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Xiang Yu

Xiang Yu

Xiang Yu (Traditional:項羽; Simplified: 项羽; Wade-Giles: Hsiang Yü; pinyin: Xiàng Yǚ; 232 BC - 202 BC) was a prominent general during the fall of the Qin Dynasty. His name was Ji (籍), Yu was his courtesy name. He was a descendant of Chu nobility. A great general, it took him only several years to put a giant empire effectively at his whim -- but no diplomat or statesman, his impetuous nature and inability to realize his shortcomings doomed him to failure. He is commonly known by his self-styled title of Xichu Bawang (“西楚霸王,” lit. Hegemonic King of Western Chu).

Early career

Xiang was born during a period when Qin -- the first regime that had tried to unify China -- was completing its conquests of the other kingdoms of the Warring States period, which it accomplished in 231 BC under its emperor Ying Zheng (嬴政, later known as Qin Shi Huang). How his childhood was like is not known, although it is clear that as a member of a family privileged in the now defunct kingdom of Chu, it would not be comfortable under Qin rule. He was raised by his uncle Xiang Liang, which suggested that his father, and possibly both parents, died early. After Qin Shi Huang's death in 210 BC, however, there were revolts everywhere against his incompetent son and successor Yin Huhai (Qin Er Shi). Many of these revolts claimed to be attempts to restore the kingdoms that Qin had conquered two decades earlier. One of these rebellions started in 209 BC, under Xiang Liang. At that time, the Xiangs were living in the region of Wu (modern southern Jiangsu). Xiang Liang was well known as the descendant of the Chu general Xiang Yan, and people of the Wu region quickly coalesced about him in resistance to Qin. After one of the first and strongest rebel generals, Chen Sheng (陳勝), then styling himself the Prince of Chu, was assassinated by one of his guards, Xiang Liang assumed leadership of a coalition of rebels. Serving under his uncle, Xiang Yu showed quickly both his military ingenuity and his impolitic cruelty. For example, when his uncle commissioned him to attack the Qin stronghold Xiangcheng (襄城, in modern Xuchang, Henan), he conquered the city despite its strong defenses, and after it fell, he slaughtered the entire population. In order to coalesce the forces against Qin, Xiang Liang made a member of Chu royalty, Mi Xin (羋心), the Prince of Chu in 208 BC. Initially, under Xiang Liang's control, Mi Xin was more or less a puppet prince. However, when Xiang Liang died in battle later that year, there was no single general who took his place, and the rebel Chu's generals and the Prince became an effective collective leadership, with the Prince gradually asserting his authority. A demonstration of this was that, against Xiang Yu's wishes, in winter 208 BC, he sent Xiang Yu as the second-in-command to Song Yi (宋義) in an expeditory force to relieve Zhao Xie (趙歇), the Prince of Zhao, who was then under resurgent Qin siege by Qin general Zhang Han (章邯) in his capital Handan (in modern city of the same name in Hebei) while putting Liu Bang in command of another expeditory force (which Xiang had wished to command) against the heart of Qin itself. Around this time, Prince Xin also created Xiang the Duke of Lu.

The Battle of Julu and Xiang's rise to military supremacy

Song Yi was a general who appeared brilliant while talking but was fairly incompetent. Believing that Qin and Zhao forces will wear each other out and not realizing that Zhao was in danger of being destroyed soon, Song stopped some distance away from Julu (鉅鹿, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), where the Prince of Zhao and his forces had retreated to, and did not proceed further. Xiang, analyzing the situation correctly but unable to persuade Song, took extreme measures. At a military conference, he surprised and assassinated Song. The other generals, who were already intimidated by his military capabilities, offered Song's command to him, and Prince Xin was forced to retroactively approve it. Xiang proceed with due haste to Handan. At the time of his arrival at the battlefield, the city of Julu and the Zhao forces within had been nearly starved by the seizing Qin forces, under general Wang Li (王離), the assistant to Zhang Han. Xiang understood the importance of reducing the Qin forces' effectiveness first, and he accomplished this by cutting of Wang's supply lines. He then ordered his forces to carry three days of supplies and destroy the rest -- in other words, making his forces having no real possibility of retreating alive -- before engaging Wang in battle. Still, no other relief force sent by other rebel principalities dared to engage the Qin forces, and Xiang attacked them alone. He fought nine engagements before the Qin forces collapsed and Zhang was forced to retreat. Wang was captured. After the battle, all other rebel generals, regardless of whether they came from Chu or not, were so awed by Xiang, that they voluntarily came under his command, and Xiang then prepared for a final confrontation with Zhang. That confrontation would not happen, however. The Qin prime minister, the eunuch Zhao Gao, had become jealous of Zhang's success up to that point and was concerned that Zhang would replace him. He falsely accused, before Qin Er Shi, Zhao of military failure and conspiracy with the rebels. In fear, in summer 207 BC, Zhang surrendered to Xiang without a fight. Again demonstrating his cruelty, Xiang slaughtered the surrendering Qin army except for Zhang and a few other generals, and he, ignoring Prince Xin's authority as his prince, created Zhang the Prince of Yong (a region within Qin proper (i.e., the former territory of Qin during the Warring States period before its expansion), modern central Shaanxi), even though he had not yet captured Qin proper.

Entry into Qin proper and Xiang's jealousy of Liu Bang

Xiang then prepared an invasion against the heart of Qin, to wipe Qin out. He was unaware that, by this point, Liu Bang had already proceeded deep into Qin and was near its capital Xianyang (near modern Xi'an, Shaanxi). Xianyang and Qin's final ruler, Ying Ying, surrendered to Liu's forces in winter 207 BC, ending Qin Dynasty. When Xiang arrived at Hangu Pass (函谷關, in modern Sanmenxia, Henan), the gateway into Qin proper, he found the pass guarded by Liu's forces, and in anger, he sieged it, even though Liu was a fellow Chu general. He then approached Liu's forces, which he outnumbered three to one. At a famous event later known as the Feast at Hong Gate (鴻門宴), Xiang required Liu, under duress, to attend a feast he put on and considered executing Liu at the feast. His advisor Fan Zeng (范增) strongly encouraged him to do so. However, Xiang listened to his uncle Xiang Bo (項伯), a friend of Liu's strategist Zhang Liang (張良) and spared Liu, although he would continued to bear grudge against Liu for robbing him of the glory of destroying Qin. Under a promise issued by Prince Xin of Chu earlier, Liu Bang had assumed that he, as the one who entered Xianyang first, would be created the Prince of Qin. He had also planned to make Ying Ying, whose wisdom and knowledge he admired, his prime minister. Xiang paid no attention to Liu's presumptive title to Qin, and he, in another act of deliberate cruelty, killed Ying Ying and burned down the Qin palace, which contained a large royal library commissioned by Qin Shi Huang. The unique copies of many "forbidden books" were then lost forever. Despite advice from one of his advisors to set his own capital at Xianyang, Xiang was intent on returning to his home region of Chu, and instead engaged in a three-month systematic destruction of Qin buildings and institutions.

Xiang's deposition of Prince Xin of Chu and division of the empire

Xiang, jealous of Liu, suggested to Prince Xin of Chu that while Liu should be made a prince, he should not be given Qin. Prince Xin responded that he was inclined to carry out his promise. Xiang, now firmly in control, in response, deposed Prince Xin. While ostensibly offering Prince Xin the even more honorable title of "Emperor Yi," he in fact put Emperor Yi's "empire" in the then-uncivilized region around Chencheng (郴城, in modern Chenzhou, Hunan) and exiled him there. In spring 206 BC, Xiang divided the former Qin empire into 18 principalities (in addition to Emperor Yi's "empire"):
- Western Chu (西楚), taken by Xiang himself, occuping modern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, northern Zhejiang, and eastern Henan
- Han (漢), given to Liu Bang, occupying modern Sichuan, Chongqing, and southern Shaanxi
- Yong (雍), given to Zhang Han, occupying modern central Shaanxi
- Sai (塞), given to Zhang Han's deputy Sima Xin (司馬欣), occupying modern northeastern Shaanxi
- Zhai (翟), given to Zhang Han's assistant Dong Yi (董翳), occupying modern northern Shaanxi
- Western Wei (西魏), given to Wei Bao (魏豹), the Prince of Wei and a descendant of the royalty of the Warring States state of Wei (whose territories Xiang had incorporated into Western Chu), occupying modern southern Shanxi
- Henan (河南), given to Shen Yang (申陽), an assistant of Zhang Er, the former co-prime minister of Zhao, occupying modern northwestern Henan
- Han (韓) (note different character than above), retained by Han Cheng (韓成), the Prince of Han and a descendant of the royalty of the Warring States state of Han, occupying modern southwestern Henan
- Yin (殷), given to Sima Qiong (司馬邛), a Zhao general, occupying modern northern Henan and southern Hebei
- Dai (代), given to Zhao Xie (趙歇), the Prince of Zhao and a descendant of the royalty of the Warring States state of Zhao, occupying modern northern Shanxi and northwestern Hebei
- Changshan (常山), given to Zhang Er (張耳), the co-prime minister of Zhao, occupying modern central Hebei
- Jiujiang (九江), given to Ying Bu (英布), a Chu general under Xiang's command, occupying modern central and southern Anhui
- Hengshan (衡山), given to Wu Rui (吳芮), a Qin official with support from Yue tribes, occupying modern eastern Hubei and Jiangxi
- Linjiang (臨江), given to Gong Ao (共敖), a Chu general under Prince Xin, occupying modern western Hubei and northern Hunan
- Liaodong (遼東), given to Han Guang (韓廣), the Prince of Yan, occupying modern southern Liaoning
- Yan (燕), given to Zang Tu (臧荼), a Yan general under Han Guang, occupying modern northern Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin
- Jiaodong (膠東), given to Tian Fu (田巿), the Prince of Qi and a descendant of the royalty of the Warring States state of Qi, occupying modern eastern Shandong
- Qi (齊), given to Tian Du (田都), a Qi general under Tian Fu, occupying modern western and central Shandong
- Jibei (濟北), given to Tian An (田安), a Qi region rebel leader, occupying modern northern Shandong Note: Yong, Sai, and Zhai were known as the three Qins, because they comprised of the former territories of Qin proper; similarly, Qi, Jiaodong, and Jibei were known as the three Qis.

Xiang's downfall

It should be noted from this list several phenomena. Xiang, based on the fact that several generals from the rebel coalition states supported him in the campaign against Qin, supplanted their princes and put those generals in the original seats of the princes who sent them. He also left several important figures who did not support him without principalities, despite their contributions to the effort against Qin. Soon after this division, further, he would have Emperor Yi murdered and Han Cheng executed (seizing Han territories and merging them into his own principality in the process). This greatly alienated a great deal of people and left his confederation of states without legitimacy. As a result, several months after his division of the empire, Xiang was facing enemies on several different fronts; Tian Rong (田榮), the prime minister of Qi, angry that not only was he left out of the division but that his former subordinate had been promoted over him, resisted the division and conquered the three Qis, initially putting Tian Fu back on the throne but eventually killing him and taking over after Tian Fu displayed fear of Xiang. Similarly, Chen Yu (陳餘), a former co-prime minister of Zhao, who was also left out of the division, led an uprising against his former colleague Zhang Er, taking back Zhang's territory and reinstalling Zhao Xie as the Prince of Zhao. However, the enemy that would prove to be the most formidable for him was Liu Bang, who resented not only the fact that he was robbed of what he viewed as his rightful division as the Prince of Qin, but that he was "exiled" to the then uncivilized region of Han. Xiang and Liu would fight a five-year war known as the Chu Han Contention. Initially, Xiang had all the advantages -- he had the much larger territory, the larger army, and the greater number of allies. He was also a far superior general to Liu. However, his lack of political skills, the inability to accept criticism, and his inability to listen to wise advisors would eventually lead to his downfall. He also paid little attention to supplies for his army -- a fatal error, as Liu set up an efficient army supply system to keep his army well-fed and well-clothed with food and clothing shipped to the front from his heartland, while Xiang's army eventually fell into hunger and lack of weaponry. As he got bogged down to wars on different fronts, Liu, along with his very able general Han Xin, was able to gradually absorb many of the principalities into his territories or alliance. By 203 BC, Xiang was caught in an unwinnable war. He sued for peace, which Liu granted, but Liu quickly changed his mind and abandoned the treaty. In 202 BC, his forces, under Han Xin's command, had Xiang trapped at Gaixia (垓下, in modern Suzhou, Anhui), where Xiang's beloved concubine Yuji (虞姬) committed suicide after presenting him with one final dance. (The title of the famous Chinese opera "Farewell My Concubine", as well as the 1993 film based on the opera, comes from the aria that Xiang Yu sings to Yuji before his last stand.) Image:Yuji.jpg Xiang still enjoyed support in his homeland in the Wu region, south of the Yangtze River. He broke out of the Gaixia pocket and headed for the river, intending to cross it at Wujiang (烏江/乌江, in modern Chaohu, Anhui). The fordsman at the river encouraged him to cross, telling him that the people of Wu were still intent on supporting him as their prince. Xiang felt ashamed, and instead committed suicide. There are many different stories about Xiang Yu's suicide. One famous example is when he was surrounded by Han cavalry, he saw a old friend and said "Are you Lü Matong? I heard the Prince of Han has a great reward for my head. Here let me give you this..." After saying these words, he killed himself. (A legend indicates that he decapitated himself with his own sword.) Image:Chubawang.jpg Although Liu Bang was a bitter rival, he made a grand funeral (with the ceremony befitting that of a duke) and graveyard for Xiang Yu and had it maintained regularly. Also, Liu spared many of Xiang Yu's relatives and rewarded Xiang Bo, who saved Liu Bang's life during the Feast at Hong Gate incident, by creating him and three other relatives of Xiang Yu marquesses.

Impact on Chinese history

Xiang's heroism on the battlefield and his death at the hands of Liu Bang has been immortalized in the Shi Ji ("Records of the Grand Historian") has made him a cultural hero in Chinese folk tales and poetry. However, he is also viewed as having bravery but no wisdom, as summarized in the Chinese idiom "youyong wumou" (有勇無謀). His military tactics were required learning for generals, while his political blunders were also required learnings for emperors as to what not to do as leaders. An idiom that referred to his being surrounded at Gaixia is "surrounded by Chu music" (simian Chuge, 四面楚歌), which refers to a desperate situation without allies -- based on Xiang's lament at Gaixia that he heard Chu songs coming out of Liu's surrounding camps, implying that Liu had conquered all of Chu. Yet another idiom that refers to the inability to listen to advice is, "having a Fan Zeng but unable to use him" (有一范增而不能用), referring to Xiang's reliance on Fan but actual inability to listen to Fan's advice, which came out of Liu's critique of Xiang after his final victory. (For the more complete quote from Liu, see here.) Note: throughout this article the Chinese character 王 (wang) had been translated as "prince." It can also be translated as "king." Category:Chinese people ja:項籍

Traditional Chinese

Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese characters. It is the set of characters that first appeared during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) and has been used since the 5th century during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It is called traditional as opposed to the other form - the simplified Chinese characters, created or standardised by the government of the People's Republic of China (mainland China) starting from the 1950s. Traditional Chinese is text written with Traditional Chinese characters. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and some overseas Chinese communities; especially those originating from the aforementioned countries or who emigrated before the widepspread adoption of simplified characters in the People's Republic of China. In contrast, simplified characters are used in Mainland China, Singapore, and in some overseas Chinese communities; especially those from aforementioned countries who emigrated after the widespread adoption of simplified Chinese characters.

Controversy over name

Among Chinese people, traditional Chinese characters are referred to by several different names, each with different implications. The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) officially calls traditional Chinese characters standard characters or orthodox characters (Traditional Chinese: 正體字; Simplified Chinese: 正体字; pinyin: zhèngtǐzì), which implies that traditional characters are the full and correct forms of the characters. In contrast, users of simplified characters call them complex characters (Traditional Chinese: 繁體字; Simplified Chinese: 繁体字; pinyin: fántǐzì), or, informally, old characters (老字; pinyin: lǎozì), with the implication that traditional Chinese characters have been replaced and are obsolete. Traditional character users argue that traditional characters cannot be called "complex" as they were never made more complex; the characters were preserved the way they were. Conversely supporters of simplified Chinese characters object strongly to the description of these characters as "standard," since they view the new simplified characters as the contemporary standard. They also point out that traditional characters are not truly traditional as Chinese characters have changed significantly over time. Curiously, although the character which is generally translated as "complex" is itself comprised of numerous, if not complex strokes, the character has not undergone simplification; this is perhaps intentional as it demonstrates the relative complexity of the Traditional characters in contrast to the Simplified versions. Additionally, while "complex" bears somewhat of a negative connotation in English, the Chinese character per se does not imply anything to the extent that it might be construed as "complex" or "troublesome"; rather, the meaning is rather vague and remains neutral unless coupled with other characters. Some older people refer to traditional characters as proper characters (正字; pinyin: zhèngzì) and simplified characters as simplified-stroke characters (Traditional Chinese: 簡筆字; Simplified Chinese: 简笔字; pinyin: jiǎnbǐzì) or reduced-stroke characters (Traditional Chinese: 減筆字; Simplified Chinese: 减笔字; pinyin: jiǎnbǐzì) (simplified- and reduced- are actually homonyms in Mandarin Chinese, both pronounced jiǎn).

Printed text

When printing text, people in Mainland China and Singapore mainly use the simplified system, which was developed by the People's Republic of China government in the 1950s. However, the PRC also prints material intended to be read outside of Mainland China using traditional characters. In handwritten text, most people use informal, sometimes personal simplifications. In most cases, an alternative character (異體字) would be used in place of one with more strokes, such as 体 for 體. Contrary to popular belief, most of these are still part of the set of traditional chinese characters, but informally and confusingly called simplified form (簡寫). Though not standard, these are usually accepted outside schools, and some are extremely widespread, notably the tai (台) in Taiwan as opposed to the standard character (臺).

Computer character encoding

In the past, Traditional Chinese was most often rendered using the Big5 character encoding scheme, a character encoding scheme that favors Traditional Chinese. Unicode, however, has become increasingly popular as a way to render Traditional Chinese. Unicode gives equal weight to both simplified and traditional Chinese characters and does not favor either over the other. There are various IMEs (Input Method Editors) available to input Chinese characters.

Usage in other languages

Traditional characters are also used in Korean Hanja, and moderately simplified traditional characters are used in modern Japanese Kanji.

Wade-Giles

Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on the form of Mandarin used in Beijing. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade in the mid-19th century, and reached settled form with Herbert Giles's Chinese-English dictionary of 1912. It was the main system of transliteration in the English-speaking world for most of the 20th century, replacing the Nanjing-based romanization systems that had been common until late in the 19th century.

History

The Wade-Giles system was designed to transliterate Chinese terms for Chinese specialists. This origin has led to a general sense that the system is non-intuitive for non-specialists and not useful for teaching Chinese pronunciation. The Republic of China has used Wade-Giles for decades as the de facto standard, co-existing with several official but obscure Romanizations in succession, namely, Gwoyeu Romatzyh (1928), MPS II (1986), and Tongyong Pinyin (2000). Taiwanese placenames in international use have still been virtually all in Wade-Giles. Many Taiwanese Americans and Taiwanese Canadians also have their Chinese names written in Wade-Giles, while consistently ignoring some punctuation. The Hanyu Pinyin system is the official and most widely used system in the People's Republic of China. In Singapore, Pinyin is taught in national schools and widely used in official documents, although an about-turn in government policy reversed the requirement to register people's Chinese names in Pinyin. Wade-Giles spellings for Taiwanese placenames and words long accepted in English usage are still used interchangeably in English language texts in both countries, however. The famous past Chinese men Confucius and Mencius, who became known of in Europe early, are usually known in these Latinized forms.

One symbol-multiple sounds

A common complaint about the Wade-Giles system is the representation of the unaspirated-aspirated stop consonant pairs using apostrophes: p, p', t, t', k, k', ch, ch. However, the use of apostrophes preserves b, d, g, and j for the romanization of Chinese dialects containing voiced consonants, such as Shanghainese (which has a full set of voiced consonants) and Taiwanese (Hō-ló-oē) whose century-old Missionary Romanisation is similar to Wade-Giles. On the other hand, people unfamiliar with the Wade-Giles often ignore the apostrophes, even so far as leaving them out when copying texts, unaware that they represent vital information. Hanyu Pinyin addresses this issue by employing the Latin letters customarily used for voiced stops, unneeded in Mandarin, to represent the unaspirated stops: b, p, d, t, g, k, zh/j, ch/q. Partly because of the popular omission of the apostrophe, the four sounds represented in Hanyu Pinyin by j, q, zh, and ch all become ch in many literature and personal names. However, were the diacritics to be kept, the system reveals a symmetry that leaves no overlap:
- The non-retroflex ch (Pinyin j) and ch (Pinyin q) are always before either i or ü.
- The retroflex ch (Pinyin zh) and ch (Pinyin ch) are always before a, e, ih, o, or u.
One sound-multiple symbols
In addition to several sounds presented using the same letter(s), sometimes, one single sound is represented using several sets of letters. There exists two versions of Wade-Giles Romanizations for each of the Pinyin syllables zi, ci, and si.
- The older version writes tsû, ts'û, and ssû
- The newer version writes:
- tzu for tsû, but it still remains ts- before other vowels, as in tsung for the Pinyin zong.
- tz'u for ts'û, but remains ts'- before other vowels.
- szu or ssu for ssû, but is s- before other vowels. Note, not ss-.
Precision with empty rime
On the other hand, Wade-Giles shows precisions not found in other major Romanizations in regard to the rendering of the two types of empty rimes (空韻):
- -u (formerly û) after the sibilant tz, tz, and s (Pinyin z, c, and s).
- -ih after the retroflex ch, ch, sh, and j (Pinyin zh, ch, sh, and r). These empty rimes are all written as -i in Hanyu Pinyin (hence undistinguishable from true i as in li), and all written as -ih in Tongyong Pinyin. Zhuyin, as a non-Romanization, does not require the representation of any empty rime.

Partial interchangeability of uo and e with o

What is pronounced as a close-mid back unrounded vowel is written usually as -e as in pinyin, but sometimes as -o. This vowel in an isolate syllable is written as o or ê. When placed in a syllable, it is e; except when preceded by k, k, and h, when it is o. What is actually pronounced as -uo is virtually always written as -o in Wade-Giles, except shuo and the three syllables of kuo, k'uo, and huo, which already have the counterparts of ko, k'o, and ho that represent pinyin ge, ke, and he.

Punctuation

In addition to the apostrophes used for distinguishing the multiple sounds of a single Latin symbol, Wade-Giles uses hyphens to separate all syllables within a word, whereas Pinyin only uses apostrophes to separate ambiguous syllables. Originally in his dictionary, Giles used left apostrophes (‘) consistently. Such orientation was followed in Sinological works until the 1950s or 60s, when it started to be gradually replaced by right apostrophes (’) in academic literature. On-line publications almost always use the plain apostrophe ('). Apostrophes are completely ignored in Taiwanese passports, hence their total absence in overseas Chinese's names. If the syllable is not the first in a word, its first letter is not capitalized, even if it is a proper noun. The use of apostrophes, hyphens, and capitalization is frequently not observed in placenames and personal names. For example, the majority of overseas Chinese of Taiwanese origin write their given names like "Tai Lun" or "Tai-Lun", whereas the Wade-Giles actually writes "Tai-lun". The capitalization issue arises partly because ROC passports indiscriminately capitalize all letters of the holder's names (beside the photograph). It is also due to the misunderstanding that the second syllable is a middle name. (See also Chinese name) Wade-Giles uses superscript numbers to indicate tone, and official Pinyin uses diacritics. The tone marks are ignored except in textbooks.

Other differences with Pinyin

- Wade-Giles chose the French-like j to represent a Northerner's pronunciation of what now is represented as r in Pinyin.
- Ü (as in 玉 "jade") always has umlaut above, while Pinyin only employs the umlaut in the four cases of lü, lüe, nü, and nüe.
- The Pinyin vowel cluster ong is ung in Wade-Giles. (See Confucius as an example.)
- After a consonant, the Wade-Giles vowel cluster uei is written ui in pinyin. However, both Romanizations, unlike some others, use iu and un instead of the complete syllables: iou and uen.
- I is never preceded by y, as in pinyin. The only exception is in placenames, which are hyphenless, so without a y, syllable ambiguity could arise.
- The isolated syllable eh! is written as ê, like in Pinyin. (Schwa is occasionally written as ê as well.) But unlike Pinyin, which uses -e if there's consonant preceding the sound, Wade-Giles uses -eh. (See circumflex)
- In addition to being the schwa, ê also represents the Pinyin er as êrh.

Influences

Postal System Pinyin is based on Wade-Giles, but incorporating a number of exceptions that override the systematic rules.

External links

- [http://www.mandarintools.com/pyconverter.html Chinese Romanization Converter] - Convert between Hanyu Pinyin, Wade-Giles, Gwoyeu Romatzyh and other known or (un-)common Romanization systems.
- [http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/eastasian/ctable2.htm Wade-Giles → Zhuyin → Pinyin conversion table] (See Zhuyin)
- [http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/eastasian/ctable3.htm Pinyin → Wade-Giles → Zhuyin conversion table]
- [http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/china.html A conversion table of Chinese provinces and cities from Wade-Giles to Pinyin] Category:Chinese language romanization ms:Wade-Giles

232 BC

Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC - 230s BC - 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC Years: 237 BC 236 BC 235 BC 234 BC 233 BC - 232 BC - 231 BC 230 BC 229 BC 228 BC 227 BC ---- Events
- King Agron dies, and the throne of Illyria is occupied by his wife Queen Teuta (Tefta), "the Catherine the Great of Illyria", who expels the Greeks from the Albanian coast and then launches pirate ships into the Ionian Sea, preying on Roman shipping.
- In Rome, the Lex Flaminia de agro Gallico et Piceno viritim dividundo authorizes the distribution of land in Gaul to Roman colonists.
- Seleucus II Callinicus tried to regain Parthia Births
- Deaths
- Ashoka, Buddhist ruler of the Mauryan empire in India
- Cleanthes of Assos, head of the Stoic School in Athens
- Agron, the first king of Illyria (modern Albania) Category:230s BC

202 BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 3rd century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC - 200s BC - 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC Years: 207 BC 206 BC 205 BC 204 BC 203 BC - 202 BC - 201 BC 200 BC 199 BC 198 BC 197 BC ---- Events
- October 19 - In an epic showdown between the two greatest generals of their age, Scipio Africanus Major defeats Hannibal in the Battle of Zama. On Hannibal's advice, Carthage sues for peace, ending the Second Punic War. Carthage is reduced to a client state.
- The Han emperor Liu Bang moves his capital from Luoyang to Chang'an (Xian), Construction of the new capital city Chang'an started. He gives the area of today's Fujian Province to Wuzhu as his kingdom. Wuzhu started construction of his own capital Ye (Fuzhou).
- Construction of Changsha started. Births
- Deaths
- Xiang Yu, rebel against the Qin Dynasty Category:200s BC

Chu (state)

)]] Chu (楚) was a kingdom in what is now southern China during the Spring and Autumn period (722-481 BCE) and Warring States (481-212 BCE) period. It was originally known as Jing (荆) and then as Jingchu (荆楚). At the height of its power, the Chu empire occupied vast areas of land, including the present-day provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Henan, and parts of Jiangsu. The Chu capital was at Ying (郢).

History

The land of Jing was inhabited by the native Chu people. The early Chu state was ruled by an aristocracy with close affinity to the Zhou kings, with its capital at Danyang. Prior to the dissolution of Zhou's power, the territory was transferred by authority of the Zhoucheng King of Eastern Zhou to Xiong Yi. In its early years, Chu was a successful expansionist and militaristic state. Chu developed a reputation for coercing and absorbing its allies. Chu grew from a small, dependent state into a large empire worthy of contention, even attaining the traditional title of one of "The Five Overlord States of the Spring and Autumn Period" (春秋五霸). Chu first consolidated its power by absorbing the lesser states within its immediate vicinity in Hubei; then, it expanded into the north towards the North China Plain. The threat from Chu resulted in multiple northern alliances against Chu and its allies; these alliances succesfully kept Chu in check, with its first major victory at the Battle of Chengpu. The kingdom's power continued even after the end of the Spring and Autumn period in 481. Chu overran Cai to the north in 447 BCE. During the Warring States Period, Chu was increasing pressured by Qin to its west. Chu's size and power made it the key state in alliances against Qin. As Qin expanded into Chu territory, Chu was forced to expand southwards and eastwards, absorbing local cultural influences along the way. In 333 BCE, Chu and Qi partitioned and annexed the coastal state of Yue. By the late Warring States period (ca. late 300s BCE), however, Chu's prominent status had fallen into decay. As a result of several invasions headed by Zhao and Qin, Chu was eventually subjugated by Qin. In 278 BCE, Qin general Bai Qi marched on the capital Yingdu, threatening to invade. Following the fall of Yingdu, Shouchun (modern Shou in today's Anhui province) became the state's capital-in-exile.

Culture

Anhui)]] Based on archaeological finds, Chu's culture was initially quite similar to that of other Zhou states. Later on, Chu culture absorbed indigenous elements as the state expanded to the south and east, developing a distinct culture from the traditional Northern Zhou states. Early Chu burial offerings consisted primarily of bronze vessels in the Zhou style. Later Chu burials, especially during the Warring States Period, featured distinct Chu burial objects, such as colorful lacquerware, iron and silk, accompanied by a reduction in bronze vessel offerings. A common Chu motif was the depiction of snakes, dragons and serpent-like beings. Some archaeologists speculate that Chu may have had cultural connections to the vanished Shang dynasty, since many motifs used by Chu appeared earlier at Shang sites, such as motifs depicting serpent-tailed gods. Later Chu culture was known for its affinity for employing shamanistic rituals. Chu was also known for its distinct music; archaeological evidence shows that Chu music was annotated differently from Zhou music; Chu music also showed an inclination for using different performance ensembles, as well as unique instruments; In Chu, the se was preferred over the qin, while both instruments were equally preferred in the northern Zhou states. Chu came into frequent contact with other people in the south, most notably the Ba, Yue and the Hundred Yue. Numerous burials and burial objects in the Ba and Yue styles were discovered throughout the territory of Chu, co-existing with Chu-style burials and burial objects. The early rulers of the Han dynasty romanticized the culture of Chu, sparking a renewed interest in Chu cultural elements such as the Chu Ci. After the Han dynasty, Chu developed a undeserved reputation for being a barbarian state; Confucian scholars considered Chu culture with distaste, criticizing the "lewd" music and shamanistic rituals associated with Chu culture.

Famous people

Famed poet Qu Yuan hailed from Chu. A government minister and a patriot, he had advocated uniting with the other states to combat the rising hegemon Qin, yet to no avail; he was banished by the king of Chu. According to tradition, such was his grief upon learning of the Qin invasion, reportedly committed suicide. Warrior King Xiang Yu also known as "Overlord of Western Chu", he destroyed every single Qin army and also was rival to Han Dynasty founder Liu Bang. He was fearsome in the battlefield but somewhat arrogant that lead to his downfall.

References

- Defining Chu: Image And Reality In Ancient China, Edited by Constance A. Cook and John S. Major, ISBN 0824829050
- So, Jenny F., Music in the Age of Confucius, ISBN 0295979534 Category:Ancient Chinese states ja:楚 (春秋)

China

to protect the north from nomadic invaders and has been rebuilt several times since.]] China () refers to a number of states and cultures that have existed and are viewed as having succeeded one another in continental East Asia, dating back at least 3,500 years. China as it exists today has been variously described in different points of view as a single civilization or multiple civilizations, as a single state or multiple states, and as a single nation or multiple nations. With one of the world's longest periods of mostly uninterrupted civilization and the world's longest continuously used written language system, China's history has been largely characterized by repeated divisions and reunifications amid alternating periods of peace and war, and violent imperial dynastic change. The country's territorial extent expanded outwards from a core area in the North China Plain, and varied according to its moving fortunes to include multiple regions of East, Northeast, and Central Asia. For centuries, Imperial China was also one of the world's most technologically advanced civilizations, and East Asia's dominant cultural influence, with an impact lasting to the present day throughout the region. By the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, China's political, economic, and military influence declined relative to growing regional power Japan and the influence of Western powers. Semi-colonialism developed by the late nineteenth century in parts of China, and the country was invaded by the Empire of Japan during World War II. The imperial system in China ended with the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) under Sun Yat-sen in 1912; however, the next four decades of ROC rule were marred by warlord control, the Second Sino-Japanese War (WWII), and the Chinese Civil War which pitted Chinese Nationalists against the Communist forces. After its victory in the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Party of China under Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, forcing the Republic of China (ROC) to retreat to the island of Taiwan, which it had governed since the end of World War II. Since then, the ROC has maintained administrative control over Taiwan, the Pescadores, several islands off the coast of Fujian province, and some islands in the South China Sea.

Terminology

"Zhongguo"

South China Sea China is called Zhongguo in Mandarin Chinese (Simplified: 中国, Traditional: 中國; also romanized as Jhongguo or Chung-kuo), which is usually translated as "Middle Kingdom", but could also be translated as "Central State" or "Central Country". Zhong (中) means "middle" or "center" while guo (国 or 國) means "country," "kingdom," "state," or "land", referring to the claim that China stood at the centre of that society's "known world", surrounded by lesser tributary states. The term has not been used consistently throughout Chinese history, however, and carries certain cultural and political connotations both positive and negative, some ideological, and early states considered part of Chinese history are not called "Zhongguo". During the Spring and Autumn Period, it was used only to describe the states politically descended from the Western Zhou Dynasty, in the Yellow River (Huang He) valley, to the exclusion of states such as Chu and Qin. The "Chinese" thus defined their nation as culturally and politically distinct from - and as the axis mundi of surrounding nations; a concept that continued well into the Qing Dynasty, although being continually redefined while the central political influence expanded territorially, and its culture assimilated alien influences. Thus Zhongguo quickly came to include areas farther south, as the cultural and political unit (not yet a "nation" or "country" in the modern sense) spread in a southerly direction, including the Yangtze River and Pearl River systems, and by the Tang Dynasty it even included "barbarian" regimes such as the Xianbei and Xiongnu. Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet, and the island of Taiwan, over time, came to be dominated (to a greater or lesser extent) by, or officially ruled by, imperial China, and are often included as a part of Zhongguo, though acceptance or denial of such claims remains politically controversial, especially where Zhongguo means PRC. During the Han Dynasty and before, Zhongguo had three distinctive meanings: # The area around the capital or imperial domain. The Book of Poetry explicitly gives this definition. # Territories under the direct authority of the "central" authorities. The Historical Records states: "Eight mountains are famed in the empire. Three are with the Man and Yi barbarians. Five are in Zhongguo." # The area now called the North China Plain. The Sanguo Zhi records the following monologue: "If we can lead the host of Wu and Yue (the area of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang) to oppose Zhongguo, then we should break off relations with them soon." In this sense, the term is synonymous with Hua (華) and Xia (夏). During the period of division after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the term Zhongguo was subjected to transformation as a result of the surge of nomadic peoples from the northern frontier. This was doubly so after the loss of the Yellow River valley, the cradle of Chinese civilization, to these peoples. For example, the Xianbei called their Northern Wei regime Zhongguo, contrasting it with the Southern Dynasties, which they called the Yi (夷), meaning "barbarian". The southern dynasties, for their part, recently exiled from the north, called the Northern Wei Lu (虏), meaning "criminal" or "prisoner". In this way Zhongguo came to represent political legitimacy. It was used in this manner from the tenth century onwards by the competing dynasties of Liao, Jin and Song. The term Zhongguo came to be related to geographic, cultural and political identity and less to ethnic origin. The Republic of China, as it controlled mainland China, and later, the People's Republic of China, have used Zhongguo as an entity existing theoretically to mean all the territories and peoples within their political control as well as those outside of it (people in the Republic of China on Taiwan now usually use Zhongguo to refer to the PRC and use Taiwan to refer to itself). Thus it is asserted that all 56 officially recognized ethnic groups are Zhongguo ren (中國人), or Zhongguo people. Their disparate histories are collectively the history of Zhongguo.

"China"

Song in ancient times, was the imperial capital of 13 different historical dynasties (including the Han and Tang dynasties) in China.]] English and many other languages use forms of the name China (and the prefix Sino-), which is believed to have derived from the name of the Qin dynasty that first unified the country, even though it is not completely resolved and the origins are still controversial to an extent [http://www.bartleby.com/61/80/C0298000.html]. Despite the fact that the Qin dynasty was short-lived and was often regarded as overly tyrannical it unified the written language in China and gave the supreme ruler of China the title of "Emperor", hence, the subsequent Silk Road traders would identify themselves by that name. Alternate theories on the origin of the word "China" exist. In any circumstance, the word China passed through many languages along the Silk Road before it finally reached Europe and England. The Western "China", transliterated to Shina (支那) has also been used by Japanese since the nineteenth century, and has since evolved into a derogatory term in that language. The term "China" can narrowly mean China proper, or, often, China proper and Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang, a combination essentially coterminous with the 20th and 21st century political entity China; the boundaries between these regions do not necessarily follow provincial boundaries. In many contexts, "China" is commonly used to refer to the People's Republic of China or mainland China, while "Taiwan" is used to refer to the Republic of China. Informally, in economic or business contexts, "the Greater China region" (大中華地區) refers to Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Sinologists usually use "Chinese" in a more restricted sense, more akin to the classical usage of Zhongguo, or to the meaning of the "Han ethnic group", who make up the bulk of Mainland China. In many contexts it may be more appropriate to speak of "mainland China" (中國大陸,zhōngguó dàlù in Mandarin), especially when contrasting it with other, politically different regions like Hong Kong, Macau, and territories administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan).

History

:Main articles: History of China, History of the Republic of China (1912–1949; 1949–Present on Taiwan), History of People's Republic of China (1949–Present) History of People's Republic of China China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization. Chinese civilization was also one of the few to invent writing independently, the others being ancient Mesopotamia (Sumerians), India (Indus Valley Civilization), the Mayans, and, some hold, Ancient Egypt—though it may have been learned from the Sumerians. The first dynasty according to Chinese historical sources was the Xia Dynasty. Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the existence of the Xia Dynasty. But since then, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the possible existence of the Xia dynasty at the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. However, the first confirmed dynasty is the Shang, who settled along the Huang He river, dating from the 18th to the 12th centuries BC. The Shang were in turn invaded by the Zhou (12th to 5th centuries BC), whose centralized authority was slowly eroded by the ceding of state-like authority to warlords ruling small states; eventually, in the Spring and Autumn period, many strong independent states, in continuous war, paid but nominal deference to the Zhou state as the Imperial centre. They were all unified under one emperor in 221 BC by Qin Shi Huang, ushering in the Qin Dynasty, the first unified centralized Chinese state. This state, however, did not last for long, as it was way too authoritarian, destroying many sources of competition for power that were also sources of good governance and development, such as scholars and intellectuals. After the fall of authoritarian Qin Dynasty in 207 BC came the Han Dynasty which lasted until 220 AD. A period of disunion followed again. In 580, China was reunited under the Sui. Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, China reached its golden age. For a long period of time, especially between the 7th and 14th centuries, China was one of the most advanced civilizations in the world in technology, literature, and art. The Song Dynasty fell to the invading Mongols in 1279. The Mongols, under Kublai Khan, established the Yuan Dynasty. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongols in 1368 and founded the Ming Dynasty, which lasted until 1644. After the Ming dynasty, came the Qing (Manchu) dynasty, which lasted until the overthrow of Puyi in 1911. Oftentimes regime change was violent and strongly opposed and the ruler class needed to take special measures to ensure their rule and the loyalty of the overthrown dynasty. For example, after the foreign Qing (Manchus) conquered China, because they were ever suspicious of the Han Chinese, the Qing rulers put into effect measures aimed at preventing the absorption of the Manchus into the dominant Han Chinese population. However, these restrictions proved ineffective against the assimilation of Manchus into the Chinese identity and culture. In the 18th century, China achieved a decisive technological advantage over the peoples of Central Asia, which it had been at war with for several centuries, while simultaneously falling behind Europe in that respect. This set the stage for the 19th century, in which China adopted a defensive posture against European imperialism while itself engaging in imperialistic expansion into Central Asia. See Imperialism in Asia. However the primary cause of the decline of the Chinese empire was not European and American interference, as the ethnocentric Western historians would lead many to believe. On the contrary it was a series of internal upheavals. Most prominent of these was the Taiping Civil War which lasted from 1851 to 1862. The civil war was started by an extremist believer in a school of thought partly influenced by Christianity who believed himself to be the son of God and the younger brother of Jesus. Although the imperial forces were eventually victorious, the civil war was one of the bloodiest in human history - costing at least twenty million lives (more than the total number of fatalities in the First World War). Prior to this conflict a number of Islamic Rebellions, especially in Central Asia, had occurred. Later, a second major rebellion took place, although this latter uprising was considerably smaller than the cataclysmic Taiping Civil War. This second conflict was the Boxer Rebellion which aimed to repel Westerners. Although secretly supporting the rebels, the Empress, Ci Xi, aided foreign forces in suppressing the uprising. Ci Xi, 1949.]] In 1912, after a prolonged period of decline, the institution of the Emperor of China disappeared and the Republic of China was established. The following three decades were a period of disunion — the Warlord Era, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War. The latter ended in 1949 with the Communist Party of China in control of mainland China. The CPC established a communist state—the People's Republic of China—that laid claim to be the successor state of the Republic of China. Meanwhile, the disorganized and potentially corrupt ROC government of the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, where it continued to be recognized as the legitimate government of all China by the Western bloc and the United Nations until the 1970s, when most nations and the UN switched recognition to the PRC. The United Kingdom and Portugal transferred their colonies of Hong Kong and Macau on the southern Chinese coast to the PRC in 1997 and 1999, respectively. China used in a modern context often refers to just the territory of the PRC, or to "Mainland China" (the territory of the PRC excluding Hong Kong and Macau). The PRC does not recognize the ROC, as it claims to have succeeded the ROC as the legitimate governing authority of all of China including Taiwan. On the other hand, the ROC—while never formally renouncing its earlier claims or changing official maps that show its territory as including both the modern-day PRC, Mongolia and Tibet—has moved away from this former identity representing its rule over all of China, and increasingly identifies itself as Taiwan. The PRC has historically resisted the ROC's identification of itself as Taiwan, especially in light of the movement supported by residents of Taiwan and others who advocate Taiwan's identity as an independent political entity. Significant disputes persist as to the nature and extent of China, possible Chinese reunification and the political status of Taiwan.

Chinese Pre-history

Archeological evidence suggests that the earliest occupants in China date as long as 2.24 million to 250,000 years ago by an ancient human relative (hominin) known as Homo erectus. One particular cave in Zhoukoudian (now known as Peking) has fossilised evidence dating to 300,000 and 550,000 years old. Evidence of primitive stone tool technology and animal bones in association to H. erectus have been studied since the late 18th century to 19th century in various areas of Eastern Asia including Indonesia (in particular the Island of Java) and Malaysia. Originally it is thought that these early hominis first evolved in Africa during the Pleistocene. It is thought that human evolution first took place in Africa expanding 7 million years. By 2 million years ago the first wave of migration from the species in association with H. erectus settled into various areas in the Old World. Fully modern humans (homo sapiens) are believed to originally have evolved roughly 200,000 and 168,000 years ago in Ethiopia or Southern Africa (ei. Homo sapiens idaltu). By 100,000 to 50,000 years ago modern human beings settled in all parts of the Old world (including the New World, Americas 25,000 to 11,000 BCE). By less than 100,000 years ago all proto-human populations disappeared as modern humans took over or drove other human species into extinction. It remains a controversial subject to whether fully modern humans evolved from separate H. erectus populations (known as "multiregional") as some evidence in ancient bones show a transitional change from H. erectus to H. sapiens having archaic features. However it is now more widely accepted that all modern humans genetically share a direct ancestor, a female nicknamed "Mitochondrial Eve" from Eastern Africa 150,000 years BCE. This model is known as Mitochondrial Eve Hypothesis. The earliest evidence examples of fully modern humans in China come from Liujiang, China where a cranium dates 67,000 years BCE. Another is a partial skeleton from Minatogawa being just 18,000 years old.

Political history

Before unification by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC, "China" did not exist as a coherent entity. The Chinese civilization consisted of a patchwork of several states, each ruled by a king (王), duke (公), marquess (侯), or earl (伯). Although there was a central king who held nominal power, and powerful hegemons sometimes held considerable influence, each state was ruled as an independent political entity. This is also the time of the beginnings of Confucian philosophy and that of many other philosophies that greatly influenced Chinese philosophy-political thought. This ended with the Qin Dynasty unification, during which the office of the emperor was set up, and a system of bureaucratic administration established. After the Qin, China experienced about 13 more dynasties, many of which continued the extensive system of kingdoms, dukedoms, earldoms, and marquisates. The territory varied with several expansions and contractions depending on the strength of each emperor and dynasty. However the emperor had ultimate, supreme, and unquestionable authority as the political and religious leader of China. The emperor also consulted civil and martial ministers, especially the prime minister. Political power sometimes fell into the hands of powerful officials, eunuchs, or imperial relatives, often at the expense of a child heriditary emperor. This happened especially since the emperor often was many layers of power removed from the outside world, making him susceptible to manipulation because his sources for information could manipulate that information causing him to make incorrect decisions, especially when their age at becoming emperor often had no bottom limit, with rule passing heriditarily but also given "in trust" to another relative. Political relations with dependencies (tributary kingdoms) were maintained by international marriages, military aids, treaties, and gifts. (see section "Geography, Political" below for examples), Luoyang, Chang'an (today's Xi'an), Nanjing, and Beijing are the four cities most commonly designated as capitals of China over the course of history. Chinese was the official language, though periods of Mongol and Manchu conquest saw the arrival of Mongol and Manchu as alternate official languages. On January 1, 1912, the Republic of China (ROC) was established, signaling the end of the Manchu-dominated Qing Empire. Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party), was proclaimed provisional president of the republic. However, Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general who had defected to the revolutionary cause, soon forced Sun to step aside and took the presidency for himself (formally it was a negotiation where Sun agreed to step aside for what was then perceived as a strong reformer, Yuan). Before long, Yuan attempted to have himself proclaimed emperor of a new dynasty; however, he died soon of natural causes before fully taking power over all of the Chinese empire. After Yuan's downfall, China was politically fragmented, with an internationally-recognized, but virtually powerless, national government seated in Beijing (thus failing to fit the definition of a state). Warlords in various regions exercised actual control over their respective territories. state In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was able to reunify the country under its own control, moving the nation's capital to Nanjing and implementing "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's program for transforming China into a modern, democratic state. Effectively, political tutelage meant one-party rule by the Kuomintang with heavy Leninist influences. Ironically, both the Kuomintang and the CCP have heavy Leninist influences. In 1947, constitutional rule was established, but because of the ongoing Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China (CPC), many provisions of the 1947 ROC constitution were never put into actual practice on the mainland. By early 1950, the CPC had defeated the Kuomintang on the mainland, and the ROC government retreated to the island of Taiwan. Beginning in the late 1970s, Taiwan began the implementation of full, multi-party, representative democracy in the territories still under ROC control (i.e., Taiwan Province, Taipei, Kaohsiung and some offshore islands of Fujian province). Today, the political scene in the ROC is vibrant, with active participation by all sectors of society. But rather than the usual conservative-liberal policy distinctions that are the hallmarks of most democracies around the world, the main cleavage in ROC politics is the unification with China in the long-run vs. formal independence issue. However, Greens are generally more liberal (i.e. more environmentally friendly) and Blues are generally regarded as more conservative. environmentally friendly Meanwhile, Mao Zedong, the leader of the communists, proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949 in Beijing, saying China had stood up. From the beginning, the PRC has been a dictatorial one-party state under the Communist Party. However, post-1978 reforms have led to the relaxation, in varying degrees, of party control over many areas of society. Nonetheless, the Communist Party still has absolute control over political aspects of society, and it continuously seeks to eradicate threats to its rule. Examples of this include the jailing of political opponents and journalists, general control of the press, regulation of religions and other non-party organizations, censorship of the press, literature and film, and suppression of independence/secessionist movements. In 1989, a popular demonstration held in Beijing at Tiananmen Square was violently put to an end by the Chinese government. Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989 The attempted eradication of the Falun Gong movement is also held by its supporters to be motivated by fear of Falun Gong's growing influence. Today, however, there is much more freedom in intellectual thought in non-political areas and propaganda, while still continuing, has lessened.

Territory

Historical overview

propaganda The Zhou Dynasty, which preceded the unification of China by Shi Huangdi, was originally the region around the Yellow River. Since then, the territory has expanded outward in all directions, and was largest during the Tang, Yuan, and Qing dynasties. The Qing Dynasty included parts of modern Russian Far East and Central Asia (west of Xinjiang). Xinjiang Along with provincial administrators, some foreign monarchs sent envoys to offer gifts to the Emperor of China and the Emperor returned compliments to them. The Chinese thought that the barbarians attached themselves to the virtue of the Emperor, while the foreign governments sometimes disagreed. Since the end of the 19th century, China has tried to reinterpret this relationship as suzerainty or suzerainty-dependency, but this no longer has any real conception in modern international political theories. The Qing Empire reduced the territorial value of the Great Wall of China as a barrier of China proper after they merged their homeland (Manchuria) north of the wall with China proper south of it. In 1683 after the surrender of the Kingdom of Tungning established by Koxinga, Taiwan including the Pescadores became a part of the Qing Empire, originally as one prefecture, then two, and later a province. Taiwan was subsequently ceded to Japan after the first Sino-Japanese War in 1895. At the end of the second Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Japan relinquished the sovereignty of the island in the San Francisco Peace Treaty, and the Republic of China took over. Since then, the de jure sovereignty of Taiwan has been under dispute between the PRC, and the now democratic ROC and Taiwan independence supporters.

Historical political divisions

Historically, top-level political divisions of China have altered as the administration changed. Top levels included circuits and provinces. Below that, there have been prefectures, subprefectures, departments, commanderies, districts, and counties. Recent divisions also include prefecture-level cities, county-level cities, towns and townships (see below for examples). Historically, most Chinese dynasties were based in the historical heartlands of China, known by the politically-correct term of China proper (since it doesn't include places it doesn't control, such as Mongolia or Taiwan). Various dynasties also exhibited expansionism by engaging in incursions into more peripheral territories like Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Tibet. The Manchu-established Qing Dynasty and its successors, the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China cemented the incorporation of these territories into China. These territories are separated by borders that are vague at best, and do not correspond well to contemporary political divisions. China proper is generally thought to be bounded by the Great Wall and the edge of the Tibetan plateau; Manchuria and Inner Mongolia are found to the north of the Great Wall of China, and the boundary between them can either be taken as the present border between Inner Mongolia and the northeast Chinese provinces, or the more historic border of the World War II-era puppet state of Manchukuo; Xinjiang's borders correspond to today's administrative Xinjiang; and historic Tibet is conceived as occupying all of the Tibetan Plateau. China is also traditionally thought of as comprising North China (北方) and South China (南方), the geographic boundary between which north and south is largely generalized as Huai River (淮河) and Qinling Mountains (秦岭).

Geography and climate

Qinling Mountains

China within East Asia. ([http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/reference_maps/pdf/asia.pdf PDF])

China is composed of a vast variety of highly different landscapes, with mostly plateaus and mountains in the west, and lower lands on the east. As a result, principal rivers flow from west to east, including the Yangtze (central), the Huang He (central-east), and the Amur (northeast), and sometimes toward the south (including the Pearl River, Mekong River, and Brahmaputra), with most Chinese rivers emptying into the Pacific. Most of China's arable lands lie along the two major rivers, the Yangtze and the Huang He, and each are the centers around which are founded China's major ancient civilizations. In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are found extensive and densely populated alluvial plains; the shore of the South China Sea is more mountainous and southern China is dominated by hill country and lower mountain ranges. To the west, the north has a great alluvial plain, and the south has a vast calcareous tableland traversed by hill ranges of moderate elevation, with the Himalayas, containing the highest point Mount Everest. The northwest also has high plateaus among more arid desert landscapes such as the Takla-Makan and the Gobi Desert, which has been expanding. Due to a prolonged drought and perhaps poor agricultural practices, dust storms have become usual in the spring in China. Dust blows all the way to southern China, Taiwan, and has even been measured on the West Coast of the United States. United States native to the bamboo forests of central and southern China.]] During many dynasties, the southwestern border of China has been the high mountains and deep valleys of Yunnan, which separate modern China from Burma, Laos and Vietnam. The climate of China varies greatly. The northern zone (within which lies Beijing) has a climate with winters of Arctic severity. The central zone (within which Shanghai is situated) has a generally temperate climate. The southern zone (within which lies Guangzhou and other southern provinces) has a generally subtropical climate. The Palaeozoic formations of China, excepting only the upper part of the Carboniferous system, are marine, while the Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits are estuarine and freshwater or else of terrestrial origin. Groups of volcanic cones occur in the Great Plain of north China. In the Liaodong and Shandong Peninsulas, there are basaltic plateaux.

Demographics

Shandong.]] Over a hundred ethnic groups have existed in China. In terms of numbers, however, the pre-eminent ethnic group in China is the Han, which is a group so diverse in its culture and language that some conceive of it as a larger overarching group bringing together many smaller, distinct ethnic groups sharing common traits in language and culture. Throughout history, many ethnic groups have been assimilated into neighbouring ethnicities or disappeared without a trace. Several previously distinct ethnic groups have been Sinicized into the Han, causing its population to increase dramatically; at the same time, many within the Han identity have maintained distinct linguistic and cultural traditions, though still identifying as Han. Many times in the past millenia many foreign groups have, in turn, shaped Han language and culture, for example the queue is a pig tail hairstyle strictly enforced by the Manchurians on the Han populace. The term Zhonghua Minzu is sometimes used to describe a notion of a "Chinese nationality" transcending ethnic divisions. The government of the People's Republic of China now officially recognizes a total of 56 ethnic groups, of which the largest is the Han Chinese. China's overall population is 1.3 billion. With the global human population currently estimated at about 6.4 billion, China is home to approximately 20%, or one-fifth of the human species, homo sapiens. The lack of birth control and promotion of population growth during the rule of Mao Zedong resulted in a demographic explosion, culminating in over 1.3 billion people today. As a response to the problems this is causing, the government of the PRC has enacted a birth control policy, commonly known as the One-child policy. The Han speak several mutually unintelligible tongues, classified by modern linguists as being separate languages, but regarded within the Chinese languages as "dialects" or "local languages" (topolects) within a single Chinese language (the word for "area languages" has an implication of dialect rather than a separate language, although on the basis of use, these topolects can be found to be separate and mutually unintelligible, and are so classified by many linguists). The various spoken varieties of Chinese share a common written standard, "Vernacular Chinese" or "baihua", which has been used since the early 20th Century and is based on Standard Mandarin, the standard spoken language, in grammar and vocabulary. In addition, another, more ancient written standard, Classical Chinese, was used for writing Chinese by the literati for thousands of years before the 20th Century. Classical Chinese is no longer the predominant form of written Chinese, though it continues to be a part of high school curricula and is hence intelligible to some degree to many Chinese people. Other than Standard Mandarin, spoken variants are usually not written; the exception is Standard Cantonese, which is sometimes written as Written Cantonese in informal contexts. Written Cantonese.]]

Culture

Religion

The major religions of China are:
- Taoism - exact numbers unknown
- Buddhism - exact numbers unknown [about 8%]
- Christianity - 2 to 4% (this is a Western number, the Chinese official number is much smaller than 1%)
- Islam - 1% to 2%
- Falun Gong - exact numbers unknown (claim not to be a "religion", though from a scholarly perspective is a spiritual practice, claimed numbers of followers of the Falun Dafa are also regarded as unreliable) While the People's Republic of China is officially atheist it does allow religion under strict supervision. Historically, Taoism and Buddhism has been the dominant religion of Chinese societies, and continues to be so in Chinese societies outside of direct PRC control. In recent years, Falun Gong, a spiritual practice drawing upon Buddhism and Taoism, has attracted great controversy after the government of the People's Republic of China labeled it an evil cult and began an attempt to eradicate it. The Falun Gong itself denies that it is a cult or a religion, even though there is solid evidence that determines Falun Gong as a rather" abormal" cult, several members have been seen to burn themselves alive even before the Chinese government has reacted to Falun Gong, unfortuantely, most people are oblivious of this fact and even a majority of members are oblivious to this. The Falun Gong says that it has approximately 70-100 million followers, which is a bit higher than estimates by outside groups, though exact numbers are unknown. They regularly protest against their suppression, both domestically and internationally.

Arts, scholarship, and literature

Falun Gong.]] Chinese literature has a long and prolific continuous history, in part because of the development of printmaking during the Song Dynasty. Before that, manuscripts of the Classics and religious texts (mainly Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist) were manually written by ink brush (previously scratching shells) and distributed. Academies of scholars sponsored by the empire were formed to comment on these works in both printed and written form. Members of royalty frequently participated in these discussions. Tens of thousands of ancient written documents are still extant and more, from oracle bones to Qing edicts, are discovered each day, which had been formally ground up for use in Chinese medicine. oracle bones For centuries, opportunity for economic and social advancement in China could be provided by high performance on the imperial examinations. This led to a meritocracy, though in practice this was possible only among those who were not female or too poor to afford test preparation, as doing well still required tutorship. Nevertheless it was a system distinct from the European system of blood nobility. Imperial examinations required applicants to write essays and demonstrate mastery of the Confucian classics. Those who passed the highest level of the exam became elite scholar-officials known as jinshi, a highly esteemed socio-economic position. Chinese philosophers, writers, and poets have been, for the most part, highly respected, and played a key role in preserving and promoting the culture of the empire. Some classical scholars, however, were noted for their daring depictions of lives of the common people, often to the displeasure of authorities. (See List of Chinese authors, and List of Chinese language poets). The Chinese have created numerous musical instruments, such as the zheng, xiao, and erhu, that have spread throughout East and Southeast Asia, and especially areas under its influence. The sheng is the basis for several Western free-reed instruments. Chinese characters have had many variants and styles throughout the Chinese history, and were "simplified" in the mid-20th century on mainland China. Calligraphy is a major art-form in China, above that of painting and music. Because of its association with elite scholar-official bosses, it later on became commercialized, where works by famous artists became prized possessions. The great variation and beauty in the Chinese landscape is often the inspiration for great works of Chinese art. See Chinese painting for more details. Calligraphy, sushi, and bonsai are all millennia-old art that later spread to Japan and Korea.

Science and technology

Korea In addition to the cultural innovations mentioned above, technological inventions from China include:
- Compass
- Block Printmaking / Printing Technology
- Paper
- Asian abacus
- Gunpowder
- Crossbow
- Stirrup
- Lacquer
- Rudder
- Seismograph
- Silk
- Porcelain
- Paper money
- The Glider
- The Hot air balloon
- Fireworks
- Parachute Other areas of technological study:
- The main applications of mathematics in traditional China were architecture and geography. Pi (π) was calculated by 5th century mathematician Zu Chongzhi to the seventh digit. The decimal system was used in China as early as 14 Century BC. "Pascal's" Triangle was discovered by mathematician Liu Ju-Hsieh, long before Pascal was born.
- Studies in biology have been extensive, and historic records are consulted even today, such as pharmacopoeias of medicinal plant<

Warring States

:Alternative meaning: Warring States Period (Japan) The Warring States Period (traditional Chinese: 戰國時代, simplified Chinese: 战国时代 pinyin Zhànguó Shídài) takes place from sometime in the 5th century BC to the unification of China by Qin in 221 BC. It is nominally considered to be the second part of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, following the Spring and Autumn Period. Like the Spring and Autumn Period, the king of Zhou acted merely as a figurehead. The name Warring States Period was named after Record of the Warring States compiled in early Han Dynasty. The date for the beginning of the Warring States Period is somewhat in dispute. While it is frequently cited as 475 BC, following the Spring and Autumn Period, 403 BC, the date of the tripartition of the State of Jin, is also sometimes considered as the beginning of the period.