Ancient China… The earth has been yellow there since time immemorial. And the yellow waters of the great river, which they called so - Yellow - Huang He. Sitting on its shore, the goddess Nuwa sculpted little men from yellow clay. They slipped out of her life-giving hands and populated this land. Their lord was called the Yellow Sovereign - Huangdi. So the legend tells. Let's take a closer look at the history of Ancient China.
Where it all began.
The fertile soil and abundance of water determined the main occupation of the ancient inhabitants of the Yellow River Valley - agriculture. Exploring new lands far from water, people learned how to irrigate them by laying canals.
Greater harvests began when tools began to be made not from stone, as before, but from bronze and iron. An arrow with a metal tip instead of a flint or bone one and an iron sword instead of a stone or club were much more convenient for hunting and in battle. The ability to use them to appropriate the property of neighbors, to annex foreign lands gave rise to frequent wars between various clans and tribes. Clashes with foreign neighbors continued with the emergence of state formations:appanages, principalities, kingdoms.
The Shang tribe came to be called Yin when they moved to the Huang He Valley. It settled on new lands, after a bloody struggle, driving out the Qiang or Xia tribe that lived here earlier. Shang-yin elders turned from tribal leaders into sole rulers. Among the subjects, the idea of them as "sons of Heaven" who received power at the behest of divine forces was strengthened. This was a turning point in the formation of the state in the Central Plain, as the Yellow River valley has long been called. "Zhong Guo" - "Middle State" - this is how the people of China themselves began to call their country.
The State of Shang-Yin, which lasted from 1766 to 1122 BC. e., fell under the rule of the Zhou tribe, whose rulers, who ruled from 1122 to 247 BC. e., called themselves vans - kings. The first of these was U-van - "King Warrior". He handed out lands and titles to his comrades-in-arms:"gong", "hou", "bo", "zi", "nan", which is similar to the European "duke", "prince", "count", "baron", "baronet". Under the onslaught of neighboring tribes and their own tribal nobility, the Zhou kingdom broke up into destinies. This time (from 770 to 403 BC) was sometimes called by the inhabitants of the Middle State "Spring and Autumn".
The rulers of the fiefdoms fought each other and their foreign neighbors, who were considered savages. Spring and Autumn were replaced by the hard times of the Warring States, which lasted almost two centuries - from 403 to 221 BC. e. The rulers of the seven kingdoms entered into a deadly fight. “In the battles for the capture of cities, the dead overwhelmed the cities,” wrote a contemporary, “and in the battles for the lands, the battlefields were completely covered with the bodies of the dead.” After one such battle near Changping in 260 BC. e. warriors of the Qin kingdom buried 400 thousand surrendered warriors of the Zhao kingdom alive.
Realm of Qin
The Kingdom of Qin emerged victorious from the war. His victories over his neighbors were facilitated by the new organization of the army:there were young people in the attacking detachments, and elderly soldiers in the defenders.
Having conquered all six kingdoms of rivals and perpetrated massacres there, the ruler of Qin, thirteen-year-old Zheng-wang, declared himself "Huangdi" (lord, emperor) and became known as Qin Shi Huangdi - the first emperor Qin. In the lands subject to him, he put an end to the power of the specific rulers. The whole country was divided into regions, and those, in turn, into counties. The heads of regions and counties were appointed from the capital and could be removed at any time at the will of the Huangdi. In the former six kingdoms, tortoise shells, shells, and pieces of jasper were used as money. Qin Shi Huang ordered to pay only in gold and copper coins. Life in the state had to go according to general rules. The emperor introduced unified written signs, streamlined measures of weight and length, established the same gauge for carts, approved laws binding on all, ordered all ritual utensils and weapons to be made according to a single model.
Qin Shih Huangdi considered strict observance of laws to be the paramount condition for order in the country. The rebels were to be executed. The family was responsible for the behavior of each of its members. So they hoped to eradicate robbers and robbers.
Tomb of Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang's tomb rivals the pyramids of ancient Egyptian pharaohs. For 37 years, 720,000 people built it on Mount Li. First, they dug a huge hole in the mountain, getting to the bottom of three keys. Their water was diverted, and the holes were filled with copper. A mound was poured over the pit, planted with trees and shrubs. The bottom of the grave and the walls were lined with lacquered stones and jasper. Models of sacred mountains and mercury-filled likenesses of seas and rivers with gold and silver birds floating on them were placed on the floor. The ceiling was given the appearance of the sky with various luminaries. Together with Qin Shi Huang, several hundred girls were put in the grave, including 10 sisters of the sovereign.
Han Dynasty
Shortly after the death of the first Huangdi, civil strife broke out. The winner in the struggle for power was Liu Bang, the volost chief. He laid the foundation for the Early, or Western, Han Dynasty (206 BC - 25 AD).
The first rulers of the House of Han had to focus on restoring the economy destroyed by civil strife. By the time the sovereign Liu Che (140-87 BC) came to the throne, the central power had been strengthened, the revival of production replenished the treasury. It was possible to turn forces to expand the borders. Liu Che lived up to his imperial name - Wu Di, "Sovereign Warrior".
But wars were devastating for the country. Taxes to the treasury increased. Because of the wars, there were not enough hands to repair irrigation facilities. Floods and droughts have become more frequent. Destruction captured both the village and the city. Already at the end of Wu's reign, the people began to take up arms. Under Wu's successor, riots began in the capital itself.
In the wake of protests against Wang Mang, who was killed in 23, Liu Xiu came forward. In 25, he assumed the title of sovereign, marking the beginning of the Eastern, or Late, Han Dynasty (25-220). It was called Eastern because the capital was moved from the west - from the city of Chang'an - to the east, to the city of Luoyang. In the Eastern Han era, hydraulic blowers were used to smelt iron and evaporate salt in furnaces that ran on natural gas.
A way has been found to make cheap paper from tree bark, hemp rags, rags, old fishing gear. The new dynasty was warlike. There were wars with North Vietnam, whose ruler refused to pay tribute to the Chinese court; Chinese troops fought fiercely with the Huns in Central Asia.
There was also a struggle within the country. The mortal blow for the Eastern Han dynasty was in 184 the peasant uprising of the Yellow Bandages (such bandages were worn on the heads of the rebels). The fall of the dynasty was completed by civil strife between officials and landowners. The last sovereign of the Eastern Han Xian-di was taken away from the capital and became a hostage of the military leaders Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao. Both, like their predecessor Wang Mang, are considered the greatest traitors in the history of China, for they betrayed their sovereign.
With the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the unified Chinese state split into three independent kingdoms:Wei with its capital in Luoyang, Wu with its capital in Jiankang and Shu with its capital in Chengdu.
Three Kingdoms Period
The period of the Three Kingdoms began, lasting from 220 to 280 and accompanied by civil strife and unrest. In 263, the troops of the Wei kingdom destroyed the Shu kingdom, in 280 they conquered the Wu kingdom. Since 265, the ruling dynasty called itself the Western Jin. 10 years after the unification of the country, a rebellion of eight princes broke out, then there was an invasion of the western and northern nomadic tribes in the region of the Central Plain.
In 316, the Western Jin dynasty was forced to move its capital to the south. In 318, its ruler was overthrown, and the Eastern Jin dynasty (317-420) began to rule, with its capital in Jiankang (modern Nanjing). In 420, the commander Liu Yu seized the throne, establishing the Song Dynasty. The period of the southern dynasties began. The Chinese states of the southern dynasties were opposed by states established in northern China by the non-Chinese Xianbei people. They were led by rulers from the Northern Wei, Northern Qi and Northern Zhou dynasties.
Despite the civil strife of the Han rulers, by this time the formation and consolidation of the community of the Han people, based on the unity of language, writing and customs (primarily the custom of honoring ancestors) had taken place.
According to historical encyclopedia