Hot answers tagged china
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China (or at least its core) had a central, unifying culture built around philosophers such as Confucius and Lao-tse that was attractive to people over a wide land area. Also, the Chinese written language was developed from pictograms that represented "words," which although pronounced differently in different locations, could have the same meaning over wide ...
18
The nature of the silk road meant that it had to pass through commercial centres.
"The Silk Road was largely fragmented and very few merchants travelled the whole route. Goods were passed from one merchant to another until it reached the final buyers" source
So deviation over the steppes wasn't really possible as it was not the intermediaries goal to ...
16
Well there were a few reasons
They pretty much had all they needed resource-wise in the country, trade was not a prerogative and even though Zheng He did go out exploring they were not interested in colonies or mercantilism.
Mercantilism was pretty much frowned upon within the Confucian system, merchants did not produce goods they moved them around and ...
13
Wikipedia provides an excellent answer on the Descendants of Genghis Khan.
Some of the main points:
Another important consideration is that Genghis's descendants intermarried frequently. For instance, the Jochids took wives from the
Ilkhan dynasty of Persia, whose progenitor was Hulagu Khan. As a
consequence, it is likely that many Jochids had ...
11
What I can find from Chinese sources all seem to have been derived from the one source, which seems reasonably reliable. It says that:
She married Mao when he was 14 and she 18.
She died of dysentry some time in the spring of 1910, when she was 20.
She had a good relationship with the Mao family. Mao Zedong, after some initial awkardness owing to his ...
11
I take it you mean why was there no "Scramble for China" in the 19th century. Excluding Hong Kong, ceded to Britain after the First Opium War.
The Second Sino-Japanese War makes an excellent case study of the problems of invading China. In 1937 China had a completely out of date military and an ineffective industrial base, and was fighting a civil war. ...
10
Hong Kong became British colony as a result of First Opium War, which was lost by Qing Dynasty of China to United Kingdom. It was part of agreements of Treaty of Nanking that was signed in 1842, as well as huge war reparations.
What's important, original agreement established that Hong Kong becomes British for eternity, not for the exact amount of years. ...
9
I've heard that the Jin are the first people that used cannon to defend Kaifeng when attacked by the Mongols.
So did the cannon successfully repel the Mongols?
From Cambridge History of China Vol 6: Alien Regimes and Border States 907- 1368
Page 263
"The siege of Kaifeng is also of some interest for the history of
military technology, because ...
9
The downfall of Zhou began with the end of Western Zhou, over 500 years before Zhou's final demise. King You's actions in seeking to please his concubine Baosi (including replacing the heir apparent with her son) led to a revolt by the forces of Marquis Shen and assisted by the Western Rong and Quan (Dog) Rong tribes. King You was killed and the capital ...
9
It was illegal to set up business by person or group during that time. The first license to individual business after cultural revolution was issued in 1980. Even in late 70s and early 80s (after the cultural revolution), trading goods by individual was still a crime called 投机倒把罪，meaning "crime of Speculation and profiteering". People relied on a nation-wide ...
9
In Europe, armies were often of generally the same size and makeup (at least in the instances you mention) and tactics codified, so in open engagements equipment and (that being equal) minor differences in proficiency could well mean the difference between winning and losing a battle.
In the Chinese example you mention, sheer force of numbers caused Qin to ...
8
After Mongols lost control of China (end of Yuan dynasty), there were many struggles between Mongols and Chinese as well as different Mongol tribes. These struggles weakened the integration among Mongols. After a successful but short-lived unification attempt by Dayan Khan, a more organized disintegration took place giving birth to Khalkha Mongols (formerly ...
8
Expanding on @MonsterTruck's comment above, China (especially the east part) is really good for food production. According to Wikipedia's list of countries by agricultural output China has 17 per cent of global agricultural production today, compared to around 7 for the European Union, 7 for India and 4 for the United States. I would expect the construction ...
8
It is a wrong assumption that Europe was never unified politically.
First, in the ancient times the cultural development of different European peoples was very diverse. The most advanced peoples of Europe adopted the Greek culture, alphabet and gods. You can see this on the example of Etruscans who used the Greek alphabet and worshiped the Greek gods. The ...
8
Just take a look at any political map, let it be Classical period, or early Medieval times. When travelling to China you need water, supplies of food, fodder, etc. Also it's safer to spend a night in a city or some kind of inn instead of open steppe spaces. Then what Joe mentioned, between the cities you've got roads, which again - are safer.
South of Black ...
7
It should be noted that this kind of self-criticism was not invented in China. In the USSR it worked the same way. The CPSU chater required the members to develop "criticism and self-criticism". The CPSU program said that self-criticism allows the nations of the USSR to spot problems and hardships and to find the best ways for Communist development.
...
7
All the sources I've perused can, just as Wikipedia does, only surmise on the how and why gunpowder made its way to Europe.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology offers a nutshell overview of the possible routes that might have been taken:
Just how the secret of gunpowder traveled west-ward to Europe will probably never be ...
7
Could you please provide example of where Qing China is called "feudal"?
Most likely, it was a common (not historian) usage, or an abuse of the term.
Quoting Wikipedia:
Outside a European context, the concept of feudalism is normally used only by analogy (called semi-feudal), most often in discussions of Japan under the shoguns, and sometimes medieval ...
7
The vast majority of Genghis Khan's Mongols either were driven back to Mongolia or were absorbed into the general population of China. Some modern-day Chinese do retain their Mongol heritage as evidenced in the following linguistic map of Mongol Languages:
Some of the Mongol populations include: Bonan, Mongour, Dongxiang, Yugur, Sogwo Arig, Sichuan ...
7
A possible description of the one depicted in your picture (source):
The most popular continued to be the strange dagger-axe. Dagger-axes came in various lengths from 9–18 ft and were now used as thrusting spears with a slashing blade available if needed. The Qin particularly seemed to like the Dagger-axe, creating an eighteen foot long pike version.
...
7
There is an overview in an article on China Whisper.com: China`s historical GDP share in the world
Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD)
GDP per capita: $450, 26%
Tang Dynasty 618 – 907 AD
GDP per capita:$480, 58% of world GDP
Song Dynasty 960-1279 AD
GDP per capita:US$2,280, 80% of the world’s GDP
Yuan Dynasty 1271-1368 A
estimated to account for about 30% ...
7
If by "colonize", you mean ethnicly and culturally take over the territory, like was done in North America and Austrialia:
This is one of the questions touched on by Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. The basic thesis is that Eurasians had an advantage due to their large shared pool of (termperate-climate) domesticated crops/animal technology, and ...
6
In Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires, the first chapter by Walter Scheidel, From the "Great Convergence" to the "First Great Divergence", makes the case that the Chinese style of government focussed on centralising power while the Roman style allowed for a great deal of autonomy for appointed officials.
The Warring States era ...
6
Yip man was real (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). He was a famous student of Wing Chun. My guess is that you're referring to the 2008 movie, Ip Man. However, it was not historically accurate. Quoting its Wikipedia page:
Film4's review detailed the departures from history: "The real Ip Man was never, despite the film's assertions to the contrary, forced from ...
6
Well, at least the drop during the "Cultural Revolution" is easily explained. Setting hordes of young, largely semi-literate, thugs to torture and maim the productive and educated members of society will do wonders for the economy. Here is a long quote from wikipedia:
The ten years of the Cultural Revolution brought China's education
system to a ...
5
It depends on how you define "Manchu." The Sibe (Xibe) were NOT the same as the Jurchen tribe, the one that is generally regarded as "Manchu." What IS true is that the Sibe lived in the center of present day Manchuria, next to the Jurchens. By that very loose definition, they are "Manchu."
The Jurchens defeated the Sibe (and others) in 1593, and took over ...
5
When Mao was a young man in 1927, the Nationalist government cracked down on the Communists, who, up to that time, had been regarded as "fellow travelers." The crackdown was particularly successful in the cities, where people were concentrated, and could be easily rounded up and arrested. It caught Mao in the countryside, but he managed to escape from his ...
5
The wikipedia article you cite has a Chinese equivalent which explains the origin of the surname.
平原河昔日的英文名稱（River Ganges）與印度的恆河相同，這是英國在租借新界後派遣印度籍的測量師所命名的。
Which translates roughly as
The former English name of the Ping Yuen River (River Ganges) came from the river Ganges in India, because Indian surveyors were sent there after the British lease of ...
5
It tended to be more than just that, opium dens were prevalent there but so was gambling and the Self-Strengthening movement and the Kuomintang repression of the Communists. Shanghai was also considered the "Pearl of the Orient" as well as the "Paris of the East" because of its artistic and intellectual community. The names were used depending on whether ...
5
Most likely the indemnity was meant to compensate the various nations for the loss of lives of their citizens and property, pro-rated roughly to the amount of each country lost.
I can't find exact records of deaths, but there were Norwegian citizens in China during the rebellion. The China Inland Mission was proselytizing in rural China at the time, and ...
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