Chinese Chronology - Highlights

By the mid-14th Century, China was the most advanced civilization on earth. In the first century of the common era, the Chinese invented paper, a development that some historians ranked higher than the later development of the printing press.

In the seventh century, the Chinese transmitted paper technology to the Arabs and then to the Europeans hundreds of years later.

The Chinese invented the first printing press about 500 years before Johannes Gutenberg. ("In 1041, movable clay type was first invented in China. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with replaceable wooden or metal letters in 1436 (completed by 1440" - http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blJohannesGutenberg.htm).

In the tenth century, the Chinese invented gun powder but had to be shown how to use cannon centuries later.

The Chinese also developed the first movable timepiece but had to be reintroduced to the technology when Jesuits arrived in the 17th century.

The reason that technology and exploration (the Chinese had advanced naval technology and could have easily reached the Americas centuries before Columbus) were halted is probably the autocratic actions of the Ming Dynasty. In 1433, the Emperor halted all naval exploration because he thought it was an expensive adventure.

- Jeremy Siegel, The Future for Investors

From Yao to Mao: 5000 years of Chinese history

Professor Kenneth J. Hammond

New Mexico state University

The Teaching Company

Geography: to major rivers flow from West to East:

Yellow River rises in Tibet and flows to the Shandong peninsula

Yangzi River originates in Tibet, crosses Sichuan and central China, to reach the Pacific near Shanghai.

Beijing (40 North, 116 East) is more north than Shanghai (31 North). (By comparison, NYC is 40 North, 74 West.)

China's main ethnic group is called the Han = 95 percent of population. The name derives from the Han dynasty.

When:	What:
500,000 BCE	The earliest human remains date back to 500,000 B.C.E. (the "Peking Man").
40,000 BCE	Modern homo sapiens appeared in China about 40,000 years ago.
10,000 BCE	The key to the rise of more complex cultures was the domestication of rice around 10,000 B.C.E.
7,000 BCE	Neolithic cultures were characterized by the use of pottery and the creation of settled farming communities.
7000 BCE	People in both North China and in Sichuan began to mine and smelt copper 10 and other metals and cast bronze objects.
2,000 BCE	The archeological record is supplemented with textual traditions. Emergence of a bronze industry reflects the more complex organization of society. Xia Dynasty: one client seems to have established dominance over all others. Their ancestors were worshipped.
1500 BCE	Shang Dynasty: left an extensive historical record in the form of "Oracle bones" and bronze inscriptions. The operation of the sophisticated metallurgical industry that produce these elaborately cast bronzes was sustained by the taxation of agriculture, thus creating the first state bureaucracy in China.
1000 BCE	Unrest by subordinate peoples who resented extraction of agricultural surplus for the Shang Kings led to raiding on the margins of Shang territory.
1000 BCE	China does not have creation myths like those of the West. The Sage Kings of high antiquity such as Yao and Shun served as models of virtuous will and founders of many cultural practices. Zhou [JOE]: lived of the western periphery of the Shang realm, Their leader, Tai, united disaffected peoples against the Shang rulers.
1050 BCE	King Wen leads the Zhou to their final rebellion.
1045 BCE	King Wu, King Wen's son, leading military coalition in an attack on the Shang capital at Anyang. Mandate of Heaven: Heaven, the guiding power in the universe, had originally given the right to rule to the Shang Kings, but when they became cruel and oppressive, they lost the mandate, and it passed to Zhou leaders. The Mandate of Heaven became the basic rationale for political change in later Chinese political culture. Ancestor worship remained part of Chinese culture and became widespread even among ordinary farming families.
8^th C. BCE	Warring States Period: small states proliferated and fought among themselves, assuring centuries of warfare and chronic social and economic instability. Shi [shur] = a new social strata of educated professional administrators;from the ranks of this class emerged many of the thinkers who shaped the great philosophical systems of Confucianism, Daoism, and the Hundred Schools. Spring and Autumn Period: Confucius was traditionally sent to end the editor of these annals in the Kingdom of Lu. Ba = hegemons = men who had power but not legitimate authority, strongman who began to emerge and build alliances with other states.
6th- 4th C. B.C.E.	Confucius spent much of his life trying to become a major political advisers to one of the rulers of the many small states in China. He eventually gave up on serving in office and devoted his time to teaching. The key to the teachings of Confucius is the idea of relationships between people. Confucius believed that people could live together peacefully by recognizing their roles in networks of relationships. Five Great Relationships was the model suggesting how society might work: between ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, older and younger brother, and friend and friend. Each involved mutual obligations and responsibilities, hierarchy and reciprocity. Ritual was the mechanism for facilitating these relationships. The gentleman is the ideal figure for Confucius. He engages in learning both to develop his personal moral character and to gain knowledge that is useful in serving others. He seeks to promote "the way" Dao of living appropriate to a well ordered society through both personal example and service in government.
	Daoism was almost the polar opposite of Confucianism, while sharing important basic concepts. Laozi is seen as the founder; he lived at the same time is Confucius, but even less is known about his life. A book by the same name contains the basic ideas. Chinese myths say that after he finishes work in China, he traveled to India, where he became the Buddha. This belief system is skeptical, vs. Confucianism which is positivist. It questions the ability of people to truly know things. All knowledge is partial and provisional. By basing actions in such knowledge, people tend to make things worse rather than improve things. The best way to live is to seek harmony with the natural flow of events, the Dao. The doctrine of "doing nothing" became the fundamental teaching of philosophical Daoism.
Third century B.C.E.	Qin [chin] had succeeded in destroying all of the warring states and creating the first unified Chinese Empire. Although lasting only 14 years, the Qin the institutional foundations for much of later in period of government. Sunzi was interested only in military matters. The doctrine of universal love was, in part, verification of Confucianism about the priority of family relations. Moism develop expertise in defensive warfare and attempted to end the chronic conflicts of the age by making aggression unproductive. Legalism was a system that proved to be quite effective in gaining power but was problematic for establishing a stable political order. The prime minister of Qin in the mid 4th century B.C.E. was Shang Yang who sent out the basic ideas of legalism. The central principle was the use of rewards and punishment to produce conformity to the rule of law, clear and well-developed laws. The law was to be applied uniformly and strictly, to high and low, so that everyone understood their duties and knew the penalties for failing to fulfill them. Han Fei = third century B.C.E. philosopher developed an intellectual rationale for legalism, arguing the human nature was essentially blank and that people needed careful guidance by strong rulers to live in an orderly way.
221 B.C.E.	The last state fell to Qin power. Qinshihuangdi = [chin shur wang dee] = title assumed by the King of Qin = "First Emporer"; his tomb is near the modern city of Xian, the site of the famous terra-cotta warriors
221-207 BCE	Qin Dynasty 221-207 BC 214: "Burning of books and burying of scholars " = attempt to eliminate unorthodox ideas. Scholars who taught ideas other thasn legalism were buried alive. The tax and labor levies went to great resentment and unrest.
207 bce	Han Dynasty launched by Liu Bang.
141 B.C.E.	Wudi comes to power. He will of together elements of Confucian Taoist and legalist thought into a new Imperial Confucian ideology, which became the Orthodox doctrine for Chinese state. He expanded Chinese territory into parts of Korea and Vietnam and central Asia.
87 B.C.E.	Debate on Salt and Iron = debate pitting the advocates by strong central state against those favoring more autonomy for local elites following the death of Wudi.

[The following is from a WSJ Chinese discussion posting:]

The standoff rekindled Chinese grievances against foreign powers dating back to the 1839-42 Opium War, its first major confrontation with the industrialized world. Following is a list of the main grievances:

1842 - Britain defeats China in Opium War and imposes Treaty of Nanjing which cedes Hong Kong to British rule and forces five Chinese cities to open to British traders.

1860 - British troops under Lord Elgin burn down the imperial Summer Palace in Beijing.

1895 - Japan wins Sino-Japanese War and imposes Treaty of Shimonoseki which forces China out of Korea and cedes Taiwan to Japan.

1898 - Germany claims eastern port of Qingdao. Britain forces China to yield a 99-year lease on area opposite Hong Kong known as the New Territories.

1901 - Foreign troops crush Boxer Revolt against foreign imperial powers and force China to pay massive indemnities.

1919 - Treaty of Versailles transfers Germany's concessions in China to Japan.(1919 event is most felt by Chinese as betrayal of the western powers becasue Chinese were also the allies with British and Americans in the first world war.Chinese was too weak to send troops but sending cooks working on the battle field. Chinese thought after the war their colonised land would be returned.)

1925 - Police in international settlement in Shanghai shoot dead 11 Chinese protesting against foreign imperialism.

1931 - Japan uses Mukden incident -- when explosions led to skirmishes between Chinese and Japanese troops -- as a pretext to occupy Manchuria and set up a puppet state with China's last emperor Pu Yi as the symbolic head.

1937 - Japanese troops conduct "Rape of Nanjing" -- an orgy of violence in the then Chinese capital. China says 300,000 civilians were killed and still complains that Japanese history books gloss over the incident.

1949 - United States refuses to recognize newly established People's Republic of China and maintains formal ties with Taiwan for the next 30 years.

1950 - China enters Korean War after U.S. troops invade North Korea and push towards Chinese border. An estimated 700,000 to 900,000 Chinese are killed in the conflict.

1999 - U.S. warplanes bomb Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia during NATO Kosovo campaign, killing three Chinese journalists.