A History of China

Chapter Vi: the Han Dynasty (206 B.c.-a.d. 220)

1 Development of the gentry-state 2 Situation of the Hsiung-nu empire; its relation to the Han empire. Incorporation of South China 3 Brief feudal reaction. Consolidation of the gentry 4 Turkestan policy. End of the Hsiung-nu empire 5 Impoverishment. Cliques. End of the Dynasty 6 The pseudo-socialistic dictatorship. Revolt of the "Red Eyebrows" 7 Reaction and Restoration: the Later Han dynasty 8 Hsiung-nu policy 9 Economic situation. Rebellion of the "Yellow Turbans". Collapse of the Han dynasty 10 Literature and Art

Chapter Vii: the Epoch of the First Division of China (a.d. 220-580)

(A) The three kingdoms (A.D. 220-265) 1 Social, intellectual, and economic problems during the period of the first division 2 Status of the two southern Kingdoms 3 The northern State of Wei

(B) The Western Chin dynasty (265-317) 1 Internal situation in the Chin empire 2 Effect on the frontier peoples 3 Struggles for the throne 4 Migration of Chinese 5 Victory of the Huns. The Hun Han dynasty (later renamed the Earlier Chao dynasty)

(C) The alien empires in North China, down to the Toba (A.D. 317-385) 1 The Later Chao dynasty in eastern North China (Hun; 329-352) 2 Earlier Yen dynasty in the north-east (proto-Mongol; 352-370), and the Earlier Ch'in dynasty in all north China (Tibetan; 351-394) 3 The fragmentation of north China 4 Sociological analysis of the two great alien empires 5 Sociological analysis of the petty States 6 Spread of Buddhism

(D) The Toba empire in North China (A.D. 385-550) 1 The rise of the Toba State 2 The Hun kingdom of the Hsia (407-431) 3 Rise of the Toba to a great power 4 Economic and social conditions 5 Victory and retreat of Buddhism

(E) Succession States of the Toba (A.D. 550-580): Northern Ch'i dynasty, Northern Chou dynasty 1 Reasons for the splitting of the Toba empire 2 Appearance of the (Gök) Turks 3 The Northern Ch'i dynasty; the Northern Chou dynasty

(F) The southern empires 1 Economic and social situation in the south 2 Struggles between cliques under the Eastern Chin dynasty (A.D. 317-419) 3 The Liu-Sung dynasty (A.D. 420-478) and the Southern Ch'i dynasty (A.D. 479-501) 4 The Liang dynasty (A.D. 502-556) 5 The Ch'en dynasty (A.D. 557-588) and its ending by the Sui 6 Cultural achievements of the south

Chapter Viii: the Empires of the Sui and the T'ang

(A) The Sui dynasty (A.D. 580-618) 1 Internal situation in the newly unified empire 2 Relations with Turks and with Korea 3 Reasons for collapse

(B) The T'ang dynasty (A.D. 618-906) 1 Reforms and decentralization 2 Turkish policy 3 Conquest of Turkestan and Korea. Summit of power 4 The reign of the empress Wu: Buddhism and capitalism 5 Second blossoming of T'ang culture 6 Revolt of a military governor 7 The role of the Uighurs. Confiscation of the capital of the monasteries 8 First successful peasant revolt. Collapse of the empire

MODERN TIMES

Chapter Ix: the Epoch of the Second Division of China

(A) The period of the Five Dynasties (906-960) 1 Beginning of a new epoch 2 Political situation in the tenth century 3 Monopolistic trade in South China. Printing and paper money in the north 4 Political history of the Five Dynasties

(B) Period of Moderate Absolutism (1) The Northern Sung dynasty 1 Southward expansion 2 Administration and army. Inflation 3 Reforms and Welfare schemes 4 Cultural situation (philosophy, religion, literature, painting) 5 Military collapse

(2) The Liao (Kitan) dynasty in the north (937-1125) 1 Sociological structure. Claim to the Chinese imperial throne 2 The State of the Kara-Kitai

(3) The Hsi-Hsia State in the north (1038-1227) 1 Continuation of Turkish traditions

(4) The empire of the Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1279) 1 Foundation 2 Internal situation 3 Cultural situation; reasons for the collapse

(5) The empire of the Juchên in the north (i 115-1234) 1 Rapid expansion from northern Korea to the Yangtze 2 United front of all Chinese 3 Start of the Mongol empire

Chapter X: the Period of Absolutism

(A) The Mongol Epoch (1280-1368) 1 Beginning of new foreign rules 2 "Nationality legislation" 3 Military position 4 Social situation 5 Popular risings: National rising 6 Cultural

(B) The Ming Epoch (1368-1644) 1 Start. National feeling 2 Wars against Mongols and Japanese 3 Social legislation within the existing order 4 Colonization and agricultural developments 5 Commercial and industrial developments 6 Growth of the small gentry 7 Literature, art, crafts 8 Politics at court 9 Navy. Southward expansion 10 Struggles between cliques 11 Risings 12 Machiavellism 13 Foreign relations in the sixteenth century 14 External and internal perils

(C) The Manchu Dynasty (1644-1911) 1 Installation of the Manchus 2 Decline in the eighteenth century 3 Expansion in Central Asia; the first State treaty 4 Culture 5 Relations with the outer world 6 Decline; revolts 7 European Imperialism in the Far East 8 Risings in Turkestan and within China: the T'ai P'ing Rebellion 9 Collision with Japan; further Capitulations 10 Russia in Manchuria 11 Reform and reaction: The Boxer Rising 12 End of the dynasty

Chapter Xi: the Republic (1912-1948)

1 Social and intellectual position 2 First period of the Republic: The warlords 3 Second period of the Republic: Nationalist China 4 The Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945)

Chapter Xii: Present-Day China

1 The growth of communism 2 Nationalist China in Taiwan 3 Communist China

Notes and References

Index

ILLUSTRATIONS

1 Painted pottery from Kansu: Neolithic. In the collection of the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin.

2 Ancient bronze tripod found at Anyang. From G. Ecke: Frühe chinesische Bronzen aus der Sammlung Oskar Trautmann, Peking 1939, plate 3.

3 Bronze plaque representing two horses fighting each other. Ordos region, animal style. From V. Griessmaier: Sammlung Baron Eduard von der Heydt, Vienna 1936, illustration No. 6.

4 Hunting scene: detail from the reliefs in the tombs at Wu-liang-tz'u. From a print in the author's possession.

5 Part of the "Great Wall". Photo Eberhard.

6 Sun Ch'üan, ruler of Wu. From a painting by Yen Li-pen (c. 640-680).

7 General view of the Buddhist cave-temples of Yün-kang. In the foreground, the present village; in the background the rampart. Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson.

8 Detail from the Buddhist cave-reliefs of Lung-men. From a print in the author's possession.

9 Statue of Mi-lo (Maitreya, the next future Buddha), in the "Great Buddha Temple" at Chengting (Hopei). Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson.

10 Ladies of the Court: Clay models which accompanied the dead person to the grave. T'ang period. In the collection of the Museum für Völkerkunde. Berlin.

11 Distinguished founder: a temple banner found at Khotcho, Turkestan. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. No. 1B 4524, illustration B 408.

12 Ancient tiled pagoda at Chengting (Hopei). Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson.

13 Horse-training. Painting by Li Lung-mien. Late Sung period. Manchu Royal House Collection.

14 Aborigines of South China, of the "Black Miao" tribe, at a festival. China-ink drawing of the eighteenth century. Collection of the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. No. 1D 8756, 68.

15 Pavilion on the "Coal Hill" at Peking, in which the last Ming emperor committed suicide. Photo Eberhard.

16 The imperial summer palace of the Manchu rulers, at Jehol. Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson.

17 Tower on the city wall of Peking. Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson.

MAPS

1 Regions of the principal local cultures in prehistoric times

2 The principal feudal States in the feudal epoch (roughly 722-481 B.C.)

3 China in the struggle with the Huns or Hsiung-nu (roughly 128-100 B.C.)

4 The Toba empire (about A.D. 500)

5 The T'ang realm (about A.D. 750)

6 The State of the Later T'ang dynasty (923-935)

INTRODUCTION

There are indeed enough Histories of China already: why yet another one? Because the time has come for new departures; because we need to clear away the false notions with which the general public is constantly being fed by one author after another; because from time to time syntheses become necessary for the presentation of the stage reached by research.

Histories of China fall, with few exceptions, into one or the other of two groups, pro-Chinese and anti-Chinese: the latter used to predominate, but today the former type is much more frequently found. We have no desire to show that China's history is the most glorious or her civilization the oldest in the world. A claim to the longest history does not establish the greatness of a civilization; the importance of a civilization becomes apparent in its achievements. A thousand years ago China's civilization towered over those of the peoples of Europe. Today the West is leading; tomorrow China may lead again. We need to realize how China became what she is, and to note the paths pursued by the Chinese in human thought and action. The lives of emperors, the great battles, this or the other famous deed, matter less to us than the discovery of the great forces that underlie these features and govern the human element. Only when we have knowledge of those forces and counter-forces can we realize the significance of the great personalities who have emerged in China; and only then will the history of China become intelligible even to those who have little knowledge of the Far East and can make nothing of a mere enumeration of dynasties and campaigns.

Views on China's history have radically changed in recent years. Until about thirty years ago our knowledge of the earliest times in China depended entirely on Chinese documents of much later date; now we are able to rely on many excavations which enable us to check the written sources. Ethnological, anthropological, and sociological research has begun for China and her neighbours; thus we are in a position to write with some confidence about the making of China, and about her ethnical development, where formerly we could only grope in the dark. The claim that "the Chinese race" produced the high Chinese civilization entirely by its own efforts, thanks to its special gifts, has become just as untenable as the other theory that immigrants from the West, some conceivably from Europe, carried civilization to the Far East. We know now that in early times there was no "Chinese race", there were not even "Chinese", just as there were no "French" and no "Swiss" two thousand years ago. The "Chinese" resulted from the amalgamation of many separate peoples of different races in an enormously complicated and long-drawn-out process, as with all the other high civilizations of the world.

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