History of China. How the Europeans came to the middle state Who was the first to reach China from among the Europeans
Great discoveries on EarthContent
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Who Invented the Compass? 1
What was the first Viking settlement? 1
Who were the first Arab travelers? 2
What was the knowledge of the Europeans in comparison with the knowledge of the Arabs? 2
Who was the first to visit China? 2
Were the Polos the first Europeans to reach China? 2
How did people find out about Marco's adventures? 2
When was the great era of travel? 2
Which state opened the great era of travel? 2
Who sailed first around the southern tip of Africa? 3
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Which European reached India by sea? 3
What were the busiest years of the great era of travel? 3
Who discovered America? 3
Where did the name "America" come from? 3
Where did Columbus think he was going? 3
Did Columbus really set foot on mainland America? 3
Were the Polos the first Europeans to reach China?
How did people find out about Marco's adventures?
Who Invented the Compass?
The Chinese invented the compass about 4 thousand years ago. However, Europeans began to use it about a thousand years ago.
What was the first Viking settlement?
The Vikings discovered Iceland for the first time in 860 when groups of travelers went astray. Irish monks, however, had been there 65 years earlier. Scandinavia, where the Vikings were from, was very harsh on Earth.
Who were the first Arab travelers?
The Arabs have played an important role in travel history. In the VI-VII centuries. They conquered a vast territory, spreading their scientific knowledge and their religion is Islam.
What was the knowledge of the Europeans in comparison with the knowledge of the Arabs?
Europeans knew much less in areas of science, such as mathematics and geography, than the Arabs at the time. Their worldview was based on Christian beliefs. On European maps, the Earth was depicted as a circle with Jerusalem in the center.
Who was the first to visit China?
China, located on Far East was a hard-to-reach place. In 1271, Mark Polo, the son of a merchant from Venice (Italy), reached Beijing with his father and uncle and spent many years in the company of the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan (in Russian transcription - Khubilai).
Were the Polos the first Europeans to reach China?
No. The road known as the Silk Road, which ran westward from China, had been used by merchants since 500 BC, but the Polos were the first Europeans to travel far and wide and have contact with Chinese rulers.
How did people find out about Marco's adventures?
On his return home in 1295, war broke out between the Venetians and the Genoese, and he was imprisoned. While in prison, Marco dictated his story to another prisoner. Many did not believe what was written in his book. It talked about oil and coal exploration, magnificent palaces, elephant parades, 100,000 white horses donated to Kublai Khan and amazing precious stones that clearly exceeded the imagination of the Venetian citizens.
When was the great era of travel?
XV-XVI centuries often referred to as the great era of travel, because many discoveries were made at that time. Sea routes to the East were laid; uncharted lands were explored, such as America, the West Indies and the Pacific Islands.
Which state opened the great era of travel?
Portugal, at the beginning of the 15th century. The sails of ships sailing from the port of Lisbon sailed south until the winds turned east. The caravels were not large - about 24 meters long.
Who sailed first around the southern tip of Africa?
Portuguese captain Bartolomeo Diaz, in 1487.
He had two caravels and a large cargo ship. He rounded the Cape of Good Hope, but the team refused to go further.
Which European reached India by sea?
The Portuguese navigator Vasca da Gama lost two ships and half of his men, but returned to Portugal with a cargo of spices and jewelry taken from India.
What were the busiest years of the great era of travel?
Most of the discoveries were made in an incredibly short time - 34 years:
1487 Diaz bypassed Africa from the south.
1492 Columbus reaches the West Indies.
1497 The English explorer John Cabat reached Newfoundland, beyond North America.
1498 Do Gama reached India by sea.
1519-1521 Magellan sailed in the Pacific Ocean.
Who discovered America?
In 1492, Christopher Columbus traveled from Spain across the Atlantic to the West Indies and discovered a New World that the Europeans did not know existed. But people lived in America for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived there.
Where did the name "America" come from?
It comes from the name of Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian adventurer who stated that he reached the continent of America in 1497, but this is highly doubtful.
Where did Columbus think he was going?
Columbus believed he was sailing to China. When he got to the West Indies, he insisted that they were islands beyond China.
Did Columbus really set foot on mainland America?
No. He landed first in the West Indies. Later he made three more voyages to the shores of the West Indies. The third time he made it to Panama, Central America, but never landed on mainland North America.
In 1515. in the harbor of Tamao off the coast of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, near the city of Guangzhou (Canton), the ship of the Portuguese captain Georges Alvares anchored. The newcomers behaved decisively and, not bothering with doubts about the ownership of this land, they erected here a pillar with the Portuguese coat of arms, which could be interpreted as a claim to the subordination of these lands to the Portuguese crown. J. Alvares sailed here from the port of Malacca, which shortly before that, in 1511, was captured by the Portuguese, becoming a strong point for further consolidating their positions in the Far East. Obviously, J. Alvaresh had only to find out what lands lie to the east and northeast of Malacca, and had no premeditated intention to go exactly to China. As can be assumed, he did not seek contacts with the local authorities, so his visit is not recorded in the Chinese chronicles.
Apparently, for the same reasons, the arrival of the ship Rafael Perestrelllo, an Italian in Portuguese service, was not reflected in official documents a year later. In 1517, a whole flotilla approached Tamao: 5 Portuguese ships and 4 Malacca ships under the command of Fernao d "Andrade. This time the Portuguese intended to join official relations with the Chinese authorities, which, of course, was recorded by Chinese sources. The Chinese called the Portuguese "Fulanji", which is a transcription of the word "Franks", which was used to refer to Europeans long before the described time. However, the Chinese did not have a clear idea of where they came from. The annals note that the Portuguese live somewhere near Malacca, that they captured this city, expelling the local ruler, and that only after the arrival of the ships of F. d'Andrade it became known about them in China.
But the Portuguese were not the first Europeans to sail to the shores of China. The links between the Far Eastern, Chinese civilization and the Mediterranean world had by that time more than one and a half thousand years of history.
The earliest information about the appearance of people from the Roman world in China can be considered the report of the arrival of jugglers from Lycia to the imperial court in about 100 BC. A mutual search for direct contacts was undertaken at the turn of the 1st-2nd centuries. In AD 98 the envoy of the Chinese commander Ban Chao, who came with an army to Central Asia, went to the state of Daqin - the Roman Empire. But deliberately led astray by the Parthians, who were interested in intermediary trade between the West and the East, he only reached the Euphrates River. In turn, in the writings of the ancient geographers Marina of Tire and Ptolemy there are records about the Macedonian merchant Mesa Tatsian, whose assistants knew the land roads to China and maintained contacts with the Chinese who came to Central Asia in about 100-105. In the ancient world, the Chinese were called "sera" (from the Roman name for the silk cocoon). In other words, the Chinese have been known since ancient times in the Mediterranean as producers and suppliers of silk. The first mention of this hitherto unknown material appears in Roman records in 64 BC. - about 50 years after the Great Silk Road was discovered.
In 120 AD, musicians and circus magicians from the country Daqin reappeared at the Chinese court, arriving via India, Burma and Southwest China. This trade route was also known in antiquity, but it functioned less intensively than the Silk one, due to the rugged mountain ranges. These people most likely came from the Middle East, which was then part of the Roman Empire. The name Daqin was originally associated in China with this particular region, since there was still no detailed idea of the composition and size of the Roman Empire here. This knowledge was replenished when in 166 a man appeared off the coast of China, who came by sea through Vietnam, his name was not preserved. In Chinese sources, he was called the first ambassador from the Daqin country. Undoubtedly, it was a Roman citizen who named his sovereign Antoninus, i.e. Marcus Aurelius. Most likely, it was a merchant from the eastern Roman provinces, mistaken in China for an ambassador, since in Roman documents there is no information about the equipment of the embassy to the Far East, and the "tribute" that he, as expected, the ambassador presented to the Chinese court consisted of goods purchased from the countries of the South Seas, but not brought from Rome.
In 226, when China was split into several states, a man from Daqin arrived to the ruler of the southeastern kingdom of Wu, who was also received as an ambassador, although he was not. Sovereign Wu sent 20 dwarfs with him as a gift to the Roman emperor. The first Roman embassy mission visited China in 284. It was headed by some Garkali and Theodore from Byzantium, and it was sent by the Roman emperor Probus (276-282). There is indirect evidence that after the split of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern (Byzantium) the latter more than once, although not often, sent its embassies to China. But there is no more accurate information about them in either Byzantine or Chinese sources.
In 636, a Nestorian monk Ruben (or Rabban) came to China from Byzantine Syria, who was favorably received at the imperial court. Soon, a community professing the Nestorian version of Christianity was formed in China, which existed here until 845. At the end of the 7th-9th centuries, during the Tang Empire, which significantly expanded its western borders, China's ties with the Eastern Mediterranean - Byzantium, the Arab and Christian Middle East - became more intense. They develop both along the Great Silk Road and along the sea - from the southeastern shores of China to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. But since these were mainly private trade contacts, they did not receive a detailed description in official sources. There are only records of a visit to China by a Christian monk (name has not survived) in 980.
The interest of medieval Europe in China was established in connection with the emergence in Asia of the vast Mongol Empire, which posed a serious threat to European countries... In the middle of the XIII century. the papal throne and the kings are sent to the headquarters of the Great Mongol Khan, who by that time owned the northern half of China, a number of missions: Plano Carpini (1246), André Longjumeau (1249-1251), Willem Rubruck (1253-1255). But they all visited only the headquarters of the khan - Karakorum in Mongolia - and did not go directly to China. Nevertheless, the notes they left contain information about the Chinese. During the reign of the Mongol conquerors, they visited the Chinese borders in 1269. Venetian merchants - brothers Niccolo and Matteo (Maffeo) Polo. In 1271-1292 they visited again here together with the son of Niccolo - Marco Polo, who became famous thanks to his book about this journey. This time they arrived in China as officials - messengers of the Roman Pope and were received at the court of the Great Khan, which had moved to Beijing (Khanbalik) by that time. Marco Polo, carrying out official assignments of the Mongolian court, had the opportunity to travel around many Chinese cities and villages. He described all this in detail in his "Book", enriching the Europeans with detailed and rather accurate information about China.
Following Polo in 1293, the Pope's envoy, Franciscan prelate Giovanni Montecorvino, arrived in China, who lived here until his death in 1328. He can be considered the first missionary to spread the Roman Catholic faith in China. Together with his assistants and associates - Pietro from Lukalongo, Arnold from Cologne and a certain surgeon from Lombardy - he built a Christian temple in Beijing, christened about 5 thousand Chinese, including the Mongol khan himself and at the same time the Chinese emperor Wu-tsong. It must, of course, be borne in mind that with the traditional syncretism of the Chinese, their conversion to Christianity did not entail a rejection of other customary and primordial beliefs and rituals. But active missionary activity served to bring the Far Eastern and Mediterranean cultures closer together.
In 1307, the Pope appointed D. Montecorvino "Archbishop of all China" with residence in Beijing, intending to create seven or ten episcopates. For this, the papal throne sent a group of its representatives to China, but only three of them reached here. All of them consistently occupied the episcopal see in the only episcopate besides Beijing, Quanzhou (a major port city of that time). The name of only one of them is known - Andrea from Perugia. Through the efforts of D. Montecorvino in China at the beginning of the XIV century. several Franciscan monasteries were founded: three in Beijing and one each in Quanzhou, Hangzhou and Yangzhou. There is a brief mention of the fact that D. Montecorvino managed to maintain contact with Italy through the Venetian merchants who arrived in China through Kafa (Feodosia). This suggests that Marco Polo's fellow countrymen continued to appear in China from time to time.
In the 20s of the XIV century. in China there was another Franciscan missionary, Odorico Mattiussi of Pordenone. He, like Marco Polo, described his journey to China, as well as to Tibet, where he was apparently the first of the Europeans. He refers to “many people in Venice” who can confirm the truth of his stories. In the 30s in China there was a certain "Frank Andrew", which in 1338. at the behest of the Great Khan headed the Mongolian embassy to the papal court. In response, the Pope sent a 32-member mission to Beijing led by the Franciscan Giovanni Marignoli, who lived there from about 1342 to 1346 and witnessed the existence of a magnificent episcopal residence and many churches in the capital.
Subsequently, the intensity of missionary activity in China declines markedly. Attempts to appoint a successor to Marignoli were unsuccessful. The latter was undertaken in 1370, when the Pope's messenger Guillaume Dupre, along with twenty companions, disappeared on the way to Beijing. There is, however, a mention that at the end of the XIV century. the archbishop throne there was occupied by the Franciscan Charles, a French national, who did much to spread Christianity in China. However, he left no successors, and in 1384 the Pope announced the abolition of the episcopate in Beijing.
The main reason for the termination of such intensively developing ties, European historians traditionally call the reluctance of the emperors of the Ming dynasty, which was established in China in 1368, to maintain contacts with distant foreigners. However, the point here, of course, is not the reluctance of the Chinese authorities. The fall of the Yuan Empire finally removed the threat of a Mongol invasion of Europe, which the papal throne and many royal courts of Western countries feared so much. Hence the sharp drop in the interest of the European political circles themselves in permanent ties with China. Moreover, in the second half of the XIV century. in the Middle East, the Turkish power is rapidly growing, which is becoming an immediate threat to the Europeans. It blocks the most developed overland route from Europe to the Far East. The last of the Europeans to visit China before the Portuguese arrived was the Venetian merchant Niccolo Conti, who traveled in the East on his own initiative between 1419 and 1444. and made it to Nanjing.
Over a hundred-year pause, an information vacuum regarding China has re-emerged in Western countries, and there, in turn, ideas about Europeans have faded. It is not surprising that Columbus and his companions went to search for Atlantic Ocean primarily India, not located eastern China. It is also not surprising that ignorance, which, as noted above, was shown by the Chinese when Portuguese ships appeared off their coast. China was, as it were, rediscovered by the Europeans. At the same time, these "new" Europeans had completely different goals than their predecessors who visited China. They were not travelers, itinerant merchants, or Christian missionaries. These were enterprising seekers of the wealth of the East and conquistadors who tried to consolidate their positions there.
Chinese Official Doctrine of Maintenance external relations implied the strict recognition by all foreigners of the a priori suzerainty of the emperor over all other peoples and sovereigns. Therefore, the gifts brought by F. d "Andrade - a common occurrence in the ambassadorial relations of that time - were interpreted in Chinese documents and chronicles as a tribute to the Chinese court, and the goals of the embassy were interpreted as a desire to seek gracious recognition from the high throne. "Local goods" brought in by the Portuguese and send them back themselves, but the purpose of the F. d "Andrade embassy was to get in touch directly with the central government. Therefore, as noted in the Chinese chronicles, "those people stayed [in China] for a long time and did not leave." Moreover, it was reported that the Portuguese "robbed passers-by and even grabbed and ate small children."
The Portuguese were really in no hurry to leave the coast of China, looking for a place for their trading post. To this end, F. d "Andrade sent one of his ships on exploration along the southeastern coast of the country. He also managed to negotiate with the authorities of Guangdong on the right to trade in Tamao and directly in the main seaport in southern China - Guangzhou (Canton). Leaving, F. d "Andrade left the mission headed by Tome Piresh, who was entrusted with the task of getting to the Supreme Court by all means. Circumstances favored this. The emperor at that time undertook a journey to his southeastern limits. By bribery T. Pires received permission to be admitted to the monarch. The ambassador had every chance of achieving his goal, but the Portuguese prevented themselves.
In 1518, the ships of Simao d "Andrade, the brother of the aforementioned Fernao, approached the shores of Guangdong. His people behaved like masters here, disregarding the local authorities. As the Chinese chronicles report, the newcomers" began to rob even more merchants and good people, build houses and to build fortifications, intending to settle here for a long time. "This, of course, angered the Chinese. The Emperor was reminded that the Sultan of Malacca, who expressed loyal feelings to him, was expelled by the Portuguese from the throne, for which they must be held accountable before China. As a result, the imperial decree prescribed the Portuguese return Malacca to its rightful owner, and the embassy of Piresh was sent away from the court.The fate of the ambassador and the people accompanying him is not known: according to some sources, they were seized and executed in Guangdong, according to others, they were imprisoned.
The conflict with the Portuguese almost coincided with the aggravation of the struggle against the so-called Japanese pirates off the coast of China. All this prompted the Chinese authorities to again tighten restrictions on private trade relations with overseas countries. But local authorities, who directly benefited from maritime trade, pushed for a relaxation of the ban. By the end of the 20s of the XVI century. the severity was relaxed for everyone except the Portuguese, who, in their behavior, were sharply different from all foreigners known in China. Nevertheless, they also had defenders among the local authorities. In particular, in the late 1920s, the military governor of the southern provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi Lin Fu submitted a lengthy report, where he argued the advantages of legalizing trade with the Portuguese. The central courtyard agreed with his arguments. As the Chinese chronicles write, "from that time on, the Portuguese were allowed to enter the Xiangshaniao (Macau) harbor to conduct trade, and their people, together with Vietnamese merchants, continuously went to the Fujian province and back." In 1535, the local Office of Merchant Ships was transferred to the town of Haojing, near Macau, which regulated trade with foreigners. Two years later, the Portuguese managed to get a place for "drying goods" in the Macau region, and, taking advantage of this, they built their warehouses here.
After a short-term tightening of the "maritime ban" in 1547-1549. the Portuguese, as the chronicles report, again “began to be headstrong on the seas without any fear, and their merchants even began to build buildings and erect walls in Xiangshanyao and Haojing, to establish themselves by force on the seashore, like special state". In 1554. Commodore Lionel de Souza managed to obtain official permission from the Chinese authorities for the delivery of Portuguese goods directly to Guangzhou, subject to the regular payment of trade duties, as well as for the construction of a settlement in the Macau region. In 1557, through bribery, the Portuguese secured the territory of Macau and in the following years erected here a European-style city with houses, palaces, churches, warehouses and fortress walls. This is how the first colonial enclave on Chinese soil arose.
However, the Chinese central government for a long time preferred not to notice this fact (the first admissions of the existing situation appeared in Chinese documents only in 1614). The fees, which were agreed to be paid by the Portuguese, were still interpreted as “tribute”. Until 1572, this "tribute" settled in the pockets of the local Kwangtung authorities, but then began to go to the capital. In 1588, its size was established - 501 liang silver (1 liang - about 37 g). In the early 80s of the XVI century. The Portuguese, again with the help of such a well-tested means as a bribe, obtained from the Kwangtung authorities the right to organize "self-government" in Macau. A city governor and a six-member Senate appeared in the city. True, at the same time there was still a post of governor of the city on behalf of the Chinese emperor, but after 1587 his functions became purely formal. Attempts by the Portuguese to enter into direct contact with the imperial court still failed. The embassy in 1552 did not reach the shores of China at all. A petition to the Chinese court in 1562 to allow missionary activity in the country was also unsuccessful. Then the Portuguese went for a trick, sending their embassy under the guise of Malaccan. However, it was also solved by the Chinese and failed.
As far as trade is concerned, by gaining a foothold in Macau, the Portuguese achieved what they wanted. The Chinese chronicles laconically say: “When foreigners built a city here, various overseas foreigners began to gather here, who conducted extensive trade here, and their number reached more than ten thousand people, and local (Chinese) officials were all frightened and did not dare nothing to say, making big profits from their valuable commodities. "
Other European powers followed the Portuguese to the shores of China. In 1581, an Italian, Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit, arrived in Guangzhou to revive Catholic missionary activity here. Behind him at the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries. other Christian preachers arrive. However, the Europeans came here not only with a cross, but also with a sword. In 1572 the Spaniards, having established themselves in the Philippines, tried to establish official ties with China as ambassadors from Fr. Luzon. They carried out a massacre on the island of Chinese settlers - rivals of Spain in the Philippines, killing 20 thousand people. Since then, as the chroniclers report, the Spaniards "completely seized the benefits of sea trade from the hands of Fujian and Kwangtung merchants." In 1575. An official Spanish embassy mission, led by Martin de Rada, arrived in China to settle the consequences of the expulsion of Chinese colonists from the Philippines in 1574. This succeeded, after which the usual trade relations with China were established for foreigners.
In 1595-1596. in the Far East appeared the Dutch, nicknamed by the Chinese "red-haired barbarians." They gained a foothold in Java, and then gradually captured Fr. Taiwan. Founded in 1602, the Dutch East India Company competed with the Portuguese for trade gains and colonial acquisitions. Later, the British joined this struggle. But this is already another page in world and Chinese history.
However, the new "discovery" of China by the Europeans led not only to the intensification of trade and colonial invasions or missionary activities, but also to the expansion of knowledge about this country among the Europeans. In 1585, the Spaniard Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza published Europe's first consolidated work on China, entitled "The History of the Great and Powerful Kingdom of China." It is based on the records of earlier Portuguese travelers, traders and diplomats. It was this work, together with the famous "Book" by Marco Polo, that created the image of China among many generations of Europeans at the end of the 16th - 18th centuries.
The list of world famous travelers of all times and peoples opens with the name of the largest merchant from ancient Venice - Marco Polo. The well-known era of the Great Geographical Discoveries takes its origins from his research. Marco Polo was the very first European of the late 13th century to make a trip to the East, where he spent a long time and collected an incredible amount of new and interesting information for Europe. He pioneered important trade routes. The renowned explorer spent many years at the Khan's courtyard in Mongolia and China, visited Japan, Southeast Asia and Persia. The result of his wanderings was the popular "Book of Wonders of the World". Despite the skepticism that emerged after the publication of the manuscript, Marco's research is a valuable source of geography and ethnography in many Middle Ages countries.
Historical reference
The largest European traveler before the era of the Great Discoveries, Marco Polo was born in 1254. There are two versions regarding the place of his birth: some scientists believe that he was born in the large commercial city of Venice. Croatian historians claim that the birthplace was the island of Korčula (Dalmatian Islands). The father of the world famous merchant - Nicolo and his uncle - Mattheo were Italian merchants and for many years traded with the states of the East. They mastered the lands from the Black Sea to the Volga. Medieval trading affected the future discoveries of the young explorer, because to trade in goods, he had to travel to different continents. Nikolo, after traveling to the lands of modern Uzbekistan and Mongolia in order to conclude a diplomatic union, told his son about the huge and little-known lands inhabiting the planet, which are rich in useful goods. These amazing stories from childhood inspired the young writer to the greatest feats.
1271 to 1292 the sailor at the age of 17 made his first voyage to China, the basis of which was a commercial orientation. The life of foreign merchants was extremely successful: Kublai Khan instructed the clever Marco to conduct diplomatic work. After, he made his henchman the governor of the Chinese city, where he spent 3 years. Thanks to the instructions of the Mongol Khan, the foreigner Marco Polo managed to travel around the entire "Celestial Empire" and get acquainted with its history and culture. He was struck by the history of the Great Wall of China, stories about the creation of chopsticks, the origins of the tea tradition and Chinese porcelain. He lived in the land of silk for about 16 years.
In 1292 Marco returned to Italy. During the Venetian War, Polo was captured by the Genoese. In prison, a lucky chance brings him to the writer of novels about the world of kings - Rustichan. The traveler decides to tell about his adventures in Asia, what impressions he received. In 1298, the world-famous "Book" was born, which became the very first source of knowledge of Europeans about states in Asia. It describes a new amazing and exotic locality: Sumatra, Ceylon, Madagascar, Malaysia, etc., India and many other lands, unknown civilizations and untold treasures. The travels of the Italian merchant excited the imagination of his readers. The notes summarized all the activities of Marco Polo and his unprecedented knowledge gained during the campaigns. The manuscript had a significant impact on the navigators, cartographers and writers of the Middle Ages.
In 1324, the famous explorer was ransomed from prison, he returned to his native Italy and played a wedding with a rich and noble girl, they had 3 daughters. Polo spent the rest of his life in abundance in a luxurious mansion.
In 1888, a butterfly named Marco Polo Jaundice was named in honor of the popular explorer.
Conclusion
The renowned navigator from Venice had a truly replete hiking life, in which he traveled many trade routes. The result of his greatest experience and accumulated knowledge was reflected in the essay "The Book of Wonders of the World", in which he described the events that happened to him during his fascinating travels. This creation is an invaluable work for the history of all Mankind, which has repeatedly helped people after many centuries. His work has been used as a reference with drawn maps and as an extraordinarily entertaining adventure story. It has been in demand for 800 years, reprinted and translated into different languages, was considered a historical value. All subsequent Great discoveries were made thanks to this valuable manuscript. Even the famous Spanish navigator who discovered America, Christopher Columbus, used Marco's creation as an authoritative reference for finding India.
The history of China is the history of a five thousand year old civilization, one of the most ancient on our planet. She left us with an endless cultural heritage and wise principles of life.Throughout the history of China, more than one dynasty of rulers has changed. However, whoever ruled the Celestial Empire, the basis of government, as a rule, was the veneration of ancient traditions, Heaven and recognized virtues, such as loyalty to the father and the ruler, filial obedience, respect for decency, benevolence, honesty, striving for.
Most rulers worshiped at least one of the traditional religions: Taoism, Confucianism, or Buddhism. - a gift from the gods, as considered in traditional beliefs.
What dynasties were there in the history of China?
| Dynasty | Period | Founder | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three rulers and five emperors |
3500-2070 BC | ||
| Xia | 2070-1600 BC | Da Yu | |
| Shang | 1600-1066 BC | Zi Tang | |
| Zhou | 1045-221 BC | Woo-wang | |
| Western Zhou | (1046-771 to AD) |
||
| Eastern Zhou | (770-256 BC) | ||
| Spring and Autumn Period | (770-476 BC) | ||
| Combatant Period kingdoms |
(475-221 BC) | ||
| Qin | 221-206 BC. |
Ying Zheng | |
| Han | 206 BC - 220 AD |
Liu Bang | |
| Western Han | (206 BC - 23 AD) |
||
| Eastern Han | (25 - 220 AD) | ||
| Age of the Three Kingdoms | 220-280 AD |
||
| Wei | (220-265) | Cao Pi | |
| Shu | (221-263) | Liu Bei | |
| Have | (222-280) | Sun Quan | |
| Jin | (265-439) | Sima Yan | |
| Western Jin | (265-316) | ||
| Eastern Jin | (317-420) | ||
| 16 kingdoms | (304-439) | ||
| Southern and Northern dynasties |
420-589 | Liu Yu | |
| Southern dynasties | (420-589) | ||
| Northern dynasties | (386-581) | ||
| Sui | 581-618 | Yang Jian | |
| Tan | 618-907 | Li Yuan | |
| The era of five dynasties and ten kingdoms |
907-979 | ||
| Sung | 960-1279 | Zhao Kuanin | |
| Northern Song | (960-1127) | ||
| South Song | (1127-1279) | ||
| Liao | 916-1125 | Su Zu | |
| Western Xia | 1038-1227 | ||
| Jin | 1115-1234 | Wanyan Min | |
| Yuan | 1279-1368 | Kublai | |
| Min | 1368-1644 | Zhu Yuanzhang | |
| Qing | 1644-1911 | Aisingioro Nurhatsi | |
History of China: 20th century and today
In the years that followed, the ancient Chinese civilization fell into decay, and the Chinese began to look for ways to transform. The most radical of them, trying to save and revive the former might of their state, chose the communist path of development.
The Communist Party, not without the help of the USSR, seized power in China in 1949. Since then, China's traditional virtues have come under heavy attack. In particular, during the Great Cultural Revolution of Mao Zedong, hundreds of temples and other ancient monuments were looted and destroyed. People who believe in Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism were subjected to massive repression. Private property and the traditional culture of China were on the brink of destruction.
Despite the fact that after the Cultural Revolution, cruelty towards culture largely stopped, however, the Chinese lost their historical moral values left by Confucius: philanthropy, justice, rules of decency, loyalty and rationality. Today, in educational institutions of China under the rule of the Communist Party, from childhood to adulthood, people study the doctrines of communism and the state religion is actually the atheism of the Communist Party, and its leaders are "gods."
Due to the contempt for nature and the desire to overthrow the traditional foundations that preach communism, the ecology in this country has also suffered greatly. It is known that out of 50 thousand rivers in 1950, only about 23 thousand rivers remain in China today (according to The Economist). At the same time, only half of the water resources of the cities are potable. Only about 40% of the water used is recycled (half of that in Europe).
All this is the reverse side of the "economic miracle of China", which is now extolled by domestic and foreign media, noting the high economic growth of the country. However, the victim of this growth, first of all, is the person for whose health the "economic miracle of China" was a disaster.
The most detailed study of how China abandoned traditions and borrowed Western ideas of communism is published by “ The Epoch Times"" ". None of the written works have revealed so deeply the question of what the Chinese Communist Party is, what its main features and what crimes it has committed during its rule in the history of China.
All the time when Ancient Greece and Rome, then in Christian Europe and among Muslims, as well as in Scandinavia, people got to know the Earth as their habitat and tried to study it, there was another center of geographical knowledge. It's about China. In general, the European and Chinese worlds remained isolated, only gradually discovering each other. But there are several surprisingly similar concepts and methods of study, which, it would seem, presuppose the presence of contacts, albeit not direct and outlined only by a dotted line.
For those who are immersed in the study of the history of the Western world, it is important to keep in mind that starting from about the 2nd century. BC NS. and up to the XV century. the Chinese people had the highest level of knowledge among other peoples of the Earth (Needham, 1963: 117). Chinese mathematicians began to use zero and created a decimal system of calculus, which was much more convenient than the sixties, which existed in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Arabs borrowed the decimal number from the Hindus around 800, but it is believed that it penetrated into India from China.
Chinese philosophers differed from ancient Greek philosophers mainly in that they attached paramount importance to the natural world. According to their teaching, individuals were not personalized by nature, since they were considered as part of it. They denied the divine power prescribing laws and creating the universe for man according to a predetermined plan. In China, it was not believed that after death, life continues in heavenly booths or in the circles of hell; the dead are absorbed by the all-pervading universe, of which all individuals are an inseparable part. Confucianism taught a way of life in which friction between members of society was minimized, but remained relatively indifferent to the development of scientific knowledge.
To illustrate this point, Joseph Needham gives the following parable:
“During his trip to the east, Confucius met two teenagers arguing among themselves, and asked them about the reason for their dispute. One of them said: "I think the rising sun is closer to us than noon." Another answered: "And I think that the rising and setting sun is farther from us, and the noon sun is closer." The first continued: “The rising sun is as big as the top of a chariot, and the midday sun is no bigger than a plate. And what looks big should be closer to us, the same as smaller - farther from us. " But the second retorted: "The setting sun is cold, and the midday sun is hot, and what is hotter should be closer to us." Confucius was unable to resolve their dispute. Then both boys laughed at him and said with contempt: "And why only people consider you such a scientist?" (Needham, Ling, 1959: 225-226)
The huge difference in the orientation of the culture of the ancient Greeks and the Chinese will immediately become clear if we try to imagine what Socrates could answer to the disputants in this situation. But this does not mean at all that the Chinese were not interested in what was outside their usual world. The work done by the Chinese in the field of geographical knowledge looks very impressive, although it is more characterized by the achievements of the observational plan and practical applications than the development of theory.
Works in the field of geography
In China, these works were associated with the creation of methods that made it possible to make accurate measurements and observations with their subsequent use in various useful inventions. For example, systematic observations of the state of the weather have been carried out since the 13th century. BC NS. Contents of the oldest fragments geographical descriptions provides an overview natural resources and the supplied products of nine provinces, into which the territory of China was divided in the 5th century. BC NS. They describe the soil, the products produced and waterways messages from each of the provinces (Needham, Ling, 1955: 500). In the II century. BC NS. Chinese engineers have already made accurate measurements of the amount of silt carried by the rivers. In 2 A.D. NS. in China, the world's first population census was carried out. China's technical inventions include papermaking, book printing, the use of rain and snow gauges to measure rainfall, and a compass for navigation.
The Chinese have made significant progress in understanding natural processes. Around the 4th century. BC NS. they revealed the meaning of the water cycle. At almost the same time that Plato was thinking about the consequences of deforestation in Attica, the Chinese philosopher E-Tzu, who lived two centuries later than Confucius, pointed out that a forest once cut down on the mountain slopes could no longer be restored there, if not grazing of cattle and small ruminants will cease (Glacken, 1956: 70).
The Chinese knew a lot about the destructive activity of water streams flowing from the mountains, and about the formation of river floodplains. At the same time when Avicenna expressed his thoughts on the erosion (denudation) of mountains, the Chinese scientist Cheng-Hao came to the same conclusion (1070). Here is what he wrote about a sharply defined ridge with sharp peaks and steep slopes:
“Considering the reasons for the appearance of these forms, I think that (over the centuries) mountain streams, falling down, washed away all the sand and all the earth, exposing the rocks ... If you look up, standing at the bottom of the gorge, the cliff wall seems vertical, but when you are on one of the peaks, then the other peaks are on the same level with the one on which you are standing. This is true for all levels of peaks up to the highest.
Now Great river(i.e. Yellow, Yellow River) ... (and some others) dirty and overflowing with sediment. In the west of Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, rivers flow in narrow gorges hundreds of feet deep. It is clear that silt and fine sand, year after year, were carried by these rivers to the east, and thus the substances that made up the whole continent could be dispersed. These conclusions must be absolutely correct ”(Needham, Ling, 1959: 603-604).
According to Needham, the geographic works of Chinese authors are divided into eight groups: (1) works devoted to the study of people, which we could attribute to human geography; (2) descriptions of areas in China; (3) other countries; (4) travel stories; (5) books on the rivers of China; (6) descriptions of the coasts of China, especially those that are important for shipping; (7) local history works, including a description of areas subordinate to and governed by fortified cities, famous mountain ranges, or certain cities and palaces; (8) geographical encyclopedias. Much attention was also paid to the origin of geographical names and their change (Needham, Ling, 1959: 508).
Chinese Geographic Exploration and Discovery
The geographical discoveries of Chinese travelers are often overlooked by European authors studying the history of geography. Either the emperor's ambassadors or missionaries and merchants went on long journeys outside China.
The earliest evidence of Chinese travel is a book written probably between the 5th and 3rd centuries. BC NS. She was found in the tomb of a man who ruled around 245 BC. NS. the territory that occupied part of the Wei He Valley. The books found in this burial were written on strips of white silk glued to bamboo cuttings; due to poor preservation, they were rewritten at the end of the 3rd century. BC NS. They are known as the Travels of Emperor Mu, who reigned in the years 1001-945. BC NS. Emperor Mu, they say, wanted to go around the whole world and leave traces from the wheels of his chariot in every country. The history of his wanderings, like Homer's Odyssey, is full of amazing adventures and certainly embellished by the writers, but contains such details that could hardly have been a figment of fantasy. The emperor visited the forested mountains, saw snow, and hunted a lot. On the way back, he crossed a vast desert, so dry that he had to drink horse blood. There is no doubt that in very ancient times, Chinese travelers retired considerable distances from the Wei He Valley - the center of a developed culture (Mirsky, 1964: 3–10). The discovery of Mediterranean civilizations is attributed to the geographer Zhang Qian and dates back to 128 BC. NS. (Sykes, 1961: 21; Needham, 1963; Mirsky, 1964: 13–25; Thomson, 1965: 177–178). His book describes the path through the interior regions of Asia to Bukhara, which then led to Persia and the coast Mediterranean Sea... Merchant caravans constantly traveled along this path, and, apparently, trade relations with Western countries established long before the "official" opening of the West. The Chinese brought in peaches, almonds, raisins, apricots, silk and, of course, silkworms, while they themselves bought alfalfa, wheat and grapevines.
In general, there were many Chinese travelers whose achievements are worthy of being captured in the history of geographical discoveries. Yet among the most famous of these was the Buddhist monk Xuanzang (Sykes, 1961: 24-30). In the VII century. n. NS. he found the strength to cross on his way to India the highest windswept Tibetan plateau and the highest mountains in the world. After several years of study at centers of Buddhism, he returned to China with a large collection of Buddhist relics and manuscripts, which he had brought with him on pack animals. He is considered the Chinese discoverer of India (Mirsky, 1964). In the same century, another Buddhist monk I Ching reached India by sea, first making an eight-month stopover in Sumatra in 671. Returning to China, he brought with him more than 10,000 scrolls of Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, which he intended to translate into Chinese(Sykes, 1961: 30). Several centuries later, in 1220, another Chinese traveler (Chang Chun) crossed the deserts of Central Asia, overcoming endless hardships and difficulties of the path, and finally in Samarkand met with the leader of the Mongols, Genghis Khan. In 1287-1288 Nestorian Christian monk Rabban Bar Sauma made a pilgrimage from China to Rome. Learning that the pope had died, and the new one had not yet been elected, he went through Genoa to Paris and Bordeaux to see the kings of France and England. Imagine the amazement of the 13th century French who found themselves in the role of being "discovered" by a Christian from China. In 1288 he returned to Rome, and, having received the blessing of the new pope, set off on the return journey to Beijing. This happened just a few decades before the Polo brothers traveled to China. In 1296, another Chinese traveler, Zhou Takuan, visited Cambodia and described in detail the customs of this country.
The Chinese also explored the seas. Not a single written evidence has survived that they went out into the open The Pacific, although the Chinese expeditions have visited Japan and Taiwan. In the XIII century. Chinese merchants sailed on their junks to Java and the islands of the Malay Archipelago, and even to India. Marco Polo met them in the Persian Gulf at the port of Hormuz. But the main research was carried out by the Chinese naval commander Zheng He between 1405 and 1433. He led seven expeditions, each with a fleet of ships. Thanks to them, regular sea trade routes were opened between Java, Sumatra, Malaya, Ceylon and the western coast of India. He also visited the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, sailed along the eastern coast of Africa, located south of the equator; in an easterly direction, he sailed to the island of Taiwan. On board the ships of his last expedition (1431-1433), ambassadors from more than ten countries arrived in China. It is possible that one of the ships was sent by him to the northern coast of Australia (Hsieh, 1988).
Cartography
The Chinese were adept at makers of geographic maps. Zhang Heng, who lived in the II century. n. BC, probably the first in China to use a degree grid, but its maps have not survived. There are, however, references to him, where it is said that he "cast a network [of coordinates] over the heavens and the earth and thus numbered them" (Needham, Ling, 1959: 538).
The "father of Chinese cartography" was Bei Xiu, who was appointed by the Chinese emperor as minister of public works in 267 AD. NS. He created a map of part of China on eighteen silk scrolls. To compile the basis of the map, he surveyed the area by measuring several baselines and determining points distant from these lines using a cross-sighting method, that is, in the same way as the Egyptians did long before him. When drawing rivers, coastlines, mountain ranges, and cities and other objects on the map, he used a rectangular grid of perpendicular lines drawn in the south-north and east-west directions as a basis. Was this scientist, or Zhang Heng, or anyone else who lived much earlier than them, borrowed the idea of using triangulation to locate objects and a network of intersecting lines for cartographic images from the Greeks, or perhaps through them from the Egyptians? This is quite likely, although it has not been precisely established. There is nothing impossible in the fact that many of these methods were invented much earlier than anywhere else, precisely in China, and then penetrated to the West, just as happened with the decimal system.
Two magnificent copies of Chinese maps were carved in stone in 1137; the information placed on them, in all likelihood, was obtained before 1100 (Needham, Ling, 1959: 547-549). One of them - "Map of China and the countries of the barbarians" - includes the territory from the Great Wall of China, which runs north of Beijing, to Hainan Island in the south, as well as the mountains of Central Asia in the west. Another, entitled "Map of the Great Yu Paths", shows approximately the same territory, and the image large rivers and the coastline from Bohai Bay to the northern shores of the Shandong Peninsula and Hainan Island looks even more accurate. None of these maps show the island of Taiwan. Both of them, like other Chinese maps, are oriented to the north.
Bibliography
- James P. All Possible Worlds / P. James, J. Martin / Ed. and with after. A.G. Isachenko. - Moscow: Progress, 1988 .-- 672 p.
