It was established in Taiyuan by Liu Chong, who was the younger brother of the Latter Han's founder Liu Zhiyuan.
Unlike the glorious and luxurious cultural atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty, the culture and arts of the ten states developed and formed its unique plain feature. Among them, the Southern Chu was well known for making porcelain. Its capital city, Changsha, is still famous for its Changsha Kiln today. But the most prosperous dynasty was the Southern Tang which was situated in Nanjing. Since the rulers put much effort in to developing the arts and literature, numerous painters, calligraphers and poets constantly emerged in that period. Especially, Li Yu, the last emperor of the Latter Tang, was renowned as a great master of the 'Ci' poems in Chinese literary history.

In political terms, the fall of the Tang Dynasty (681-907) and the resultant disintegration of the empire did not mean a sharp break with the past.
The Five Dynasties all aspired to the reunification of China and by 959 the Later Zhou had brought much of the country back under a single ruler.
The changes of dynasty were due to the change of ruling family. The ruling elite remained unaltered and the civil service continued the routine tasks of government with no serious disruption
In the south in several of the Ten States the same continuity was evident and the examination system continued. When Zhao Kuangyin seized power by a coup in Chenqiaoyi in 960 he was able to consolidate and extend his control in a restrained and methodical manner.
The Song Dynasty that he founded has been divided into two periods. Firstly, the Northern Song when the capital was in Dongjing (present day Kaifeng City in Henna Province) from 960 to 1127.
Secondly, the Southern Song, with their capital located in present day Hangzhou from 1127 to 1279.
The Song Dynasty ranks alongside the Tang and also the Han (206 BC - 220 AD) in importance. For a little under three and a quarter centuries under its rule, China enjoyed a period of economic growth coupled with great artistic and intellectual achievement.
It has been said that song was referred as the Renaissance of Chinese which compared to Europe’s Renaissance. It is a great period in China’s history.

The Liao Dynasty was a regime established by an ethnic minority called the Qidan who lived in the northeast areas of China. In 916, a Qidan man named Yelu Abaoji established the Qidan Kingdom. Initially, the kingdom was under the slavery system. Till 947, the title of the kingdom was officially changed into Liao, with Balin Left Banner (in current Inner Mongolia) as its capital city. The territory of the Liao Dynasty mainly covered the northern part of China, with the estuary of the Amur River in the northeast, the middle part of Mongolia in the northwest, Tianjin and Hebei Province in the south.
Under the influence of the traditional nomadic living habits and Han people's life pattern, modes of production of the Liao Dynasty were various. Their production methods included not only traditional agriculture and animal husbandry but also hunting and fishery. Still, influenced by the advanced techniques of the Han people, the Liao's industries, such as textile, mining, ceramics, construction and harness making were well developed. Meanwhile, trade between Liao and its neighbor countries were frequent and developed rapidly. From the Five Dynasty and Ten States Period (907 - 960), Liao began to make business with the Latter Liang (907 - 923), the Latter Tang (923 - 936) and the Latter Jin (936 - 946). Through sea transportation, Liao also exchanged goods with the Northern Tang (937 - 975) and Wu Yue (907 - 978) in the southern areas. After the founding of the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279), the Liao mainly exchanged their horses, sheep and pearls for Song tea, silk fabric, and porcelain and lacquer ware.
Politically, the Liao Dynasty had its own particular governing system and policies. On the one hand, different social systems were adopted in different regions. In the northern areas, which were the original living place of the Qidan people, the slavery system was adopted; in the eastern regions near the Bohai Sea and the southern 'Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun', the feudal system was adopted. The so-called 'Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun' area was the reward bestowed by the Liao Dynasty for helping Shi Jingtang (the founder of the Latter Jin) to defeat the Latter Tang in the Five Dynasties and Ten States period. On the other hand, a special management system in the court - the North and South Official System -- was established by the Liao Dynasty. The system regulated that officials in the north side in the court dealt with Qidan people's political affairs while officials in the southern side took charge of those of the Han people. In addition, different laws governed Qidan and Han people.
The culture of the Qidan People of the Liao Dynasty was deeply affected by that of the Han people. Most rulers of the Liao adored Han culture. They liked to read the Analects of Confucius and Zhen Guan Zheng Yao written by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). Especially, Yelv Abaoji, the first emperor of Liao worshiped Confucius and established an imperial academy called Guozijian to impart Confucianism. Under the enlightenment of Han culture, the Liao people created their unique characters - the Qidan language. In that period, the official language of the Liao Dynasty was the Qidan language and Chinese language. As for religion, Qidan people originally worshiped nature and primitive civilization. Since Emperor Taizu, Yelv Abaoji's reign, Chinese Buddhism gradually spread to the Liao Dynasty. Many Buddhist sutras were translated into the Qidan language and were carved on stone tablets. One of the four Buddhist holy mountains - Wutaishan Mountain (in current Shanxi Province), was a Buddhism teaching center of the Liao Dynasty.
The Qidan were a warlike people. Rulers of Liao attacked the Northern Song Dynasty many times, coveting Song territory in the central plain areas. However, due to the evenly matched military forces between Liao and Song, Liao did not finally realize its ambition. In 1005, Liao and Song signed the notable Tanyuan Treaty in Tanzhou (currently Puyang in Henan Province). After that, Liao kept a friendly relationship with Song for almost 120 years during which time the Liao society became more and more prosperous. The Liao Dynasty began to decline later because of the incompetence and tyranny of later rulers. In 1120, Song made an alliance with the newly founded Jin Dynasty and attacked the Liao Regime. Finally in 1125, the last emperor of Liao, Emperor Tianzuo, was captured by the Jin army ending the Liao Dynasty.

The Jin Dynasty was founded by the ethnic minority known as the Nuzhen who originated from the Heilongjiang River and Songhua River regions and the Changpai Mountain area. In 1115, one of the Nuzhen tribal leaders, by the name of Wanyan Aguda, unified the whole Nuzhen group and established the Jin Dynasty in Acheng City (currently in Heilongjiang Province). Later, the capital city was moved to Yanjing (currently Beijing and finally settled in Bianjing (currently Kaifeng).
Before and after the founding of the Jin Dynasty, there were constant battles between Liao (916 - 1125), Jin and Northern Song (960 - 1127). Initially, Jin launched a series of attacks on Liao. This resulted in the five major cities of Liao being captured by the Jin army one after another. In 1125, the Liao Dynasty was completely defeated by the Jin Dynasty. After that, the Jin court focused all its military forces on fighting with the Northern Song. Due to the incompetence of the late Song's rulers, the Jin army easily conquered Northern Song's capital city, Kaifeng, in 1127. Thus the Jin Dynasty ended the Northern Song. After that, the Jin Dynasty gradually unified the vast areas in the north along the Yellow River. After the founding of the Southern Song, the Jin court fell into further confrontation with them. During the reign of Emperor Shizong and Emperor Zhangzong, the national strength of the Jin Dynasty was at its zenith, with the Xixia (a regime founded by another ethnic minority called the Dangxiang) made into a subordinate country and the weak Southern Song forced to make peace by paying tribute.
Interestingly, communication with other countries, especially the Song Dynasty, led to the Jin Dynasty gradually adopting a feudal system, resulting in a well developed social economy. Traditionally, the Nuzhen people lived from fishing and hunting, with livestock husbandry as their dominant industry. Under the influence of the Han people, agriculture, commerce and the handicraft industry made great progress. Significant cultural advancements in drama and literature were also made in the Jin Dynasty.
During the late Jin Dynasty, rulers became corrupt and there was a dramatic surge in national uprisings. What was worse, the Jin court in that period made enemies simultaneously with Xixia, the Northern Song and the Mongolian Kingdom. In 1234, the Jin army was finally defeated by the allied forces of the Northern Song and the Yuan Dynasty was founded by Mongolia. After 119 years, the Jin Dynasty came to an end.

In political terms, the fall of the Tang Dynasty (681-907) and the resultant disintegration of the empire did not mean a sharp break with the past.
The Five Dynasties all aspired to the reunification of China and by 959 the Later Zhou had brought much of the country back under a single ruler.
The changes of dynasty were due to the change of ruling family. The ruling elite remained unaltered and the civil service continued the routine tasks of government with no serious disruption
In the south in several of the Ten States the same continuity was evident and the examination system continued. When Zhao Kuangyin seized power by a coup in Chenqiaoyi in 960 he was able to consolidate and extend his control in a restrained and methodical manner.
The Song Dynasty that he founded has been divided into two periods. Firstly, the Northern Song when the capital was in Dongjing (present day Kaifeng City in Henna Province) from 960 to 1127.
Secondly, the Southern Song, with their capital located in present day Hangzhou from 1127 to 1279.
The Song Dynasty ranks alongside the Tang and also the Han (206 BC - 220 AD) in importance. For a little under three and a quarter centuries under its rule, China enjoyed a period of economic growth coupled with great artistic and intellectual achievement.
It has been said that song was referred as the Renaissance of Chinese which compared to Europe’s Renaissance. It is a great period in China’s history.

The Yuan dynasty was collapsed in the rivalry among the Mongo imperial heirs, natural disasters, and numerous peasants uprising. The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) was established by Zhu Yuanzhang, who was a Han Chinese peasant and former Buddhist monk turned rebel army leader.
With its capital first at Nanjing which means Southern Capital) and later at Beijing (or Northern Capital), the Ming reached the zenith of power during the first quarter of the fifteenth century.
Annam, which was called northern Vietnam, was conquered by Chinese armies. The fleets of China also sailed to the Indian Ocean and cruised to the east coast of Africa.
The maritime Asian nations sent envoys with tribute for the Chinese emperor. Internally, the Grand Canal was expanded to its farthest limits and proved to be a stimulus to domestic trade.
The Ming maritime expeditions stopped rather suddenly after 1433, the date of the last voyage. Historians have given as one of the reasons the great expense of large-scale expeditions at a time of preoccupation with northern defenses against the Mongols.
Opposition at court also may have been a contributing factor, as conservative officials found the concept of expansion and commercial ventures alien to Chinese ideas of government.
Pressure from the powerful Neo-Confucian bureaucracy led to a revival of strict agrarian-centered society.
The stability of the Ming dynasty, which was without major disruptions of the population (then around 100 million), economy, arts, society, or politics, promoted a belief among the Chinese that they had achieved the most satisfactory civilization on earth and that nothing foreign was needed or welcome.
Long wars with the Mongols, incursions by the Japanese into Korea, and harassment of Chinese coastal cities by the Japanese in the sixteenth century weakened Ming rule, which became, as earlier Chinese dynasties had, ripe for an alien takeover.
In 1644 the Manchus took Beijing from the north and became masters of north China, establishing the last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911).

Although the Manchus were not Han Chinese and were strongly resisted, especially in the south, they had assimilated a great deal of Chinese culture before conquering China Proper. Realizing that to dominate the empire they would have to do things the Chinese way, the Manchus retained many institutions of Ming and earlier Chinese derivation.
They continued the Confucian court practices and temple rituals, over which the emperors had traditionally presided.
The Manchus continued the Confucian civil service system. Although Chinese were barred from the highest offices, Chinese officials predominated over Manchu officeholders outside the capital, except in military positions.
The Neo-Confucian philosophy, emphasizing the obedience of subject to ruler, was enforced as the state creed. The Manchu emperors also supported Chinese literary and historical projects of enormous scope; the survival of much of China's ancient literature is attributed to these projects. Ever suspicious of Han Chinese, the Qing rulers put into effect measures aimed at preventing the absorption of the Manchus into the dominant Han Chinese population.
Han Chinese was prohibited from migrating into the Manchu homeland, and Manchus were forbidden to engage in trade or manual labor. Intermarriage between the two groups was forbidden.
In many government positions a system of dual appointments was used--the Chinese appointee was required to do the substantive work and the Manchu to ensure Han loyalty to Qing rule.
The Qing regime was determined to protect itself not only from internal rebellion but also from foreign invasion. After China Proper had been subdued, the Manchus conquered Outer Mongolia (now the Mongolian People's Republic) in the late seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century they gained control of Central Asia as far as the Pamir Mountains and established a protectorate over the area the Chinese call Xizang but commonly known in the West as Tibet.
The Qing thus became the first dynasty to eliminate successfully all danger to China Proper from across its land borders. Under Manchu rule the empire grew to include a larger area than before or since;
Taiwan, the last outpost of anti-Manchu resistance, was also incorporated into China for the first time. In addition, Qing emperors received tribute from the various border states.
The chief threat to China's integrity did not come overland, as it had so often in the past, but by sea, reaching the southern coastal area first. Western traders, missionaries, and soldiers of fortune began to arrive in large numbers even before the Qing, in the sixteenth century. The empire's inability to evaluate correctly the nature of the new challenge or to respond flexibly to it resulted in the demise of the Qing and the collapse of the entire millennia-old framework of dynastic rule.

On October 1, 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China on the forum of Tian'anmen Square.

In 1992, Deng Xiaoping inspected the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone of Guangdong Province.

From September 21 to 30, 1949, the First Plenum of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was held in Beijing, with the participation of various political parties, popular organizations, non-Party democrats and representatives from all walks of life. The CPPCC drew up a Common Program, which served as a provisional constitution. It elected a Central People's Government Council, with Mao Zedong as Chairman, and appointed Zhou Enlai Premier of the Government Administration Council and concurrently Minister of Foreign Affairs. On October 1, 1949, a grand ceremony inaugurating the People’s Republic of China was witnessed by 300,000 people in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. On that day, Chairman Mao Zedong solemnly proclaimed the formal establishment of the People’s Republic of China.
The early days of New China were a period of economic recovery. While developing production, China gradually established socialist public ownership of the means of production. From 1953 to 1956, large-scale socialist transformation of the national economy was implemented, the First Five-Year Plan (1953-1957) for the development of the national economy was achieved ahead of schedule, and China established and expanded basic industries necessary for full industrialization, hitherto non-existent domestically, producing airplanes, automobiles, heavy machinery, precision machinery, power-generating equipment, metallurgical and mining equipment, high-grade alloy steels and non-ferrous metals.

There are many fantastic destinations and attractions for you to explore in China. The hot tourism cities as followed Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Lhase,Guilin, Hangzhou, Sanya, Dalian, Harbin, Lijiang , and the hot attractions as followed The Great Wall , Terracotta Warriors and Horses, Jiuzhaigou National Park, Li River Cruise, Lama Temple