CHINA Revolution of 1911

The Revolution of 1911
led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen was one of the greatest events in modern Chinese history, as it overthrew the 200-odd-year-old Qing Dynasty, ending over 2,000 years of feudal monarchy, and established the Republic of China.
New-Democratic Revolution
The May 4th Movement of 1919 is regarded as the ideological origin of many important events in modern Chinese history. Its direct cause was the unequal treaties imposed on China after the First World War. Under the influence of Russia's October Revolution of 1917, 12 delegates, including Mao Zedong, representing Communist groups in different places throughout the nation, held the First National Congress in Shanghai in 1921 to found the Communist Party of China.
—The May 4th Movement of 1919 is regarded as the ideological origin of many important events in modern Chinese history. Its direct cause was the unequal treaties imposed on China after the First World War. Out of strong patriotism, students initiated the movement, and it further developed into a national protest movement of people from all walks of life.
—It also marked the introduction into China of various new ideologies, among which the spread of Marxism-Leninism was worthy of special mention. Under the influence of Russia’s October Revolution of 1917, 12 delegates, including Mao Zedong, representing communist groups in different places throughout the nation, held the First National Congress in Shanghai in 1921 to found the Communist Party of China (CPC).
—The Chinese people led by the CPC underwent successively the Northern Expeditionary War (1924-27), War of Agrarian Revolution (also known as "Ten-Year Civil War," 1927-37), War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-45) and War of Liberation (1945-49). Owing to the cooperation and joint resistance of the CPC and Kuomintang, the Japanese aggressors were defeated. But shortly after the anti-Japanese war, the Kuomintang launched a civil war. After the three-year War of Liberation led by the CPC, the Kuomintang government was overthrown in 1949.
—On October 1, 1949 a grand ceremony was witnessed by 300,000 people in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, and Mao Zedong, chairman of the Central People's Government, solemnly proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China.
—Amazing achievements were made during the First Five-Year Plan period, from 1953 to 1957. The average annual increase rate of the national income reached over 8.9 percent. China established 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.
—In 1979, China instituted a guiding policy of “reform and opening to the outside world” under Deng’s leadership, and the focus was shifted to modernization. Major efforts were made to reform the economic and political systems. China was step by step establishing a road with Chinese characteristics, a road that would lead to socialist modernization. Profound changes have come about in China since the country embarked on the policy of reform and opening-up. The situation in the country is the best ever, characterized by a swiftly and vigorously advancing economy and markedly improved living standard.
—Chinese Parties Communist Party of China (CPC) 民革Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang 民盟Chinese Democratic League 民建China Democratic National Construction Association 民进China Association for Promoting Democracy 农工党Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party 致公党China Zhi Gong Dang 九三学社Jiu San Society 台盟Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League

The Brief History Of China

The Brief History Of China
Prehistoric and Ancient History (1.7 million years ago-476 B.C.)
China's earliest primitive human discovered so far is known as "Yuanmou Man," a fossil anthropoid unearthed in Yuanmou in Yunnan Province who lived approximately 1.7 million years ago. The better-known "Peking Man," discovered in the Zhoukoudian area in the suburbs of Beijing, lived about 600,000 years ago. Peking Man was able to walk upright, make and use simple tools, and make fire.
The brief history of China

1、Xia dynasty
The first dynasty of Chinese history. The Xia Dynasty started in 2070 B.C. The center of Xia was the western section of modern Henan Province and the southern section of modern Shanxi Province with a sphere of influence that reached the northern and southern areas of the Yellow River. It was in this period that the slave society began to appear.
2、Shang dynasty
They were the most advanced bronze-working civilization in the world; Shang remains provide the earliest and most complete record of Chinese writing ,scratched out on the shoulder blades of pigs for oracular purposes.
Its civilization was based on agriculture, augmented by hunting and animal husbandry. Two important events of the period were the development of a writing system, as revealed in archaic Chinese inscriptions found on tortoise shells and flat cattle bones, and the use of bronze metallurgy.
•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.
3、Zhou Zhou were much more "Chinese" than the Shang . They used a father-to-son succession system. They weren't too keen on human sacrifice.
However, they weren't as good at working bronze as the Shang. Still, it would be centuries before the West was able to cast bronze as well as the Zhou. Some, scholars believe that the Xia, the Shang, and the Zhou actually were three different cultures that emerged more or less at the same time in different areas of the Yellow River valley. And the historical record supports this view -- the Shang were conquered from outside by the Zhou, as the Xia had been conquered from the outside by the Shang.
- The Western Zhou (1046-771 B.C.) Dynasty saw further development of slave society.
- This era was followed by the Spring and Autumn (770-476 B.C.) and Warring States (475-221 B.C.) periods when silk production advanced and steel production started.
- This era also produced the philosophers Lao Zi, Confucius, Mencius and Mo Zi, as well as the military scientist Sun Wu, author of the Art of War.
4- Qin Dynasty
In 221 B.C., Ying Zheng, ruler of the State of Qin and a man of great talent and bold vision, ended the 250-odd years of rivalry among the independent principalities during the Warring States Period, and established the first centralized, unified, multi-ethnic feudal state in Chinese history — the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.).
—He called himself Qin Shi Huang or "First Emperor of Qin." He standardized the written script, weights and measures, and currencies, and established the system of prefectures and counties. The sovereigns of the next 2,000-odd years followed the feudal governmental structure established by him.
—He mobilized more than 300,000 people over a period of a dozen years to build the Great Wall, which stretches for 5,000 km in northern China.
—Qin Shi Huang had the work on his enormous mausoleum started early in his reign. When they were unearthed in 1974 in Xi'an, the terracotta warriors of the "underground army" of some 8,000 vivid, life-sized pottery figures, horses and chariots guarding the mausoleum at the Qin Shi Huang tomb site amazed the world.
5- Han Dynasty
Liu Bang established the powerful Han Dynasty in 206 B.C. During the Han Dynasty, agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished, and the population reached 50 million. During the most prosperous period of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wudi (140-87 B.C.) expanded from the Central Plains to the Western Regions (present-day Xinjiang and Central Asia).
—Emperor Wudi dispatched Zhang Qian twice as his envoy to the Western Regions, and in the process pioneered the route known as the "Silk Road" from Chang'an (today's Xi'an, Shaanxi Province), through Xinjiang and Central Asia, and on to the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. China's silk goods were traded to the West along the Silk Road.
—As contacts between the East and West increased, Buddhism spread to China in the first century.
— In 105, an official named Cai Lun invented a technique for making fine paper, leading to a revolution in communications and learning.

Three Kingdom Period

-While there was a great deal of political activity occurring during this period, most of it, consisting as it was of various wars between different kingdoms (one of the great novels of China, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, is about this period), was not important to the later development of China.

-Perhaps its greatest accomplishment was to reinforce in Chinese thought the importance of having "one Emperor over China, like one sun in the sky."

Tang Dynasty

After the Han Dynasty came the Three Kingdoms Period (220-265), the Jin Dynasty (265-420), the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589) and the Sui Dynasty (581-618). Then came the Tang Dynasty, established by Li Yuan in 618 with its capital at Chang'an (Xi'an).

-The Tang dynasty, with its capital at Chang’an, the most populous city in the world at the time, is regarded by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization-

- equal, or even superior, to the Han period.

- Its territory, acquired through the military exploits of its early rulers, was greater than that of the Han.

- Agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished; technologies for textile manufacturing and dyeing, pottery and porcelain production, smelting and shipbuilding were further developed.
- Woodblock printings of dictionaries and almanacs and Buddhist scriptures were in circulation.

- The Grand Canal also helped the flow of merchandise. Chang'an became a cultural and international trade center and — along with Luoyang, Yangzhou, and Guangzhou — a major commercial center.

- During the Tang Dynasty cultural relations were established with many countries, including Japan, Korea, India, Persia and Arabia.

- By the 660s, China's influence had firmly taken root in the Tarim basin and Ili River valley in today's Xijiang in the West, even extending to many city-states in Central Asia.

- The Tang are considered to be one of the great dynasties of Chinese history; many historians rank them right behind the Han. They extended the boundaries of China through Siberia in the North, Korea in the east, and were in what is now Vietnam in the South.

- The first is the Empress Wu, the only woman ever to actually bear the title 'Emperor' .The second was the An Lushan Rebellion, which marked the beginning of the end for the Tang.

Song Dynasty :-

The Song dynasty ranks up there with the Tang and the Han as one of the great dynasties. Fifty years after the official end of the Tang, an imperial army re-unified China and established the Song dynasty. A time of remarkable advances in technology, culture, and economics, the Song, despite its political failures, basically set the stage for the rest of the imperial era.

China in the Song Dynasty was in the forefront of the world in astronomy, science and technology. Bi Sheng invented movable type printing in the 1040s, ushering in a major revolution in the history of printing.

Yuan Dynasty

In 1206, Genghis Khan established the Mongolian Khanate. In 1271, Kublai, conquered the Central Plains, founded the Yuan Dynasty and made Dadu (today's Beijing) the capital. Kublai ended the centuries-long situation in which many independent regimes existed side by side by forming a united country that brought Xinjiang, Tibet and Yunnan under its sway.

- During the Song-Yuan period, the "four great inventions" in science and technology of the Chinese people in ancient times — papermaking, printing, the compass and gunpowder — were further developed, and spread abroad.

- The reluctance of the Mongols to hire educated Chinese for governmental posts resulted in a remarkable cultural flowering; for example, Beijing Opera was invented during the Yuan.

Ming Dynasty

In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in Nanjing, reigning as Emperor Taizu. When his son and successor Zhu Di (1360-1424) ascended the throne, he built and expanded the palaces, temples, city walls and moats in Beijing. In 1421, he officially moved the capital to Beijing.

- During his reign, he dispatched Zheng He to lead a fleet of many ships to make seven far-ranging voyages.

- Passing the Southeast Asian countries, the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and Maldives Islands, Zheng He explored as far as Somalia and Kenya on the eastern coast of Africa. These were the largest-scale and longest voyages in the world before the age of Columbus.

- The Ming rulers distinguished themselves by being fatter, lazier, crazier, and nastier than the average Imperial family.

- After the first Ming Emperor discovered that his prime minister was plotting against him, not only was the prime minister beheaded, but his entire family and anyone even remotely connected with him. Eventually, about 40,000 (no, that is not a misprint) people were executed in connection with this case alone.

Qing Dynasty

In 1644, the Manchus took over China and founded the Qing dynasty. The Qing weren't the worst rulers; under them the arts flowered and culture bloomed. Moreover, they attempted to copy Chinese institutions and philosophy to a much greater extent than then the Mongols of the Yuan.

—The best known of the Qing Dynasty emperors, Kangxi restored the central empire's rule over Taiwan, and resisted invasions by tsarist Russia. To reinforce the administration of Tibet, he also formulated the rules and regulations on the confirmation of the Tibetan local leaders by the Central Government. He effectively administered over 11 million sq km of Chinese territory.

Modern Period

During the early 19th century, the Qing Dynasty declined rapidly. Britain smuggled into China large quantities of opium, and in response the Qing government imposed a ban on the drug. In an effort to protect its opium trade, Britain launched a war against China in 1840, which led to the Qing government's signing with the British government the Treaty of Nanking, a treaty of national betrayal and humiliation. Many countries, including Britain, the United States, France, Russia and Japan forced the Qing government to sign various unequal treaties following the Opium War. China was gradually relegated to a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country.