World History-Student by James P. Stobaugh

Author:James P. Stobaugh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RELIGION / Christian Education / Children & Youth, HISTORY / World
ISBN: 978-1-61458-140-6
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group, Inc.
Published: 2012-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

Portrait of Kublai Khan during the Yuan era by Anige (also known as Araniko) of Nepal (PD-US, PD-Art).

Ming (1368–1644)

The Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) eventually conquered the Mongols. The Ming Dynasty was known for its cruelty and excesses. At one point 40,000 opponents were beheaded! Nonetheless, the Ming Dynasty reestablished the Chinese empire.

Long wars with the Mongols, incursions by the Japanese into Korea, and harassment of Chinese coastal cities by the Japanese in the 16th century weakened Ming rule, which was conquered by the Manchus in 1644.

Qing (Manchu) (1644–1911)

The Manchu/Qing Dynasty copied Chinese institutions and philosophy to a much greater extent than did the Mongols of the Yuan. In fact, the Manchus were extremely suspicious of Western contact and resisted all outside influence as long as possible. However, European governments eventually succeeded in setting up trading posts all along the Chinese coast., where Western trade goods were accompanied by Western culture.

On the one hand, the West did its best to undermine what it considered to be restrictive trading and governmental regulations. On the other hand, they did their best to prop up the ailing Qing, the most notable example being the crushing of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 by foreign troops (primarily U.S. forces). What the Western powers were interested in was the carving up of China for their own purposes, and that, paradoxically, required keeping China together.

Republican China (1911–1949)

On May 4, 1919, about 3,000 students from various Beijing universities gathered in Tiananmen Square and held a mass protest. The May 4th Movement, born at that rally, was the first true nationalist movement in China. (Student activists at the “Beijing Spring” in 1989 intentionally drew parallels with the May 4th Movement.)

In the early 1920s, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the (up-to-then unsuccessful) Nationalist Party, accepted Soviet aid and began a movement to unify China. When Sun died of cancer in 1925, the new leader, Chiang Kai-shek, launched his famous “Northern Expedition”—all the way from Guangzhou to Shanghai. Chiang Kai-shek slaughtered many of the Chinese Communists. Among those Communists who managed to escape the carnage was a young librarian named Mao Zedong.

The Nationalists almost managed to destroy the Communists. In 1934, the Nationalists were closing in on the remaining Communist positions, when, under the cover of night, the Communists began the Long March. The number of Communists declined from 100,000 to about 8,000 during that terrible year.

While all this was occurring, the Japanese occupied Manchuria. To a large degree, ironically, the Japanese invasion saved the Communist party.

In 1937, the Japanese invaded China proper from their bases in Manchuria. At this point the Nationalist Government ignored the Communists and warred against the Japanese. In the interlude, the Communists consolidated their control over northern China in preparation for the resumption of the civil war that would occur after the Japanese had been defeated.

At the end of World War II, the war between the Nationalists and the Communists began again. The Nationalists were defeated and fled to Taiwan. The People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949 with Mao Zedong as its first premier.

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