EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA

HISTORY IN BRIEF

 

The gallery for Early Imperial China covers the period beginning with the accession of Zhou Zheng (also called Ying Zheng) as First Emperor of China (Qín Shǐ Huángdì) and ending with the abdication of Emperor Gong of Jin (Jìn Gōngdì). During this period, the Central State (Zhōngguó) of China was created and consolidated from formerly disparate kingdoms and tribes, eventually encompassing a broad swathe of territory centered on the three great river systems of China—the Yellow River (Huang He) in the north, the Yangzi/Yangtze River (Chang Jiāng) in the center, and the Pearl River (Zhū Jiāng) in the south. It is a period marked by the building of common institutions and ethnic identities (i.e., ethnogenesis), weaving the many cultural threads of ancient China into a complex, but coherent, tapestry.

 

The roots of traditional Chinese culture lay in the Archaic Period (1200-481 BCE), but the socio-political entity we know as China came into being with the foundation of the Qin/Ch'in Empire (221-207 BCE)—the word “China” comes from “Ch'in.” The Qin/Ch'in Dynasty was established when the Kingdom of Qin emerged victorious at the end of the Warring States Period (481-222 BCE). The king of Qin, Zhou Zheng/Ying Zheng, then created the title of emperor (huángdì), to signify his unification of the seven kingdoms that had emerged from the prehistory of archaic China—Qin, Han, Wei, Zhao, Chi, Chu, and Yan. The victory of Qin did not, however, lead to the administrative centralization of the empire. Many of the former kingdoms became semi-autonomous protectorates of the imperial government, being more like tributary states than provinces. Although the Qin Dynasty did not long outlast the death of the First Emperor (ca. 210 BCE), the empire remained both as a political entity and as an idea that would fuel Chinese imperial ideology for centuries. The Han Dynasty (202 BCE-222 CE) expanded the empire of the Qin, presided over the development of Chinese cultural hegemony in East Asia, and played a pivotal role in the ethnogenesis of the Chinese people (today, the majority ethnic group in China identifies itself as “Han”). The Han Dynasty is usually divided into two periods, the Western Han (202-8 BCE) and the Eastern Han (25-220 CE), the two periods being separated by the Xin Dynasty (9-24 CE) of the usurper Wang Mang. During the Han Dynasty there was a marked centralization of the empire, and China experienced unprecedented economic prosperity, scientific advancement, and urbanization. With the campaigns of emperor Wu (147-87 BCE) against the nomadic Xiongnu/Hsiung-nu, Chinese influence reached out across the steppe into the Tarim Basin in Central Asia, greatly expanding the trade networks that linked China with Persia and India (trade networks that would eventually coalesce into the famed Silk Road). The emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society—he presided over the government, but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers. The imperial court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and government—this policy endured until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 CE. It is the conflict between the ideals of the Confucian imperial court—with its eunuchs and scholar-officials—and the military aristocracy that led to the downfall of the Han. Court rivalries often left Han emperors at the mercy of ambitious generals, and following the disastrous administration of Wang Mang, the emperors of the Eastern Han increasingly became figureheads with no real power, their persons being used as pawns to legitimize one faction or another. The chaos this engendered led to repeated civil wars, failure to protect the borders against nomadic incursions, and a breakdown of good government in the provinces. Several major peasant rebellions rocked the empire during the Xin Dynasty and the Eastern Han—the Chimei Luan (“Red Eyebrows Rebellion”)(17-27 CE), Lülin Luan (“Lulin Mountain Rebellion”)(17-25 CE), Wǔ Dǒu Mǐ Dào Luan (“Way of the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion”)(142-215 CE), and Huangjin Zhi Luan (“Yellow Scarves Rebellion”)(184-205 CE).

 

When the last Han emperor, Liu Xie/Xian (189-220 CE), was forced to abdicate, the empire was divided into three spheres of influence, each dominated by an aristocratic warlord. These formed the basis for each of the Three Kingdoms that succeeded the Han Dynasty—Wei (220-265 CE), Shu (221-263 CE), and Wu (229-280 CE). The civil wars, rebellions, and barbarian invasions that marked the fall of the Han and the struggles of the Three Kingdoms led to widespread disease and famine (as well as horrific military casualties), and the population of China plummeted from over 56 million to about 16 million. The empire was briefly reunited under the Jin Dynasty (265-420 CE), but increasing military pressure from the northern steppe nomads (especially the Wǔ Hú, “Five Tribes”), combined with continued domestic unrest and devastating demographic shifts, fatally destabilized the empire. From 304 to 439 CE all of northern China was overrun by steppe nomads, setting off a mass migration of Han Chinese south across the Yangzi River (leading to the Sinicization of the Yue peoples of the south). In 420 CE the last Jin emperor, Gong (386-421 CE), abdicated in favor of the warlord Liu Yu, who became emperor Wu of the Liu Song Dynasty (Liú Sòng Cháo)(420-479 CE). This marks the end of the Early Imperial Chinese Period, and the beginning of the Northern & Southern Dynasties Period (420-589 CE), when the Yangzi River formed the border between the Sinicized barbarian kingdoms of the north (the Northern Dynasties) and the Han-Yue southern successor states (the Southern Dynasties).