Chinese History A Perspective: What is Chinese History? David Lux, Dean, College of A&S To deal with Chinas Cultural and Economic Transitions, what do we really need to know about Chinese history? I.The central problems/issues in Chinese history II.Timeline for Chinese history III.Key concepts and turning points in Chinese history Whats special about Chinese history? Why should we care? unbroken China World Civilization with the longest unbroken history (at least 5,000 years) The History for at least 1 in every 5 people (20%) in the World today (USA = 4.5%) China likely to emerge re-emerge with the worlds largest economy before 2025 China owned the worlds largest economy during 18 of the past 20 centuries (until the 1870s ) Question: What drives Chinese history? Answer: Geography, climate, and culture Chinas Reality: -- rich in natural endowments -- many potential threats -- few easy paths to exploitation Endowments Two major river systems the Yellow ( ) in the north and the Yangtze ( ) in the south Truly among the worlds best cradles for agriculture and civilization North easy to exploit South extraordinary fertility possible Limitations Very strong east - west orientation to the rivers Flooding can become extraordinarily destructive in both river valleys Very much open to raids and incursions by nomadic peoples along the entire northern and western frontiers Chinas Realities: --central problems/issues Agriculture Chinas agricultural realities: Despite enormous fertility, very little of Chinas land mass can actually be farmed ( ~ 15%) Enormous gains in agricultural productivity are possible with intensive agriculture -- flood control, irrigation, and application of fertilizers The north and south support very different staple crops Chinas historic responses: Highly organized flood control and irrigation projects Very strong emphasis on intensive agriculture systems. Very strong emphasis on crops for human consumption (much less on feed for animals) Avoidance of land-extensive agriculture (e.g., cattle ranching) Emergence of two distinctly different (north/south) agricultural systems Strong emphasis on peri-urban agriculture for high-value foodstuffs (very distinctive regional cuisines) Chinas Realities: --central problems/issues Agriculture, politics, and culture Chinas realities: On its own, the south can support a much larger population than the north Chinas prosperity has made it a very tempting target for invaders Traditionally, Chinas north has carried the heavier load for defending all of China As a state system China has proven far stronger with the north and south linked into an Empire something not at all typical or in the broader history of the world Chinas historic responses: Strongly centralized taxation, political administration, and defense Powerful local control over economic activity, public works, and social organization A long history of tension between central authorities and local officials Development of strong cultural traditions focused on maintaining appropriate balances of personal and local interests against the interests of the centralized state Enduring focus on agriculture as Chinas economic foundation (> 50% of Chinas workforce still employed in agriculture (70% as recently as 1980)) Chinas Realities: -- where can we actually see results of the interactions between Chinese geography, politics, and culture? Massive Projects: The Great Wall -- Protection of the northern frontier from the nomadic tribes of the Asian plains Actually, many walls built from the 5 th century BCE to the 17 th century C.E. The wall we see today was built during the Ming Dynasty -- between 1368 and 1644 The Ming wall extended more than 4,000 miles and required 1,000,000 soldiers for the garrisons Somewhere between 2 and 3 million workers died building the Ming wall Chinas Realities: -- The Great Wall -- Protection for the Yellow River and Beijing Chinas Realities: -- The Grand Canal Connecting the south and the north Hangzhou to Beijing First sections built in the 5 th century BCE Connected the Yellow River and the Yangtze under the Sui Dynasty, Completely rebuilt and modernized under the Ming Dynasty -- between 1411 and ,000 workers completed the renovations and extended the canal to a length of 1114 miles Chinas Realities: Forbidden City -- Beijing Beijing established as the Ming capital in 1403 New imperial palace built on the site of the earlier Yuan palace Construction began in 1406 15 years, 1 million workers Chinas Realities: Intensive Agriculture Irrigation Flood Control Terraces Heavy use of fertilizer Peri-urban agriculture Chinas Realities: Intensive Agriculture Dujiang Yan Irrigation and Flood Control, Min River, Sichuan Province Begun in 256 BCE, 20 years to complete Continuously in use since Provides irrigation for 1.3 million acres of Chinas best agricultural land Chinas Realities: Intensive Agriculture Terracing Guanxi Province Yunnan Province Guanxi Province Chinas Realities: Recent Projects to Think About Three Gorges Dam and the Beijing Olympics Beijing National Stadium Three Gorges Dam, Hubei Province Quick Timeline for Chinese History Five Primary periods: Paleolithic and Neolithic in China Homo erectus and fire use 1.2 million years ago pottery 20,000 years ago Agriculture in the Yellow River Valley c. 7,000 BCE, metal working, arts, and religious materials Historical China, 1600 BCE Shang Dynasty Imperial China, 221 BCE Qin Dynasty, Modern China, 1912 Republic of China (-- or 1839? First Opium War) Post-colonial China, 1949 Peoples Republic of China Some key Events in the Development of Chinese Culture and Civilization 3000 BCE Silk fabrics ca BCE Oracle bones, origins of Chinese writing 1122 BCE Mandate of Heaven First use: justify establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, 1122 256 BCE 6 th 4 th centuries BCE Chinese philosophy Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism 221 BCE Qin Dynasty Centralized, authoritarian empire, standardized coinage, writing, Legalism Terracotta warriors and the first Great Wall Repression of Confucianism Some key Events in the Development of Chinese Culture and Civilization CE Han Dynasty Re-establishment of Confucianism, introduction of Buddhism to China, opening of the Silk Road 220 280 CE Three Kingdoms Very bloody. Technological advances. Emergence of clearly defined regional market systems and transportation infrastructure CE Sui Dynasty Completion of the Grand Canal, reconstruction of the Great Wall Tang Dynasty High culture: Poetry and tea culture, westward expansion along the silk road Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty Capital established in Beijing Some key Events in the Development of Chinese Culture and Civilization Ming Dynasty Re-establishment of Han rule Major agricultural revolution based on the introduction of Champa rice, planting of more than 1 billion trees between 1368 and 1398 Seven voyages of Zeng He Reconstruction of the Great Wall, standing army of 1 million First contacts with ocean-borne Europeans Some key Events in the Development of Chinese Culture and Civilization Qing Dynasty (Manchu) Second non-Han dynasty, very concerned to maintain the Mandate of Heaven Ruthless suppression of dissent; arrogant dismissal of Europeans and the significance of trans-oceanic European contacts The Opium Wars, and The British deal: Opium for tea, silk, and porcelain Lin Zexu ( ) and the first Opium War. Local governor dismissed for enforcing Chinese law. Treaties of Nanking and Tianjin the Unequal Treaties Hong Kong to Britain, treaty ports, extraterritoriality, reparations, missionaries, gunboats Most Chinese take the Opium Wars rather than the fall of the Qing -- as the beginning of modern Chinese history Some key Events in the Development of Chinese Culture and Civilization The Opium Wars and the Unequal Treaties (1839 1842 and ) The Chinese view: Qing (Manchu foreigners) betrayedl Chinese (Han) patriots The treaties of Nanking and Tianjin opened the door to a century of colonial exploitation and cowardly cooperation with foreign exploitation. Colonial oppression only ended in 1949/50 with the Communist victory (Mao Zedong) over the Nationalists (Chiang Kai-Shek) Taiping Civil War (1850 1864), the bloodiest civil war in history, between 20 and 30 million dead. (France and England helped the Qing suppress the Taiping rebels Boxer Rebellion 1911 End of the Qing Dynasty with the abdication of the Last Emperor. 1912 Establishment of the Republic of China under the visionary leadership of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the Koumintang Party Some key Events in the Development of Chinese Culture 1912 Establishment of the Republic of China under the leadership of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (d. 1925) and the Koumintang Party 1927 Communist Party launches Chinese Civil war to unseat the Koumintang 1949 Koumintang faction retreated to Taiwan following the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, The Great Leap Forward Radical social and economic reforms fail, leading to widespread famine and the deaths of millions 1966 Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution to rid China of corrupting influences of the liberal bourgeoisie 1976 Death of Mao Zedong and the arrest of the Gang of Four 1982 Constitutional reforms promote market socialism 1989 Student protests in Tiananmen Square lead to brutal repression of calls for greater freedom and democracy 1997 China regains sovereignty over Hong Kong 2008 Beijing Olympics ChinaUSAWorld Total Worlds Highest Worlds Lowest Population (Millions) 1,303 million # million # 5 6,706 million GDP (Trillions of US $) $ 7.0 trillion # 3 $ 13.8 trillion # 2 $ 65.6 trillion$ 14.4 trillion (European Union) GDP per capita $5,300 # 133 $45,800 # 8 $80,900 Qatar $200 Zimbabwe (# 229) Workforce803 million # million # 4 3,131 million Internet Users 253 Million #1 223 million #3 1,018 million WorkforceAg. 43% Ind. 25% Serv. 32% Ag. 1.2% Ind. 19.8% Serv. 79% Land Area (sq km) 9,596,960 # 4 9,826,630 # 3 148,429,00017,075,200 (Russia) Life Expectancy # # Macau Swaziland Birth Rate per thousand # # Niger 7.87 Japan (# 223) Death Rate per Thousand 7.03 # # Swaziland 2.13 United Arab Emirates (#223) Source: CIA, The World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/