China has not always had a centralized system of power. From 1766 BC to 1045 BC China was under the rule of the Shang Dynasty. From there on the ruling of China was in the hands of many dynasties. Dynasties were overthrown and a change in power happened constantly. China was under the rule of the Ch’inf, MIng, Yuan, Sung, T’ang,Han, and many other dynasties. The earliest cities in China formed around 2000 BC to 1000 BC. Chinese cities contained temples and palaces and many were walled. The purpose of having a walled city was for protection from invaders. The most famous and commonly known wall is the great wall of China. The great wall of China is a 5, 500 mile long wall that was constructed by joining walls from different cities in the Chinese
The following are the Chinese dynasties in order from oldest to most recent: Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. The legendary dynasty is the Xia, which is believed to be around 2000 BC. The Shang (1700-1000BC) developed the first written Chinese language. The Zhou (1028-221BC) built the first roads, expanded trade contacts and trade routes, and also developed plows and irrigation systems. Trade at this time was expanding in China. The Qin Dynasty (221-207BC) built the famous Great Wall of China as a defense mechanism and also united all of China under one central government. Next is the Han Dynasty (207BC-AD220), which did a lot for China in terms of trading. They developed the Great Silk Road, a trading route that stretched from China all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. The Sui Dynasty (589-618) united almost all of China. Followed in suit by the Tang Dynasty (618-917) discovered one of Chinas' leading exports, porcelain. During the Tang Dynasty, the first block-style printing press was invented. The Song Dynasty (960-1279) came next, which took over all of China and later took the southern rule after being conquered by the Jin. The Song Dynasty is responsible for developing Chinese cuisine as we know it today. During this time period the compass and gunpowder were also discovered. The Jin Dynasty (1127-1234) took rule over Northern China from the Song. The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) brought a long period of peace to
The Great Wall of China was originally built during the Qin and Han Dynasties to protect China from the Xiongnu. It took the people of ancient China nearly 2,000 years to build and spans nearly 6,000 miles. However, building the wall was extremely costly in terms of men and supplies. Despite the cost of the wall, it proved to be immensely beneficial to the Chinese people. This is a result of the wall providing protection for merchants, the people within the wall and preventing the Xiongnu from invading.
The Great Wall of China began in the Qin Dynasty. The northern nomadic tribes began to envy riches of southern neighbors and raided them. The Chinese built individual walls to keep the invaders out.
China is the world's oldest civilization, with recorded history from almost 4,000 years ago. In that time it has had many dynasties such as the Qin dynasty, Han dynasty, Sui dynasty, Zhou dynasty, Song dynasty, Yuan dynasty, Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty. For 300 years China was divided into three kingdoms: the Wei, the Shu, and the Wu, but they reunited during the Sui dynasty in 581. The last of the Chinese dynasties was the Qing dynasty which started in 1644.
China has a long and mysterious history of almost five thousand years. China can trace her culture back to a blend of small original tribes which have expanded until they became the great country we have today. Each rise and fall of a dynasty created new leaders, new laws, new rules, and usually new expansion. Chinese history is that of alternating periods of political unity and disunity. The rise and fall of many dynasties created a rocky path in Chinas
Whether you have learned about it or not, you have probably heard about the Great Wall of China. Eventually stretching more than 13,000 miles across northern China, it has become one of the most visited places in the world. The construction of this famous wall began under the Qin Dynasty. Shi Huangdi, (Emperor of Qin), had believed that the wall would defend the northern border against the Xiongnu, also called Mongols. Many would say that Shi Huangdi was more interested in himself than in the good of his own people.
China’s unity of its civilians helped the prosperity of its nation to become well known to other power nation. At this period China became well known and believed to be as equally strong to other power nations. Sterling extensively explains that building The Great Wall of China came at an immeasurable cost for a "temporary advantage" (147). Many citizens of China have died for the cause of building a national symbol for China, which was not known as The Great Wall of China until foreigners gave it a name to remember. Only during the Ming dynasty did the interconnections of the walls that once divided China, became a unity. The expansion of many walls together came at a great cost. The Great Wall of China made it very difficult for the Mongols and Manchus to penetrate their defensive system, but this did not stop them from failing to attack the dynasty. The perceived barbarians had bankrupt the dynasty. Strategies of keeping enemies from infiltrating is a vital key to keep an economy from chaos and destroying a nation’s wealth that took years or centuries to achieve.
Perhaps the most famous thing we have inherited from Ancient China, however, is the Great Wall. One of the eight wonders of the ancient world, construction first began on this gigantic border fortification was built from stone, brick, tamped earth and wood during the Shang Dynasty in the 7th Century BC. Some of its most famous parts were constructed as the era that we know as Ancient China was drawing to a close in the 3rd Century BC by the man who would unify China into a country bearing his name, Emperor Qin Shi Huang.
In order to build The Great Wall, the Chinese had to have an extremely organized government. The Great Wall was a huge project and needed to be overseen very carefully to avoid having large scale problems later. The enormous amount of money and
Qin Shihuangdi is the first emperor of China who ruled from 221 BCE to 210 BCE. In 221 B.C.E. Qin Shihuangdi conquered and unified all seven states which were fighting each other for control of most of Eastern Asia, and proclaimed himself first emperor of the country. One of his major achievements is construction of the Great Wall. He ordered to build the Great Wall in order to consolidate the vast territory and to protect his country from the northern tribes. Millions of people in China got involved in the construction of the Great Wall. The main labor force were soldiers, peasants, and criminals, who worked to death and were buried inside the wall.
The Great Wall of China is a wall approximately 13,171 miles long, constructed in the seventh century BC in order to protect its people from
“The commanderies were composed of counties.” A county was the smallest division in this era to have centrally appointed official.”
Chinese Dynasties: 1. Shang: Also called Yin, dynasty that was China's earliest historically verifiable state 1766 B.C. to 1122 B.C. A. Reason's for Rise: Unlike the early accounts of history by the Chinese, there is archaeological evidence of the Shang, who built their cities in northern China around the eastern parts of the Yellow River. For this reason they are called the Yellow River civilization. They were a bronze age people; bronze-working seems to have entered China around 2000 BC (about one thousand years after its invention in Mesopotamia). B. Territorial Location & size at height of power (map): The Shang ruled the area from the North China Plain northward into present-day Shantung Province and westward to the tip of Honan
The Shang dynasty spanned from 1500BCE to 1045 BCE in the Yellow River region of modern day China. The dynasty not only lived in the region of the Yellow River, but it was the first dynasty to have any written record. Throughout the dynasty, the kings ruled from five different cities, the best-known city was Anyang. The dynasty was a warrior dynasty that had the advantage of having bronze-tipped weapons and an ideal region to grow crops. The Shang Dynasty’s advancements of having sustainable crops and bronze weapons and allowed them to develop a written language, which created the foundation of Chinese civilization.
Rhoads Murphey describes the history of China history is on the succession of dynasties that ruled it over a period of time until around 1912 when Republic of china was formed before rising to the current People’s Republic of China was formed in 1949. In China, a dynasty was made up of Kings or emperors that came from the same family. They ruled in succession where a king could be inherited by his son or his immediate relatives. Although china’s history is majorly regarded on the basis of dynastic ruling, other small kingdoms were established that ruled different part of china. For example, in 200AD, the fall of great Han dynasty triggered formation of smaller kingdoms all over the china which were later united by a short lived Sui Dynasty that reigned between 580 and 618 AD.