Chinese History

The Shang Dynasty (also called Yin after the last capital near modern Anyang /Henan) is the second of the Three Holy Dynasties (San Dai, Sandai) of Chinese historiography (Xia , Shang , and Zhou ). It is said to have been founded by Tang the Great , the last ruler was the depraved King Zhou q (posthumous title Di Xi, Dixin ). Since all the events of this historical period, reported by sources written many hundred years later, cannot be taken seriously, many scholars at the end of the 19th century thought the Shang Dynasty to be purely mythical. Only the discovering of oracle bones at the begin of the 20th century and the deciphering of the incised inscriptions (oracle bone inscriptions, jiaguwen ׹) proved that at least the last part of the Shang was indeed a historical period. But the kings of Yin were not the center of the Chinese world. Around them, many other cities and states (the ten thousand states, wanguo f) - Chinese and Non-Chinese - presented a world full of cultural diversity of which the state of the rulers at a city discovered at Erligang (near Zhengzhou /Henan) were dominating the ancient Central Plain for a certain time. Later, when the kings of Yin (known as the ruling house of Shang) entered history, they were only one royal house that had to fight for dominance with many other cities between modern Gansu and Shandong, Hebei and Jiangxi.

Western Zhou (11th cent - 770 BC) Eastern Zhou | (770-221 BC) -- Spring and Autumn Period r (770-475/452/403 BC) -- Warring States Period r (475/452/403-221 BC) The Zhou Dynasty is probably the dynasty that reigned for the longest period not only of all Chinese dynasties, but of the whole world. Of course, such a long period contributed to a certain image of the Zhou rulers and their institutions as the guideline for all later people. The founders of the Zhou Dynasty, the Kings Wen and Wu (abbreviated to the couple Wen Wu ), and the Prince Regent Duke Dan of Zhou ܹ, were seen as the ideal monarchs and even as patrons and inventors of every kind of arts. The Confucianists venerated these rulers as guided by morality, humanity and righteousness. But 900 years of history were also times of profound changes that took place. The first kings of Zhou enfeoffed their fellowship and relatives with large domains that later developed to kingdoms themselves: the central government lost its authority, the "feudal system" (fengjian zhidu ⽨ƶ) similar to the Western Middle Age system of enfeoffment disintegrated. The once venerated kings of Zhou, people like King Cheng and Kang , lost their central position as the Heaven-approved sacrosanct ruler and were challenged by feudal lords that overtook the leadership of the Chinese world. The Zhou kings had to flee from their western capital to the east, forced by "barbarian" tribes that invaded the Zhou territory. This was the begin of Eastern Zhou period. It is divided into the Spring and Autumn period, called following the seasonal recordings of the annals, and the Warring States period when the six most powerful kings fought against each other. Only the state of Qin was to defeat her enemies. The Zhou time was also the time of the hundred schools of philosophers and thinkers. The important Confucian classical writings find their beginnings also in this historical epoch.

Admired and cherished as a unifier, as a centralizer, as an architect of the Great Wall (Changcheng L) and of China herself, the First Emperor (Qin Shihuangdi) ʼʵ was on the other side feared and hated as a tyrant, as a book-burner and a mass murderer. The Qin empire was founded at end of a war between a few powers that had lasted for more than two centuries. And it was the result of a development that created a highly centralized bureaucratic state out of a loose feudal system. While the rule of the two Qin emperors endured not even two decades, it marks nonetheless the beginning of a more than two thousand years long history of a centralized state with an emperor being the head of thousands of officers in a state with a likewise uniform culture.

Western Han h or Former Han ǰh (206 BC- 8 AD) Wang Mang's Xin Dynasty ç³ (8-22) Eastern Han |h or Later Han h (25-220) After centuries of political division, the adventurer Liu Bang (Han Gaozu h) succeeded in founding a new empire, following the tradition of the former kings of Zhou (11th cent. BC-221 BC ) and the Warring States and walking in the footsteps of the First Emperor of Qin ʼ (221-206 BC). But unlike the short-lived Qin empire, the Han Dynasty should last for four centuries. Fundamental changes took place during this time and helped to build up what we now call the Chinese culture. It was not only the governmental system with its huge state bureaucracy, modeled on legist models, that took more concrete shape; the second important event was the rise of Confucianism as the main state doctrine, while popular belief in Daoist deities and practices by both aristocracy and the peasants were very widespread. And for the first time in history, China had contact with the West through the Silk Road. The Western Han period can be divided into the time of consolidation (Emperors Han Gaozu, Wendi hĵ, Zhaodi hѵ, Jingdi h), the zenith with the expansion into Inner Asia (Emperor Han Wudi h) and the centralization of power, and the time of replacement of the imperial power by the mighty consort clan of the Wang (emperors Yuandi hԪ, Chengdi hɵ). Wang Mang ç tried to replace the Han Dynasty but his reforms to shape an ideal Confucian government failed, and the Han Dynasty was restored as Eastern Han. The Eastern Han, much more than Western Han, suffered under the intervention of consort clans (waiqi ) and eunuch (huanguan ¹) factions into the inner power circle of the empire. The fundaments of both of the Wang Mang and Eastern Han administration were shaken by large peasant uprisings with religious backgrounds (Red Eyebrows ü, Yellow Turbans S, Five-Pecks-of-Grain Sect 嶷׵), the helm of government of Eastern Han was taken over my mighty warlords that should divide the Han empire into three "kingdoms" (Sanguo ).

Cao-Wei Empire κ (220-265) Shu-Han Empire h (221-263) Wu Empire (222-280) The two groups that dominated the court during the second half of Later or Eastern Han |h (25-220 AD), were the consort clans (waiqi ) and the eunuchs (huanguan ¹). After Emperor Huandi h had ended the power of the consort clans, he and his successor Lingdi h` were only supported by the eunuchs. The second attempt to extinguish the powerful eunuch faction in 189 AD was successful, and the power vacuum was filled by warlords that took over the regency for the weak emperors. The ruthless general Dong Zhuo ׿ who had sacked the capital Luoyang , was eventually defeated by Cao Cao ܲ who was regent for the minor emperor Xiandi hI, who abdicated in 220 in favour of Cao Cao's son Cao Pi ا. Acting as emperor of a new dynasty called Wei κ, he had ended the four hundred year old Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). Of the many warlords, only Sun Quan O was left, and Liu Bei , who claimed to be the real successor of the house of Han and proclaimed himself emperor of Shu in 221. Sun Quan followed only one year later, establishing the third of the Three Kingdoms, Wu (Sanguo ; should better be called "Three Empires"). These three "kingdoms" or rather empires were never able to consolidate the power of the imperial throne against the mighty magnates and military leaders. Sima Yan ˾R of the state of Wei should terminate the dynasty of Cao Cao and reunite China in his Jin Dynasty x.

Western Jin x (265-316) Eastern Jin |x (317-420) The Jin Dynasty - founded by Sima Yan ˾R and named after an old state of the Warring States Period - is divided into two parts called Western Jin (Xijin x) and Eastern Jin (Dongjin |x), names that follow the traditional division of Han in Western h and Eastern Han |h. But unlike the Han Dynasty that was simply continued after a short interlude of the usurper Wang Mang ç, the shift of the capital from Luoyang to Jiankang (modern Nanjing Ͼ/Jiangsu) reflects a process that destroyed the whole political, social and economic system of north China. Inner wars and the uprising of Non-Chinese chieftains contributed to the downfall of the Sima family. Together with the imperial clan, a great part of the northern aristocracy fled to the south where they had to arrange their rule with the powerful local magnates of the lower Yangtse L area. While the Western Jin Dynasty had unified China after the Three Kingdoms Period and therefore stood in the tradition of the great Han Empire, the Eastern Jin only ruled over a part of China that had been still in development until then because it was remote from the antique centers in the Yellow River S plain. The Eastern Jin was the first of a couple of dynasties (Southern Dynasties ϳ) that developed a culture different from that of northern China. As an economical center of whole China, the south should be of great importance for the whole of China until today.

(Wuhu shiliuguo ʮ: Di ص, Jie , Qiang Ǽ, Xianbei r, Xiongnu ū): Cheng-Han ɝh (304-347) Former Zhao ǰw (304-329), Later Zhao w (319-350) Former Yan ǰ (337-370), Later Yan (384-409), Northern Yan (409-436), Southern Yan (398-410) Former Liang ǰ (314-376), Later Liang (386-403), Northern Liang (398-439), Southern Liang ϛ (397-414), Western Liang (400-421) Former Qin ǰ (351-395), Later Qin (384-417), Western Qin (385-431) Xia (407-432) To the particular states, use the index of the Sixteen States. Southern and Northern Dynasties overview The weak central government of Eastern Han |h, the Cao-Wei κ and the Jin Dynasty x allowed many Non-Chinese tribes to intrude on Chinese territory in the northwest. With the sixteen year long crisis of the Jin court during the Rebellions of the Eight Princes, military leaders of Chinese settlers and Non-Chinese tribes saw their chance to become independent from the Jin Dynasty. The Sixteen Kingdoms of the Five Barbarian Peoples (Di ص, Jie , Qiang Ǽ, Xianbei r, Xiongnu ū) are not enlisted among the acknowledged dynasties. Although their rulers - most of them being of Non-Chinese origin - adopted Chinese customs and the Chinese administration system to govern their realms, they are not seen as righteous rulers of China. In fact, most of the short-lived empires were not able to develop a real working government. Their politics were all short-time oriented and in many cases determined by a simple surviving strategy. The hundred and thirty years of diverse foreign empires on Chinese soil were a period of suffering for the peasant population. The tenant farmers had not only to endure the permanent war campaigns, together with natural desasters and calamities, but also had to deliver tax and corve labour for their landowners and the alien rulers. A typical measure to support the economical and fiscal needs of the government was to resettle peasants around the capital. This short-eyed policy of the "barbarian" rulers lead to the economical and cultural backwardness of China's north during the 4th and 5th centuries. At the same time, the ethnic constituents of the northern Chinese population changed - with time going by the former "barbarians" gradually mixed with the Chinese population. The period of the Sixteen Kingdoms (in fact, there were even a few more) can be divided into three stages: From 300 to 350, the Former Liang ǰ, the two Zhao ǰw and the Cheng-Han ɝh empires rule the north and Sichuan. The dominating force from 350 to 380 is the Former Qin ǰ empire. From 380 on the north is splintered up into many short-lived and ever-changing empires that are finally destroyed by the power of the Tuoba empire of Northern Wei κ around 430.

Liu-Song 420-479 Southern Qi R 479-502 Liang 502-557 Chen 557-589 The Six Dynasties are the four Southern Dynasties plus Wu (one of the Three Kingdoms , 222-280) and Eastern Jin |x (317-420). Southern and Northern Dynasties overview The government of the Jin Dynasty x - heavily damaged by the sixteen years long war among the princes of the imperial Sima ˾R family - had to escape to the south after various Non-Chinese chieftains and Chinese military leaders in north China had proclaimed their own dynasties and attacked the capitals Luoyang (modern Luoyang/Henan) and Chang'an L (modern Xi'an /Shaanxi). They established their new capital in Jiankang (modern Nanjing Ͼ/Jiangsu) as refugee rulers and hoped to be able to conquer back their lost territory in the north. The position of the Jin rulers as quasi foreign masters over a native population and land-owning aristocracy complicated the effective functioning of their central government. Together with the ruling Sima clan, many northern aristocrats had escaped to the south and newly found their powerful positions within the "exile" government in the south. This situation did not change when the Jin Dynasty was ended. The following four dynasties - called the Southern Dynasties (Nanchao ϳ) in contrast to the empires in the north - were all weakened by bloody conflicts among the ruling family and the weak position of the central government in Jiankang against the local magnate aristocracy. The only famous ruler of this period is Emperor Liang Wudi who is rather known for his Buddhist faith and his poetry than by political success. Nontheless, in the cultural sphere the south stood in the tradition of the great Chinese sources. The life of the aristocracy and the scholarly officials developed highlights of literature and arts. Furthermore, as the field of foreign policy was quite a peaceful and tranquil matter - except some military campaigns against the north -, and because the court intrigues and murders among the imperial clan did not have a deeper impact on the population, there was the chance for the south to become the economical engine of China, a situation that is valid until today.

Northern Wei κ (386-534) Western Wei κ (535-556) and Eastern Wei |κ (534-550) Northern Zhou (557-581) and Northern Qi R (550-577) Southern and Northern Dynasties overview After hundred and thirty years of foreign rule by various tribes over northern China, the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms ʮ, the chieftains of the Tuoba ذ clan of the Xianbei r ethnicity were able to unite the northern part of China. The begin of their rule seemed to be the same than that of the previous only semi-civilized chieftains that called themselves emperor, made sporadic use of Chinese administration units and agencies, and brutally resettled the peasant population around their capitals to survive economically and fiscally. The Tuoba rulers had better Chinese advisers than their forerunners. They forced their own people to speak Chinese, to adopt Chinese names and culture, and challenged the own aristocracy by depriving them of their powerful offices, thereby strenghtened the position of the central government and contributed to the sinification of the foreign tribes. Furthermore, the Tuoba rulers (now called Yuan Ԫ) developed a new system of equal land distribution (juntianfa ﷨) that should be adopted by the following Sui and Tang Dynasties . A powerful instrument for the Northern Wei (Beiwei κ) rulers - as they were called later - was Buddhism, as the emperor was seen as a living incarnation of the ruling Buddha. Internal struggles made an end to the power of the central government. The north was divided into two short-lived empires, Eastern |κ and Western Wei κ, that were toppled and followed by two others, Northern Zhou and Northern Qi R. The result of this almost two hundred year long period was the gradual reconstruction of the northern economy and the homogenization of the Chinese with the Non-Chinese population.

Some historians compare the short-lived Sui Dynasty with the Qin Dynasty . Qin as well as Sui preceded a great age of dynasties with a prospering economy and overwhelming culture, and both tried to initiate great reforms without conditions ripe for a change yet. And likewise, the two dynasties by their administratorial reforms prepared the performance of a long-lasting government of the succession dynasties. In the sphere of culture, art, literature and language the Sui Dynasty had the task to reunite the empire after three hundred years of division that had caused great differences in the southern and northern traditions. While the first emperor of Sui, Sui Wendi ĵ (Yang Jian ), was interpreted by the historians as the great unifier of China, his successor, Sui Yangdi 埬 who exhausted the state treasure and the labour force of the population by extensive official work (imperial canal \) and successless military enterprises, is blamed as the extravagant and ruthless last dynastic ruler.

The Tang Dynasty (618-907) is the second great dynasty (called Da Tang "Great Tang") of Chinese history that was able to unify a vast territory, to spread its culture and to absorb the cultures of surrounding states and peoples. A great part of Tang aristocracy even was of Non-Chinese origin, and merchants from Inner Asia dwelled the quarters of the capital Chang'an L (modern Xi'an /Shaanxi). Trade stretched to the South East Asian archipelago, and the religion of Buddhism spread to Korea and Japan. But at the same time, Confucianism again rose as a semi-religious instrument of state administration and won over Buddhism as a state doctrine. The cultural glory of the Tang Dynasty was not wholly represented by her political performance. After the uprise of a military commander named An Lushan ɽ and a civil war, the central government lost its grip on the local administration and gave way to warlordism in 907 when China was again divided into north and south and many small shortlived dynasties.

Northern Song (960-1126) Southern Song (1127-1279) After the Tang and Five Dynasties period, a time full of unrest and wars, the Song Dynasty was a time of consolidation for Chinese culture. The traditional state of civil administration fullydeveloped and brought up a revival of Confucian thought - the so-called "Neo-Confucianism", with many scholars commenting the traditional books, but also developing a more metaphysical worldview of the rather state-oriented "old" Confucianism. The Song time is often called a "Chinese Renaissance" because - similar to the European renaissance - progress in technology and inventions, the upcoming of new philosophical interpretations of the old texts meant a renewal of the old and the creation of new streamings. The Song period is marked by a revival of old Confucian traditions after the Tang age of Buddhism, and the prevailing position of civil scholars over the military age of Tang and Five Dynasties. But Song culture was also a culmination of the heritage of two thousand years of culture, and from this point of crystallization on, Chinese thinking became orthodox, culture became sterile as if it had been unchanged since thousands of years. The Song Dynasty did not rule over whole China - the north was occupied by the empires of Liao |, Western Xia and Jin , all empires founded by Non-Chinese peoples (Khitans, Tanguts and Jurchens). A power balance with the northern empires of Liao and Jin made it possible for the Song rulers to peacefully develop a blooming urban economy with new technical instruments. Trade now oriented more to the sea because the traditional trade routes to Inner Asia had been cut off.

The Liao Dynasty was not the first Non-Chinese dynasty on north China's soil. During the time of south-north division, many Non-Chinese tribes had ruled over Chinese peasants, and many high officials of the glorious Tang Dynasty were of Turkic origin. Probably being offsprings of the 5th century Xianbei r or a Proto-Mongol people, the Khitan (chin. Qidan ) people founded an empire in 907 with the chieftain Yel Abaoji ҮɰC as emperor of Liao. Their military strategy were not any more simple raids on the peasant villages of northern China, but a conquest war with an armoured cavalry. In 946 they took Kaifeng _ (Bian , modern Kaifeng/Henan), capital of the Song Dynasty and kept on to attack the weak troops of the civil-oriented Song government. Tired of the ceaseless skirmishes with the nomad people, the Chinese government proposed a peace treaty in 1005 that promised quiet frontiers to the Chinese government. But they had to pay huge tributs ("peace presents") to the nomadic rulers of the north to ensure a stable relationship at the frontiers. But these high costs were profitable in the long run, because the Liao rulers felt quite comfortable with the luxury granted to them by the Chinese. The "wild" steppe people quickly felt comfortable with the Chinese life style, they appreciated the advanced administration system and engaged in agrarian and manufacturial production. The Liao-Khitan became Chinese, and with this modification of economical and social attitudes, they lost their spirit of war. Already in the 10th century, they had developed an own script, modeled after the Chinese script, that was in fact not very suitable for an agglutinating language like that of the Khitan. In 1120, the Song government established an alliance with the Jin empire in Manchuria to attack the Liao empire. The Liao government, weakened by economical desasters and internal quarrels, fell victim to the Jin assaults and draw back to the west where they established a new kingdom called Western Liao (Xiliao|, or Karakitan in Turkish - "Black Khitan"). They brought Chinese customs with them, and the high amount of Nestorian believers among them was the origin of the tale of the king-priest John in Inner Asia. In 1218, the Mongols conquered the kingdom of Western Liao.

When the Chinese government of the Song Dynasty asked the chieftain of the Jurchen (Mongolian: Jrched, Jrchen; Chinese: Nzhen Ů) people that roamed the northeast of China (modern Manchuria) for help against the Liao Empire |, they did not expect that the Jurchen people would be fierce enough to be a danger for Song China herself. Offspring of the Tungus branch of the Altaic people, and ancestor of the Manchu that should eventually found the Qing Dynasty , the Jurchen ruler Wanyan Aguda Ǵ proclaimed himself as emperor of a Jin Dynasty in 1115. After defeiting the Liao Empire, Emperor Ukimai started to attack Song China. The Song capital Kaifeng (Bianjing 꾩, modern Kaifeng/Henan) was occupied, the Song emperor taken as a hostage, and the government had to flee to the south where they established their southern capital at Hangzhou /Zhejiang (Lin'an R). Only in 1142, the Jin Dynasty that had occupied the whole north of China, concluded a peace treaty with the Southern Song. Like the Liao Dynasty before, the Jin emperors quickly adopted the Chinese governmental system and employed Chinese officials in their government. Similar to the Qing Dynasty later, official documents were translated from Chinese to Jurchen, for which language a special script was developed. And, very similar to their forerunners in north China (the Liao Dynasty), the Jin government was slain by economical desasters at the eve of the Mongol conquest. In 1234, the Jin government fell victim to the ruthless conquest war of the mightiest nomad rule the world has ever seen. With the Jin Dynasty's fall, Southern Song China was open for the conquerors. Like the ruling class of the Jin Empire adopted Chinese culture and customs, they also imitated the governmental structure and official documentary machinery of the neighboring Song Empire.

An further tribe founding a dynasty after Chinese pattern were the Tanguts (Chinese: Dangxiang h), relatives to the Tibetians, who founded a Western Xia Dynasty (Xixia ) in 1038. This people was controlling the routes to Inner Asia and demanding high tributes from the Song emperors, after the Song had to sign a peacy treaty with them in 1044. The Tangut people of the Western Xia kingdom did not adopt Chinese customs and habits as quick as the Liao-Khitan | ruling class had done; the main part of their ruling class remained to be nomads. But they adopted an own script, modeled after the Chinese script, because the Indian or Tibetian alphabet proved not to be suitable for their languge. The Xixia empire was conquered by the Mongols in 1227. The name of the Xia Empire still lives in the modern self-governing Muslim region of Ningxia Ļ΅^).

It was only a single tribe of Mongols, united in a federation with other steppe peoples, that should acheive hegemony not only over the neigboring people, but also over whole East Asia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. By sudden attacks, these "warriors of the hell" should destroy blooming cultures of Persia, Mesopotamia and Southeast Asia. The conquest of China and South Asia proceeded much slower, partially because of topographical hindrances like mountains and sea, partially because the Chinese already had long experience with intruding nomad tribes and had developed (almost) perfect defense instruments. In the case of the Mongols, the Jin Empire had served as a buffer zone between the Mongols and the Song Empire . It took the Mongols fourty years to conquer the whole of China. Although the Mongols were a Non-Chinese people that destroyed many empires and kingdoms from the Pacific rim to Eastern Europe and the Near East, they were also creators of new realms that should last for at least several decades. Their Yuan Dynasty should survive a century. The Mongolian federation - that also comprised people of other ethnic groups - was not the first Non-Chinese dynasty on Chinese soil, and like their predecessors the Chinese rulers of Mongolian origin should also adopt Confucianism as their state doctrine, they should exert a civil government in the path ofthe traditional Chinese bureaucracy, and the Mongolian rulers should learn Chinese, wear Chinese clothes, follow Chinese customs and habits, write in Chinese and create Chinese paintings and poems.Once more, the highly civilized nation of China seemed to be able to absorb a foreign ruling peopletotally. Nonetheless the Mongol rule over China is somewhat different from the previous Non-Chinese realms (Northern Wei κ of the Tuoba ذ, Liao | of the Khitan , Jin of the Jurchen Ů) whose rulers and ruling peoples were gradually absorbed not only by Chinese culture but ethnically merged with the Chinese and became Chinese peasants. Ethnic separation between the Non-Chinese and Chinese was more or less exerted under all Non-Chinese dynasties, intermarriages were forbidden, and Chineseofficials could only obtain a restricted range of posts within the governmental structure. But all older Non-Chinese rulers had to rely on Chinese experts to create an effective central government with an organized bureaucratic structure. The Mongol rulers assumed an extreme position in the separation of different ethnic groups, and they relied mostly on Non-Chinese advisors from Central Asia in questions of government. When the Chinese rose against the brutal Mongol regime in the 1360es they were able to cast out the most part of the ruling Mongol "class" out of China. The effects of the Mongol rule can be observed in two fields. Because Chinese intellectuals were prohibited to climb higher positions within the ladder of bureaucratic career they withdrew to innerimmigration and engaged in arts and literature. Novels, vernacular literature and the popular theatre became literary genres acceptable for the higher educated. The second effect lies in the authoritarian style of the government of the subsequent Ming Dynasty .

The founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang Ԫ (reign motto Hongwu "Inundating Martiality"), was a poor man when he joined the Red Turban (Hongjin t) rebellion in the lower Yangtse region. Similar to the founder of the Han Dynasty, he was very suspicious of the educated courtiers around him and exerted an extremely authoritarian regime ("the tyrant of Nanjing"). This harsh governmental style was partly due to the influence of governmental institutions of the previous Mongol period that were marked by a strong centralization. Zhu Yuanzhang, full of mistrust, took over the whole responsibility of the imperial administration by abolishing crucial ministries and secretaries. To control the highest officials at the court, he installed the so-called Brocade Guards (Jinyiwei \l), a kind of secret service staffed with the only kind of people he trusted, namely the eunuchs. During the whole course of Ming Dynasty, there was always prevalent a deep mistrust between the scholarship elite, that occupied the governmental posts in the capital(s) and in the prefectures, and the central government, that was often deeply influenced by some high ranking eunuchs. The authoritarian and centralized politics of the Ming government lead to a status of immovability and orthodoxy. The second emperor of Ming was overthrown by his own uncle, who adopted the reign title Yongle "Everlasting Joy", and shifted the capital from Nanjing (Yingtianfu 츮) to Beijing (Jingshi , Shuntianfu 츮). The Yongle Emperor's reign was the most flourishing time of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty is famous for the influence of the eunuchs on political affairs. Basically trusted with tasks of imperial household affairs, many eunuchs were able to climb up the social ladder and to occupy posts at the court that made them able to influence the ruler and his decisions. The great part of the eunuchs came from poor families of north China, while the scholar-officials that traditionally occupied governmental posts, came from gentry clans in southern China. The problem of the intermingling of the eunuchs into state affairs was not new: The last Han emperor had to get rid of the eunuchs with the help of a military dictator, and the Song Dynasty scholar Ouyang Xiu wrote an essay about the influence of eunuchs during the Five Dynasties.

The age of Qing Dynasty is - not only in the eyes of Westerners, but also in the mind of Chinese - a period of prosperity, of decay, of stagnation, of revolution, of lazyness and of challenges that came upon a population that seemed to sleep a beauty's sleep of Confucian social ethics in a paradise where a wise ruler governed over a satified and happy population, and on the other side a society that was bound by rules of a backward social thinking. The period of early and middle Qing Dynasty is the culmination of two thousand years of bureaucratical administration, two thousand years of literature, thinking and art, and therewith seems to be the conservation of traditional thinking structures - especially in the shape of the Neo-Confucian wise and paternal ruler - that were unable to cope with the sudden challenges that occurred in the 19th century. The Qing rulers were the second dynastical family that were not of Chinese origin and nonetheless were able to govern the largest territory China had ever occupied. Their rule over the majority of "cultured" and highly sophiticated Chinese population was only possible by a mixture of authoritarianism - or force - and paternalism - or benevolence. The second and third generation emperors of the Qing learned that is was only possible to rule China if the Manchu became Chinese themselves, not racial, but culturally and mentally. Therefore, the three great emperors with the reign mottos Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, saw themselves as protectors of Chinese literature and art. China was the largest, richest and most effectively governed state of the world - at least during the 18th century. Internal problems and external conflicts lead to the decay of a glorious empire from the begin of 19th century, focusing in the Opium war and the following unequal treaties.