China

Things happened, and the rest is history

1. 01

   The Sui reunification and the Grand Canal

   Event

   What happened

   In 581 Yang Jian, later Emperor Wen, founds the Sui dynasty in the north. In 589 Sui armies conquer the southern Chen dynasty, ending about three centuries of division. Under Emperor Wen and his son Yangdi, the Sui link the Yellow River and the Yangzi with a system of canals, built from about 605 with the labour of vast numbers of conscripts.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The canals became the core of the Grand Canal, which carried southern grain to the northern capitals for more than a thousand years. The heavy burden of canal building and of costly, failed campaigns against Goguryeo in Korea provoked rebellions. Emperor Yangdi was killed in 618, and the Sui collapsed after only about thirty-seven years. Their reunification and their institutions, including the examination system's early forms, passed to the Tang.

   Sources

   1. BookWright, Arthur F. The Sui Dynasty: The Unification of China, A.D. 581-617. New York: Knopf, 1978.
   2. BookLewis, Mark Edward. China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
   3. PrimarySui shu (History of the Sui). Official dynastic history compiled under Wei Zheng and others, completed 636.
2. 02

   The founding of the Tang and the reign of Taizong

   Event

   What happened

   In 617 Li Yuan, a Sui official, rises in revolt and takes Chang'an. In 618 he proclaims the Tang dynasty. His son Li Shimin helps win the civil wars, then in 626 kills his brothers at the Xuanwu Gate and forces his father to hand over the throne. As Emperor Taizong he rules until 649.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Taizong's reign was remembered by later historians as a model of good government, with a strong bureaucracy, a written legal code finished in 653 under his successor, and military victories over the Eastern Turks in 630. Tang armies pushed into Central Asia and made Chang'an one of the largest cities in the world. Historians note that the official record was shaped by Taizong's own interest in how he was remembered.

   Sources

   1. BookTwitchett, Denis, ed. The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589-906, Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979 (reprinted 1986).
   2. PrimaryJiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang). Dynastic history compiled under Liu Xu, completed 945.
3. 03

   The An Lushan Rebellion

   Event

   What happened

   In December 755 An Lushan, a powerful frontier general of Sogdian paternal descent, with Turkic connections that scholars debate, rebels in the northeast. He takes Luoyang and proclaims a new dynasty, and in 756 his forces take Chang'an after Emperor Xuanzong flees. An Lushan is murdered by his own son in 757, but the war continues until 763.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The rebellion ended with the Tang still on the throne but much weaker. Regional military governors, the jiedushi, kept their own armies and taxes in many provinces. Population and wealth shifted south, and the court depended more on the Yangzi region and on salt revenue. Historians still debate how many people died or were displaced, but the losses were very large. The Tang lasted another century and a half before it fell in 907.

   Sources

   1. BookPulleyblank, Edwin G. The Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan. London: Oxford University Press, 1955.
   2. BookLewis, Mark Edward. China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
4. 04

   The Song founding and the civil service

   Event

   What happened

   After the Tang fell in 907, China split into the Five Dynasties in the north and Ten Kingdoms mostly in the south. In 960 Zhao Kuangyin, a general of the Later Zhou, is hailed emperor by his troops and founds the Song as Emperor Taizu. Most of the southern kingdoms are absorbed by 978, and his successor Taizong conquers the Northern Han in 979, reuniting most of China. The Song expand the examination system and place civil officials above military commanders.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Examinations drew officials from a much wider pool of educated families than the aristocratic Tang system had done. The civilian emphasis kept generals from seizing power, but it left the dynasty weak against northern neighbours. The Song paid the Liao a yearly sum under the Treaty of Chanyuan in 1005. In 1127 the Jurchen Jin took the northern capital Kaifeng, and the dynasty continued in the south as the Southern Song.

   Sources

   1. BookSmith, Paul Jakov, and Richard von Glahn, eds. The Song-Yuan-Ming Transition in Chinese History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2003.
   2. BookKuhn, Dieter. The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
5. 05

   Song commerce, printing and paper money

   Event

   What happened

   From the 10th century Song China sees fast growth in farming, trade and cities. Improved early-ripening rice spreads in the south. Printing with carved wood blocks becomes common, and movable type is invented by Bi Sheng in the 1040s, as the scientist Shen Kuo records. In Sichuan, merchants' paper notes appear around the 11th century, and the government takes over their issue, producing the first state-issued paper money.

   ↓ The rest is history

   These changes supported large cities, a money economy and a lively literate culture. Gunpowder weapons and the magnetic compass were also in use by the Song period. Many historians describe this as an economic revolution, though the term and its scale are debated. The wealth of the south helped the Southern Song hold off the Jin for over a century and later made China an attractive prize for the Mongols.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryShen Kuo. Mengxi bitan (Brush Talks from Dream Brook). Essays, c. 1088.
   2. BookElvin, Mark. The Pattern of the Chinese Past. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1973.
   3. Bookvon Glahn, Richard. The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
6. 06

   The Mongol conquest and the Yuan dynasty

   Event

   What happened

   Mongol armies defeat the Western Xia in 1227 and the Jin in 1234. Khubilai Khan, elected Great Khan in 1260, proclaims the Yuan dynasty in 1271 and builds a capital at Dadu, now Beijing. The Southern Song resist for years at Xiangyang, which falls in 1273. The last Song forces are crushed at the sea battle of Yamen in 1279.

   ↓ The rest is history

   For the first time all of China was ruled by a foreign dynasty. The Yuan used officials from many peoples, including Mongols, Central Asians and Chinese, and the empire was open to trade and travellers across Eurasia. Marco Polo's account of his journey, though debated in detail, is one of the best known. Floods, famine, plague and rebellion weakened Yuan rule in the mid-14th century, and it ended in 1368.

   Sources

   1. BookRossabi, Morris. Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
   2. BookFranke, Herbert, and Denis Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China, Volume 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 907-1368. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
7. 07

   The Red Turban rebellions and the founding of the Ming

   Event

   What happened

   From 1351 the Red Turban rebellions spread across central and southern China, fed by famine, floods and heavy Yuan demands. Zhu Yuanzhang, born a poor peasant and once a Buddhist novice, rises among the rebels. He defeats rival leaders including Chen Youliang in 1363 and Zhang Shicheng in 1367. In 1368 he proclaims the Ming dynasty at Nanjing as the Hongwu Emperor, and Yuan forces leave Dadu.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Hongwu ruled until 1398 and rebuilt the state on strongly centralized lines. He had the examination system revived, tried to settle soldiers on farms, and carried out violent purges of officials and generals. Ming rule restored native Chinese government after nearly a century of Mongol rule, though the Mongols remained a threat on the northern frontier for centuries.

   Sources

   1. BookMote, Frederick W., and Denis Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China, Volume 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
   2. BookDreyer, Edward L. Early Ming China: A Political History, 1355-1435. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982.
8. 08

   The Yongle Emperor and Zheng He's voyages

   Event

   What happened

   In 1399 Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, rebels against his nephew the Jianwen Emperor and takes Nanjing in 1402. As the Yongle Emperor he moves the main capital to Beijing, where the Forbidden City is built from about 1406 to 1420. From 1405 he sends the eunuch admiral Zheng He on seven voyages with large fleets to Southeast Asia, India, Arabia and East Africa. The last ends in 1433.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The voyages brought tribute, diplomacy and trade, and showed Ming power across the Indian Ocean. They stopped after 1433, as the court turned to northern defence and the cost of the fleets drew criticism. The Ming later rebuilt and strengthened the Great Wall. Beijing remained China's capital through most of the following centuries.

   Sources

   1. BookLevathes, Louise. When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
   2. BookDreyer, Edward L. Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007.
9. 09

   Xuanzang's journey to the West

   Heroic tale

   The legend

   The monk Tripitaka sets out for India to fetch Buddhist scriptures, protected on the road by the Monkey King Sun Wukong, the pig Zhu Bajie and the river spirit Sha Wujing. They face eighty-one trials from demons and monsters. At last they reach the Western Heaven and bring the scriptures home to the Tang emperor.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The tale is based on the real monk Xuanzang, who left China in 629 in defiance of a travel ban and reached India. He studied at Nalanda and returned in 645 with hundreds of Buddhist texts, which he spent years translating. His account of the journey, the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, is a major source on Central and South Asia. Over centuries storytellers added the animal companions and the demons. The novel Journey to the West, usually attributed to Wu Cheng'en, was published in the late 16th century.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryXuanzang. Da Tang Xiyu ji (Great Tang Records on the Western Regions). Travel record, 646.
   2. BookWriggins, Sally Hovey. The Silk Road Journey with Xuanzang. Boulder: Westview Press, 2003.
   3. BookWu Cheng'en. The Journey to the West. Translated by Anthony C. Yu. 4 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977-1983.
10. 10

    Yue Fei, the loyal general

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    Yue Fei, a peasant's son, is said to have had the words 'Serve the country with utmost loyalty' tattooed on his back by his mother. He leads Song armies against the Jin invaders and wins victory after victory. The chief councillor Qin Gui, who wants peace, recalls him with twelve gold tablets, and Yue Fei is imprisoned and put to death.

    ↓ The rest is history

    Yue Fei was a real Southern Song general who won notable victories against the Jin in the 1130s. He was executed in early 1142, when the Song court was making peace with the Jin, and Qin Gui is generally held responsible. Emperor Xiaozong cleared his name in 1162, and he was later honoured as a national hero. The tattoo story appears in later accounts, and the details of his life were embroidered over the centuries, notably in a 17th-century novel. His tomb stands beside West Lake in Hangzhou.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySong shi (History of Song), biography of Yue Fei. Official history compiled under Toqto'a, completed 1345.
    2. BookTillman, Hoyt Cleveland, and Stephen H. West, eds. China under Jurchen Rule: Essays on Chin Intellectual and Cultural History. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995.Background on the Jin and Southern Song conflict, not on the tattoo story itself.
11. 11

    Wu Zetian, the wicked empress

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that Wu Zetian, the only woman to take the title of emperor in China, rose to power by cruelty and murder. Tales claim she smothered her own infant daughter to frame a rival and poisoned her enemies, and that her reign was a time of terror and corruption.

    ↓ The rest is history

    Wu Zetian was real. She entered the court of Taizong as a junior consort, became empress of Emperor Gaozong, ruled in his name, and in 690 proclaimed her own dynasty, the Zhou. She governed until she was forced to abdicate in 705. Other women held real power as regents and empress dowagers, but she alone took the imperial title. The murder stories appear in later official histories written by Confucian scholars who disapproved of a woman on the throne, and modern scholars treat them with caution, though she did purge rivals. Her government expanded the examination system, promoted talented officials and supported Buddhism, and the Longmen Caves near Luoyang include a large Buddha traditionally linked to her patronage.

    Sources

    1. BookGuisso, Richard W. Wu Tse-t'ien and the Politics of Legitimation in T'ang China. Bellingham: Western Washington University, 1978.
    2. BookTwitchett, Denis, ed. The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589-906, Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979 (reprinted 1986).
12. 12

    Marco Polo in China

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant, is widely said to have served Khubilai Khan for seventeen years and to have brought noodles, ice cream and gunpowder back to Italy. His book is often taken as a firsthand account of Yuan China.

    ↓ The rest is history

    Polo's Description of the World was dictated around 1298 to Rustichello of Pisa while both were in prison in Genoa. It gives vivid detail on Yuan cities, paper money and the postal system. The food and gunpowder claims are myths, since noodles and gunpowder were known in Europe by other routes. Some scholars, notably Frances Wood, have doubted that he reached China, because he never mentions the Great Wall, tea or foot binding. Others, like Hans Ulrich Vogel, who studied his account of money and salt, find his details too accurate to be hearsay. The question remains debated.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPolo, Marco, and Rustichello da Pisa. Devisement du monde (Description of the World). Franco-Italian text, c. 1298.
    2. BookWood, Frances. Did Marco Polo Go to China? London: Secker & Warburg, 1995.
    3. BookVogel, Hans Ulrich. Marco Polo Was in China: New Evidence from Currencies, Salts and Revenues. Leiden: Brill, 2012.