Song Dynasty

In 960 a new power, Song (960-1279), reunified most of China Proper. The Song period divides into two phases: Northern Song (960-1127) and Southern Song (1127-1279). The division was caused by the forced abandonment of north China in 1127 by the Song court, which could not push back the nomadic invaders.

The founders of the Song dynasty built an effective centralized bureaucracy staffed with civilian scholar-officials. Regional military governors and their supporters were replaced by centrally appointed officials. This system of civilian rule led to a greater concentration of power in the emperor and his palace bureaucracy than had been achieved in the previous dynasties.

The Song dynasty is notable for the development of cities not only for administrative purposes but also as centers of trade, industry, and maritime commerce.

Regarding to the culture, the Song refined many of the developments of the previous centuries. Included in these refinements were not only the Tang ideal but also historical writings, painting, calligraphy, and hard-glazed porcelain.

Tang dynasty

The Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-907), with its capital at Chang'an, 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. Stimulated by contact with India and the Middle East, the empire saw a flowering of creativity in many fields. Buddhism became a permanent part of Chinese traditional culture. Block printing was invented, making the written word available to vastly greater audiences.

The Tang period was the golden age of literature and art. A government system supported by a large class of Confucian literati selected through civil service examinations was perfected under Tang rule.

By the middle of the eighth century A.D., Tang power had ebbed. Domestic economic instability and military defeat in 751 by Arabs, marked the beginning of five centuries of steady military decline for the Chinese empire.

Sui Dynasty

China was reunified in A.D. 589 by the short-lived Sui dynasty (A.D. 581-617), which has often been compared to the earlier Qin dynasty in the ruthlessness of its accomplishments.

The Sui Dynasty's early demise was attributed to the government's tyrannical demands on the people, who bore the crushing burden of taxes and compulsory labor. These resources were overstrained in the completion of the Grand Canal, and in the undertaking of other construction projects, including the reconstruction of the Great Wall.

Weakened by costly and disastrous military campaigns against Korea in the early seventh century, the dynasty disintegrated through a combination of popular revolts, disloyalty, and assassination.

Jin Dynasty

In the early years of Jin Dynasty (A.D. 265-420), it was unity restored briefly, but the but the Jin could not long contain the invasions of the nomadic peoples. In A.D. 317 the Jin court was forced to flee from Luoyang and reestablished itself at Nanjing to the south. The transfer of the capital coincided with China's political fragmentation into a succession of dynasties that was to last from A.D. 304 to 589.

During the process of sinicization accelerated among the non-Chinese arrivals in the north and among the aboriginal tribesmen in the south. This process was also accompanied by the increasing popularity of Buddhism in both north and south China. Despite the political disunity of the times, there were notable technological advances. The invention of gunpowder and the wheelbarrow is believed to date from the sixth or seventh century. Advances in medicine, astronomy, and cartography are also noted by historians.

Former Residence of Wangxizhi

Calligraphy is considered in china as the art of writing, beautiful handwriting with brush, or study of the rule and techniques of this art.

As a traditional art, calligraphy occupies the same position as painting in the history of Chinese art.

In China, many people can write a good hand but only a few of them could become calligrapher. It takes patient effort and years of assiduous practice to qualify oneself as an artist in this field. One of the great masters in calligraphy in Chinese history is WangXiZhi, he has exerted profound influence on Chinese calligraphers and scholars.

WangXiZhi is an outstanding calligrapher, he was versed in nearly all kinds of styles of calligraphy. His work the preface of LanTing Poems Collection written in running hand is esteemed as the best running hand work in the world. His wonderful calligraphy has long shocked and is admired by calligraphers of all ages. Do you want to know more about the former Residence of Wangxizhi? Now follow learnmorechina and you may have more idea for this famous Calligrapher.

The former Residence of Wangxizhi is located in No. 20, Xiyanchi Street, Lanshan District, Linyi City, Shandong Province. In the main gate of his former Residence, there is a pool. The pool is the inkstone rinsing pool, covering an area of 3000 square meters, why we call it inkstone rinsing Pool?There is a story of WangXiZhi, it says that when he was a child he blackened all the water of a pond in front of his house by washing his writing implements every day after practice.

The characters are “洗砚池”. About 10 meters north of the pool is a flatled towering 2 meters above the ground and covering an area of 150 square meters, which called Drying Terrace, for drying their writtings in the sun. The west part is the 100 meter long calligraphy corridor, displaying handwritings of famous calligraphers in China. If you are interested in calligraphy, you can have a look and practise by yourself.

A Brief Chinese Chronology

China is a cultural country in the world, are you interested in the history of China? Below is a brief for Chinese chronology, You can learn Chinese history and culture according to different Chronology.

Dynasty Date

　　Xia C.21st-16th century B.C.

　　Shang C.16th-11th century B.C.

　　Western Zhou C.11th century B.C.-770 B.C.

　　Eastern Zhou （Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods） 770-221 B.C.

　　Qin 221-207 B.C.

　　Western Han 206 B.C.-A.D. 24

　　Eastern Han 25-220

　　Three Kingdoms （Wei， Shu and Wu） 220-265

　　Western Jin 265-316

　　Eastern Jin 317-420

　　Southern and Northern Dynasty 420-589

　　Sui 581-618

　　Tang 618-907

　　Five Dynasties 907-960

　　Northern Song 960-1127

　　Southern Song 1127-1279

　　Yuan 1271-1368

　　Ming 1368-1644

　　Qing 1644-1911

　　Republic of China 1912-1949

　　People's Republic of China 1949-

New Democratic Revolution

New Democratic Revolution - Period （1919-1949）

Under the influence of the October Revolution in Russia, China's May 4th Movement arose. During this great anti-imperialist, anti-feudal revolutionary movement led by patriotic students, the Chinese proletariat for the first time mounted the political stage. The May 4th Movement was the mark of the change of the old democratic revolution to the new democratic revolution. It enabled Marxism-Leninism to further spread and link up with the Chinese people's revolutionary practice, and prepared the ideology as well as the cadres necessary for the founding of the Communist Party of China. In 1921, Mao Zedong, Dong Biwu, Chen Tanqiu, He Shuheng, Wang Jinmei, Deng Enming and Li Da,  representing the communist groups in different places throughout the nation, held the First National Congress in Shanghai, founding the Communist Party of China （CPC）. In 1924, Sun Yat-sen, pioneer of China's democratic revolution and the founder of the Kuomintang （KMT）, worked together with the Communist Party of China to organize workers and peasants for the Northern Expedition （historically known as the Great Revolution）. After Sun Yat-sen passed away, the right-wing clique of the KMT headed by Chiang Kai-shek staged a counter-revolutionary coup d'etat in 1927, murdering Communists and revolutionary people, and founded the Kuomintang regime in Nanjing. Thus the Great Revolution ended in failure. After that, the CPC led the Chinese people to wage the 10-year Agrarian Revolution War against the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, which is also known as the "10-Year Civil War."

In July 1937, Japan launched all-out aggression against China. The Kuomintang armies started a series of battles, which gave relentless blows at the Japanese invaders. In the enemy's rear area, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, under the leadership of the CPC, fought against most of the Japanese forces, and almost all the puppet armies under extremely difficult conditions, thus playing a decisive role in the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.

From June 1946, the Kuomintang armies launched an all-round attack on the Liberated Areas led by the CPC, and an unprecedented large-scale civil war started. To thoroughly emancipate the Chinese people, the CPC led the army and people in the Liberated Areas to start the nationwide War of Liberation.

Through the Liaoxi-Shenyang, Huai-Hai and Beiping-Tianjin campaigns, the CPC overthrew the rule of the Kuomintang and won a great victory in the new democratic revolution in 1949.

Chinese Ancient Times

Ancient Times（from Antiquity to A.D. 1840）

China， one of the world's most ancient civilizations， has a recorded history of nearly 4，000 years.

The Zhoukoudian Peking Man site （400，000-500，000 years old）.

Anthropologists working in Yuanmou, in Yunnan Province, have uncovered the remains of China's earliest discovered hominid, "Yuanmou Man" who lived in this area approximately 1.7 million years ago. "Peking Man" who lived in Zhoukoudian to the southwest of modern Beijing 400, 000 to 500, 000 years ago, had the basic characteristics of Homo Sapiens. Peking Man walked upright, made and used simple tools, and knew how to make fire. Man in China passed from primitive society to slave society in the 21st century B.C., with the founding of China's first dynasty, that of the Xia. The subsequent dynasties, the Shang （16th-11th century B.C.） and the Western Zhou （11th century-770 B.C.） saw further development of slave society. This era was followed by the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods （770-221 B.C.）marking the transition from the slave society to feudal society.

Inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty （c. 16th-11th century B.C.）

China was one of the countries where economic activity first developed. As early as 5, 000 to 6, 000 years ago, people in the Yellow River valley had already started farming and raising livestock. During the Shang Dynasty （more than 3, 000 years ago）, people learned how to smelt bronze and use iron tools. White pottery and glazed pottery were produced. Silk production was well developed, and the world's first figured inlaid silk weaving technique was being used. During the spring and Autumn Period （770-476 B.C.）, steel production technologies appeared. During the Warring States Period （475-221 B.C.）, Li Bing and his son directed the construction of the Dujiang Dam near present-day Chengdu in Sichuan Province. This brilliant achievement in water conservancy made possible rationalized irrigation supply, flood diversion and sand discharge, and is still playing a tremendous role in this regard even today. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, philosophy and other branches of scholarship were unpredictability thriving, with the representatives of various schools vying with each other in writing books to discuss politics and analyze society. Hence the appearance of a situation in which "a hundred schools of thought contended."  Famous philosophers in this period included Lao Zi, Confucius, Mo Zi and Sun Zi.

The terracotta warriors and horses excavated from the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin （221-207 B.C.） in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province.

In 221 B.C., Ying Zheng, a man of great talent and bold vision, ended the rivalry among the independent principalities in the Warring States Period and established the first centralized, unified, multi-ethnic state in Chinese history under the Qin Dynasty （221-207 B.C.）, and called himself Shi Huang Di （First Emperor）, historically known as Qin Shi Huang, or First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty. During his reign, Qin Shi Huang standardized the script, currencies, and weights and measures, established the system of prefectures and counties, and constructed the world-renowned Great Wall as well as a large palace, mausoleum and temporary regal lodges respectively in Xianyang, Lishan and other places. The structures of these places above the ground have long been destroyed, but the objects underground are still there. The life-size terracotta horses and armored warriors excavated from sites near the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang are known as the eighth wonder of the world, attracting swarms of Chinese and foreign visitors every day. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang, a peasant leader, overthrew the Qin regime in cooperation with Xiang Yu, an aristocratic general. A few years later, Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and established the strong Han Dynasty in 206 B.C.

In the Han Dynasty （206 B.C.-A.D. 220）, agriculture, handicrafts and commerce were well developed. During the reign of Emperor Wudi （Liu Che， r. 140-87 B.C.）, the Han regime reached the period of its greatest prosperity： The emperor conquered the Xiongnu nomads, and sent Zhang Qian as envoy to the Western Regions （Central Asia）, and in the process pioneered the route known as the "Silk Road" from the Han capital Chang'an （today's Xi'an， Shaanxi Province）, through Xinjiang and onward, finally reaching the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Along the Silk Road, beautiful silk products made in China were transported to the West in a steady stream. In 33 B.C.， Wang Zhaojun, a palace maiden, was married to Huhanxie, chieftain of the Xiongnu,  leaving a moving story about marriage ties between the Han and the Xiongnu. The multi-ethnic country became more consolidated. The Han regime existed for a total of 426 years. It was followed by the Three Kingdoms Period （220-265） of Wei, Shu and Wu.

The most famous statesmen during the Three Kingdoms Period were Cao Cao （155-220）, Zhuge Liang （181-234） and Sun Quan （182-252）. Cao Cao was the founder of the State of Wei. He collected people of talent from all over the country, stationed troops in border areas to open up wasteland, established military farms, and finally gained control over the Yellow River valley. Zhuge Liang was the prime minister of the State of Shu, and a symbol of wisdom in ancient China. For many centuries, his lofty spirit of "bending himself to the task and exerting himself to the utmost till his dying days’ has encouraged the Chinese people. Sun Quan was the founder of the State of Wu. He once allied with Liu Bei （161-223） to defeat Cao Cao at the Red Cliff, and later inflicted a crushing defeat on Liu Bei at Yiling. In addition, Sun Quan appointed officials in charge of agriculture, and had garrison troops or peasants open up wasteland and grow grain， thus promoting land reclamation to the south of the Yangtze River. Stories about them can be found in a novel called Three Kingdoms. （r. 626-649）

The Three Kingdoms Period was followed by the Jin （265-420）, the Southern and Northern Dynasties （420-589）, and the Sui Dynasty （581-618）. In 618, Li Yuan founded the Tang Dynasty （618-907）. Later, Li Shimin （r. 626-649）, son of Li Yuan, ascended the throne as Emperor Taizong, who was one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history. Emperor Taizong adopted a series of policies known as the Zhenguan reign period reforms, which pushed the feudal society to the height of prosperity. Agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished; technologies for textile manufacture and dyeing, porcelain production, smelting, metal casting and shipbuilding made great progress. During this time, land and water transportation was also fairly well developed, and economic and cultural relations with Japan, Korea, India, Persia, Arabia and other countries were extensive. After the Tang Dynasty, there came the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms （907-960）. In 960, General Zhao Kuangyin of the Later Zhou Dynasty rose in mutiny, and founded the Song Dynasty （960-1279）. In 1206, Genghis Khan unified all the tribes in Mongolia and founded the Mongol Khanate. In 1271, his grandson, Kublai Khan, conquered the Central Plain, founded the Yuan Dynasty （1271-1368） and made Dadu （today's Beijing） the capital. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, handicraft industry and domestic and foreign trade boomed. Many merchants and travelers came from abroad. Marco Polo came from Venice and traveled extensively in China, later describing the country's prosperity in his Travels. The "four great inventions" of the Chinese people in ancient times-paper making, printing, the compass and gunpowder-were further developed in the Song and Yuan dynasties, and introduced to foreign countries during this time, making great contributions to world civilization.

In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty （1368-1644） in Nanjing, and reigned as Emperor Taizu. When his son, and successor, Zhu Di, ascended the throne, he started to build the palace, temples, city walls and moat in Beijing. In 1421, he officially made Beijing his capital. In the Ming Dynasty, remarkable progress was made in agricultural production and handicrafts, and toward the end of the dynasty, the rudiments of capitalism appeared. In addition, there were friendly contacts between China and other countries in Asia and Africa.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the Manchus in northeast China grew in strength. Under the leadership of Nurhachi, the Manchus invaded the Central Plain for three generations in succession, and finally founded the Qing Dynasty （1644-1911）. The two most famous emperors of the Qing Dynasty were Emperor Kangxi （r. 1661-1772） and Emperor Qianlong （r. 1735-1796）. The Kangxi and Qianlong reign periods were known as the "times of prosperity". During Qing rule, some novels of high artistic value were created, of which Cao Xueqin's Dream of Red Mansions is the best known. It describes the decline of a prosperous feudal aristocratic family.