A Brief History of China

Chinese history moves to its own majestic rhythm. Dynasties come and go on the Dragon Throne, some leaving only a brief legacy of brutal unification, others basking in the warm afterglow of a golden age. Periods of chaos and civil war mark the interregnums. Grand ideas -Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism - clash along the corridors of time. The modern era witnesses the same great game: only the players and ideologies have changed. Communism awaits history's verdict as China stands on the cusp of a new economic and political era.

Ancient Chinese bronze sculpture

Like traces of faded ink on an ancient rice paper document, the first indicators of a Chinese civilisation emerged from the mists of Stone Age prehistory. The Yangshao and Longshan cultures, which gave rise to the shadowy Xia dynasty, the first in China's long progression of dynasties, left behind them a record in the form of finely made and beautifully decorated pottery.

A farming and metal-working culture grew up around 1500 BC along the flood-plain of the Yellow River in northern China, and in the surrounding hills. The people of this Shang kingdom valued jade and made tripod cauldrons of bronze, decorated with sacred symbols, for rituals in honour of their gods and ancestors. This was China's heroic age, a time of warriors, chariots, royal hunts, and human sacrifice.

Soon after 1100 BC, the Shang were overrun by the warlike Zhou. In time, these new masters of the 'Middle Kingdom' were assimilated into the Shang's agricultural theocracy. The Zhou kingdom gradually split into a mosaic of mutually antagonistic city-states, and the king became a figure­head ruling from the sacred capital, Luoyang. This is reflected in the chronological division of the era into a Western Zhou (1066-771 BC) and an Eastern Zhou (770-475 BC) period, with the latter dissolving into the Warring States period (475-221 BC).

Throughout the Zhou era, the kingdom was extended south towards the Yangtze River. By its end, cast iron had begun to replace bronze for weaponry and tools, and the ox-drawn plough was taking over from human traction in the fields. It was a time of ferment in political, social and moral issues, when rulers valued sages for their advice on correct behaviour and enlightened political rule. Confucius was the greatest of these philosophers.

The Great Wall Rises

In 221 BC, the northwestern state of Qin won the war between the states. The Qin dynasty did not rule for long, but its first emperor, the brilliant but brutal Qin Shihuang, unified China and began the construction of the Changcheng (Great Wall), which would eventually stretch for 6,500km, to defend his kingdom against the northern barbarians. He also standardised weights, measures, and writing, and unified thought by burning all books except those on medicine, agriculture, and divination. Scholars with contrary opinions were wise to keep their heads down - Qin Shihuang had his opponents buried alive. His successor was overthrown in 206 BC by Liu Bang, who founded the Han dynasty, ushering in a golden age, with Confucianism as the state religion. Under the Emperor Wudi, China made contact with India, and Buddhism seeped into Chinese culture. The Han also established control of the Silk Road, the main trade route across Asia to Europe. Paper and the water clock were invented, while astronomers learned to predict eclipses.

The Han dynasty collapsed in ad 220, following the revolt of the 'Yellow Turban' Taoist cult. With the breakdown of central authority, northern nomads penetrated the Great Wall.

The Three Kingdoms period followed, during which the states of Wei, Shu and Wu competed for dominance. Some of the drama of those turbulent times survives today in folklore, historical novels, and cinema. In 581, the Sui re­established central control and ruled brutally for a short time, before giving way to a new dynasty.

The Tang Renaissance

Comparable in its impact with the European Renaissance, the Tang dynasty, which ruled from 618 to 907, made giant strides forward in literacy, art, science and economic growth. Establishing their capital at Changan (present-day Xi'an), the Tang emperors created a vast bureaucracy.

Construction of the Grand Canal was begun. Chinese porcelain acquired a reputation for excellence which it has never lost. Gunpowder was invented, woodblock printing began, and presses were established. The second Tang emperor, Taizong, was followed by a remark­able woman, the Empress Wu, who poisoned her way to power and ruled from 660 until 705.

When the last Tang emperor, Li Tzu, abdicated in 907, division and civil war followed in the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Zhao Kuangyin established the Song Dynasty in 960, broke the power of rival warlords, and restored central administration, with the capital at Kaifeng. It was later transferred to Hangzhou, dividing the Song Dynasty into a Northern and a Southern Song period. Painting was elevated to its highest level and a revolution of ideas brought about a reappraisal of the tenets of Confucianism and Buddhism.

The Mongol Invasion

The spectre of invasion, hanging permanently over the north, became a reality when the Mongol leader, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghiz Khan, swept away the Song Dynasty in 1279. So began the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. With its capital at Beijing, and its pleasure gardens at Hangzhou and Suzhou, it raised graceful living to an art form that astonished the Italian explorer, Marco Polo. Kublai Khan's successors saw Mongol power fade through constant rebellions, and a natural disaster when the Yellow River changed its course, flooding a vast territory.

The reins of power were snatched up by the Ming emperors in 1368, and for nearly three centuries the Ming dynasty unified China: Beijing's Forbidden City was built during their time. A peasant revolt brought down the Ming after decades of famine, but the peasant leaders had not secured full control before a Manchu army invaded, capturing Beijing in 1644. The Manchu Qing emperors extended their rule deep into Central Asia and to the Himalayas. In the early 19th century Western colonial powers began a series of incursions into China.

The last emperor was replaced in 1911 by a republic, an unstable foundation that had to deal with Communist insurgency and Japanese invasion. Civil war between Communists and Nationalists followed the end of World War II, with the victorious Communists, led by Mao Zedong, establishing the People's Republic in 1949; the Nationalists, under Chiang Kaishek, retreated to Taiwan.

Mao's death in 1976 opened the door for a curious hybrid form of Communism, led by his successor Deng Xiaoping, employing market economics, but with the Communist Party firmly in control - as democracy supporters in Tiananmen Square found to their cost in 1989. By the time of his death in 1997, Deng had laid the foundation for solid economic growth unprecedented in Chinese history.

The conflict between democratic forces and the Communist Party has continued into the 21st century, though Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule presents new challenges. If China manages to rule and sustain this vibrant economic entity with fairness, it may not be long before Taiwan seeks to rejoin the mainland.