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Dynasties in China Early Dwellers in China
As the Western Han Dynasty was later weakened by corruption, Liu Xiu, taking advantage of the strength of peasant uprisers, replaced the Western Han Dynasty with the Eastern Han Dynasty founded in AD25. From this time onward economy, science and culture continued to progress. However, contradictions within the ruling class flared up later and the uprisings of the Yellow Turbans led by Zhang Jiao hastened the disintegration of the Eastern Han Dynasty. There followed tangled warfare among various separatist regimes until three rival kingdoms Wei, Shu Han and Wu, came to the fore. In AD265 Sima Yan, an influential official of the Kingdom of Wei, dethroned its ruler and established the Western Jin Dynasty. He annexed the Kingdom of Wu in 280. So, with the Kingdom of Shu Han toppled by the Kingdom of Wei earlier in 263, the Three Kingdoms came to an end. Soon afterwards, nevertheless, tangled warfare broke out among various
ethnic groups, resulting in the emergence of 16 small kingdoms in northern China
and the downfall of the Western Jin Dynasty. In 317, the year that the Western
Jin Dynasty was brought down, Sima Rui, a member of the royal house, set up the
Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south. The Tang Dynasty witnessed a period of economic and cultural boom in China. At that time China was powerful and ranked among the most advanced countries in the world. Its foreign relations were broader than ever before. It forged friendly ties with Japan, Korea and many countries in West Asia, Europe and Africa, with its capital Chang'an serving as center of cultural exchange between various countries. Economically, agriculture and handicraft in Tang times reached a very high level of technology. Literary and artistic creations flourished. It was in the Tang period that most of the frescos in the Dunhuang Grottos, a world-renowned treasure house of art, were done. A host of noted scientists and men of letters came to the fore, such as the high monk Yi Xing(alias Zhang Sui), an astronomer, and Li Bai and Du Fu, poets. Also accredited to the Tang Dynasty are the inventions of gunpowder, block printing and the astronomical clock, which have substantially contributed to the development of world culture. The rebellion of An Lushan and Shi Siming, generals of the Tang court, marked the beginning of the decline of the Tang Dynasty, which came to an end in 907. In the years that followed, constant strifes plagued the country. In a space
of 50 years five dynasties(Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han and
Later Zhou)rose and fell in the Yellow River Basin. At the same time 10 kingdoms
including Qian Shu, Wu, Min, Wuyue and Chu ruled different areas in the south.
This period has come to be known as the period of Five Dynasties and Ten
Kingdoms. |
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