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中国历史
StarTalk -- 2011
女士们，先生们
大 家 早 上 好！
欢迎光临
中国历史
Chinese History
汉语文化节
StarTalk 2011
女 士 们， 先
生
Ladies and Gentlemen
大 家 早上好
Good morning Everyone!
欢 迎 光 临
Welcome
们
中国历史
StarTalk -- 2011
A Perspective:
What is Chinese History?
David Lux, Dean, College of A&S
I.
The central problems/issues driving Chinese history
II. Timeline for Chinese history
III. Key concepts and turning points in Chinese history
IV. China for “Foreign Devils”
V. How “big” is China?
中国历史
An historiographic and personal note:
“Thus did Europeans use military aggression to
blow a hole in the wall of Chinese seclusion.”
A History of World Civilization, p. 966 (Houghton Mifflin, 1992)
林则徐
Lin Zexu Memorial, Opium War Museum -- Humen Town, Dongguan
中国历史
The historiographic and personal
note continued:
“The Asian World, 500 – 1500 CE
was a place of great empires . . . .
Asian empires tended to promote
linkages and connections to other
kingdoms .”
Stewart Gordon, When Asia was the World, pp. 177-78
( Da Capo Press, 2008)
What’s special about Chinese history?
Why should we care?
• China – Longest “unbroken” history among
world civilizations (at least 5,000 years)
• The “History” for at least 1 in every 5 people
(20%) in the World today (USA = 4.5%)
• China likely to emerge re-emerge with the
world’s largest economy before 2025
(China owned the world’s largest economy during 18 of the past 20 centuries (until
the 1870s ) )
Question:
What drives
Chinese
history?
Answer:
Geography
Climate
Culture
China’s Reality:
-- rich in natural endowments
-- many potential threats
-- few easy paths to exploitation
Endowments
– Two major river systems – the Yellow (黄河 ) in the north
and the Yangtze (长江 ) in the south
– Truly among the world’s best “cradles” for agriculture and
civilization
• North – easy to exploit
– 750 CE - 75% of population
• South – extraordinary fertility possible with intensive agriculture
– 1250 CE– 75% of population
China’s Reality:
-- rich in natural endowments
-- many potential threats
-- few easy paths to exploitation
Limitations and Threats
– Very strong east - west orientation to the rivers
– Flooding extraordinarily destructive in both river
valleys
– Open to raids and incursions along the entire
northern and western frontiers
China’s Realities:
-- Limitations and Threats –
Agriculture
China’s agricultural realities:
• Very little of China’s land mass ( ~ 13%) can actually be
farmed . http://www.worldwatch.org/node/3912
(Per capita: 1/8 USA; ½ India)
• China is feeding 20% of the world population using less
than 10% of the world’s useful agricultural land
• Productivity possible only with with intensive agriculture
(-- flood control, irrigation, and fertilizers)
• The north and south support very different staple crops
China’s Realities:
--central problems/issues -Agriculture
China’s historic responses:
• Highly organized flood control and irrigation projects
• Emphasis on intensive agriculture systems
• Emphasis on crops for human consumption (much less on feed for animals)
• Avoidance of land-extensive agriculture (e.g., not much cattle ranching)
• Emergence of two distinctly different (north/south) agricultural systems
focused on commodity crops
• Strong peri-urban agriculture for high-value foodstuffs
> Very distinctive regional cuisine
China’s Realities:
--central problems/issues
Agriculture, politics, and culture
China’s realities:
• Historically -- prosperity has made China a very tempting
target for invaders
• On its own, the south can support a much larger population
than the north
• Historically, China’s north has carried the heavier load for
defending all of China
• As a “state system” China has proven far stronger with the
north and south linked into an “Empire” – something not at all
typical in the broader history of the world
China’s Realities:
--central problems/issues
Agriculture, politics, and culture
China’s historic responses:
• Enduring focus on agriculture as China’s economic foundation
(currently 35% of China’s workforce employed in agriculture (70% as recently as 1980))
http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=348&catid=9&subcatid=63
• Strongly centralized taxation, political administration, and defense
• Powerful local control over economic activity, public works, and
social organization
• Long history of tension between central authorities and local
officials
• Strong cultural traditions focused on maintaining personal and
local interests against the interests of the central state
Power: Local vs. Central
I went straight to his office.
He was a typical Chinese
police officer . . . .
“In the countryside,” he said,
“the heavens are high and
the emperor is far away.”
China’s Realities:
-- where can we actually see results of the interactions
between Chinese geography (agriculture), politics, and
culture?
Massive Projects:
The Great Wall -- 长城
• Protection of the northern frontier from
the nomadic tribes of the Asian plains
•
Actually, many walls built from the 5th
century BCE to the 17th century C.E.
•
The wall we see today was built during
the Ming Dynasty -- between 1368 and
1644
•
The Ming wall extended more than
4,000 miles and required 1,000,000
soldiers for the garrison
•
Somewhere between 2 and 3 million
workers died building the Ming wall
China’s Realities:
-- The Great Wall -- 长城
Protection for the Yellow River and Beijing
China’s Realities:
-- The Great Wall -- 长城
长安 Chang’an (or Xi’an) and 中国
Why is China the Middle Kingdom?
Capital for thirteen
dynasties
1121 BCE –
907 CE
Over 2,000 years
– cf. Beijing
750 years
长安 and 中国
Why is China the Middle Kingdom?
长安 and 中国
Why is China the Middle Kingdom?
China’s Realities:
-- The Grand Canal 大运河
Connecting the south and the north
• Hangzhou to Beijing
•
First sections built in the 5th century BCE
•
Connected the Yellow River and the
Yangtze under the Sui Dynasty, 581 –
618
•
Pound locks installed in the Song (10th
century)
•
Completely rebuilt and modernized
under the Ming Dynasty -- between
1411 and 1415
•
Ming: 165,000 workers completed the
renovations and extended the canal to
a length of 1114 miles
长安 and 中国
Why is China the Middle Kingdom?
Capital for thirteen
dynasties
1121 BCE –
907 CE
Over 2,000 years
– Cf. Beijing
750 years
长安 and 中国
Middle Kingdom and the World
China’s Dynasties
Capitals in the 中国 (Chang’an) Region
• 3 Sovereigns and 5 emperors
• Xia -- c. 2100 - 1600 BCE
• Shang – 1600 - 1046 BCE
• Zhou – 1046 -221 BCE
• Qin – 221 - 206 BCE
• Early Han -- 206 BCE - 9 CE
• Xin – 9 - 24 CE
• Later Han – 25 - 220 CE
• Three Kingdoms – 220 - 280 CE
• Sui – 589 - 618 CE
• Tang – 618 - 907 CE
• Song – 969 - 1279 CE
Beijing as Capital
• Yuan –1279 - 1368 CE
• Ming – 1368 - 1644 CE
• Qing --1644 - 1912 CE
China’s Realities:
Forbidden City -- Beijing
紫禁城
• Beijing established as the
Ming capital in 1403
• New imperial palace built on
the site of the earlier Yuan
palace
• Construction began in 1406 –
15 years, 1 million workers
– 980 buildings; 8707 rooms; 177
acres
China’s Realities:
Intensive Agriculture
•
•
•
•
Irrigation
Flood Control
Terraces
Heavy use of
fertilizer
• Peri-urban
agriculture
China’s Realities:
Highway Transportation
http://www.china-tour.cn/China-Maps/
China’s Realities:
Rail Transportation
http://www.china-tour.cn/China-Maps/
China’s Realities:
Intensive Agriculture
Dujiang Yan
都江堰
Min River, Sichuan Province
• Irrigation and Flood
Control
• Begun in 256 BCE, 20
years to complete
• Irrigation for 1.3 million
acres of crops
China’s Realities:
Intensive Agriculture
Dujiang Yan
都江堰
China’s Realities:
Pre-Han Hydraulic
Engineering
Zhengguo Canal
Irrigation north of Xi’an
郑国渠
Lingqu Canal
灵渠
Connecting the Yangtze with the
Pearl,
late 3rd BCE, 22 miles
China’s Realities:
Guanxi Province
Intensive Agriculture
Terracing
Yunnan Province
Guanxi Province
China’s Realities:
Think about it: Recent Projects
Three Gorges Dam, Hubei Province
Beijing National Stadium
Design by Ai Weiwei
Quick Timeline for Chinese History
Five Primary periods:
I. Paleolithic and Neolithic in China
–
–
–
Homo erectus and fire use 1.2 million years ago
pottery 20,000 years ago
Agriculture in the Yellow River Valley c. 7,000 BCE, metal working, arts,
and religious materials
II. Historical China, 1600 BCE – Shang Dynasty
III. Imperial China, 221 BCE – Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan,
Ming, and Qing Dynasties
IV. Modern China:
–
–
–
V.
1839 – First Opium War
1912 – Republic of China
1949 – People’s Republic of China
Post-Colonial China, 1950 - 2011
天命 -- Mandate of Heaven –
Key Concept for Chinese Culture and
Civilization
A very particular kind of cyclical history –
The right to rule is a gift of heaven – Revocable!
–
–
–
–
First use: Zhou Dynasty, 1122 – 256 BCE
Effective rule validates the ruler
Rulers must provide just rule and reasonable prosperity
Revocable: Natural disasters, invasion, famine, insurrection
may justify rebellion and the emergence of a new dynasty
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36610547/ns/world_news-asia-pacific/
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2008/05/14/uk-quake-premier-idUKPEK20190120080514
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=2158fc1c-c83b-44b1-a6d6b1e4505e0e2e
China’s Dynasties
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
3 Sovereigns and 5 emperors
Xia -- c. 2100 - 1600 BCE
Shang – 1600 - 1046 BCE
Zhou – 1046 -221 BCE
Qin – 221 - 206 BCE
Early Han -- 206 BCE - 9 CE
Xin – 9 - 24 CE
Later Han – 25 - 220 CE
Three Kingdoms – 220 - 280 CE
Sui – 589 - 618 CE
Tang – 618 - 907 CE
Song – 969 - 1279 CE
Yuan –1279 - 1368 CE
Ming – 1368 - 1644 CE
Qing --1644 - 1912 CE
Some key Events in the Development of
Chinese Culture and Civilization
• 3000 BCE – Silk fabrics
• 2600 BCE – Tea cultivation?
• ca. 1600 - 1300 BCE – Oracle bones, Chinese writing system
firmly established
• 1122 BCE – “Mandate of Heaven”
• 6th – 4th centuries BCE – Chinese philosophy
– Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism
• 221 BCE – Qin Dynasty (秦始皇 -- Qin Shi Huang)
– Centralized, authoritarian empire, standardized coinage, writing,
Legalism, extensive (and expensive) road network
– Terracotta warriors and the “first” Great Wall
– Repression of Confucianism
– “National” transportation network
Some key Events in the Development of
Chinese Culture and Civilization
• 206 - 221 CE – Han Dynasty
– Re-establishment of Confucianism, introduction of Buddhism
to China, opening of the Silk Road
• 220 – 280 CE – Three Kingdoms
– Bloody. Technological development. Emergence of clearly
defined regional market systems and transportation
infrastructure.
• 581 - 618 CE – Sui Dynasty
– Completion of the Grand Canal, reconstruction of the Great
Wall
Some key Events in the Development of
Chinese Culture and Civilization
• 618 - 907 – Tang Dynasty
– High culture: Poetry and tea culture, westward expansion along the silk road
• 920 – 1279 – Song Dynasty
– Paper money, gunpowder, compass, standing navy, emergence of a bureaucratic elite
• 1271 - 1368 – Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty
– Capital established in Beijing
• 1368 -1644 – Ming Dynasty
– Re-establishment of Han rule
– Major agricultural revolution based on the introduction of Champa rice, planting
of more than 1 billion trees between 1368 and 1398
– Seven voyages of Zeng He 郑和
– Reconstruction of the Great Wall, standing army of 1 million
– First contacts with ocean-borne Europeans
Some key Events in the Development of
Chinese Culture and Civilization
• 1644 - 1911 – Qing Dynasty (Manchu)
– Second non-Han dynasty, very concerned to maintain the Mandate of
Heaven
• Later Qing: Ruthless suppression of dissent; arrogant dismissal of
Europeans and the significance of trans-oceanic European contacts
– The Opium Wars, 1839-1842 and 1856-1860
• The British deal: Opium for tea, silk, and porcelain
• Lin Zexu ( 林则徐 ) and the first Opium War. Local governor dismissed
for enforcing Chinese law.
• Treaties of Nanking and Tianjin – the Unequal Treaties
– Hong Kong to Britain, treaty ports, extraterritoriality, reparations,
missionaries, gunboats
• Most Chinese take the Opium Wars – rather than the fall of the Qing -as the beginning of modern Chinese history
Some key Events in the Development of
Chinese Culture and Civilization
• The Opium Wars and the Unequal Treaties (1839 – 1842 and 1856 -1860)–
The Chinese view:
– Qing (Manchu foreigners) betrayed Chinese (Han) patriots
– The treaties of Nanking and Tianjin opened the door to a century of colonial
exploitation and cowardly cooperation with foreign exploitation. Colonial
oppression only ended in 1949/50 with the Communist “liberation” (Mao
Zedong) in the victory over the Nationalists (Chiang Kai-Shek). Liberation Day –
October 1
• Taiping Civil War (1850 – 1864), the bloodiest civil war in history, between 20
and 30 million dead.
(France and England sent troops to help suppress the Taiping rebels.)
• 1900 – Boxer Rebellion, anti-foreign uprising
• 1911 – End of the Qing Dynasty with the abdication of the “Last Emperor.”
Some key Events in the Development of
Chinese Culture
• 1912 – Establishment of the Republic of China under the leadership of Dr. Sun
Yat-sen (d. 1925) and the Kuomintang Party
• 1927 – Communist Party launched Chinese Civil war to unseat the
Kuomintang
• 1949 – Kuomintang faction retreated to Taiwan following the victory of the
Communists in the Chinese Civil War, 1927-50
• 1958-1960 – “The Great Leap Forward”
– Radical social and economic reforms fail, leading to widespread famine and the
deaths of millions
• 1966 – Mao Zedong launched the “Cultural Revolution” to rid China of
corrupting influences of the “liberal bourgeoisie”
• 1976 – Death of Mao Zedong and the arrest of the “Gang of Four”
Some key Events in the Development of
Chinese Culture
• 1982 – Constitutional reforms promote “market socialism”
• 1989 – Student protests in Tiananmen Square lead to brutal repression of
calls for greater freedom and democracy
• 1997 – China regains sovereignty over Hong Kong
• 2008 – Beijing Olympics
• 2008 – Completion of the Three Gorges Dam
• 2010 – Shanghai Expo
• 2011 – April 3, artist Ai Weiwei arrested in the aftershocks of the Jasmine
Revolutions. Released June 23.
– http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/apr/03/ai-weiwei-detained-chinese-police
– http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/world/asia/24china.html
– http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ai-weiwei-still-under-investigation-chinese-governmentsays/2011/06/23/AGjwRLhH_story.html
What “Foreign Devil’s” Might Want to
Know about Chinese Culture
• 3rd Session of the World Confucian Conference
Richard Todd, The Thing Itself
QuFu: Home of Confucius
Blog: http://www.bryant.edu/wps/wcm/connect/Bryant/Divisions/Presidents/USChina%20Institute/Academics/China%20Blog
What Do the Chinese Say?
• Chinese history is deep
– At least 5,000 years of
unbroken civilization
– At least 3,500 years of
very strong written
documentation
– Loose dividing lines
mark the boundaries
the written history, the
legends, and the myths
What Do the Chinese Say?
• Chinese history and culture
exist as two sides of the
same surface
Rob Gifford, China Road,
Chapter 20: “The Great Wall
of the Mind”
What Do the Chinese Say?
• The Chinese are masters of
performance, presentation,
and illusion. They can
make you see anything
they want you to see.
– Face Changing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep3jRiIST
O0
– Chinese J-10 and Top Gun
Also – China’s newest museum
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/world/asi
a/04museum.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper
The Importance of Face
面子
• What does face provide
– Markers of social and
economic status
– Marker for prestige,
respectability, dignity, honor
– Conflict resolution
– Social regulator
面子
Face?
碰磁
• Officially: 450,000
automobile accidents
annually in China
• 100,000 deaths (official)
• Un-official estimate:
250,000 killed annually
(WHO)
• Pengci: intentional
“accident” with a demand
for immediate damages
http://beijing.uwwy.com/Beijin
g-News/104.html
(Pengci)
Face?
天堂蒜薹之歌
The Garlic Ballads: a Novel by Mo Yan
1987 Rural Riot in “Paradise County”
What does “face” do?
• Provokes the Riot
• Keep lovers apart
• Innocents go to jail
• Destruction of three families
• Hides bureaucratic sloth and
malfeasance
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/12/books/books-of-thetimes-a-rural-chinese-catch-22-you-can-almost-smell.html
Face?
美女经济: The Beauty Economy
Seven years from
Wu Wei
to
Wang Bei
Wu Wei
2003 appearance as a Miss Universe
contestant marked the “official”
launch of the Chinese beauty
economy
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubme
d/21114079
Face?
美女经济: The Beauty Economy
Wang Bei
Chinese Pop Star-Her death in November 2010 has
let to public questioning of the
beauty economy –
Plastic surgeries officially banned
until the 1980s
Now: 3,000,000 plastic surgeries
annually
16 million jobs
http://asiasociety.org/blog/reasia
/death-wang-bei-and-chinasrisky-plastic-surgery-craze
Face? -- New Roles for Women
Single Mothers:
NYT : Howard W. French, “Single
Mothers in China Forge a Difficult
Path,” April 6, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/world/a
sia/06china.html
Ernai – “Second Wife”
(Concubine)
The Times & The Sunday Times: Rachel
DeWoskin, “Wife Sentence,” 0ctober 22,
2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_sty
le/article604618.ece?token=null&offset=0
&page=1
Selective Abortion – Mara
Hvinstendahl’s Unnatural
Selection
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/06/arewestern-governments-blame-asias-shortagewomen/38978/
China
USA
World Total
Population
(Millions)
1,330 million
#1
310 million
#3
6,768 million
Population
Growth
0.49%
# 153
0.97%
# 121
(Off. Exchange)
$ 9.9 trillion
#3
( $ 5.88 trillion )
$ 14.7 trillion
#2
( 14.6 trillion)
GDP per capita
PPP
$7,400
# 127
$47,400
# 10
43%
82%
50.5%
#1
819.5 million
Ag. 39.5%
Ind. 27.2%
Serv. 33.2%
389 Million
#1
9,596,960
#4
#4
153.9 million
Ag. 0.7%
Ind. 20.3%
Serv. 78.9%
245 million
#3
9,826,630
#3
3,184 million
Life Expectancy
74.51
# 108
78.24
#49
66.12 yrs.
89.78
Monaco
38.48
Angola
Birth Rate per
thousand
14.0
# 151
13.83
# 154
19.9 / thousand
51.6 / thousand
Niger
7.42
Hong Kong (# 223)
Death Rate per
Thousand
7.06
# 129
8.38
# 99
8.37 / thousand
24.08
Angola
2.11
United Arab Emirates
GDP PPP
Urbanization
Workforce
Internet Users
Land Area
(sq km)
World’s “Highest”
“Lowest”
China
48
Pitcairn Islands
1.13%
#111
Niger
3.66%
N. Marian Islands
-5.57%
$ 74.4 trillion
$ 14.9 trillion
European Union
$1.5 Million
Tokelau
$145,400
Qatar
$300
Congo (# 229)
( $62.2 trillion )
Ag. 37.5%
Ind. 22.1%
Serv. 40.4%
1,604 million
148,429,000
China
China
17,075,200
(Russia)
Source: CIA, The World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
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