How was China united? A brief history of China. Successes of Russian politics in the Qing empire
As a result of the Manchu conquest, China was again thrown back. But unlike the situation that developed in China at the time of the Mongol invasion, now the main thing was not the destruction of the productive forces of society. The damage caused by the nomads to a highly developed agricultural culture could be repaired rather quickly. Indeed, the feudalized elite of the Manchus soon took measures to develop agriculture and restore traditional forms of economy. But the Manchu domination crumpled and stifled the shoots of those advanced production relations, which already in the XV-XVI centuries. began to break through the inertia of medieval Chinese feudalism. In this sense, the activities of the Qing emperor Kangxi (1662-1772) were directly opposite to those of his contemporary Peter I. isolationist policies. The destruction of ties between individual provinces, the preservation of the most backward forms of feudal exploitation, the suppression of any new germs - all this led to the fact that the Qing Empire continued to be a backward country in military, economic and political respects, at a time when capitalism has already taken root in the advanced countries of Europe. Naturally, China with its huge population, as a reserve of cheap labor, as a sales market, has become a tidbit for the capitalist powers.
The isolationist policy of the Qing dynasty in the 1880s cracked: the port of Guangzhou (Canton) was opened for trade with the Europeans. The merchants of the East India Company, taking advantage of the corruption and corruption of the bureaucracy, carried out the opium trade in China; this trade was to open the way for colonial enslavement. Opium began to penetrate all corners of the country. The purchase of opium cost the Qing government a staggering amount of silver, the main stable domestic currency. Increasing the tax burden did not solve the problem, and at the insistence of the advanced people of that era, the Qing banned the opium trade. Government Commissioner Lin Tse-hsiu destroyed stocks of opium in Guangzhou and confiscated it at the ships that came. In 1839, the British, not wanting to stop the opium trade that was profitable for them, began a war against China ("the first opium war"). The very first shots of the British squadron dispelled the myth about the power of the Bogdykhanians.
The first Opium War was followed by the second, the capitalist powers England and France were in a hurry to seize key positions on a vast territory with a population of millions. Following these countries, the capitalists of the United States invade China. The Opium Wars opened a new page in the history of China, marking the beginning of its transformation into a semi-colonial country. They showed the rottenness of the Qing monarchy, the economic and political backwardness of the country. The capitalist powers received the rights of extraterritoriality, unlimited import of their goods, and imposed indemnities on the country.
Popular movements of the 60-70s of the XIX century. Taiping uprising The capitulation of the monarchy to the capitalist world, its helplessness in front of foreigners prompted the masses to take new active actions against the Qing.
In the province of Guangxi, among the Chinese and Zhuang peasants and mine workers, the Hong Xiu-chuan sect developed an active propaganda. From the religious preaching of universal equality and brotherhood, the sect moved on to preparing an armed anti-Zin uprising, which broke out in 1860 and soon covered almost the entire south of the country. The Zhuang, Miao, Yao and other peoples of South China took an active part in the uprising, which lasted fourteen years and proclaimed the creation of the "Heavenly State of Great Welfare" ("Taiping Tianguo"). It was a multinational anti-Manchu and anti-feudal war of the broad popular masses. At first, when the uprising was primarily anti-Manchu in nature, some landlord groups joined it. But as the anti-feudal orientation of the movement deepened, these groups began to move away from the uprising, sabotage progressive measures, and in the end went over to the camp of reaction.
The Taipings captured Nanjing and proclaimed it the capital of the new state. In the plans of the rebels, a special place was occupied by preparations for a march to the north to conquer Beijing and overthrow the Manchu dynasty. The Taiping successes were so impressive that the Western European powers, having achieved substantial concessions from the Qing court, decided to openly support the rotten monarchy.
Simultaneously with the taipings (and in some cases under their direct influence), the population of other regions of southern China rose to fight the Manchu government. The anti-Manchu and anti-feudal struggle in Yunnan is gaining exceptional scope. In the mountainous region of Ailaoshan, an uprising broke out in 1856, during which representatives of various groups of Yizu, Miao, Hani, Fox, Hui united. The insurgents put forward the slogan "eradicate the Manchu officials, destroy the Chinese landlords." The rebel power extended over a large area. Around the same time, a rebellion broke out, led by Du Wen-hsiu. The Hui, the Chinese, bai, yizu, naxi, jingpo, and others took part in it. Having seized the area of Dali, the insurgent army created a powerful center of resistance for the Manchu army. Miao rose in Guizhou, united with buoi g dong, shui and the Chinese. The uprisings of national minorities in southern China were brutally suppressed, although the Qing succeeded only two decades after the start of the uprising. The Manchus also dealt with the participants of the Muslim uprising in the north-west of the empire no less cruelly. In suppressing many uprisings, the Taiping executioner Tseng Kuo-fan, the first Chinese to receive high state and military posts from the Manchu emperor, "distinguished himself". The example of Zeng Guo-fang is highly symbolic: the Manchus-conquerors became convinced that they could consolidate their dominance in China only through an alliance with the Chinese feudal elite. This is how a bloc of reactionary forces was formed - the Manchu monarchy, Chinese feudal lords and Western European interventionists. Taiping uprising and other demonstrations of the masses of the 60-70s of the XIX century. were suppressed, but they prepared the beginning of a new stage in the struggle of the peoples of China against the yoke of feudal lords and foreigners ..
China in the era of imperialism
This struggle began already in the new social and political conditions that had developed by the end of the 19th century. Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 marked the beginning of the period of imperialist robbery in China. In the face of the threat of China being dismembered by the European powers, the USA and Japan, in the face of new uprisings of the popular masses, the Qing government and large Chinese feudal lords decided to pursue a policy of "self-reinforcement" and imitation of the West. The ruling circles of the Qing dynasty did not set the task of transforming power. On the contrary, they hoped to strengthen the position of the monarchy and the feudal system by borrowing Western technology.
The penetration of foreign capital into the country and the creation of foreign concessions contributed to the formation of the capitalist system in China, but gave it a one-sided, primarily feudal-bureaucratic, comprador direction. Only in certain, non-basic types of industrial production, in particular in light industry, did national capital emerge and a national bourgeoisie was formed. In these conditions, new political ideas are emerging, reflecting all the complexity, all the one-sidedness of the country's economic development.
Representatives of the opposition-minded Chinese intelligentsia headed by Kang Yu-wei insistently demanded the implementation of reforms! from above - the democratization of the monarchical system, the peaceful assimilation of the Manchus with the Chinese, the Sinification of the authorities, that is, the peaceful liquidation of the Manchu despotism. Supporters of moderate reforms called from above to clear the way for capitalism in China.
More decisive action against the Manchus, an active armed uprising was demanded by the left group of reformers, headed by Tan Si-tong. But neither one nor the other managed to achieve their goals. In 1898, a palace coup took place in Beijing, as a result of which the most reactionary clique of the Manchu imperial house, headed by Empress Tsi Xi, came to power.
However, the reformers' movement did not pass unnoticed. It was an expression of new trends in the ethnic history of the development of the Chinese - the beginning of the formation of the Chinese bourgeois nation. At the same time, this movement showed that in conditions when the imperialist powers were gradually seizing the leading economic positions in the country, the emerging national bourgeoisie was extremely weak and could not become a truly revolutionary force. The culmination of these movements was in 1900 the anti-imperialist uprising of the Ihhetuanei. Only by announcing support for the Ihetuan movement did the Qing court succeed in eliminating its anti-Manchu orientation. The rebels occupied Beijing, blockaded the embassy quarter and demanded the expulsion of all foreigners. The combined intervention of the European powers, the USA and Japan defeated the rebels. Another step was taken towards the imperialist enslavement of China, which was forced to pay a huge indemnity, grant all foreigners political and economic privileges, and give the right to new development of natural resources in the interests of foreign monopolies. The Qing government signed this shameful act unconditionally.
China entered the 20th century not as a mighty Heavenly Empire, but as a country divided into spheres of influence by the largest imperialist powers. A hundred years ago, Emperor Qianlong demanded that the Ambassador of the English King George II bow to the ground in recognition of England's vassalage in relation to the Manchu court. Now the de facto ruler of China, who disposed of its national wealth, was the Englishman Robert Hart, the inspector general of customs. The European imperialist powers received the right to "lease" a number of territories in the country's coastal regions. Xianggang (Hong Kong), which became a colony of England, and Aomin, captured by Portugal in the 16th century, were rejected from China. The young imperialist predator, Japan, which settled in Taiwan and claimed hegemony in Manchuria, also strengthened its position in China. In contrast to the middle of the 19th century, when the main form of enslaving China by foreigners was the opening of ports for the sale of their industrial products within the country, now their main stake was on the seizure of spheres of influence and the import of capital directed to the construction of railways and manufacturing enterprises. One after another, foreign textile, sugar and tobacco factories appear in Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities. Naturally, the greatest profits were promised to foreigners by the "development" of the coastal regions of China. It is here that by the end of the 19th century. various international settings. The cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin are being rebuilt according to the Western European model. Not only is the outward appearance of these outposts of the economic expansion of foreign powers changing: here a fundamentally different social composition of the population is taking shape (in comparison with such large cities that have not experienced the influence of Western European capital, such as Beijing, Kaifeng, etc.). The ruin of peasants and artisans creates a market for cheap labor that replenishes the population of coastal cities. The gap in the level of development of the coastal and inland regions of China is becoming more and more distinct.
China became a semi-colonial country that retained the feudal foundations of rural production. Under these conditions, the tasks of the antifeudal struggle were inevitably bound up with the tasks of the struggle for the country's national independence.
Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary activities
During these years, the revolutionary democrat Sun Yat-sen became the head of the revolutionary forces in the country. Revolutionary events 1905-1907 in Russia, Iran, Turkey, India allowed him to take a fresh look at the fate of China. At the end of 1905, Sun Yat-sen reorganized the secret society he had created into the revolutionary organization "Tunmynkhoi" ("Union League"). At a rally of Chinese émigrés-revolutionaries in Tokyo, held on January 16, 1907, Sun Yat-sen promulgated the “three people's principles” formulated by him: nationalism, democracy, people's welfare. In the first place Sun Yat-sen put the principle of "nationalism", which he understood as the task of the struggle to overthrow the hated Manchu dynasty. The program set forth by Sun Yat-sen was highly praised by Lenin. "Before us," wrote Lenin, "is a truly great ideology of a truly great people who knows how not only to mourn their convict slavery, not only to dream of freedom and equality, but also to fight the age-old oppressors of China." 9 The leader of the Russian proletariat predicted that the transition of the "old Chinese revolts" into a conscious democratic movement was inevitable. Reality confirmed Lenin's foresight. The massive revolutionary uprisings of 1906-1908, organized by the "Union League" in the south of the country, prepared the way for an armed uprising, as a result of which in 1911 the Ch'ing monarchy was overthrown. China was proclaimed a republic. The first president of the Republic of China was Sun Yat-sen, who, however, later resigned from the post in favor of Yuan Shih-kai. In August 1912, the Kuomintang party was created, which received the majority of votes and, accordingly, seats in parliament in the first elections in 1913.
The overthrow of the Manchu yoke did not bring true liberation to the peoples of China. The national working class was too weak, the positions of the bourgeois-landlord liberals, who sought a compromise with the previous dynasty and with the capitalist powers, were too strong. Yuan Shih-kai did not reckon with the power of parliament and sought to establish a military dictatorship. This provoked a protest from Sun Yat-sen, who organized an uprising against Yuan Shikai in the south in May 1913. The uprising ended in defeat, Sun Yat-sen emigrated abroad. There came the military dictatorship of Yuan Shih-kai, who in December 1915 declared himself emperor. And although Yuan Shih-kai soon died (1916), the power was still held in their hands by the northern militarists. In 1917, Sun Yat-sen created an independent government in the south of China, opposing the militaristic pro-Japanese government of the North.
History of china
The Chinese civilization is one of the oldest in the world. According to Chinese scientists, its age may be five thousand years, while the available written sources cover a period of at least 3500 years. The presence of systems of administrative management, which were improved by successive dynasties, the early development of the largest agricultural centers in the basins of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, created advantages for the Chinese state, whose economy was based on developed agriculture, in comparison with its nomadic and mountainous neighbors. The Chinese civilization was further strengthened by the introduction of Confucianism as a state ideology (1st century BC) and a unified writing system.
It should be understood that the study of such a temporal extent is associated with a strong asymmetry in the number of sources of historical information, while the relative unity of the Chinese civilization led to the fact that the late era actively correlates itself with its predecessors and interprets traditions. To facilitate an objective perception of the entire length of Chinese history, the following division is used, based on traditional Han historiography:
- Pre-imperial China (Xia, Shang, Zhou - before 221 BC)
- Imperial China (Qin - Qing)
- New China (1911 - present)
The first period, sparsely documented, takes about the same time span as the second; the second period, in turn, is sometimes divided into Early (until the end of the Tang) and Late (until the end of the Qing). It should be borne in mind that traditional Chinese historiography includes the sovereign states of other peoples (Mongols, Manchus, etc.) in the chronicle-dynastic history of China proper, ignoring their own historical traditions of these peoples and considering their states as part of China.
Prehistoric period
Main article: Prehistoric china
Chinese civilization (ancestors of the state-forming ethnic group Han) is a group of cultures (Banpo 1, Shijia, Banpo 2, Miaodigou, Zhongshanzhai 2, Hougan 1, etc.) of the Middle Neolithic (c. 4500-2500 BC) in the Yellow River basin, which are traditionally united by the common name Yangshao. Representatives of these crops grew cereals (chumiza, etc.) and were engaged in pig breeding. Later, the Longshan culture spread in this area: Middle Eastern types of cereals (wheat and barley) and livestock breeds (cows, sheep, goats) appeared.
Shang-Yin State
State of Zhou (-III centuries BC)
The vast territory of the state of Zhou (Chinese exercise 周, pinyin: Zhōu), which covered almost the entire Yellow River basin, eventually disintegrated into many competing independent state formations - initially, hereditary estates in territories inhabited by various tribes and located at a distance from the capitals - Zongzhou (western - near Xi'an) and Chengzhou (eastern - Loi, Luoyang). These lands were given into the possession of the relatives and close associates of the supreme ruler - usually the Zhou people. In the internecine struggle, the number of the original appanages was gradually reduced, and the appanages themselves were strengthened and became more independent.
The population of Zhou was heterogeneous, and the largest and most developed part of it were Yins. In the state of Zhou, a significant part of the Yin were settled in new lands in the east, where a new capital was built - Chengzhou (modern province of Henan).
The Zhou period as a whole was characterized by the active development of new lands, resettlement and ethnic mixing of people from different regions, appanages (later kingdoms), which contributed to the creation of the foundation of the future Chinese community.
In the V-III centuries. BC NS. (Zhangguo period) China enters the Iron Age. Agricultural areas are expanding, irrigation systems are expanding, handicrafts are developing, and revolutionary changes are taking place in military affairs.
During the Zhanguo period, seven largest kingdoms coexisted in China - Wei, Zhao and Han (previously all three were part of the Jin kingdom), Qin, Qi, Yan and Chu. Gradually, as a result of fierce rivalry, the westernmost, Qin, began to gain the upper hand. Having annexed neighboring kingdoms one by one, in 221 BC. NS. the ruler of Qin - the future emperor Qin Shi Huang - united all of China under his rule.
Qin Shi Huang Ti, who built all his reforms on the basis of legalism with barracks discipline and cruel punishments of the guilty, persecuted the Confucians, putting them to death (burial alive) and burning their writings - because they dared to oppose the cruel oppression established in the country.
The Qin Empire ceased to exist shortly after the death of Qin Shi Huang.
Han Empire
The second empire in the history of China, called Han (Chinese trad. 漢, ex. 汉, pinyin: Hàn; 206 BC NS. - n. BC) was founded by a native of the middle bureaucracy Liu Bang (Gao-tsu), one of the commanders of the revived kingdom of Chu, who fought against Qin after the death of Emperor Qin Shihuang in 210 BC.
China at this time was experiencing an economic and social crisis caused by the loss of control and the wars of the commanders of the Qin armies with the elites of the kingdoms destroyed earlier, trying to restore their statehood. Due to resettlement and war, the rural population in the main agricultural regions has significantly decreased.
An important feature of the change of dynasties in China was that each new dynasty replaced the previous one amid a socio-economic crisis, a weakening of the central government and wars between military leaders. The founder of the new state was one of them who could seize the capital and forcibly remove the ruling emperor from power.
With the reign of Gao-tzu (206-195 BC), a new period in Chinese history begins, which is called the Western Han.
In the period from 8 to 23 years. n. NS. power is seized by Wang Man, who proclaims himself emperor and founder of the state of Xin. A series of transformations began, which was interrupted by an ecological disaster - the Yellow River changed its course. Due to a three-year famine, the central government has weakened. Under these conditions, the red-browed uprising and the movement of representatives of the Liu clan for the return of the throne began. Wang Man was killed, the capital was taken, power returned to the Liu dynasty.
The new period was called the Eastern Han, it lasted until AD. NS.
The Jin state and the Nan-bei chao period (IV-VI centuries)
Eastern Han was replaced by the period of the Three Kingdoms (Wei, Shu and Wu). During the struggle for power between the military leaders, a new state of Jin was founded (Chinese trad. 晉, ex. 晋, pinyin: jìn; -).
Tang State
The rulers of the Liu dynasty put an end to the uprisings of the nobility and carried out a number of successful transformations. The country was divided into 10 provinces, the "allotment system" was restored, administrative legislation was improved, the vertical of power was strengthened, trade and urban life revived. The size of many cities and the size of the urban population have increased significantly.
Despite the forced territorial concessions to neighbors, the Song period is considered an era of economic and cultural prosperity in China. The number of cities is growing, the urban population continues to grow, Chinese artisans are reaching heights in the manufacture of articles made of porcelain, silk, lacquer, wood, ivory, and others. Gunpowder and a compass have been invented, book printing is spreading, new high-yielding varieties of grain are being developed, and cotton crops are growing. One of the most impressive and effective of these innovations was the deliberate, systematic and well-organized introduction and distribution of new varieties of early maturing rice from South Vietnam (Champa).
Genghis Khan created an organized and efficient army, which became a decisive factor in the subsequent successes of the relatively small Mongolian ethnic group.
Having conquered the neighboring peoples of southern Siberia, Genghis Khan went to war against the Jurchens and took Beijing.
The conquests in South China were continued already in the 1250s, after the campaign in Europe. First, the Mongols seized the countries surrounding the South Sung empire - the state of Dali (-), Tibet (). The Mongol troops under the leadership of Kublai Khan invaded South China from different sides, but the unexpected death of the Great Khan Mongke () prevented the implementation of their plans. Khan Khubilai, having seized the khan's throne, moved the capital from Karakorum to the territory of China (first to Kaiping, and to Zhongdu - modern Beijing). The Mongols managed to take the capital of the South Sun state of Hangzhou only in. All of China was conquered, and the Song Empire was destroyed.
The lot of Kublai and his descendants, the great khans of Mongolia - the Great Yuan State (Mong: Ikh Yuan uls), became part of the Great Mongol Empire (Mong: Ikh Mongol uls). China during this period was not a sovereign state and was an integral part of the Mongol empire.
Heavy economic, political and national oppression, established by the Mongol feudal lords, held back the development of the country. Many Chinese were enslaved. Agriculture and trade were undermined. The necessary work to maintain irrigation structures (dams and canals) was not carried out, which led to a monstrous flood and the death of several hundred thousand people. The Great Canal of China was abandoned during the Mongol domination.
Popular discontent with the new rulers resulted in a powerful patriotic movement and uprisings led by the leaders of the White Lotus secret society (Bailianjiao).
State of Min (-)
As a result of a long struggle in the middle of the XIV century, the Mongols were expelled. One of the leaders of the uprising came to power - the son of a peasant Zhu Yuanzhang, who founded the state of Ming (Chinese exercise 明, pinyin: Míng; -). China became an independent state again.
The Mongols, driven to the north, are beginning to actively develop the steppes of modern Mongolia. The Ming Empire subdues part of the Jurchen tribes, the state of Nanzhao (modern provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou), part of the modern provinces of Qinghai and Sichuan.
The Chinese fleet under the command of Zheng He, consisting of several dozen large ocean junks, during the period from to makes several sea expeditions to Southeast Asia, India and to the east coast of Africa. Without bringing any economic benefit to China, the expeditions were stopped, and the ships were dismantled.
In the first two centuries of the Qing dynasty, China, closed from everyday contact with the outside world, manifested itself as a strong independent state, expanding in all directions.
War with France
After two Franco-Vietnamese wars (- and - years), France owned South and Central Vietnam. North Vietnam was nominally a vassal to the Qing dynasty. During the Franco-Vietnamese War of 1883-1884. France captured a number of points belonging to the Qing Empire. On May 11 and June 9, 1884, a convention was signed between France and the Qing empire, obliging it to withdraw from Vietnam the troops introduced there in -1883. Also, China has promised to recognize any agreements that will be concluded between France and Vietnam. On June 6, 1884, France forced Vietnam to conclude a peace treaty, according to which it established a protectorate over all of Vietnam. But the Qing government refused to recognize the Vietnamese-French peace treaty. In June 1884, Qing troops destroyed the French troops that had arrived in Vietnam in order to occupy it according to the treaty. The French government used this as a pretext for war. The Franco-Chinese war began. Despite the successes of the Qing troops, the emperor invited France to sit down at the negotiating table. The Tianjin Franco-Chinese Treaty was signed on June 9, 1885. Under this treaty, the Qing Empire recognized France as the ruler of Vietnam, paid indemnities and granted France a number of trade privileges in the provinces of Yannan and Guangxi bordering Vietnam.
Japan-Qing War of 1894-1895
Triple Intervention
The conditions imposed by Japan on the Qing Empire led to the so-called "triple intervention" of Russia, Germany and France - powers that by this time already maintained extensive contacts with China and therefore perceived the signed treaty as detrimental to their interests. On April 23, Russia, Germany and France simultaneously, but separately, appealed to the Japanese government with a demand to abandon the annexation of the Liaodong Peninsula, which could lead to the establishment of Japanese control over Port Arthur, while Nicholas II, supported by Western allies, had his own views of Port Arthur as an ice-free port for Russia. The German note was the harshest, even offensive to Japan.
Japan had to give in. On May 10, 1895, the Japanese government announced the return of the Liaodong Peninsula to China, however, having achieved an increase in the amount of the Chinese contribution by 30 million taels.
Successes of Russian politics in the Qing empire
In 1895, Russia provided Beijing with a loan of 150 million rubles at 4% per annum. The treaty contained China's commitment not to accept foreign control over its finances if Russia did not participate in it. At the end of 1895, on Witte's initiative, the Russian-Chinese Bank was founded. On June 3, 1896, a Russian-Chinese treaty on a defensive alliance against Japan was signed in Moscow. On September 8, 1896, a concession agreement was signed between the Chinese government and the Russian-Chinese Bank for the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway. The CER society received a strip of land along the road, which passed under its jurisdiction. In March 1898, a Russian-Chinese agreement was signed on the lease by Russia of Port Arthur and the Liaodong Peninsula.
Capture of Jiaozhou by Germany
In August 1897, Wilhelm II visited Nicholas II in Peterhof and secured an agreement to set up a German naval base in Jiaozhou (in the then transcription version - "Qiao-Chao"), on the southern coast of Shandong. In early November, German missionaries were killed by the Chinese in Shandong. On November 14, 1897, the Germans landed troops on the Jiaozhou coast and captured it. On March 6, 1898, a German-Chinese agreement was signed, according to which China leased Jiaozhou to Germany for a period of 99 years. At the same time, the Chinese government granted Germany a concession for the construction of two railways in Shandong and a number of mining concessions in the province.
The famous French caricature of the late 1890s represents China, which is divided like a pie by Queen Victoria (Great Britain), Bismarck (Germany), Nicholas II (Russia) and Emperor Meiji (Japan), as well as Marianne, representing France (the French cartoonist delicately depicted her without trying to "snatch your piece"). In the background, Li Hongzhang tries to stop what is happening, but is powerless.
One Hundred Days of Reform
A short period of reforms began on June 11, 1898 with the publication by the Manchu emperor Zaitian (the name of the years of his reign - Guangxu) of the decree "On the establishment of the main line of state policy." Zaitian recruited a group of young reformers, disciples and associates of Kang Yuwei, to develop a series of reform decrees. In total, more than 60 decrees were issued that dealt with the education system, the construction of railways, factories and factories, the modernization of agriculture, the development of domestic and foreign trade, the reorganization of the armed forces, the purge of the state apparatus, etc. The period of radical reforms ended on September 21 the same year when Empress Dowager Cixi staged a palace coup and canceled the reforms.
XX century
Map of China proper at the beginning of the 20th century from the Brockhaus and Efron encyclopedia
Boxing rebellion
In May 1900, a large uprising began in China, called the Boxing or Ihetuan Uprising. On June 20, the German envoy Ketteler was killed in Beijing. Following this, the rebels besieged diplomatic missions located in a special quarter of Beijing. The building of the Catholic Cathedral of Petang (Beitang) was also besieged. The massacres of Chinese Christians by the "ihetuan" began, including the murder of 222 Orthodox Chinese. On June 21, 1900, Empress Cixi (慈禧) declared war on Great Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, Japan, USA and Russia. The great powers agreed on joint action against the rebels. The German general Waldersee was appointed commander-in-chief of the expeditionary forces. However, when he arrived in China, Beijing was already liberated by a small forward detachment under the command of Russian General Linevich. The Russian army took the right position - Manchuria.
China Railroad Map (1908)
Russo-Japanese war
After the fall of the monarchy, Mongolia's Bogdo Khan refused to obey the republic and announced that his country recognized the suzerainty of the Manchu dynasty, not the Republic of China. On November 3, 1912, an agreement was signed between Mongolia and Russia. England took advantage of the internal struggles in China to strengthen its influence in
Chinese society in the 3rd century
Feudal relations in China developed on the basis of the crisis of the slave-owning society of the Han Empire and the decomposition of the primitive system of the neighboring tribes in the North. In ancient times, the Han state occupied a vast territory stretching from the Great Wall, which ran northeast of the present one, to the coast of the South China Sea. The most advanced economic regions were located in the valleys of the Yellow He, Huai He, Yangtze rivers, as well as in the territory of the modern provinces of Sichuan and Shandong. More than 50 million inhabitants of the empire were settled extremely unevenly. The most populous areas were surrounded by the ancient capitals Chang'an (Xi'an) and Luoyang.
China has become a major agricultural country. Field cultivation was largely based on artificial irrigation. In the river basin Wei, in the area between the Yellow He and Yangtze rivers, the ancient Chinese (Han) dug large canals and created an extensive network of small ditches. Watering, careful cultivation of the soil, the introduction of bed crops and fertilizers - all this made it possible to collect high yields of cereals, legumes and vegetables. In addition, since ancient times, silkworms have been raised here and skillful silk fabrics have been made. In agriculture and craft, iron began to be used more widely, gradually replacing bronze. The production of ceramics, the construction business, the manufacture of weapons and various luxury items have achieved considerable success. In China, they wrote with ink and brush on silk scrolls, and paper was also invented. Chinese silk, iron, lacquer and bamboo products were highly prized in faraway markets. Trade and money circulation have reached significant levels.
The crisis of the slave-owning society, the most severe suppression of the popular uprising of 184 g), prepared by the Taoist sect of the "Yellow Bands", led to the death of the population, the desolation of the country and the rupture of trade ties. The collapse of the Han empire dealt a decisive blow to the foundations of the slave society? Elements of new, feudal type, attitudes took shape, originating in the depths of the old society, which was experiencing a long crisis. But the events that shook China in the 3rd-6th centuries held back their development. In addition, slavery as a social category was not completely abolished and remained in medieval society, which negatively affected the economic and cultural development of the country.
The fall of the empire significantly weakened the position of the ruling class. And although the long-term mass popular movement was suppressed, it turned out to be impossible to restore the previous forms of government. The chiefs of government troops and independent detachments entered into a long internecine struggle. In 189, the capital Luoyang fell. Internal wars ended with the division of the former empire between three generals. The period of the Three Kingdoms began.
In the north of the country in the metropolitan areas, Cao Cao, one of the leaders of the suppression of the Yellow Bands uprising, became the ruler. He created the Wei kingdom and waged successful wars against the nomads in the north. In the southeast, the state of Wu was formed with its capital in the area of modern Nanking, and in the west - the kingdom of Shu in Sichuan. Many legends have been preserved about the wars between the three kingdoms, which later formed the basis of the famous epic "Three Kingdoms", written in the XIV century. Luo Guanzhong.
In 265, the Wei warlord, Sima Yan, overthrew one of Cao Cao's descendants and founded the Jin dynasty. The wars of the three kingdoms ended with the conquest of the state of Shu by the northerners, and in 280, the state of U. The power of the Jin emperor Sima Yan was established in the country.
The crisis of the slave society, the bloody suppression of popular uprisings and internal wars ruined the Chinese economy and depopulated the country. Suppressing the performances, the punishers resorted to total extermination. Over the century, the number of tax-paying decreased from 50-56 to 16-17 million. Farmers left their villages. The slaves fled from their masters. Wars have decimated the irrigation system. Sources indicate frequent floods and other natural disasters, as well as famines affecting entire areas. Social production fell sharply due to a decrease in the cultivated land area and the desolation of villages. Cities were plundered or burned, and trading activities almost ceased. The so-called strong houses ruled in the village - large economic and social associations, the core of which was the clan of its leader - a large landowner.
The warriors of their detachments, as well as the home guards, were given small plots of land by the heads of "strong houses". Homeless, ruined and newcomers, called "guests" in sources, they also planted on the land, turning them into personally dependent, connected with the owner of the land by rent relations of enslaving debts. The treasury was increasingly deprived of income.
"Strong houses" have taken over vast areas of the earth. The rise of large landowners threatened a new dismemberment of the country.
In 280, Sima Yan issued a decree on the agrarian system. According to her, every able-bodied person could receive an allotment, subject to the fulfillment of certain duties in favor of the treasury. The main labor unit was taxable (din) men or women between the ages of 16 and 50 who were entitled to a full allotment. The harvest from part of the land went to the cultivator, and from the other - to the treasury. Tax payers aged 13-15 and 61-65 used the allotment only half the size. Children and old people were not allotted land and did not pay taxes. An adult tribute for the use of the allotment had to give the treasury 2/5 of the harvested crop. From each court, if the head was a man, it was supposed to be charged annually three pieces of silk, fabric and three weight measures of silk wool. If the court was headed by a woman, a teenager, or an elderly person, then the tax was cut in half. Tax payers were supposed to work on government jobs for up to 30 days a year. In remote and border areas, the tax rate has decreased. These more favorable conditions were supposed to ensure the transition of the working people under the patronage of the state and stimulate the rise of abandoned lands.
It is not known how widely the 280 decree was enforced. However, the system declared by Sima Yan served as the basis for agrarian activities in the following centuries. In an effort to attract wealthy and educated people to the service, the Jin ruler promised officials as a reward allotments of land, their size depended on the rank and position held. The fields of these allotments were cultivated by state taxes, personally dependent holders, half-slaves and slaves. The authorities sought to limit the number of privately dependent landowners; in the possessions of high-ranking officials there could be no more than 50 households exempted from state duties. The reform did not affect the interests of the upper stratum of the ruling class, which retained their possessions, but created for them a serious threat of an outflow of labor. Thus, the process of feudalization in China proceeded in the conditions of coexistence and confrontation between two forms of feudal land ownership: state and private, represented mainly by "strong houses".
A clash of supporters of the expansion of state ownership of land and the heads of large estates led at the end of the 3rd century. to armed conflicts between them. At the same time, the aspirations of officials to secure the land received for feeding, to impose heavy duties on the plowmen and to increase their personal dependence caused popular indignation. The movement was especially massive in Sy-Chuan and Shanxi. Thousand-strong detachments of rebels attacked the estates of strong houses, officials, and invaded urban settlements. With the death of Sima Yan in 289, the struggle for the throne began, during which ancient capital cities perished from robberies and fires. In the civil strife, detachments of the Xianbei and Wuhuan nomads, as well as the Hunnic horsemen, were drawn. Chinese troops stopped guarding the outskirts and thus opened and the way nomads to invade the country.
Invasion of nomads
In the III-VI centuries. in East Asia, north of China, there was a process of great migration of peoples, which then reached the borders of the Roman Empire in Europe. It began with the resettlement of the southern Huns (Nan Xiongnu), Xianbei, Di, Qiang, Jie and other tribes, who gradually moved from the north to the Central China Plain - the cradle of the ethnic community of the ancient Chinese. Here, the so-called barbarian states arose and perished, replacing each other.
With the collapse of the Hunnic Union in the north, the southern groups remained to live in the northern regions of Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Their main occupation was cattle breeding. The decomposition of the primitive communal system led to the formation of classes. The representatives of the top of the five Hunnic tribes elected the supreme ruler - the Shanyu, who gradually turned into a king with hereditary power. Shanuis have long been associated with the imperial family, they were married to Chinese princesses. Their eldest sons were brought up at the Han court, often in the position of honorary hostages. In the rates of the Chanyuis and aristocrats, significant values accumulated as a result of the exploitation of ordinary members of the tribes, the sale of slaves to the empire. Chinese officials and merchants lived at the court of the Shanyu and the heads of the five aimags, carried on a profitable trade, took out slaves and cattle. Detachments of the Huns more than once came to the aid of the emperors or took upon themselves the protection of the borders. Connections with aristocrats, intrigues of Chinese diplomats and bribery gave the court of the son of Heaven the opportunity to keep the Huns in obedience and conduct unequal trade with them. With the weakening of the Hunnic empire, the Shanyu began to claim the Chinese throne and actively intervene in civil strife. The troops of the Jin Empire were completely powerless against the powerful Hunnic cavalry that occupied the central provinces. Luoyang fell in 311, and Chang'an in 316. Following the Huns, numerous tribes began to move, roaming along the land borders of the Chinese empire. Some of these tribes were dominated by the clan system, they did not know hereditary power, but elected leaders, women enjoyed significant rights. Among other tribes, the aristocracy had already emerged and slavery existed in its original form. The tribal elite, associated with Chinese officials and merchants, was the conductor of the political and economic influence of the Middle Empire, served as the backbone of China's policy of enslavement against its neighbors. In turn, the nomadic nobility used ties with the empire for their own enrichment and robbery of their fellow tribesmen.
The largest union was the Xianbi tribes, who roamed in the northeast and were engaged in hunting and cattle breeding. Their leaders and nobles entered into trade with Chinese merchants, sent tribute and hostages to the court, begged for titles and valuable gifts, promising to stop raids. Chinese ambassadors tried to use the Xianbei against the Huns. In the III century. the Xianbei tribes were divided into several large unions. The most numerous of them were the union of the Muyuns who ruled southern Manchuria, and the union of the Toba tribes who roamed in Inner Mongolia and Ordos. The Muyun tribes occupied Hebei and waged long wars against the Huns on land and at sea. With the support of the Chinese, they created the kingdom of Yan.
The inhabitants of the western regions were also drawn to the riches of the Middle Empire: the tribes of the Tibetan group occupied the lands of Gansu, Shaanxi and Ningxia. Their nobility approved the royal power and created the state of Qin. The northwestern tribes had great military power. Their ambitions of conquest led them into a clash with the Muyuns, and then with the Chinese. A huge army, led by Fu Jian, the ruler of Qin, set out on a campaign, overcoming large areas, mountain ranges and rivers. Through Henan, the Qin army moved to the southeast, directing an attack against the Chinese, who still held the Yangtze coastal regions. In 383 at the river. Feishui, in the river basin. Huaihe they came into collision with a small army of the enemy. The generals of the southern kingdom, using cunning in the style of the ancient classical military art of China, inflicted a cruel defeat on Fu Jian's hordes. The nomads fled in panic. The Qin kingdom disintegrated.
The states created by the conquerors in the North of China were notable for their instability and easily disintegrated. Wars were accompanied by the extermination and enslavement of the indigenous population. Northern China, the oldest center of Chinese culture with the most economically developed and densely populated territories, has become the arena of nearly 100 years of war.
Only a new grandiose invasion ended these incessant military clashes and campaigns. The western Xianbei Toba tribes became the conquerors of all of Northern China. At the end of the IV century. their leader Toba Gui was proclaimed emperor. In organizing the state apparatus, he used the Chinese experience. Having broken the resistance of small states and tribal unions, the Tobians invaded China in 367. On the conquered territory, new authorities were created on the Chinese model. Toba Gui's grandson established the rule of the Northern Wei dynasty in North China.
Southern and northern states
The invasion of the nomads into Northern China opened a new era, called in traditional historiography the period of the Southern and Northern dynasties. In the III-VI centuries. the confrontation between the North and the South, which ancient China did not know, became the most important feature of this time. The destruction caused by the nomads, internecine wars, extortions, famine, epidemics that hit the North, caused a significant outflow of the population.
In the southern lands, abundant in natural resources, with a favorable climate, a relatively rare population consisted of local indigenous tribes and the Chinese. Refugees occupied the fertile valleys, crowded out the local residents, seized their fields. Newcomers from the North expanded plowing, created irrigation facilities, brought the experience of cultivating arable land, accumulated for centuries.
At the same time, in the South, a fierce struggle broke out among representatives of the ruling class for land, for the consolidation of the peasants. The state organization was so weak that it could not defend its claims to the supreme ownership of land. The state land fund remained very scarce. Large landowners took fugitives under the patronage without creating a centralized economy. The fields of large landowners were cultivated by dependent holders (dianke) attached to the land. Difficult working and living conditions, the willfulness of the masters, the danger of enslavement, the threat of punishment, and sometimes death, forced the farmers to seek salvation in flight, passing under the protection of new owners. In the middle of the 5th century. the southern government unsuccessfully tried to expand the funds of state lands.
Soon after the fall of Luoyang in 317, the courtiers gathered in Jianye (Nanjing region) proclaimed one of the offspring of the Sima house as emperor. Official chronicles consider 317-419. during the reign of the Eastern Jin dynasty. Politically, the northern aristocracy also dominated here, seizing the lion's share of key posts at the court. But the emperor's power was very weak. Land in the valley of the river. The Yangtze and along the coast belonged to large owners - the southerners. All this led to a long and intense struggle within the ruling class. In the IV century. contradictions between natives and newcomers from the North often resulted in rebellions. Secret conspiracies took place at the courts of the Eastern Jin, and influential dignitaries seized power.
At the end of the 4th - beginning of the 5th century. armed uprisings of peasants, members of the "Five Dou Rice" sect, as well as the growth of contradictions within the ruling class, led to the fall of the power of the Eastern Jin. After that, four more dynasties were replaced. The power of the emperors did not extend beyond the metropolitan area. There were frequent palace coups and assassinations. The ruling circles of the South considered the Yangtze a reliable defense against horsemen and did not try to reclaim Chinese territory. Campaigns to the North were undertaken by individual commanders, but they did not receive the support of the court and aristocrats.
The last attempts to reconquer the North were made in the first half of the 5th century. But the southern troops were repulsed by the well-organized Tobi cavalry, who had taken possession of North China by that time.
Here, starting from the IV century. dominated by the "barbarians"; the original Chinese population in the mass occupied a subordinate position.
North of China at the time of the Tobi conquest and the formation of the North-Belief state was a picture of decline. Many fields were desolate and overgrown with weeds, mulberry trees withered, the irrigation network collapsed, villages were depopulated. The cities turned into ruins, their inhabitants were exterminated, taken prisoner or fled to the south. The craft has been partially preserved only in the village. The exchange was carried out in a natural way. The functions of money were often performed by silk fabrics and horses.
With the end of invasions and wars, the people returned to "hearths and wells." "Strong houses" seized the land and subjugated the tillers. Tax collection was extremely difficult, the treasury was empty.
All this forced the Wei court to resort to measures to consolidate the power of the state in the disposal of land. In 485, an imperial decree established a new order, providing for some limitation of the growth of large landholdings. In Soviet historiography, it is known as the allotment system. The Tobi decree was a further development of the experience of agrarian reforms undertaken in the Jin state in the 3rd century.
In the struggle between the two paths of feudalization, the law on the allotment system to some extent symbolized the victory of the principle of state ownership of land over the desire of large feudal families to consolidate their possessions. The law fixed the right of the peasants to hold an allotment free from the power of individual feudal lords. Established its dimensions and the responsibilities of their holders. Men and women from 15 to 70 years old had the right to own arable land: men more, women less. In their field, they were required to grow crops. Upon reaching a ripe old age, with the disability or death of the taxable person, the land was transferred to another holder. Sale and purchase and any kind of temporary transfer of arable land were prohibited. The second part of the allotment was garden land intended for the cultivation of mulberry trees, hemp and vegetables. Horticultural land, in essence, was considered an eternal, hereditary property and in some cases it could be sold or bought. The land occupied by the manor courtyard was also considered hereditary.
For keeping the allotment to the treasury, taxes were paid annually in grain, silk or hemp cloth and cotton wool. In addition, the tax payer worked a certain number of days a year on government jobs. The basis of taxation was considered to be a couple of taxes.
A detailed management system was introduced in the village. Five courtyards constituted the lowest communal organization ling, five ling - an average communal organization, whether five li, which included 125 courtyards, constituted the largest village organization (dan). These associations were run by village elders. As a reward, part of the tax-paying families of the elders were exempted from duties and taxes. This entire organization reflected the desire of the state to subordinate all farmers to its power, to destroy patronymic ties and large kinship and neighboring collectives in the village. The courtyard (hu) as a taxation unit could not serve as the basis for accounting, because the courtyards usually included several related families. The authorities sought to account for and tax each couple and to destroy the closed community-courtyards.
The decree stipulated the existence of special property allotments, accrued in the form of additional arable fields to the owners of slaves and draft animals, as well as multi-family. For unmarried family members, 1/4 was charged, for a slave - 1/8, and for an ox - 1/10 part of the usual allotment. Such an order was in the interests of the feudalizing nobility and could provide them with fairly large land holdings. Civil servants were entitled to allotments of land as a salary in kind. Without farming, they received income from these plots. On the lands of members of the royal family, the Tobi nobility, "strong houses" and Buddhist monasteries, the butsuy planted on the land worked - slaves and half-slaves who performed the duties of servants and house guards, as well as newcomers - kehu and other categories of dependent.
The strengthening of the supreme ownership of land was facilitated by the strengthening of the early feudal centralized empire. The control system in it took shape according to the ancient Chinese model. Although the former nomadic nobility continued to hold on to power, the process of Sinification proceeded relatively quickly. The Wei sovereigns have widely adopted the knowledge and experience of the Chinese. Chinese officials played an important role in the state apparatus. Chinese became the state language, and Xianbei was banned. The Tobi aristocracy adopted Chinese surnames, wore local clothing, and obeyed the rules of Chinese etiquette. The Tobians abandoned shamanism. They found an ideological means to strengthen their power in Buddhism.
Initially, the Tobi rulers entered into a sharp clash with the Buddhist monks, who, having penetrated the north-western regions, seized the lands and subjugated the farmers, but over time the enmity ceased. By the VI century. in the state of Northern Wei, there were up to 50 thousand monasteries.
The implementation of the allotment system contributed to the rise of agriculture, the expansion of crops, and an increase in the grain yield. Some cities were rebuilt, which became cultural centers, trade revived. Gradually, the Tobi court lost control over the strong feudal houses. The North Vey state split into Western and Eastern states. In the middle of the VI century. to power in. the Chinese finally came to them.
Formation and development of feudal relations in China in the III-VI centuries. In the political history of China, the beginning of the Middle Ages was marked by the collapse (in 220) of the Han Empire, the largest state of the ancient world, which existed for more than 400 years. The Han Empire fell as a result of a powerful popular movement of the late 2nd - early 3rd centuries. The struggle of peasants, slaves, and the actions of individual non-Chinese tribes and peoples were a vivid expression of the deep social crisis of the Han state. Government troops and central authorities were unable to cope with the uprising. The squads of the so-called "strong houses", the largest landowners and slaves, came to their aid. After the suppression of the peasant war, as a result of which the Han dynasty was overthrown, a struggle for power began between the "strong houses". These events dealt a decisive blow to the foundations of the slave-owning society: the complex bureaucratic centralized system of state power, which stood guard over the previous mode of production, collapsed. In the new conditions, elements of the feudal system developed rapidly.
The feudal system arose in China in the first centuries of our era. Although the scope of slave labor was quite wide, including in agriculture (large landowners had hundreds or even thousands of slaves working in the fields), the main producers of material goods and taxpayers of the state were free communes who owned small land plots. The feudal system was formed in connection with the economic and political strengthening of large private land owners and the emergence of a privately dependent small peasant economy. The dependent peasantry arose as a result of property differentiation in the patronymic Chinese community. Large landowners - the heads of patronymics - subordinated their poor relatives to themselves, ensuring that the peasants dependent on them were not included in the state household lists. The community members, who fell into dependence on the rich landowners, stopped paying taxes to the state and serving their military service. For a long time, the labor of dependent peasants was used along with the labor of slaves, who more and more often began to be released and put on the land. The huge holdings of "strong houses" were transformed into self-sufficient economic units, which was the economic reason for the collapse of a single centralized state.
The level of material and spiritual culture of China in the early Middle Ages was very high. Agriculture developed successfully, which in many regions of the country was carried out on the basis of artificial irrigation. There was a complex and ramified irrigation system, fertilizers were used, and the cultivation culture was high. In China, they knew how to produce high-grade iron. The Chinese people invented silk weaving, paper (at the beginning of our era). There were significant successes in other types of handicraft production, especially products made of white ceramics, lacquer, bamboo, and luxury goods. Natural sciences, literature and art have reached a high level.
However, during the period of civil strife in the 3rd century, after the fall of the Han Empire, there was a clear economic and cultural decline. The country was depopulated, the fields were uncultivated, the complex irrigation system was disrupted, requiring constant attention and labor. Sources report frequent floods and other natural disasters, hunger. Even according to the then official data, clearly incomplete, the country's population fell from 56.5 million in 157 to 17 million in 280. In these conditions, protracted internal strife threatened to undermine the economy and cause an outbreak of new social movements. There was a need to recreate state unity.
Jin Empire. Introduction of the state allotment system. In the course of the struggle between the "strong houses", the Sima clan advanced and founded a new imperial dynasty, Jin (265-420), under which China was once again united.
In the III century. there was a struggle between two tendencies in the development of feudal relations in China. On the one hand, the power of "strong houses" grew, which seized vast expanses of empty land. Competing with each other, "strong houses" kidnapped farmers and hunted for people. They provided small plots of land to the soldiers of their military units and home guards. Homeless, ruined and newcomers were turned into farmers. These people fell into personal dependence on "strong houses", and the treasury did not receive any income from them.
On the other hand, state ownership of land was strengthened, which was dictated by the need to organize on a large scale public works on irrigation and road construction. In 280, a special decree was issued by the Jin emperor Sima Yan, according to which all lands were declared to belong to the state in the person of its supreme head - the emperor, and the population (both peasants and feudal lords) - the holders of state allotments.
In the III century. there were many abandoned and empty lands in the country. This facilitated the task of creating state property. According to the decree of Sima Yan, a full-fledged peasant aged 16 to 60 was provided with a piece of land of 120 mu (mu equals 6.6 a). From 70 mu of this plot, the peasant reaped the harvest in his favor, and from 50 mu, which he was also obliged to cultivate with his own instruments of labor, the harvest went to the state. In addition, the peasant had to pay taxes to the state (usually with yarn and cloth) and work 20 days a year in government jobs. These predetermined obligations created an incentive for the growth of the productivity of peasant labor and contributed to the settlement of abandoned lands and the expansion of sown areas.
The reform was carried out on an extremely insignificant scale, but nevertheless it contributed to the fact that by the end of the III century. the number of government taxpayers has doubled.
The state allotment system became a determining factor in the agrarian system of China during the entire early Middle Ages. However, she never reigned supreme throughout the country. So, simultaneously with the introduction of the allotment system, the right of "strong houses" to seize unoccupied state land and empty peasant plots, as well as to have personally dependent people, was recognized. At the same time, the Jin government began to distribute to officials allotments of land with peasants planted on them as a reward for service. Officials, receiving conditional holdings of the beneficiary type, were included in the feudal system of land use.
The introduction of state ownership of land provoked resistance from "strong houses". Troubles began in the country.
The invasion of the nomads. Internal troubles weakened the protection of the state borders of the empire and made it easier for the nomadic neighbors to invade the country. The country's northern and northwestern border regions were inhabited by various non-Chinese ethnic groups, experiencing a period of decomposition of the primitive communal system and the beginning of the formation of a class society. The Huns were the first to invade China, then the Muyun, Qiang, Jujan, Toba and Tibetan tribes. During the IV-VI centuries. Northern China has been the scene of continuous wars. The conquerors created numerous state formations, which quickly disintegrated under the blows of the new conquerors.
During this period, many residents of Northern China, the oldest center of Chinese culture, where the economically most developed and densely populated regions of the country were located, fled to the south. The total number of northerners who moved to the territory south of the Yangtze exceeded 900 thousand, or /& the entire population of the north. In some provinces of the south, there was one migrant per one local resident. It was one of the most grandiose migrations in the history of feudal China. The settlers from the north brought with them a more perfect agricultural and handicraft culture, which accelerated the economic development of South China. There were active processes of ethnic fusion. The local population, the so-called mountain yue, mingled with the Chinese. As a result of the assimilation of local tribes, the newcomers also changed, having taken over some elements of the physical appearance and language from the indigenous population. A significant number of representatives of the old nobility, "strong houses", members of the imperial family fled to the south. The fund of state lands here was insignificant. In the IV - VI centuries. the nature of the agrarian system of southern China has changed significantly. Most of the peasants were in personal dependence on private landowners. The labor of slaves was also used, although their role here was small.
At that time, active ethnic and social processes were also going on in the north. The conquerors adopted and mastered the local forms of economy, the traditions of the material and spiritual culture of China. By the end of the 5th century. the bulk of the conquerors moved from a nomadic lifestyle to a settled way of life. Their state apparatus mimicked the Chinese administration of the Jin era. Gradually, a political alliance of foreign aliens and Chinese feudal lords of the north took shape.
Restoration of the allotment system. At the end of the 5th century. in the north of China in the state of Northern Wei by decrees of 477-485. the state allotment system was again introduced, and in a more perfect form, which testified to the strengthening of feudal production relations. Now a farmer-peasant aged 15 to 70 received an allotment consisting of arable, garden and garden plots. The peasant could not sell arable land, lease it or transfer it to another person under any conditions. The land of the garden and garden plots was considered the property of the family. It could be bought and sold, but under the control of the administration and within a certain norm. In the Chinese chronicles, this allotment system was called the "system of equal fields" (zun tian fa). The area of the allotment was usually determined at 120 mu. The allotment was considered sufficient for the organization of a peasant economy, which would provide the peasant with a living wage and the fulfillment of state tax obligations. However, complete equality of allotments did not really exist. Owners of slaves, draft animals and multi-family owners could receive additional arable land (1/4 was added for an unmarried family member, -1/8 for a slave, and -1 / th part of an allotment for an ox). This order was in the interests of the feudalizing nobility and could provide her with fairly large holdings. Dependents, half-slaves and slaves constituted a significant stratum of the rural population. They were considered "vile people" as opposed to the free peasantry - "good people". They were not entitled to allotments, but their owners received additional plots of land.
In contrast to the agricultural project of Sima Yan, the main form of rent at the end of the 5th century. it was not corvee, but rent as products. A triad of duties was introduced: a grain tax, a tax on domestic products (mainly fabric and yarn) and, as had existed before, working off a certain number of days a year in government jobs. The allotment system legally secured taxable peasants for state land, which they were forbidden to leave. A new management system was introduced in the village: five courtyards were united into a grassroots communal organization, five five courtyards - into an average commune - le. Five le, that is, 125 households, constituted a small village community. The associations were based on the principle of mutual responsibility. Rural communities were ruled by elders, whose families were exempted from duties and taxes. This system ensured the attachment of peasants to the tax and a stable income of tax to the treasury, made it possible to attract huge masses of the population to carry out state work, and was supposed to restrain the anti-feudal struggle of the peasantry.
The allotment system excluded the existence of private feudal land tenure. The possessions of the feudal lords were also considered allotments. Only the possessions of the emperor, members of his house and the highest aristocracy were unlimited. Civil and military officials had official allotments, which were returned to the treasury when an official changed his position or place of service. As already noted, the presence of slaves and draft animals made it possible to increase the amount of land. In this regard, in the V century. the expansion of the slaveholding structure is observed. Slavery remained an important economic reserve for the feudal lords, providing additional sources of land, strengthening their political influence.
In the second half of the VI century. economic and political differences between north and south have softened significantly. Northern nomads assimilated into the mass of the local population. The introduction of the allotment system contributed to the rise of agriculture. A reverse outflow of the population began from the southern regions, where internecine wars and the oppression of the feudal lords intensified.
The borders of China were threatened by a new danger - the union of Turkic tribes - the Turkic kaganate, which took shape in Central Asia in the middle of the 6th century. Under these conditions, after three centuries of disunity, the state unity of China was relatively quickly restored. The unification of the country was carried out by military means. The commander Yang Jian was proclaimed emperor, and the dynasty he founded was named Sui.
The all-Chinese ran non-feudal state of Sui (581-618). The political unification of disparate states and the end of civil strife contributed to the further economic and cultural recovery of the country. The area under crops has expanded, the population has grown. Trade revived, destroyed cities began to rebuild (during internal wars and nomadic invasions in the 4th-5th centuries, almost all cities in China were plundered or burned). During the reign of the Sui dynasties, in the late 5th and early 7th centuries, a grandiose construction of the so-called Great Canal was undertaken, connecting the basins large rivers Yellow River and Yangtze. It was partly built on the basis of ancient irrigation structures, but four canals were re-dug and several rivers were reversed. The total length of the construction has reached 1,000 km. The canal and its gateways were serviced by 80 thousand people. This construction made it possible to expand the area of irrigated land, facilitate the transportation of grain and other goods, the transfer of troops and military equipment.
The strengthening of the centralized state was also facilitated by the allotment system, which from the end of the 6th century. became almost ubiquitous. The population was strictly registered, as a result of which, already under Yang Jiang, more than 1.5 million peasants were identified who had not previously been included in the tax lists. There was a tendency towards a decrease in the size of allotments and an increase in taxes, and especially labor service. It is known that 2 million people were rounded up for the construction of the capital of the empire, Luoyang, for the construction of the Great Canal, restoration and construction of new sections of the Great Wall of China - 1 million people each.
The central government managed to put an end to the separatism of local forces. It was under Suyah that the system of state administration was formed, which in its main features was preserved throughout the entire Middle Ages. The emperor had unlimited power and ruled the country with the help of a bureaucratic apparatus. He was considered a "son of heaven", i.e. the conductor of the will of the higher heavenly forces. He had a council of the most prominent dignitaries and three chambers. Then there were six departments (ranks, finance, rituals, military, court cases and punishments, public works). This was followed by management. A reform of the country's administrative division was carried out, which made it possible to strengthen the centralization of the empire.
The Sui Empire existed in a difficult international environment. In the northwest, the Turkic Khaganate was a formidable danger. Neither the troops nor the Great Wall of China could provide reliable protection against nomads. In addition, China and the Turks competed for dominance over the Great Silk Road, which connected China with the countries of the Near and Middle East. True to its traditional policy of "suppressing the barbarians with the hands of the barbarians," Chinese diplomacy contributed to the disintegration of the kaganate into two rival parts, which gave the empire some respite. The Sui state also managed, with the help of the Turks, to defeat another strong state in Central Asia - Togon. At that time, China was waging a long war in the south with the Vietnamese. But the most difficult for the country was the war with Goguryeo (one of the three states that existed at that time on the Korean Peninsula). Several campaigns were undertaken against Goguryeo, which ended ingloriously.
Peasant war and the fall of the Sui dynasty. The war with Goguryeo triggered an explosion of mass discontent in the country. The entire northeast of China was in revolt. Particular indignation of the population was caused by the state corvee, which under Suyah far exceeded the time limits provided for by law, and the increase in taxes. In the Hebei-Shandong region, the rebels even tried to create an independent state, proclaiming their leader (former village headman) Dou Jiande as sovereign. Peasant uprisings took place in other areas as well. The peasant uprising undermined the power of the feudal-aristocratic houses in the north of China. In the course of it, a significant number of slaves and personally dependent peasants were freed. The Sui Dynasty fell. However, the desire for the country's unity remained strong. This was taken advantage of by the noble Chancellian feudal lord Li Yuan, who in 618 declared himself emperor, founding the Tang dynasty, which ruled China for almost 300 years (618-907).
All-China Tang Empire. Completion of the process of feudalization. To appease the peasantry, the Tans canceled the tax arrears of previous years and limited the terms of the state corvee. The number of slaves to whom they began to provide independent plots and thereby transfer them to the category of tax-paying peasants has noticeably decreased. True, these measures concerned only state slaves. Along with this, the Tans also used repressive measures to suppress peasant uprisings.
In the first half of the 7th century, during the reign of the emperors Li Yuan and Li Shimin, the administrative structure of the empire was finally formed, which began to be created under the Suyi. The country was divided into provinces, regions and "counties". The lowest administrative unit was considered to be a rural community with its core - a five-yard building. There was a huge bureaucratic apparatus in the localities, subordinate to the central authorities. The strictest principle of centralization of management was in force in the country. A mercenary army began to form. A set of laws was drawn up.
The Tanov agrarian policy was aimed at strengthening state land ownership. The allotment system continued to be the basis of the agrarian system. Its introduction throughout the vast territory meant the completion of the process of establishing feudalism in China.
In the allotment system itself, significant changes took place. The average allotment of a peasant decreased, the age considered to be able-bodied was reduced, women were excluded from the list of taxable ones. The payment of grain and trade taxes in cash was allowed and even encouraged, which indicated a certain growth in commodity-money relations. It was also allowed to pay off labor service with a certain amount of fabrics or yarn. This testified to the decline in the role of labor rent.
The use of slave labor has significantly decreased. Slaves were almost never used in agriculture. The main area of their use was household and service. The owner was no longer given additional plots of land for slaves.
City life revived. Traders and artisans began to create peculiar organizations - khans (guild shops), which united workshops and shops of the same trade and craft profile. The founders of the khans, as a rule, were merchants, artisans played a subordinate role. The khans had internal self-government, but did not take part in the city administration. Urban craft was designed primarily to serve the imperial court, the army, and the nobility. It was regulated and controlled by the feudal state apparatus. Trade ties developed poorly.
An important activity of the Tanov was the ordering monetary system... Round copper coins with a hole in the middle were spread throughout the country so that they could be strung on a silk thread. Local mints were eliminated.
In the country's foreign policy, the main attention was paid to ensuring control over the Great Silk Road. The main rivals of China were the Turkic states here. The Tang Empire won a series of victories, as a result of which modern Western China was incorporated into the empire. In 751, the Chinese troops clashed with the army of the Arab Caliphate. The Chinese were defeated, and this halted their further advance to the west.
Attempts to conquer Korea and Southeast Asia continued, ties were established with Japan, relations with Tibet developed, and official contacts began with India. China was visited by embassies from Arab caliphs and Byzantine emperors.
Strengthening external contacts of China in the 7th-8th centuries. was of great importance for the country not only politically, but also in terms of the development of trade and cultural contacts. The Tang Empire became one of the most powerful states in the medieval world.
Social hierarchy. Feudal China developed a strict hierarchical system. A feature that distinguished it from the European feudal hierarchy was that everyone was considered subjects of one master - the emperor. No one could turn to a superior person other than sequentially, through all the steps of this ladder. All social groups of the population were included in the hierarchical system; Each hierarchical level had its own rules of conduct, etiquette, its own type of clothing, etc. The division into the steps was very small.
There was a hereditary aristocracy in China. However, even among the nobility there was no equality. It was divided into nine ranks - titles. Each title was provided with a land allotment of a certain size.
A very numerous social group was the bureaucracy, which is called a kind of personal nobility of feudal China. Officials could not inherit their social status, position or official land ownership. To occupy a position and be included in this social group, a certain educational qualification was required. Only those who passed the state exam could become a candidate for a position in the state apparatus. The position of an official changed only after passing the exam corresponding to a higher position. The system of examinations originated in China as early as the 2nd century. BC e., but in its final form it took shape in the Tang period. The exams were of three stages. The procedure was supervised by the head of the local administration. For the highest level, exams were taken at the imperial court. Along with general education, reliability was also checked. There could also be a backward movement. Therefore, among the officials, uncertainty about the future reigned, and this was a guarantee of complete obedience to the authorities. Formally, the system of examinations made the bureaucracy an "open class", but in fact, there was continuity here as well, since it was easier for an official than for representatives of other categories of the population to prepare their children and pass them through exam difficulties.
Farming in China was considered honorable. In the VII century. most of the peasants were tax-paying, i.e. belonged to the so-called "good people" (Lianmin). Formally, each taxable person could pass the exam and become an official, and therefore, move up the hierarchical ladder. But in reality, such cases were rare.
For the peasant, as well as for the official, there was strict regulation in clothing, demeanor, and even economic affairs. For example, he was prescribed by special state rescripts what crops he should grow on his allotment. The tax was assigned to the allotment and could not leave the place of registration. Heads of clans, elders, wealthy people, who, in fact, were unprivileged landowners, were also included in the category of taxable taxes. A significant amount of land was accumulated in their hands, the personally dependent, "alien" slaves worked for them. The elders were obliged to monitor the cultivation of fields, the payment of taxes, the fulfillment of labor duties, and the provision of mutual responsibility. For all his affairs, the peasant could turn only to the headman; direct appeal to a government official was prohibited. Artisans and merchants were also subject to taxes and duties, for them there was a regulation of life and activity.
Outside the hierarchical system were servants, slaves, personally dependent holders of land from private individuals, i.e. those who did not pay taxes and were considered powerless. They had no way of counting on progress upward.
The struggle of the feudal lords for the redistribution of land ownership. The allotment system, which was established in the early Middle Ages, provided certain guarantees of security for small individual production, which at that time was the most progressive form of economy. Iron tools were widely used in agriculture and handicrafts. By this time, agricultural implements became widespread - a plow with an iron share and a blade, hoes, hoes, etc., which in general terms remained throughout the Middle Ages. The extensive irrigation system was improved. The area of arable land has expanded. Water-driven machines began to be used, which made it possible to introduce irrigated agriculture on the hills. The famous bed-based field cultivation was further spread, and through-furrow sowing of two crops (for example, millet and beans) was widely practiced, which made it possible to obtain two harvests per year. New cultures spread - tea, sugarcane, oak silkworms, etc.
Further development of the process of division of labor contributed to the increasing concentration of crafts in the city. State craft became widespread, which slowed down and subjugated the private, although it could not stop its development.
Cities in China were dependent on the feudal state. They had no self-government. Government rigidly regulated all aspects of their life. The cities produced not so much basic necessities as luxury goods and goods for export.
In connection with the development of trade, the role of money increased, including the share of money in the income of feudal lords. At the end of the X - beginning of the XI century. the so-called "flying money" were introduced into circulation - paper bills, which were exchanged for a metal coin. These were the first predecessors of paper money.
The system of state control and strict social hierarchy impeded the growth of large landholdings. However, the agrarian legislation itself contained the possibility of undermining the state allotment system. In some cases, the peasant allotment could be sold (in the event of a move, in case of insufficient funds for the funeral ceremony, etc.). The newly reclaimed lands were considered the property of those who raised the virgin lands. The feudal lords, striving, bypassing the state, to exploit the peasants, seized all these lands. To seize allotment land, they resorted to various tricks, or even to direct violence - they appropriated the land of the peasants, and they themselves were taken under "protection", saving them from long-term tax debts. In other cases, feudal lords built dams and diverted water from peasant holdings, as a result of which the peasants were forced to either leave the land or become personally dependent.
The emperors, contrary to the established rules, granted lands to their relatives and the highest nobility on the basis of private property rights. Similar awards were made to Buddhist monasteries.
The feudal lords strengthened their positions, and the layer of allotment peasants was reduced. This led to a decrease in tax revenues to the treasury. Imperial decrees forbidding "to occupy fields without restrictions", "to hide taxes" were not successful. The allotment system itself by the middle of the VIII century. became an empty sound. A system of feudal estates began to develop in the country.
The feudal lords, having seized a significant amount of state land and created large estates, strove with all their might to get rid of the tutelage of the bureaucratic apparatus. At the same time, the central authorities were forced to introduce the posts of district military governors, which was associated with the frequent raids of nomadic tribes. Separatist sentiments intensified among the large feudal lords and especially the military governors. In the 50-60s. VIII century a wave of military feudal revolts swept across the country.
Feudal troubles weakened the Chinese Empire, as a result of which a number of territories that belonged to it were lost. After the battle with the Arabs in 751, China lost control of the Great Silk Road. Korea was lost. In the northeast, in southern Manchuria, the Khitan settled, who threatened the agricultural regions of China. In the south-west (in Yunnan), the state of Nanzhuo was formed, which, together with the Tibetan tribes in the VIII century. began to raid Chinese territory.
In these conditions, the state was forced to reform taxation. This was necessary, since the treasury revenues fell catastrophically. Of the 53 million population in China in 755, a little more than 8 million people bore natural and labor duties in favor of the treasury. The reform, prepared by a number of private decrees of the preceding twenty years, was carried out at the suggestion of the first minister of the Tang government, Yang Yan, in 780. A general taxation was introduced twice a year - on summer and autumn harvests. The law allowed for the replacement of a tax in kind with a cash one. All who owned land were subject to taxation, including the owners of estates, officials, etc., as well as artisans and merchants. As a result, the circle of taxpayers expanded and the taxation of former allotment peasants increased. The state did not carry out more annual redistribution of fields, the free purchase and sale of land was legalized. So, Yang Yan's reform officially recognized the existence of private feudal land ownership and provided new opportunities for its concentration in the hands of individuals.
Peasant War 874-901 The breakdown of agrarian relations in the early Middle Ages was extremely painful for the peasantry. Millions of former landholders were deprived of their land, unable to withstand the new burdens of taxation. It was they who took part in the antifeudal scattered ^ uprisings, which in 874 resulted in the peasant war. The original seat of the uprising was in Henan, Hebai and Shandong provinces. The rebels nominated leaders, of whom Huang Chao became the most popular. By 876, the army of the rebels (numbered more than 100 thousand people, and the area of action covered | five provinces between the Huang He and Yangtze rivers. The rebels made a grand campaign to the south of China, took Guangzhou (Canton), and then returned to the north. empire capitals - Chang'an and - Luoyang (880-881). The emperor fled | in Sichuan. In 880, Huang Chao proclaimed himself emperor. The rebels did not have any clear program. The rebels distributed treasures and foodstuffs from the Feo-1dal stocks to the poor. Themselves feudal lords and officials above the 4th rank were killed. | In further in the camp of the rebels began the feudal degeneration of a part of the insurgent elite. As a result, the trust and support of the population was lost, and discipline was weakened. Having made a long campaign and destroying the oppressors on their way, the rebels did not maintain ties with the population of these territories. They also failed to create a peasant government power capable of protecting their conquests and organizing interaction between different regions of the country.
Under these conditions, the ruling class, aware of the mortal danger, managed to rally its forces. To fight the rebels, horse detachments of nomadic steppe dwellers were brought in. However, the uprising continued for another decade. Only in 901 were the last peasant detachments finally dispersed.
The peasant war was defeated, but it played a significant role in Chinese history. The power of the feudal lords was undermined, the state apparatus was disorganized, the Tang dynasty fell.
Feudal troubles of the first half NS in. For a long time (907-960), it was not possible to restore state power in the country. There were wars between various claimants to the throne, small states arose and fell apart. According to Chinese tradition, this period is called the time of the "five dynasties and ten kingdoms."
Bloody internecine wars were accompanied by great destruction, especially in North China. Many cities were plundered. The irrigation system, left unattended, collapsed. Water flooded fields, destroyed entire villages. Nomad neighbors became more active, especially the Khitan, who lived in the northeastern outskirts of China and in 916 created their empire-Liao rituals there (Khitan, or Chinese, - from the name of this tribe comes the Russian name of the country, which was taken from the Mongols, - China). The Khitan rulers often intervened in the struggle between the Chinese feudal lords. Their army captured large areas of China north of the Yellow River. Under these conditions, a broad movement began in the country for the liberation of the lands seized by the Khitan and the unification of China into a single state. In 960, the army, which fought against the Khitan, proclaimed its commander Zhao Kuanin emperor. From this time began more than three hundred years of the reign of the Song dynasty (960-1279). The Sunam failed to restore the Chinese state to its former borders. Part of the territory remained with the Khitan, the northwestern regions were occupied by the Tanguts.
Religions and Culture of China in the Early Middle Ages. The transition to feudalism was marked in China by the spread of Buddhism. It was Buddhism that was here as an instrument for the formation and strengthening of the feudal system. Since the VI century. he became the state religion. A powerful church organization was created. The state authorities saw in the powerful Buddhist Church an assistant in the struggle for nationwide centralization. The early Middle Ages in China was the time of the greatest spread of Buddhism, which influenced the development of Chinese philosophy, literature and art. Buddhism contributed to the acquaintance of China with the culture of India, Southeast and Central Asia. In China, Buddhism absorbed the local religion and cult of ancestors, included the most ancient Chinese sages and heroes in its pantheon of saints.
Buddhism had its adherents mainly in the ruling class. Taoism was still widespread among the people. As a doctrine dating back to the time of the primitive communal system, Taoism retained the slogans of equality and condemnation of wealth, which attracted the masses. From the VII century. a Taoist church organization began to form. By this time, the Taoist doctrine was significantly revised to please the class of feudal lords, the religion received official recognition. However, individual Taoist sects continued to be associations of workers who were dissatisfied with reality and opposed their oppressors. Taoism often acted also as an ideological form of opposition movements of those groupings of the ruling class that, for one reason or another, turned out to be removed from power.
There was a struggle between Taoism and Buddhism for influence on Chinese society. However, both of these religions could not supplant Confucianism, which continued to persist as the basis of education, morality, state structure, legislation. It was in the spirit of Confucianism that a system of compulsory state examinations was developed, which officials passed to obtain a public office.
Coexistence of several religions - feature early feudal China. Confucianism, which in ancient times was the dominant official ideology, was gradually transformed due to the inclusion in it of a number of elements of Taoism and Buddhism. There was a tendency towards philosophical syncretism, which led in the XI-XII centuries. to the so-called neo-Confucianism, which became a powerful ideological, cultural and political force during the period of developed feudalism.
The social and political upheavals of the first centuries of the Middle Ages caused a certain decline in Chinese culture, although they did not violate the general line and continuity of its development. In the III - VIII centuries. In the Chinese culture, the influence of the culture of small peoples inhabiting the outskirts of the country and neighboring countries began to be more pronounced, which was beneficial for the development of philosophical thought, literature and art.
Chinese poetry has reached a high level of development. One of the first brilliant poets of the early Middle Ages was Tao Qian (365-427), the author of the famous social utopia "The Peach Spring". From the VIII century. the "golden age" of Chinese poetry began. The anthology of poetry of the Tang period contains over 50 thousand works. At this time, such remarkable poets as Wang Wei (699-761), Li Bo (699-762), Du Fu (712-770) were creating. Being soulful lyricists, they also touched upon deep social motives, they were worried about the fate of their homeland, torn apart by civil strife, the suffering of the common people.
From the VII century. the genre of a short story, describing the life and customs of the townspeople, was born. In urban novels, the influence of Indian traditions was clearly traced.
Historical writing was greatly developed, and this occupation was monopolized by the state. Special officials-historians were appointed, there were historiographic offices collecting information about current events. In 710, Liu Zhiji compiled Penetration into History, where he critically analyzed previous historical works.
Pilgrimages to the holy places of Buddhists contributed to the accumulation of significant geographical knowledge. Particularly interesting is the information collected by Fa Xian in 399-415, Xuan Jiang (606-661). The descriptions of their travels are one of the best sources to study the peoples of India, Southeast and Central Asia at that time.
From the end of the VI century. the collection of books resumed at the imperial court. In the VII century. the palace library consisted of about 90 thousand scrolls. The tradition of collecting private book collections was preserved.
In the dissemination of scientific knowledge, a significant role was played by printing from carved boards - woodcut, which has been used since the 7th century. In the XI century. was invented, although not widely adopted, typesetting font.
Mathematics, astronomy, natural science developed. Works on various branches of medicine appeared. Chinese medicine was famous for its knowledge healing properties plants. Engineering and mathematical knowledge was used for the construction of cities, fortress walls, complex irrigation structures. In the X century. in China, the compass began to be used. In the IX century. gunpowder was invented.
In art and architecture, the influence of Buddhism and local Chinese traditions were closely intertwined. Multi-storey stone pagodas were built in Henan (6th century), Shaanxi (7th century), etc. Monastery caves were painted, for example, the "Cave of a Thousand Buddhas" (near Dunhuang) had frescoes with a total length of over 25 km. Sculptural images of Buddhas were created. The famous 37-meter arched bridge in Shandong (beginning of the 7th century) was a great technological achievement.
Painting on silk and paper became widespread. Mostly landscapes were depicted, as well as flowers and birds.
Hieroglyphic calligraphy has become an independent branch of art. The famous calligrapher of the 4th century Wang Xizhi was called "the god of calligraphy".
Such branches of applied arts as the manufacture of items from porcelain, lacquer, bone, metals, artistic fabrics and embroidery developed.
The pantomime theater became widespread.
