The ENTIRE History of China | Ancient to Modern (4K Documentary)

The land of China was one shrouded in mystery to the rest of the ancient world the Silk Road was a connection between the two Realms that suggested China to be of immense wealth and power whilst these distant civilizations would see dramatic Falls China would continue to rise through countless dynasties and Emperors for thousands of years forming the global superpower we know today from constructing the longest Structure in the world to hosting the largest and deadliest Wars in Mankind's history China is the longest continuous civilization on Earth dating back 5,000 years withstanding the ancient era the

Middle Ages and now the modern period but can they continue on to understand this fascinating land we must start from the beginning the majority of China's earliest settlements began along the Basin of the Yellow River in the North And the yangi in the South the people resided on flood Plains and lived agricultural Lifestyles growing a plethora of millet and rice the conditions were fair for farming but a major issue plagued the newly blossoming communities flooding from the Yellow River constantly displaced or killed settlers washing away their crops and lodgings in the process the land was

cruel and inhospitable threatening their new found way of life that was until the Legendary and likely mythological U the engineer was tasked with controlling the flow of the rivers you knew firsthand that the waterways had not been the Settler's biggest adversary for no reason his father Gwyn had already spearheaded past efforts to control the rivers and a decade of his life had been spent on building a series of dikes and dams which ultimately proved ineffective no matter how large gwy and his men built their walls the river would Prevail time in time again unfazed by

his father's failures Yu was more than determined to carry out the Monumental task he recruited the help of one hoi another semi mythical agricultural genius Who is credited with supposedly introducing milet to humanity the pair discussed schematics together and eventually built a canal-based irrigation system which removed most of the excess flood water into the sea while saving some to be reutilized for The growing of crops just like that the system's debut had finally ended the era of flooding and youu the engineer was named China's ruler on account of his great [Music] success thus began the

Sha Dynasty the Catalyst for China's dynastic system the Dynasty and its lands were very prosperous under you they remained a mainly Agricultural Society but are credited with creating many great Chinese inventions such as stone tools used for farming and the lunar calendar eventually you divided the territory into nine provinces and while each one was governed by their own Lord they were required to stay loyal to 's Reign long after his years of stopping rivers and winning battles against neighboring tribes old age and death closed in on you which brought forth the question what now you

decided that he did not want to pass the torch of leadership Onto his son Chi he instead wished for his Minister of Justice GA Yao to take over unfortunately GA Yao died soon thereafter and so a tribal leader named y was chosen to take on the role the provincial Lords disagreed with this decision they had grown so fond of you the great throughout his 45 years as emperor that they insisted upon his son Chi being his successor their wish was eventually granted Chi was the first ruler of China to be granted power not For his

Merit or capability but because of his bloodline and connections this hereditary system would last for thousands of years it was in the 16th century BCE that the Sha Dynasty finally met its fate the last ruler of you the Great's bloodline J was said to be a cruel sadistic leader who led a handful of military operations solely for revenge and personal gain and filled his free time with sex slaves drunken orgies and senseless violence perhaps he was Too blinded by his Hedonism to sense what was was brewing in the lands he now ruled there was a

concept in ancient China known as the Mandate of Heaven A seemingly Shakespearean principle that not only states that heaven gives noble men the ruling power of China but that any wicked unjust leaders will be removed Heaven had clearly taken issue with J China had entered the Bronze Age and much to J's dismay a new rebellious power emerged with brand new bronze Weapons the Sha were promptly overthrown by this Group which would become known as the Shing [Music] Dynasty not only did they emerge Victorious against the corrupt King ja and his men but the Shing Dynasty

to this day have something that the Sha lack a written history Oracle bone inscriptions were an ancient form of Chinese writing usually engraved on animal bones or turtle shells there are Over 3,000 documented characters from the era of the Shen Dynasty many of which are either still used or similar to modern Chinese characters considering the Shen dynasty was in power about 3600 years ago we know an impressive amount about daily life and key traditions because of archaeological finds such as the Oracle bones the Shing dynasty was quite mobile and often times traveled to various islands

and Shores on their conquests upon each return they would Bring back sea shells which were used as currency Within their society they employed a feudal system that brought great wealth to nobility and subjugated peasants and Farmers to difficult lives the poor possessed little agency but the military and government were far too powerful at the time for any peasant resistance to overthrow them the Shang leaders were a highly religious people with high priests having heaps of influence over the lands these priests Paid much attention to the death and dying process as well as subsequent burials and

a established a handful of rituals to preserve their power and safety both on Earth and in heaven common practices in the dynasty included sacrificing humans for good weather and Fortune as well as burying slaves alive with their masters to ensure their servitude in the afterlife the Shen Dynasty possessed a mighty military and Workforce conquering region after region And building major walled cities across the land as they went it was a Restless time with constant battles with various tribes as well as internal struggles forcing the Shen to move their capital city five times but their skill

in molding bronze weapons and chariot wheels allowed them to squash opposing forces and remain in power for around 600 years in a life that eerily resembled that of sha rer ja the last Shang Emperor D Sheen was overcome by Temptations and began living a life of pure debauchery he hosted massive orgies and inflicted cruel sadistic torture onto those who opposed him a handful of Deen's family members were jailed for trying to intervene in his life of partying and it is said that he had his own uncle's heart ripped out of his chest as punishment it

was in 1046 BCE when the Joe of the way Valley vassals of the Shen challenged the Dynasty's Reign at the Battle of muya the Impoverished Chinese population was strongly in support of the Joe and many slaves being forced to fight for the diminishing Shen Dynasty defected to fight for the Joe the members of the Shang Army who remained loyal were eviscerated in a bloody battle that resulted in the deaths of around ,000 XO soldiers and hundreds of thousands of the Shang Army after such a dismal effort D Sheen fled to his Palace surrounded himself with

his treasures And set the building on fire killing himself with such a decisive Victory the Joe believed they had inherited the Mandate of Heaven which would now become a major principle of Chinese politics the Joe dynasty was China's longest lasting Dynasty spanning 789 years from 1046 BCE to 256 BCE the events of those nearly eight centuries were some of the most important happenings not only in Chinese history but in the development of the world as we know it it was a Period distinctly marked by both invention and change large scale irrigation systems transformed agriculture a

new network of canals was built to transport various Goods across previously unfathomably long distances horseback riding became the standard for both travel and military use news of silk production spread to Europe and the Chinese moved past Bronze in favor of mastering iron perhaps the most significant of these Newfound Transitions was that of bronze to iron Europe and the Middle East were hundreds of years behind the Joe who could Now cast iron using heat resistant clay in furnaces and molds they used the liquefied metal to mass-produce weapons and farming tools propelling both the military and general

Society forward at an unprecedented rate with such a rapidly growing Empire however instability is sure to rear its head the Joe Dynasty can be split up into two Distinct periods the first of which is the Western Joe during this time the new found dynasty was operating under the feudal system a pyramid-shaped power structure where the power and land are concentrated in the royal family and are distributed to local Lords as is seen fit while this was functional for the Joe for about two centuries their control and stability began to diminish as the feudal Lords grew

increasingly powerful and self-serving they began to Revolt and raided the capital of haing and in a move that echoed their previous ruler constant Capital movements the Joe fled to their new capital city luyang in everything but name and technicality the vassal States had essentially taken control of the land and its governance this transition marked the beginning of the Eastern Joe period now recognized as having begun in 771 BCE this era yielded perhaps the most significant Chinese philosophies of all time in three Schools of thought Confucianism legalism and taoism confucious or M Kong was the most

renowned ancient Chinese philosopher and his school of thought aimed to create a society driven by respect Justice and a widespread desire for peace he was born as Kong Chu in the Joe state of luu his father Kong he was a commandant of the lose Garrison but died when Confucius was only 3 years old leaving his mother to raise the boy alone in poverty he committed his life To education and studied classic Chinese works at a school for commoners now educated in literature history and music he was married at 19 and raised a family confucius's mother

passed away just a short four years later around the age of 40 confucious is said to have mourned her death for 3 years he worked in a variety of low ranking government jobs such as bookkeeping and tending to livestock just to afford a dignified burial for his mother as he Grew Older Confucious had built a considerable reputation amongst the local ruling class class the state of Lou was ruled by three ducal families who appointed Confucius as the minister of criminal matters confucious believed that there was a natural goodness to humanity and so the core of

his philosophy was to restore an ethically decrepit China's moral code through social relationships after hearing of the wars orgies live burials and dismal practiced by past Rulers one can understand why he had grown increasingly discontent with the decay of Chinese Society he created a hierarchy of being to restore order and insisted upon each citizen understanding and adopting their respective role in this latter this system is known as the five bonds and describes the following relationships needed to achieve social harmony ruler to subject husband to wife father to son elder brother to younger brother and friend

to friend confucious Stressed the importance of respecting one's elders and accepting their subjugation as a necessary step to maintaining a civil society family is at the basis of the five bonds and its effects are still seen in modern-day China the tradition of filial piety means that parents are indebted to their children in terms of offering care safety and education and children are indebted to their parents in terms of offering Services respect And maintaining the family's honor through their actions a family is to uphold their morals as a unit and and the benevolent family unit will

subsequently expand to a greater Chinese society as China to Confucius was in essence one massive family his system called for the government to serve and take care of its people as parents would their children while confucious called for social harmony through widespread benevolence another school of thought Was developing in China that directly opposed his teachings legalism unlike Confucianism legalism states that people are inherently bad had and require law and Punishment to be kept in order it was developed from the teachings of Han faty a Confucian reformer who believe that an ordered Society is a strict

society and a good citizen is one who allows thems to be controlled it gained traction rivaling Confucianism throughout the Joe Dynasty the third Major philosophy of the Joe was taism which stressed the need for Humanity to reach a natural harmony with the universe humans are supposed to follow the universe's will and should avoid the tendency to go against its energy the classic yin and yang symbol encapsulates the philosophy as one must accept the Natural Balance in forces of the universe to achieve Harmony unlike Confucianism and legalism which called for different moral actions and Behaviors from

the Chinese population taoism embraced inaction and a philosophy that can aptly be summarized as going with the flow these three philosophies are all in incredibly prevalent throughout Chinese history and the Contemporary State and are the most important contribution of Theo Dynasty's Reign because of the prominence of philosophical development in this time the era and its products are recognized as the Hundred Years of [Music] thought at the same time as these developments various States within the Joe Dynasty were beginning to declare their independence former Dukes calling themselves Kings and insisted they were politically on par with

the Joe King this period is known as the Waring States a time of unrest in which seven former vassal States fought for the Ultimate Reign of China's lands they were the chin Han Yan Wei Chu and Chi it Was at this time that famed General and strategist sunzu wrote The Art of War the earliest documented work on Military science in war though the book covered a wide range of military tactics and wartime philosophies such as when to push your armies forward and how to develop strategic flexibility in the face of a widely unpredictable War it

is no wonder why the Art of War was birthed in this era War had transformed in China battles became more sophisticated in the Waring States period with generals using strategy and deceit to gain the upper hand with increased troop numbers and conscriptions for males as young as 15 individual battles also often dragged on for much longer than a handful of days like the clashes of before with some stretching as long as months or years the most powerful Rising force of the country during this time was the chin they were led by Ying Jang or chin

shiang which literally translates to First emperor of chin they resided in a dangerous region of China where a powerful military was in Need for survival and thus adopted the use of various weapons Technologies such as iron swords and crossbows the first of the Seven Kingdoms to collapse at the hands of the chin was Han they were the weakest of the bunch and their territory rested right in the center of ancient China leaving them vulnerable to attacks from All sides though the alliances and mutual interests of before protected them in the past the Waring States period

brought forth an every man for himself attitude Yin Jang and his men swiftly conquered the territory and forced King on of Han surrender within the year though there were far more worthy opponents in the near future Yin jang's next Target was the state of Xiao it was not the first time the two sides had battled just a couple decades ago They had fought in the Battle of kangping which stands as one of the deadliest battles in human history records estimate 450,000 jaia deaths and 250,000 deaths on the chin side because of this decisive chin Victory

the Jiao state was still weakened when Ying Jang marched his men past their borders to finish what had been started long ago despite their decaying State the jaia possessed something that the chin did not a general by the name of lieu lieu Had an impressive military reputation for his previous deceits of massive enemy armies and victories in numerous raids and battles when it became clear that the chin had their sight set on Conquering the state of Jiao his attention too shifted to the Western border ERS to confront the newly ascended Ying Jang any progress troops

made were immediately trumped by Liu's tactics and it became quite clear to Ying Jang that so long as Liu was alive Little progress would be made failing on the battlefield he targeted the general through tricky political means he bribed figures of the jaia courts and sent spies to create disorder within their governmental systems his goal was to create distrust between yumu a king of Jiao and general Liu he eventually succeeded and the king became convinced that Liu and his trusted Associates were planning a violent Rebellion the general was Relieved of his position and executed jaia

was swiftly conquered after Liu's death as his replacement jao Kong was no match for the bloodthirsty chin the state's capital hondon was taken over in 228 BCE and Yin Jang saw to it that naive King yumu was too executed though there were some self-proclaimed Kings and kingdoms of Jiao following this major loss the state was no longer a true threat to the chin any Rebellion or descendant of a king that Rose to power Was squashed over the course of the next handful of years until the region as a whole was completely annexed after this success

yinhang then directed his Focus to the kingdom of yon well aware of the impending military force at his doorstep the Crown Prince Dan aimed to defeat the chin in another way by assassinating Yin Jang himself he picked an assassin named Jing to kill Jang in a suicide mission using a poison Dagger of the sharpest possible quality the plan was to Approach the chin court and pretend to be a traitorous nobleman begging for mercy he was to offer maps of dukong the Fertile Farmland region that Jen wanted to claim first in his Conquest as well as

the head of defective chin General Juan y's head before sticking the blade deep into Yin Jang the dagger would be hidden along the side of the maps so jinah could strike as soon as he got close guanyi the owner of the aformentioned head required for this Plan to work had fallen out of the Chin's good graces and was seeking revenge for their dismissal causing the chin to put a bounty of 1,000 gold pieces on his head after Jenka explained the plan the disgraced General agreed to commit suicide by cutting his own throat for the sake

of collecting his head so long as it would mean that Ying Jang would die and the chin would collapse he cut his own throat without protest with both the head and the maps now ready Jenka and his supremely nervous associate chin Wu Y young traveled to present their gifts to Yin Jang chin Wu Yang was so anxious when they reached the palace that he entered a near paralyzed State and was almost unable to move Jenka excused his skittish Behavior as nothing more than awe and cultural shock as chin Wu young was but a rural boy

who had never truly seen the world despite Jena's excuses chin Wu young was not allowed to move up any further and The Assassin would now have to enter the court by his Lonesome Jena calmly approached King Jen with a map scroll and waited for it to be unrolled before grabbing the dagger and lunging towards him King Jing was startled by the sudden movement and was able to slip out of his grasp turning away and running away away from the attacker Mayhem ensued in the palace with the King narrowly surviving by continuously running in circles behind

a pillar the armed guards were All but stationed outside and his ceremonial sword was too long to be pulled out quickly enough to defend himself against Jinga so all he could do was hope that someone would intervene before the Assassin closed in luckily for Ying Jang a Royal Physician stepped forward and hurled his medicine bag at Jena slowing him down just long enough for the king to unsheath his blade he stabbed Jinga in the leg prompting the injured assassin to throw his dagger in A last gasp attempt to kill his Target he missed and was

stabbed eight more times by Yin Jang in his dying moments the Assassin taunted the king with obscene gestures until both he and the now fleeing chin Wu Yang were executed by the guards the attempt had failed horribly and had only created an angrier more obsessive Yin Jang he and his army invaded Yan in 226 BCE and quickly conquered the capital J Chang in an effort to earn the king of Chin's Forgiveness a now desperate King XI of yan executed his own son the Crown Prince Dan as an apology for the assassination attempt he sent the

head of his boy to Ying Jang which postponed the complete annexation of yan for a small handful of years before the chin returned to destroy them once and for all in 222 BCE Ying Jang began his attacks on the states of Wei and Chu at the same time fearing that one state may take advantage of the fact that the chin Were solely focused on the other and catch the chin armies off guard two of Ying jang's most trusted generals a father-son Duo by the names of Wang Jen and Wang Ben launched simultaneous attacks on the

two states in 225 BCE while Wong Jen began the chin Conquest of the incredibly large and Powerful Chu his son Wong Ben LED an army of 600,000 men to conquer 10 cities along the northern border of weiy thereby guarding their flank Wei crumbled fairly easily After Wong Ben cleverly redirected the Waters of the Yellow River to flood the capital of dong 100,000 people many of which were civilians were killed in the flooding the king surrendered allowing for all the chin manpower to be focused on the powerful Chu their initial attacks on the chu had not

been particularly successful with the chin Army being pushed back and repelled Wong Jen was brought out of retirement 2 years after the initial sieges with an Army three times larger than before and the capital city was taken the King was captured and the state was annexed leaving only one state to be captured chi in 221 BCE Ying jang's men faced very little push back and conquered the kingdom within the same year when the chin arrived at the capital city the king of chi simply surrendered the land without a fight the Waring States had all been

conquered and thus began the Chin Dynasty ruled under the Iron Fist Of Ying [Music] Jen though they displayed great promise and Power in the Waring States period leading Ying Jang to Proclaim that his dynasty would rule for 10,000 Generations the Chin's dynastic cycle was relatively shortlived lasting approximately 15 years from 221 BCE to 206 BCE despite this their effects Prov to be very important and durable across the Following centuries the name China comes from chin in contrast with the feudalist Joe whose decentralization ultimately led to the Dynasty's downfall the chin enacted an intense centralization and

subjugation of the state citizens Ying jang's main efforts included registering each citizen with the government directing the flow of taxes to the state instead of feudal Lords and dividing the land into provinces each one governed by an appointed official acting as an Appendage of his ruling he also aimed to standardize currencies writing systems and weights while these changes were primarily for the sake of making the population more manageable and controllable they attributed to the creation of a culturally homogeneous Chinese identity that was previously unseen throughout the country's history China had become a United Empire and

Ying Jang its first true Emperor the chin were notorious for their cruelty And harsh punishments as legalists they believed people were born evil and that the only way to sustain a civilized society was to utilize ghastly criminal punishments and deter potentially disobedient citizens solely through fear Ying Jang needed everyone in China to understand that he and he alone Ruled the Land governmental workers and military personnel were also subjected to Collective punishments to hold entire labor groups accountable for Their work if one man neglected his duties it would come at the cost of the entire collective's

[Music] well-being the life of a peasant under the chin and an ancient China in general was very taxing peasants worked long straining hours typically in one of two Fields farming or silk weaving entertainment was used to relieve the stress of long working days theater and dance were very popular and formerly Military training games such as kuju a game similar to hacki saac were adopted to pass the time the chin state was a patriarchal society and life could be very difficult for women they primarily stayed home to tend to the children and look after the household

and had little to no say in marital issues land acquisition or sales or daily local proceedings peasants did not particularly like the emperor detesting him for his cruel punishments and Adoption of [Music] legalism it was not just his own population that Ying Jing had to fear nomadic tribes particularly the shonu who are believed to be the predecessors to the Huns continuously terrorized the northern chin borders armed Horsemen would launch Fierce intrusions on China's outskirts highlighting the Chin's need for strengthened borders this led to the most significant Construction effort of the Chin Dynasty a great wall

this wasn't the same Great Wall of China we know today though parts of the incredible architectural feat are still visible today sections of the Great Wall had already been built tracing back to the fifth century BCE though chinu Hong was the first to think of uniting all of the existing pieces to form one Great Wall peasants who were deemed lazy or unproductive in their farming or Market jobs were often times Sent to work on the wall transporting materials was very difficult so the wall was mainly built out of whatever resources were readily available in each

particular area in mountainous regions the wall was made of mountain Stones while Ram Earth was used in the plains though the chin did not view the wall as a permanent solution the project would be continued over many successive centuries to form the Great Wall we know today though he had conquered the Waring States at just the age of 38 survived three assassination attempts throughout the course of his Rule and now fortified the state of chin there was one enemy Ying Jang could not defeat death itself when Ying Jang reached middle age he became obsessed with

his own mortality and sought out various elixirs and potions to extend his life he sent Alchemists and explorers on quests around the Pacific to find the legendary island of ping whose Mountain supposedly Held the elixir of immortality Ying Jing was so desperate that he could not understand he was being conned primarily by shu the leader of these Expeditions on the first voyage shuu was sent with 3,000 virgin boys and girls and 60 boats but of course returned empty-handed as the island was mythological possibly fearing the consequences of a failed Mission shuu and the explorers that

returned from The Voyage claimed that their passage was obstructed by a giant Sea creature shuu requested a troop of archers for their next effort to defeat the creature and move forward with their Conquest Ying Jang obliged and once again provided everything he requested though shuu and his Crews never returned from the trip what exactly happened is still unknown today though the most popular theory is that shuu simply sailed to Japan and colonized it growing increasingly paranoid and desperate Ying Jang began ingesting potions his own Alchemists had created it is at this time that a series

of now famed book burnings and live burials took place as Ying Jang had grown utterly mad wanting to erase all history and ideologies he saw as diminishing to his Reign and the Chin Dynasty Ying Jang had 460 Confucian Scholars buried alive and destroyed many of their texts and mass book burnings which were the first documented book burnings in human history soon thereafter in an ironic twist Ying Jang's quest for eternal life led to his death at the age of 49 the conc autions he was supplied with by his Alchemist contained high levels of mercury which

killed the emperor by poisoning before the emperor's death he had commanded the construction of a grand Mausoleum to house his body an underground necropolis flooded with artifacts monuments and thousands of clay Warriors to follow Ying Jang into the Afterlife was accidentally uncovered by a group of Farmers in 1974 ad the scale and detail of each Soldier shocked archaeologists no two Warriors had the same facial features and just like a real army they were divided by military rank in battle formation each one was equipped with a real weapon that had never been used in battle there

are clear signs of mass production simply to arm the terracotta warriors with new undamaged weapons Ying Jang had clearly decided that if he could not conquer death he would conquer The afterlife there is still plenty of mystery regarding the Terracotta Warriors we don't know who exactly built the grand Mausoleum or why there is no documented history of its construction it is estimated that it took over 700,000 workers to build because of this Enigma and the grand scale of the findings Ying jang's terra cotta Army is referred to as the eighth wonder of the world following

the emperor's passing his associate Lee c kept his death a Secret with the hopes of snatching power away from Ying jang's eldest son and successor fusu Lei sought to prent him from gaining any more political might than he already had as Fu had ties with a general that rivaled Lei in court the pair would surely remove him from Power if they were in control Lei brought the king's corpse back to the capital and a merchant Caravan of rotting fish to mask the scent of death he then created a fake document supposedly written by Ying Jeng

commanding both Fu and the general to commit suicide died the plan worked and with both of their targets dead another son of the emperor took power that son was chin AI who quickly proved to be far less capable than his widely feared father he was incredibly self-indulgent and childish killing however Lei would not take power Shin shei would suspect him and others of corruption and treason Lei was sentenced to execution by death of a Thousand Cuts This method of execution involved the condemned person being subjected to a series of cuts or slices to various parts

of their body the intent was not to cause immediate death but to prolong the suffering of The Condemned additionally to top it off his entire family to the third degree was executed quickly capitalizing on the weaken State Mass revolts began luong a peasant under the chin Dynasty spearheaded a major Uprising and gained control of the land After a fierce Clash no known as the Battle of gisha in which over 100,000 men were either killed or taken prisoner thus began the incredibly successful Han Dynasty with his victory Leo bong seized the title of Emperor changed his

name to gawu and established the capital of the new state of Han and chongon it is one of the only parts of the destroyed chin state with a surviving power making for a fairly easy decision chungan is where the Han's namesake Comes from and the period in which it served as the state capital is known as the Western Han lasting from 206 BCE to 9 ad today over 90% of Chinese people identify as ethnically Han making up nearly 20% of the world the Han were the world's most populous state and were contemporaries of the Roman

Empire after gaining power gwu cemented Chinese policies that would last for thousands of years coming from peasantry himself he quickly sought to replace many of the Rulings and precedents he saw to be unfair to the commoner taxes were heavily cut especially in regions who were particularly affected by the wars many slaves were freed as well Confucianism was brought back as the main philosophical school of thought and was taught in the State's new Imperial Academy family loyalty and virtue were once again the main pillars of Chinese Society not fear or punishment gwu also established the system

of civil service To prevent lazy and unqualified men from serving in important political positions the ruling class was based on Merit and education rather than familial connections this governmental system would last all the way until 1912 ad nearly 2,000 years later although gazu and his Han state had secured power the empire was far from safe the same nomadic shonu who threatened the chin were still a dangerous threat and the Loyalty of many Han generals was Questionable at best following a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the shonu gwu made peace with the tribes

and agreed to pay tribute wine and women were gifted to the shonu on an annual basis to preserve the peace gawu died in 195 BCE which started a power struggle to claim the throne though h the Second Son of gwu became the next Emperor the true ruler of Han was ha's Mother gwu's emperess consort Empress louu she had murdered several of his sons to ensure Her power following gwu's death though her most famous killing was that of gwu's favorite mistress lady Chi lady Chi also had children with gwu and luou did not desire any competition

simin a historian from the Han Dynasty wrote that emperor Lou cut off lady Chi's hands and feet plucked out her eyes burned her ears gave her a potion to drink which made her mute and had her thrown into the privy calling her human swine Emperor H was so disgusted and Demoralized by his mother's murderous actions that he essentially handed over the ruling power to her he lived a short life of drinking in sex until his death in 188 BCE at the age of 22 a handful of rulers gained in lost power over the following decades

maintaining a relatively solid sense of peace and prosperity given the ongoing conflict with the shonu in 141 BCE Emperor wo became the leader of Han and would rule for 57 years up until 87 BCE it was also At this time that relations with the show new had reached a boiling point and full-fledged War began in 133 BCE a handful of Han men were sent West during the war to seek out potential allies of the shonu silk trade in China was being hindered by the tribes and the Han sought alliances with Western peoples to fight the

shonu what they brought back was knowledge about civilizations trade and the economies of the Western World India and the Middle East a trade route Called The Silk Road was established which connected all the way from China to the Mediterranean Sea the name Silk Road came from the Greek word for China SES which translates to to the land of silk China would come to rely on the Silk Road for trade for more than 1,500 years the Silk Road allowed for unprecedented cultural exchange which led to the introduction of Buddhism in China though whether or not Emperor

woo was aware of the religion during his Time is unknown today the Han territory grew considerably at this time of War as they won many major battles against the shonu tribes the dynasty expanded South into regions of modern day Vietnam and Myanmar despite their victories the Han treasury was depleted from all the resources poured into the conflict hundreds of thousands of soldiers died while peasants were heavily taxed to fund the war bringing forth a period of rebellion and [Music] instability in the year 9 ad a rising politician by the name of Wang Ming capitalized on

the shaky state of Han and established the very short-lived Shin Dynasty all of the Empire's land was seized by Wing Ming and redistributed to the peasantry which earned him the historical nickname of China's socialist Emperor policies such as this were not received well by the wealthier citizens the empire was left In shambles after a series of natural disasters and a famine creating yet another period of instability and Rebellion just like in the case of the preceding Western Han the shin Dynasty also failed to extinguish the shonu threat at the northern borders of China leading to

the treasury being depleted once again the people of shin had had enough there were two major Rebellion groups that gained prominence at this time the red eyebrows and the lulan the Name red eyebrows came to be as the rebels painted their eyebrows red to distinguish themselves from those who supported the government and ruling class the Imperial armies were defeated time and Time Again by the various Rebel parties and Wang Ming was killed in battle in 23 ad though the red eyebrows continuously defied odds and showed great promise they collapsed after falling out of the Public's

favor because of their disorganization and Lack of Direction in restoring peace to China they were viewed as a mobike presence due to their brutal treatment of local populations and desecration of Han Graves the red eyebrows were trapped in a state of constant dis disarray and frequent deaths towards the tail end of their fighting years the red eyebrows surrendered to luu one of 11 self-proclaimed Emperors at the time who had been involved with a contemporary Lulin Rebellion against wiang Ming luu or Emperor Guang Yu was a very benevolent and pardoned the red eyebrows before beginning his

conquest of the entire Empire over the course of a decade he squashed all of the other self-proclaimed Emperors until he alone claimed the [Music] throne the city of shangan had been destroyed in the rebellions so Guang Yu established the new han capital in Luyang this period is known as the Eastern Han the latter half of the long withstanding Han Dynasty under Guang wo taxes were lowered and the emperor saw to it that the quality of life improved for the peasantry over 100 academic instit Utes were established using government funds to ensure a well-educated future ruling

class Guang wo continued to promote Confucianism and set up a system in which local Governors would nominate young men who properly Embodied Confucian virtues for governmental roles with an excellent basis set under the Dynasty's first emperor the Eastern Han entered a new golden age over the first and 2 centuries the economy was thriving educational policies were as thorough as they'd ever been and the military was incredibly powerful crossbows allowed the Han to kill their enemies from a safe distance and durable iron axes and swords greatly improved their Close-range combat abilities resistance in Vietnam and Korea

were destroyed and the shonu tribes within the Han borders were defeated when they once again turned against the empire the role of the emperor became much less respected at this time as the civil servant class became the most dominant member of Chinese hierarchies paper was also invented at this time allowing for their ideas to be shared much easier than in days past Emperors were put in place and Removed as the civil servants saw fit but were usually more concerned with their lavish Lifestyles than their duties at the Helm of the Empire anyway this absence of

centralized leadership led to worse policies that rais taxes and allowed for another famine in China and so another powerful resistance group Rose From the Ashes the yellow turban rebellion led by taist jingju who claimed that the Han Dynasty was already on its last legs the rebels began Attacking government offices and pillaging villages in 184 though they ultimately failed to bring down the Han the empire was indeed on its way out in order to defeat the yellow turbin the bureaucracy's forced hand gave significant amounts of power back to the nobility who split up as individual Warlords

each with their own controlled [Music] regions another period of Waring states began until the last emperor of Han was Dethroned and only three major kingdoms remained we woo and Shuan Shuan the least populated state was the first to go they surrendered to way after exhausting their powers fighting woo despite their now massive chunk of territory the way went next they were taken over out of no wear by a powerful Clan called JY who then defeated wo the last of the Three Kingdoms in 280 this meant that China was reunited and a new Dynasty began Emperor

Wu of jyn was the First to rule the jyn Dynasty and built a legacy of indulgence waste and sexual prowess he quickly became far more focused on feasting and having sex in his Herms than fulfilling any of his political duties in 281 5,000 women were brought from the Palace of conquered woo emperor son how to his own and luang with all the beautiful women now at his disposal Emperor Wu was overwhelmed with a choice and had difficulty deciding whom he should have sex with his famous Solution to this problem was to ride around in a

goat drawn cart wherever the goat stopped woo would get out and have sex with whichever woman was there some of the women began leaving bamboo leaves and salt outside their bedrooms hoping to lure the goats into stopping at their rooms woo was utterly sex crazed using this goat drawn method nearly every day for 8 years he went so far as to criminalize new marriages until he was finished picking his concubines to Ensure he could sleep with any woman he desired when Emperor woo died in 290 the jyn dynasty got caught up in a civil war

known as The War of the eight princes after its death numerous factions wanted to gain power now that there was an opening and started bringing in nomadic tribes such as the shonu to assist them this backfired with the nomadic people turning on the Jinn Dynasty and claiming the North Region of the Empire the jyn accordingly moved their Capital South to Jan Kong what ensued was countless changes in ruling families in both the Barbarian run north as well as the jyn South both regions were incredibly unstable until theu dynasty was erected in 581 and unified the

Empire once again in 589 [Music] while theu dynasty was very short-lived they acted as a very important turning point in Chinese history they reinstated the rule of China's ethnic Han and began Efforts to culturally assimilate The Barbarians that had migrated into China Confucianism and Buddhism were heavily fostered at this time as the emperor W ofu had been raised and taught by a Buddhist nun it was a difficult time to be in power north of theu in the central steps the Turks were rising to to power and becoming a formidable Force which made expansion difficult for

the dynasty while the empire was relatively stable for a short period of time it began to Deteriorate very fast because of the evil emperor yangong guang's constant misuse of resources Yong Guang was obsessed with construction projects and War many peasants worked to death rebuilding the great wall and he sent millions of soldiers to die and his attempted conquest of goio which is modern-day Korea the last attack on goio had been an utterly pathetic failure resulting in a 90% casualty rate for the SED troops and a relatively tiny one for The goio this all spurred more

rebellions as the peasantry was fed up a father and son Duo became the two most important figures in China during this time of resistance the father leuan had been born in 566 in the Three Kingdoms period leuan had many familial connections to the throne with many family members close to the emperor though that did not exactly make things easier for him Emperor yangong Guang was evil tyrannical and brutal and offered Little help to leuan his son Le shamin was a very bold military leader who successfully fought against the Turks on multiple occasions he famously tricked

his opponents by bringing an excessive amount of flags and drums to the battlefield to make them Retreat thinking that theu Army was much larger than it actually was though both leuan and Le shamin were initially loyal to the swed dynasty threat throughout this time of War it became increasingly clear To both of them that the empire was in Decline leuan was very sacred and timid and did not wish to turn on their leaders considering the number of family members that were close to the throne if Yong Guang caught wind of rebellion lean's family including his

daughter ping Yong would surely be executed Le shamin however convinced him to join a band of rebels since death was already on his doorstep anyways Yong Guang had begun killing his own generals who were Not doing a good enough job of defeating the rebels and liuan was up next on the chopping block with a little left to lose it was now or never or else it would be Leu Wan's head he spread rumors that the emperor was planning another invasion of Goo that would require even more soldiers still fiercely angry about the last invasions The

Peasants hit a Breaking Point they did not want to die fighting for a clearly inferior Army in a war that would not benefit fit them This allowed leuan and leimin to Garner more support for their rebellion and recruit soldiers after leuan ensured the safety of his family members through replaying secret messages encouraging them to get away from the capital the campaign to take the capital of Chong on began there were many doubts about the future of the rebels as there were many other rebel groups as well as the Turks in the north vying for power

leuan was very weak-minded and Afraid though Lee Shamin was successful once again and encouraging him to saddle up and fight the Turks and other rebel groups the Army grew significantly in size and the Lee family was reunited surprisingly ping Yong had formed a rebellion group of her own which was 70,000 strong the capital was taken in a major attack with all their forces and leuan snatched power away from Emperor yangong guang's grandson the emperor himself was many miles away at this time in Eastern China But could not not Escape his long overdue fate his own

officials murdered him and the sweet dynasty was without a doubt over while theu rule was indeed very brief ending in 618 Father and Son Lee Yuan and Lee shamin had set the stage for a new golden age of Chinese [Music] history the tong Dynasty is viewed as one of the best eras of Chinese history the empire was stable the population grew from 50 to 80 million people and Many scientific and cultural advancements ballooned during this time the rain is viewed so favorably that all these years later ethnic Chinese people refer to the neighborhoods in Western

metropolitan areas commonly known as Chinatown as Tong ran which translates to the tong people Street however such good fortune did not come easy early on while leuan and his family had defeated theu there still remained a great many threats to his future Reign two Dynasties were established to the east of the tong and the Turks were still the major threat in the north capitalizing on all the chaos of war that comes with rising and falling dynasties the Turks had been slowly creeping into mainland China leuan declared himself the tong Dynasty's first emperor and Lee shamin

was given the role of prime minister the eldest of leuan sons Le Jen Chung who had helped in the Rebellion as a key General was named Crown Prince and the Aira parent even though he did not have the same glorious military reputation that LE shimin did this made Le Jen Chung feel uneasy and overshadowed in his role as Crown Prince an intense rivalry began between the two brothers Le Jin Chung and another brother Le began preparing a private Army to Stage a coup and assassinate Lee shamin un supported Lee Jen Chung as he wanted to

be Crown Prince once lean Chung became emperor unfortunately for the pair word Got out fairly quickly Lee shamin received word from his soldiers and Leen Chung's plan was foiled he was put under house arrest by his father prompting an associate of Leen Chung to formerly Rebel Le shamine was commanded to go out and kill the rebel leader and was promised the title of Crown Prince upon his return to Chong on it didn't take much of an effort on Lee Shin's part to kill Lee Jong Chong's associate his own band of rebels killed him at the

sight Of the Imperial Army meanwhile the weak-willed leuan was caving in and easing up on his son back in the capital Legion Chong was very close with his father's concubines who would often do his bidding and try to rehabilitate His Image at Legion Chung's request the women successfully convinced the emperor to go easy on his son likely stressing the importance of family in such trying times when Lee shamin returned he was shocked to learn that Lee Jen Chong Would be keep keeping his title of Crown Prince but there was little time to process his father's

ridiculous leniency and the Forgiveness of his young brother the Turks had moved just outside of changan Le shamin had taken charge and organized a treaty involving regular payments to the imposing forces just 2 years prior in 622 ad though the threat was becoming more and more dangerous as they pushed closer to the capital the shamin approached the Kagan the leader Of the Turks outside of the C City and declared that if they had become dissatisfied with their previous agreement then he and the Cogan should duel to the death the Cogan was uncertain of what tricks

Le shamine had up his sleeve and withdrew his armies back to their Camp Le shamine and his army remained Incredibly Close by and after a night of rainfall sent a message detailing the tong Army's advantageous position as well as his analysis of how The Turk bows would likely be deteriorated by now the people of the Eurasian steps used composite bows made of wood and animal horns which did not farewell during rainy Seasons outsmarted by the witty Lee shamine the Cogan agreed once again to the Tong's proposed peace treaty and retreated without a drop of Bloodshed

on either side upon Lee Shin's return it was all the more clear that he would be the next great leader of the tong Dynasty this made Li Jen Chong all the more desperate to kill his brother and secure power Legion Chong hosted a banquet in his residence for his brothers Lee shamin and Lee wanji he had poisoned Le Shaman's wine Le shamin was in such a horrible state that he needed to be carried home and barely survived the ordeal after vomiting blood all night leuan couldn't bear to witness the Rivalry of his sons and informed

leimin that he would be dividing the empire into two halves to Avoid further conflict lamine was promised the rule of the eastern half which he protested but it was no use his stubborn father had already made up his mind the division failed to quell the Rivalry in the west Li Jen Chang and Le wanji continued plotting the murder of Lee shamin in the East Lee shamine was continuously encouraged by his cabinet to strike first and kill his brothers though despite everything he was still hesitant to plot an attack on his own Family when the Turks

attacked once again in the summer of 626 the two conniving Brothers saw the disorder as a chance to kill Lee shamin once and for all backed by Li Jan Chung Lee Wan approached his father and asked to command the Army against the invading Turks though the emperor was a bit hesitant as he initially intended on sending the decorated Lee shamin to resist them he agreed much to lean Chung's Delight Lee wanji was able to Turn many of Lee Shaman's Associates against him while organizing his army those who had once sided with Le shamine and encouraged

him to attack his brothers had given up on trying to convince him and were now looking after their own lives instead because of this Victory the eldest brother promised leean G the title of Crown Prince once he became emperor which would be any day now should their plan work the bear decided that after they killed Lee Shamin they would finally gain power by forcing their father to give up the throne shortly after however Le Jen Chung and Le wanji were summoned to their father's Court Lee shamin had submitted a message to his father claiming that

both Lee Jen Chung and Lee Wan G had been sleeping with many of The Emperor's concubines when the two brothers conferred on what to do lean argued that they should fake illnesses and not go but lii Chung pulled rink and Decided that they should both go to try and smooth out the situation to the best of their abilities what ensued is what is now known as the Shan Wu gate incident upon their arrival at the Shan Wu gate which served as an entrance to the Palace City in changan they began to feel like something was

wrong they realized they were walking into a Cuda and immediately tried to retreat but by then it was far too late Lee shamine bound through the gates on Horseback and Called them over which prompted Lee Wan G to draw his bow but he was far too slow compared to the quick Lee shamin Le shamine quickly drew his own weapon and fired an arrow straight into Li Jen Chung killing him instantly a Chase ensued with Le Wan G trying to escape the scene before Lee shimin could kill him too in the chaos however leaman's horse became

overwhelmed throwing the middle brother off its back Lewan G pounced on this opportunity and tried to Strangle the Fallen Le shamine to death with his own bow string just in the nick of time yuchi Jinga an associate of leimin arrived and shouted at Lewan G Lewan tried to flee on foot but was promptly killed by yui's arrows overwhelmed by the situation Lewan agreed that power would be handed over to the surviving son Lea mean and that the opposing forces should submit to his rule the male Heirs of both Lee Jen Chong and lean G were

promptly executed To prevent further destabilization the two power hungry Brothers had started a battle that they could not finish and It ultimately came at the cost of their family's lives the Yuan retired to a more ceremonious role Mal shamin was declared Emperor though there was little time to celebrate his new role the Turks had not stopped their advances to allow the House of Lee to play out their family dramas they had already reached the edges of of Chong on Le shamin opted for a nonviolent confrontation once again as he thought that kagan's selfish and cruel

treatment of his inferiors would eventually break apart the turkic hagate and provide an easier opportunity to attack sometime in the future the tong dynasty was too vulnerable to face them headon right now so lamine simply renegotiated their peace treaty and agreed to pay tribute for the time being in the meantime the new emperor focused on building a basis Of trust and Free Speech Within in his cabinet he picked members based on their talent and intellect and even allowed those who had served as advisers to his treacherous Brothers to join his ranks if he thought it

was what was best for the Empire Lee shamine encouraged his officials to speak honestly and critique his Rule and so together they worked on improving the domestic conditions of the Empire before launching any attack on the Turks China entered a very Prosperous age with Lee shamin now known as emperor taong of Tom at the Helm of the Empire he is recognized today as the absolute greatest of the hundreds of Emperors who came and went throughout Chinese history and an argument could be made that China was the wealthiest and most powerful state in the world during

this second golden age but why exactly was that the case relations between the Turks and the tong remained stable as Emperor taong worked on the living conditions of his subjects but an opportunity to capitalize on the inner turmoil of the kaganate Rose quicker than the emperor thought it would political Discord was caused by the kogan's poor treatment of the tribes that fell under his command and a handful of them broke away from him which made the ruler furiously persecute them with all his might war broke out between the various tribes and in 628 a Lesser

Cogan by the name of asena shobi requested Emperor tid zong's help in defeating the selfish ruler he obliged and they successfully defeated the Eastern cognet Leader by the year 630 the members of the turkic tribes that fought against the kogan nominated Emperor taong to rule over them marking him the first emperor to hold the title of both Chinese emperor and the con of Heaven even after ta zong's death in the year 649 the tong Dynasty steadily Expanded while becoming more and more Cosmopolitan in the cities such as Chong on the capital was the world's most

populated city at the time with approximately 2 million inhabitants Buddhism taoism and Confucianism all flourished under Tong rule with monasteries and temples popping up all around the major cities many famous paintings poetry and pottery were created As Art became more of a steeple of Chinese culture military efforts were Made back into Korea and Vietnam and the Empire took control of many Western lands as well which connected them more strongly to other major civilizations in the Mediterranean and the Middle East they quickly swelled and became the most powerful state in Southeast Asia as a whole precisely

because of the emphasis on improving the domestic State as opposed to spending all of the Empire's resources when an Empire is stable within it is far easier to expand Outward the Golden Age reached its peak early into the later Emperor schan zong's Reign which began in 712 though the latter half of his time and power saw the decline of the tong in 736 historian musician and politician leelin Fu was named the tong chief minister and began increasing his power as Emperor Schwan zong became less and less interested in fulfilling his role as Emperor leelin Fu

had many of his court enemies executed and began introducing a Series of policies that were very damaging to the Empire one major policy that would come back to bite the tong was that the military Governors must not be Chinese the deao ruler Leland f believed that there would be less trivial politics involved in the governmental process and that none of his Rivals would be able to take power one of the general selected was a Turk by the name of an Lan who commanded an army with over 150,000 soldiers in the north east he was viewed

very favorably by both the emperor and leelin Fu and Rose the ranks very quickly even being named a prince however after Lee Lin Fu's death in 753 anlan was steadily being edged out of his position by political rivals in China recognizing that he had very little to lose he launched a rebellion against the dynasty to try and claim power over the Empire What followed was known as the anlan Rebellion one of the Deadliest Wars in human history in 755 anlan attacked the Eastern capital of luang and declared himself to be the emperor of the new

Yan Dynasty after his victory he then set his sights on the capture of the tong Dynasty's Western capital of chongon despite their initial successes and rapidly growing Army an Lan's next major battle the siege of Yong Chu was a definitive victory for the tong the yongi was very militarily important and was a big stepping stone For Ron Lan's push further south into China the tong recognized this and 2,000 men were sent to besiege it and killed 20,000 Yan troops in the process the Yan men were now unable to advance because of the tong troops defensive

positions along the Tong Pass but the tides turned due to inner turmoil with the tong Dynasty as well as completely inept military judgment orders were made for the tong to attack on Lan's yaan Army on open ground and they suffered a very Bitter defeat the path to the capital of chongon was now clear for the yawn catching wind of the impending threat Emperor Shan zong decided to flee the cap Capital an attempt to regroup in the province of sishan however this was not realized so easily the emperor had brought much of his household court and

bodyguards with him and Chaos ensued as hunger induced anger and Madness along the difficult terrains of China's mountainous regions resulted in the Executions of members of the Convoy fearing a mutiny the emperor was required to go along with the demands of his soldiers even when they desired the deaths of his family members while the emperor was forced to watch the strangulations of his relatives in desolate mountain ranges a different kind of chaos was occurring in the capital of chongon thousands fled at the sight of the rebels who slashed their way through the city and looted

like There was no tomoro hundreds of thousands were killed in the bloody Siege in August Emperor schan zong had finally reached sashan where he abdicated and gave his son the throne the new emperor recruited mercenaries to oppose on l and they successfully prevented him from expanding further south however the internal turmoil of the self-proclaimed yon Dynasty helped the tong more than anything else fearing his constant state Of violent paranoia anlan was murdered by his own son on Shing Shu on January 29th 757 the ruler had grown increasingly cruel to his subjects and fogged them whenever

he pleased which caused his subordinates to turn on him especially when the obese tyrant's Health took a turn for the worse it is said that a horse was once crushed under the unfathomable weight of anlan with his death an shingu took over as leader of the Yan and launched a lengthy Siege On the city of suong resulting in one of the most disturbing battles in Chinese history it could be said that both sides lost on the tong side Mass cannibalism insued as the inhabitants of the besieged city resorted to eating the elderly women and children

after running out of Provisions there remained only 400 Tong Defenders of the city less than 1% of its initial population while the yaon did indeed eventually capture the city after approximately 8 months of Battle they had suffered over 100,000 casualties and wasted plenty of time and resources the tong were able to reclaim the capitals of changan and luang because of this disarray and the Yan Dynasty began to burst at the scams because of political turmoil the rebellion was put down in 763 and the tong emerged Victorious however the Imperial government was Far weaker than they

had been before this mess had begun and the Golden Age of the tong was Undeniably over 20% of the Empire's population had died as a result of the onlan rebellion and the tong never fully recovered from its effects over the course of the 9th century the struggling Dynasty lost much of its northern and western territory to Turk and the Tibetan Empire who took advantage of their vulnerable state the tong were ruled by a line of poor Emperors during this time massive groups of Bandits became increasingly common ransacking Cities and smuggling illicit Goods across the Empire

until fulls scale rebellions reared their heads once again in 875 a disgruntled former salt Smuggler named tuang Chia started a peasant Rebellion with tens of thousands of soldiers and citizens his forces steadily pushed into the south of China massacring thousands of people along the way particularly Merchants who they saw as sympathetic to the tong Rain by 881 the capital of chongon had been captured And hangcha declared himself emperor of the Dai Dynasty angry with the selfish and inept rich and ruling class of China many of his reforms were focused on confiscating their wealth but it

did not take long for hangcha to prove that he was no better at running an Empire unfortunately for the self claimed Empire he was unable to arrange a food supply to the conquered Capital the tong Dynasty struck back with a series of counterattacks under the command of General Zu win zuin had been a general in none other than hang Cha's Rebellion but defected to the tong Dynasty in 882 with the help of xuan's strong leadership the government utilized alliances with a group of Turkish tribes to drive hangcha and his deao dynasty out of the capital

hangcha was killed in 884 and his legacy today is one of controversy some see him as a violent traitor who committed many atrocities during his military campaign though Others see him as a hero of the peasant Rebellion who was committed to ridding China of corruption and wealth hoarding whatever the true nature of hangcha may have been the damage he inflicted on the already weakened Tong Empire was certainly a reparable the central government had lost much of its power and no longer had a solidified Army [Music] as a side note while the 9th century was indeed

disastrous for the tong Dynasty An important invention that would shap modern history was created in 850 ad within the Empire's borders gunpowder an unknown Monk and Alchemist was trying to invent a substance that would heal ailments and prolong one's lifespan in doing so he mixed the following proportions 75% salt 15% charcoal and 10% sulfur the result was plenty of scorched Skin Within the group of monks who were present and the house they resided in was burnt to the Ground gunpowder was considered one of the four Great Inventions of China alongside paper making Printing and the

compass although the invention would be utilized more efficiently in coming years particularly with the rise of the Song Dynasty in the 10th Century history shows that it was Chinese monks under the tong who discover the substance no matter what other dynasties or Western Empires may [Music] Claim without a widespread military application though the new found substance did not make a difference in the fate of the declining Tong an era known as the five dynasties and 10 kingdoms period was on its way and would be marked by various Warlords and regimes staking claims for power across

China the period is notoriously difficult to follow because of how messy and unstable the region was with constant assassinations new and Shattered alliances and factions breaking apart the situation was constantly changing just like it had during the Waring States period this name five dynasties and 10 kingdoms came to be as five regimes successfully ruled over the northern region of China while 10 independent states were established in southern and western China though these states were relatively stable during their existence they were not as significant as the five major dynasties The first of these five dynasties rulers

was the warlord zuen though he had helped the hangcha rebellion and then the tong government zuen was now looking to help himself in 904 he executed the Emperor of Tong and made the dead ruler's 13-year-old boy serve as a puppet Emperor only 3 years later in 907 he usurped the throne and named himself emperor of the Leong the first of the five dynasties that ruled in this era however many other Warlords did not Accept his Rule and established their own countries one of these men was Lee Kong a rival of zuen prior to the establishment

of the Leong Dynasty zuen had attempted to assassinate Lee kayong so he understandably had no interest in serving the new emperor Leong established the minor Kingdom of Jin which would play a large role in future power struggles but Rivals such as Lee kayong were not the only ones who hated the emperor zuen often summoned his Son's wives to the Palace to have sex with them he was a notorious sexual predator who repeatedly assaulted his officers wives as well as his own daughters-in-law as a result of his horrendous conduct as well as familial turmoil over which

son would succeed the crazed ruler zuen was murdered in his Palace by his third son Ju GUI juyo GUI would last just one year in power being murdered soon thereafter by his younger brother juyo Zen and a coup for the Throne he would rule from 9113 onward with his Reign lasting about a decade it was during that time that a boiling point was reached between the Leong and the kingdoms of Jinn after many clashes with Emperor zuu yo Zen's troops over contested regions the Jinn Kingdom had become quite powerful and contested the Leong Dynasty in

923 3 they established what is known as the later Tong Dynasty they kept the name as Tong because they desired a restored Empire Lee sunu who Was LE Kong's son became the first emperor of the later Tong while they showed flashes of Brilliance and potential promise in unifying China they failed to control the regions they initially conquered due to more Declarations of Independence within their territory the state was thrown into chaos due to leisan shu's poor leadership as the EMP Emperor and his consort Emperor Lou hoarded wealth and did not reward his soldiers for their

Efforts in battle in the spring of 926 he was finally murdered in a mutiny the next dynasty was formed by a veteran General named XI jinong his claiming of the throne marked the third of the five dynasties and was labeled the later Jin or XI Jin during this time xiin Chong's Army was not powerful enough to control the incredibly Dynamic wartime landscape of China and in 936 he asked for the help of the Kiton in the north the Kiton were a nomadic people who dominated much Of Northeast Asia including modern-day Mongolia as well as chunks

of China and Russia's Far East a term of the agreement was that the 16 prefectures of yayun a region along the Great Wall which contained the Strategic positions of modern-day Beijing and Tian Jin the Kiton Emperor ilu dong was also given superiority over xiin Tong this was the cause of a conflict as the later jyn eventually decided that they did not want to live under the rule of the keton Emperor they tried to distance themselves from yulu Dong's Reign which enraged the ruler who had so recently greatly helped in the establishment of their Dynasty a

war broke out and keton conquered the later Jinn they sacked the Shen prefecture modern day anong and massacred most of the population the keton state was renamed the lia Dynasty and Yu dong declared himself emperor of all of China however this era did not last very long the ruler was universally Hated by the Chinese and after constant push back he died while journeying in an attempt to return North shortly after this Rebel liuan seized power and named himself emperor of the Later Han Dynasty though he died after just one year in power he was succeeded

by his son Liu chongo who took the throne at just 17 years of age though a minister by the name of guwe usurped the inept young leader after just 3 years as Emperor this made the Later Han the shortest Dynasty from this period lasting just about 5 years in 951 wow declared himself the new emperor of the last of the five dynasties beater Joe the state served as a vassel state to the Katan in the north and lasted until 1960 when a new Force emerged to unify China the the Song [Music] Dynasty the Song Dynasty

was formed after Xiao Guang Yin a military Inspector General of the later Xiao Dynasty gained control of the Empire after a coup he was able to conquer the remaining regions of China not yet under his control and ended the unstable five dynasties in 10 kingdoms period with the unification of the Empire the song Dynasty's history is divided into two major periods the northern song lasting from 960 to 1127 ad and the southern song lasting from 1127 to 1279 Jiao kuang Yin now known as emperor taisu of song spearheaded a project to map the Entire Empire

and put an increased focus on scholarly Pursuits the civil service exams were revamped and Confucianism made a major return this revived push of Confucianism is often referred to as neoc Confucianism in the context of the Song Dynasty though the song had reunified china they were quite weak militarily compared to the preceding Tong Dynasty after Tao's death his successors had continuously been threatened by the Keton Lea Kingdom in the north that had been established during the five dynasties and 10 kingdoms period over time the bureaucracy's quality worsened and worsened until the jurchens a northern ethnic group

from the keton on lands who had overthrown the Lea finally took advantage in 11:26 the jurin now taking the Chinese name of the Jinn Dynasty conquered the capital city of Kai Fong it was truly a shame for the northern Song Dynasty as the capital City had become a beautiful Cosmopolitan center before The Invasion the last Northern song emperor had been an avid art collector and Enthusiast and so as a result the city was full of gorgeous temples palaces and pagodas which are tower-like architectural structures typically associated with Buddhism in Southeast Asia the city was easy

pickings however for the Jin the song were very weak by the mid 12th century and the invading forces burned the Metropolis upon their arrival the North had been taken over by the Jin but were unable to seize control of the song Dynasty's Southern territories the southern Song Dynasty began in 1127 with lenan or modern-day hang Joe serving as the capital city despite their defeat in the north at the hands of the Gin the southern song era was very prosperous rice production boomed as farmers were granted the rights to their land which grew the Economy as

peasants could now sell and trade their surpluses to acquire other Goods the population exploded and many great inventions came about the printing press allowed for the mass production of paper money making the song the first government in the whole world to achieve this feat the magnetic compass was also created at this time which modernized navigation once again the Song Dynasty were also able to utilize gunpowder for weaponry and began launching bombs from Catapults and warfare this allowed the southern song troops to defeat the Jinn Dynasty and Naval forces even when they were wildly outnumbered by

a massive number of ships they were unfortunately still unable to take back the northern regions of China as the opposing forces were growing stronger and stronger and were able to replicate their inventions simply by kidnapping Tradesmen from Southern song and forcing them to recreate their weaponry and tools Considering their outmatched military the southern song Scholars rejected foreign influences and desired the preservation of traditional Chinese culture fearing that they could be wiped off the map during the wartime this fear is why Confucianism made a comeback during the dynasty as it was believed that the core principles

were crucial to China's development and future an increased Focus was placed on healthy communities and families which made for Very well-developed cities an excellent age of paintings and other art blossomed at this time with many Works focusing on the beauty of Village scenes and familial peace no philosophy or art however could save the song from their fate at the hands of one of the most famous men in human history genas Khan [Music] genis originally named timu Jin had been born in Mongolia in 1162 ad as a member of the beorin tribe and was a descendant

Of a former leader it is said that genis was born grasping a blood clot in his fist a sign in Mongol folklore that he was destined to lead life in gas's region was not easy by any means with constant Waring between tribes and difficult environments earning it the title of the Barbarian Wilderness in China genga spent his early years learning to hunt travel and ride horses and was said to be very disinterested in speaking with others at the age of nine His parents arranged genus's marriage with a girl named Berta from a neighboring tribe who

was 10 years old at the time such was common place with the Mongols with camps often containing Junior wives concubines and children women had a little to no agency in these decisions genus was to be transferred to berta's Camp after the marriage was set in stone so the pair could grow up together on the journey however rival tatars poisoned and killed genus's Father by offering food and drink for their travels leaving the young boy's family fatherless genas returned home after this as his family were abandoned by their tribe and had been left in a vulnerable

Outcast position without a patriarchal figure tensions Rose between genus and one of his Step Brothers better as both boys claimed to be their father's Heir better was the older of the two though Gus was the child of their father's chief Wife their rivalry came to a head when gas was 13 and better tried to take a fish that genus had caught for himself genus drew his bow and killed better marking the first kill of a man who would eventually have the deaths of roughly 40 million people attributed to to him by the time the hardened

genus was 15 he had become incredibly skilled in hunting and horsemanship he became the leader of his remaining Brothers which prompted the clan that had Initially expelled his family to take him as prisoner as they feared he would organize an attack against them he escaped during a feast and hid in the tent of a guard who had failed to raise the alarm as he made a run for it he took shelter in the tent for 3 Days threatening to tell the clan that the guard had helped him Escape in a very very clever move he

then used this card to acquire a horse from the guard and Gallop away into the night at 16 genus Returned to the encampment of berda to finally marry the girl after their last Arrangement had been foiled by his father's untimely death bto's father was over the moon at his return and gifted GIS a seil cloak to welcome him back GIS then regifted the cloak to togl the leader of a neighboring tribe to gain his Alliance wanting to regain the loyal y of the tribesmen who had abandoned his family genus first aimed to build a strong

following and that he did other Clans began making alliances with genas and before long he had amassed a relatively strong military force around this time genas and his wife had their first child a daughter named cojin soon after however things took a turn for the worst for genas a group of 300 merket Horsemen the merket being one of the five major tribal confederations of the land raided genus's encampment and kidnapped his wife berda genus swore to destroy the merket Invaders and in Preparation was able to put together an army of thousands of Warriors using his

alliances they struck back hard and a merciless attack on the merket and comprehensively destroyed the Invaders in a whirlwind of killing and pillaging genas discovered his wife who was now pregnant after being repeatedly abused by a merkit and returned her home to Camp she gave birth to their son Joi who would be followed for the rest of his life with questions about his true Biological father genus and Berta would have three more sons and four more daughters over the course of the next decade it was during this time that genas became exceedingly close with his

childhood friend and blood brother jamuka and United their Clans the two men spent an enormous amount of their time together be it during camping riding or other everyday activ AC ity supposedly they even slept under the same blanket eventually however tensions Arose and the two leaders left one another it is not entirely clear why this occurred though certain texts indicate that a jealous berda played a hand by spreading groomers and misinformation about jamuka unfortunately for jamuka many of his soldiers and leaders joined genus before long Gus was developing the largest and most powerful Mongol Clan

he was acclaimed by his followers as the con of the Mongols he proved to be a vicious Military leader and expanded his territory through murderous raids in which him and his men would pillage and burn settlements before taking their women this served as a form of psychological warfare as well with many men simply surrendering their camps without a fight to avoid the destruction that was becoming all too common in the surrounding areas while they were overwhelmingly successful in these campaigns and were gaining much of the Ground and men of Mongolia tensions were Rising with juka's

very much alive and very much resentful Army genus's former blood brother was quickly becoming his sworn enemy open conflict broke out in 1187 with the two sides clashing at the Battle of dilon bjut jamuka had assembled 30,000 soldiers and flanked genus's men from the north while they were evenly matched in size it was a decisive bloody victory for J Muka and his men and the disgruntled leader was Shockingly cruel in the aftermath he boiled 70 captured young men alive and humiliated the deceased bodies of the Rival leaders that were now siding with genus this cruelty

however did not serve jamuka well as many followers defected to gengas after witnessing his true vicious nature approximately 10,000 of his men joined his rival's side that day which forced the now outnumbered jamuka to move move his men back the victory however was Still undoubtedly his humiliated with such a brutal defeat genghiskhan put an increased focus on the discipline and training of his military and forged an unimaginably powerful killing machine even stronger than before the Jinn Dynasty struggling with constant attacks from a common enemy the tatars of the steps recruited the help of the Newfound

Mongol Force which worked incredibly well genus's Army crushed the enemy ttar and returned to their homeland of Mongolia after their Victory however upon their return jamuka forces looked to seize the opportunity and attack the unsuspecting Army the campaign was a complete failure for jamuka with his men being defeated after a series of three battles while jamuka was able to flee this conflict as well as successive efforts to capture him he was eventually taken prisoner by genis after being betrayed by his own men taking pity on his childhood friend genis offered him a Chance to live

and join his clan once again though jamuka refused and asked to be put to death some accounts state jamuka was executed honorably without spilling any blood and that he was suffocated to death in a carpet by the K's men While others claim he was violently dismembered what we know for certain however is that genus would face no more opposition from his blood brother turned mortal enemy genas had now taken control over a million people And was the sole ruler of the step after promptly subjugating the remaining smaller forces of Mongolia that was not nearly enough

however for the famed ruler he set his sights on the whole of China declaring that he was destined to take the land the north was still ruled by the Jin while the South was still ruled by the song though the first step for the Mongols was to conquer the Western sha which rested in the northwest of China directly between the Jin and song it was a Str strategic location to begin the major Conquest from and was an important trade route that connected China to the West in 1207 he launched his campaign and conquered the Western

Shaw with relative ease over the course of 2 years the small Dynasty had tried to enlist the help of the Jinn Dynasty while they were under attack though the Monarch Wan yongyong G of jyn denied the request stating that the Waring of two of their Rivals was very Advantageous for the Jin with yet another major victory genis was now able to fully focus on the jyn dynasty he attempted to send peace envoys over the wall to jyn though the rightfully suspicious Empire swiftly executed the assigned men in 1211 an enraged GIS and his Cavalry men

were able to breach the Great Wall of China and decimated the greatly outmatched encampments a great number of towns were lost and many Jin soldiers defected the genus's Army after Witnessing his usual ruthlessness by 1213 the Mongols had reached the capital of jangu which is modern-day Beijing and utilized catapults and Siege Towers to take the city after a year of Battle they plundered the northern regions of the Dynasty's land and continued taking great chunks of territory however in 1227 genghiskhan died after struggling with the fever for a little over a week the Legacy genghiskhan left

on Earth is Impossible to forget since his wartime tactics typically employed slaughtering every last person in a civilian population it is estimated that he and his armies killed as many as 40 million people more than Hitler and Stalin combined at his time of death he had fornicated with so many women along his campaigns that heathered hundreds of children with some estimates showing potentially 1 to 2,000 today 1 in 200 men are direct descendants of the Terrifying sex crazed leader the Mongols however did not slip out of power once their Fierce leader died genis was succeeded

by his third son ogon and they kept pushing forward in the 1230s the southern song joined forces with the Mongols to defeat the common enemy of the Jinn Dynasty not realizing that this move would eventually lead to their own collapse the Jin collapsed in 1234 and so began the Mongols next campaign against the southern song the invasion Of the song is split up into two stages the first stage lasted from 1235 to 1248 ad though it was not as severe as one might expect with the Mongols only gaining relatively small Northern pieces of song territory

it ended in something of a still mate with a ceasefire briefly halting The Invasion the second stage began in 1251 with the con elction of Mona a grandson of genuses he adopted a much more intense approach to the conquest of the Southern song and gained Significant ground not only in China but in Iraq and Syria as well this stage lasted until 1259 and though they hadn't destroyed the southern song Empire quite yet the tides turned when Mona appointed his brother Kublai khon recognizing Geographic advantages that the southern song held Kublai Kong employed a series of

innovative military strategies to adapt to Southern China's difficult terrains a significant achievement of the leader who would become con and 1264 After a power struggle was the development of a powerful navy force that allowed the Mongols unprecedented navigation of China's many waterways with the mix of both new and classic proven Siege techniques established by his lineage the Mongols were able to subdue the southern Song Dynasty in 1279 the Juan dynasty was the new dominant Empire making Kubla Khan the first non-native to rule over China as the result of a Civil War the Mongol Empire was

by this point divided into four conat the Yuan dynasty in China the golden hordes in the Northeast the ilate in the Southeast in Persia or Modern Day Iran and the chagatai kanate in Central Asia kubl khon said his Empire's capital is K bik which is now in Beijing China's current capital city just like insatiable predecessors the new great leader set his sights on further expansion Vietnam had slipped away from Chinese control with the decline of the Tong Dynasty and the Yuan aimed to take it back they also desired islands that belonged to modern-day Indonesia as

well as Japan in the East they were largely unsuccessful however with many battles ending in disastrous defeats they failed to take control of any of these regions it was clear that the Mongols needed to establish Lish a stronger governmental base and so KU Lon established a cast system Society with four tiers each ethnic group was ranked according to the Dates in which they were defeated the Mongols of course sat at the top of the list while other Central Asian peoples were the second highest most of the Empire's population belonged to the bottom two tiers with

the northern Chinese ranked third and the recently defeated Southern Chinese at the very bottom each class was given different rights with most of the real power residing at the top of the pyramid in the hands of the Mongols punishments for Crime had varying levels of severity based on your ethnic class and the ethnic Chinese were not allowed to own weapons dogs or Eagles just in case they may try to revolt against the empire despite the incredibly high levels of ethnic discrimination the Empire entered an age of prosperity trade increased as the Silk Road was stabilized

and heavily utilized cities bloomed and Buddhist leaders were employed as KH favor the religion kubl also restored the Grand Canal a Waterway Network that spans 2,000 km and links five incredibly important river basins of China two being the story diang SE and yellow Rivers the themed Venetian Merchant Marco Polo lived in China for 17 years during the period and wrote all of the incredible inventions and ways of life in the Yuan dynasties China upon his return to to Europe what particularly fascinated him was the use of paper money the use of coal as fuel silk

Production and the Intriguing sexual practices of the citizens under Mongol rule like all other dynasties and Golden Ages of days past however the Mongol Empire did not last forever low tax revenues corruption inept leadership and failed military campaigns all contributed to the downfall of the Yuan Dynasty following the death of kuon in 1294 however one of the most crippling factors was the plague epidemic of the 1330s there is plenty of mystery surrounding the exact cause of the Bubonic plague that would eventually ravage Europe killing a third of the continent in its wake but what we

do know is that it originated amongst Mongol soldiers in Crimea China was the first country to suffer at the hands of the black plague after it was contracted by the soldiers and spread rapidly over the course of a 4-year span from 1331 1 to 1334 13 million died and it spread to The rest of the modern world through the Silk Road Trading route by the time the second surge came to China in the 1350s the death toll only continued to grow though the exact figure is not known today it was through all this time that

a peasant Rebellion called the red turbin began to gain Traction in northern China ignited by a series of epidemics natural disasters famines coinciding with all this hardship the civilian founded resistance opposed the Rule of the invasive Mongols the red turbans were very skilled in battle under the leadership of former Buddhist monk ju Yuan Jong and were able to forcefully overthrow the Mongol Empire by 1368 although the Yuan had not even lasted a century at the helm of China their legacy was incredibly influential China was far more open to the Western World Trade had been improved

and the empire was unified once again with great Territorial gains to boot even today genas Khan and kuon remain as two of the most prominent figures of Chinese history despite their non-chinese [Music] ethnicity after the fleeing of the final Yuan emperor in 1368 ad Rebel leader ju Wong Jong proclaimed himself emperor of the Ming Dynasty which would last until 1644 ad Ming would become one of the most powerful empires in the world as Jong Jong widely known as the hung Wu Emperor Consolidated his power and amassed a standing army of over a million men a

military much larger than any European contemporaries were boasting when the new emperor came into Power he declared Nan Jing the capital city and a heavy emphasis was placed on the Revival of traditional Han culture neoc Confucianism returned as The prominent school of thought and the Arts blossomed in this newfound time of prosperity for the ethnic Chinese one of The most famous historical novels of all time Romance of the Three Kingdoms which focused on the unstable later years of the Han Dynasty was written during this time the Confucian civil service exams were brought back to ensure

politicians earned their roles with Merit and knowledge and Mongol related names and garments were banned across the Empire public service projects flourished at this time as well well a former peasant who himself suffered through intense Famines and natural disasters the Hong Wu Emperor established vast irrigation systems and dkes with the aim of helping to improve the lives and crop yields of farmers as a result the economy boomed trade routes were restored and expanded further and the population grew massively under Hong Wu's command that 10% of military personnel should be Gunners the Ming Dynasty heavily embraced

the use of gunpowder and devel veloped firearm prototypes and Cannon Batteries this Improvement allowed them to repel various invading forces such as the Mongol tribes in the north and maintain their status as one of the world's most powerful forces it truly was a time of great Innovation and transformation under the emperor's rule though there was a dark side to the Hong Wu Emperor he was incredibly paranoid about losing his grip on Power and enacted a strict legal code that introduced all kinds of brutal Executions to Chinese law these included lingchi or the death by a

Thousand Cuts where pieces of the body are slowly and gradually removed by a small knife as well as flaying where the skin is continuously removed in a torturous fashion massacres were carried out on those who opposed the emperor to ensure no rebellions or coups could form fearing not just insurrections from within but the Mongols in the north as well Hong Wu desired Ed stronger borders To protect the Empire this important sentiment would be passed on for Generations under the Ming particularly during the reign of the honger Emperor who ruled from 1487 to 1505 ad plenty

of resources went towards building and maintaining the Great Wall the construction under the Ming forms the most visible contemporary sections of the Great Wall today the desire for strengthened borders was not the only trade passed on by the Empire's first Ruler however through throughout the generations of Ming rulers were similarly power hungry and cruel the last emperor of the dynasty Chong Jun assumed the thrown at just 16 after his illiterate and possibly disabled brother the TN Emperor died in 1627 by the time he had taken office the Army was in a miserable state of disarray

the economy was in the gutter because of corruption greed and the self-preservation of Emperor's Powers Instead of a focus on building a greater Nation enemies at every turn were destroying the Empire and new rebellions aimed to overthrow the Ming in a series of resistances aptly named the late Ming peasant rebellions the Ming Dynasty had lost the Mandate of Heaven this era culminated in 1644 ad when the warlord Ley Chong and his men marched on Beijing prompting the Ming Emperor to hang himself Zing immediately named himself Emperor claiming that he had the Mandate Of Heaven [Music]

he was not the only one looking to take the crumbling Ming's power however the man Shu of Northeast Asia who had been steadily growing their power throughout the Ming Dynasty and attacking the Empire at every turn immediately claimed the throne and began the Ching Dynasty this began China's second non-native Dynasty preceded only by the Mongol empire under the reign of the tjer Emperor all Chinese men were forced to adopt the Manu Q hairstyle where hair on the top of the scalp is grown long and braided while the rest of the head is shaved bald cutting

your hair differently was seen as a sign of rebellion and the haircut would go on to become a cultural symbol of the Ching Dynasty it also ensured at this time that over half of all high-ranking government officials must be Manu to preserve their people's power in the Empire after the shunder emperor's death of small POA fox in 1661 the 61-year reign of the Kong XI Emperor began which would be the longest of any leader in Chinese history despite his leanings towards neoc Confucianism the emperor embraced multiculturalism and the presence of various religious identities in China

he went so far as to allow Jesuit missionaries to spread their beliefs Across the Nation propagating the spread of Roman Catholicism in China the main Feats of his rule ever were his many Grand Public Work projects the Grand Canal was repaired to make the transportation of food far easier and massive dredging projects protected Farmers from the flooding of the Yi River prior to his death in 1722 Kong XI constantly worked day and night to stay updated on the happenings of the Empire and plan further projects because of this as well as as many major successes

he is Generally recognized as one of the most competent and committed rulers in China history in the 18th century Commerce and the Arts continued to thrive and prosper under Kong xi's successive rulers Yong Jung who ruled from 1722 to 1735 and xen long who ruled from 1735 to 1796 their success however would not be continued as we moved into the [Music] 1800s the 19th century was truly an age of Adventure for the merchants and Travelers of the West financially burdened by their colonial failures in the Americas Great Britain began searching for other avenues of resource

extraction and financial gain this led to an increased interest in China who were now well known for their products such as silk tea and Porcelain the Chinese ruling class however was not so keen on the trade relationship desired by the British very much aware of the destabilization that could occur by Opening up their Empire to Great Imperial powers for the sake of trade the Ching Dynasty restricted trade with foreigners and regulated internal transactions as they saw fit they feared that an increased Reliance on foreign trade would weaken the central Authority as the people of China

could become as economically reliant on Western rulers as they were on their own they also did not want the Chinese culture to be eroded for the sake of Western profits Because of this the Ching had previously established the Canton system a set of rules and regulations to limit the economic influence of foreign Merchants foreigners were only allowed to trade through the ports of Canton and the regulations imposed on their trading were as follows one the Ching Dynasty restricted foreign trade during the winter months two foreigners visiting kanton were required to stay in designated areas dubbed

the foreign Factories and live under the supervision of a guild of Chinese Merchants known as the kohong three Chinese citizens cens were barred from borrowing capital or seeking employment from foreign Traders four Chinese citizens were not allowed to seek out trading or Market information from foreigners five foreign vessels arriving in Canton were required to Anchor at Wampa roads a designated Anchorage area Downstream from Canton and were subject to inspection from Chinese authorities European Merchants could not stand these restrictions as they inhibited their ability to trade freely and make profits after they had traveled all the

way China the rules were seen as far too strict and the result of this was a major spike in smuggling goods and piracy among foreigners despite this the European desire for Chinese Goods continued to increase tea alone accounted for 10% of the British government's revenue and They were not going to back down from the potential Gold Mine of Chinese trade so easily they needed leverage and they found it in the highly addictive narcotic that is opium the East India Company a British Trading Company had previously conquered regions of India and grew poppies for opium on

the land the chines desired opium for a number of medical social and recreational reasons making for a perfect tradeoff between the East India Company and the Chinese t For drugs the issue is that the Ching Dynasty recognized the Health and Social hazards of widespread opium use opium was illegal in China as was the important importation of it a major uncontrolled importation by foreign powers was especially illegal the Traders were not concerned with this however they set up shop along the borders and smuggled in copious amounts of opium for trade the number of opium addicts in

the country boomed the Economy was drained of its silver and the once impressive Chinese Trade Surplus was utterly destroyed the Del Guang Emperor was met with numerous proposals to legalize and tax the drug all of which he rejected it was clear he needed to act swiftly to prevent any further decay of the empire in 1839 he sent Chinese vicroy and political philosopher ly zaku with the task of completely halting the trade of opium initially zaku wrote a letter to Queen Victoria stating that she had a moral responsibility to pull Britain out of the opium trade

though the letter was never even read zaku was forced to resort to harsher punishments by late January he had organized a coastal defense in the province and begun arresting thousands of opium Traders and users by March approximately 2.4 million pounds of opium were seized and set on fire as a public display of the government's determination to completely Derail the trade and usage of opium in China British merchants were bankrupted by the ordeal and tensions between the British and Chinese continued to escalate Charles Elliott a British diplomat in China was doing a poor job of mediation

and things only got worse after two British Sailors murdered a Chinese villager and faced no repercussions from Elliott or the British government they refused to hand the men over to the Chinese authorities For execution which enraged zuku the Viceroy cut off the Food Supplies to the British merchants prompting the traders to retreat to Hong Kong on trips to retrieve supplies from the Chinese ports for the merchants a naval battle between British and Chinese ships erupted marking the start of the first Opium War the fighting continued with the Chinese suffering continuous major losses at the hands

of the Brits vastly Superior Naval forces in 1840 Lin zuku was dismissed by The emperor because of his continued failures in stopping the conflict's escalation and was replaced by the new acting vicroy chian Chan was tasked with negotiating a peace treaty with the British and reached a tentative agreement with Elliot in 1841 it was titled the convention of Chan and stated that the Ching Empire would pay the British 6 million and hand over Hong Kong in order for the war to end both Elliot and chishan were happy But there was a major issue chian had

not asked for approval from the Ching Imperial Court and agreed to the terms without any input from his superiors the emperor was Furious and had chishan arrested while Elliot superiors fired him from his role as they saw the deal to be insufficient many British soldiers and diplomats wanted the war to continue and did not want to let up so easily after the British continued to push further and further into China it became Increasingly clear to the Chinese that they could resist no longer thousands of Chinese soldiers had been killed in battle over the course of

the conflict which was astoundingly high compared to the British casualty count which was less than 100 in 1842 the treaty of Nan King was signed which included the following significant rulings one the Chinese government would pay 20 million pounds to Britain two the island of Hong Kong would be seed to the British three The kohong would be dissolved four five ports would be open for trade five British citizens were subject to British law in China not Chinese this marked the first of several treaties that would be dubbed the unequal treaties by the Chinese agreements that

humiliated and exploited the [Music] empire in the aftermath there was a major internal threat to the Ching Dynasty Brewing the first Opium War had Damaged the economy and banditry and Rebellion were on the rise one Rebellion the taiping Rebellion would mark one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of the world with somewhere between 20 to 30 million dying in the civil Civil War but where exactly did the taiping Rebellion come from years ago in 1814 a boy named Hong xuan was born in the huadu district of Guang Joo Hong was said to be incredibly

intelligent and dreamed of Academia from a young age However the Imperial examinations required to earn spots inmy and high-paying government jobs were incredibly difficult and competitive millions of applicants would take the tests and while Hong did exceedingly well on preliminary tests he was unable to seize a position after his first attempt on the exams he returned to a small village to become a school teacher and save up some money though he remained transfixed on his dreams of Academia and governmental work he continued to sink his money into returns to the city of Guang Joo for

the purpose of writing the exams though after his third failure Hong was driven into a mental breakdown his family believed he would die as Hong was was completely Delirious at this time Hong dreamed of heaven and discovered a Heavenly family Hong's Heavenly Father dawned a long golden beard and black dragon robe which were worn by the Emperors of China he Complained that the men under his Reign were worshiping demons instead of himself and gave Hong a sword to fight against the demons destroying the Heavenly realm Hong in his Heavenly brother led a spiritual Army that

vanquished the demons and saved Heaven Hong also reported seeing being confucious being punished by the heavenly father for leading the Chinese people astray the dream stuck with Hong who reportedly became far more careful Friendly and open after teaching for several more years Hong decided he would take the Imperial examinations and met the same fate he had the first three times after this final failure a cousin of Hong suggested that he reexamine a Christian pamphlet that he had been given by a missionary after feeling the exams years AO go for the second time when he was

22 after reading the material Hong decided that Christianity was directly connected with the fever Dreams he had suffered in his state of delirium during his mental breakdown the heavenly father must have been God and the brother he fought alongside with the spiritual Army must have been Jesus Christ Hong believed that he was the literal Son of God and a brother of Jesus he destroyed all the Buddhist and confucianist imagery in his home and began vehemently preaching Christianity he was eventually banned from teaching in his own village after toppling Various religious and philosophical monuments and Idols

that he did not believe aligned with his Christian faith in 1844 Hong and a handful of relatives schoolmates and followers left the country to preach the religious Doctrine across China after the group steadily grew Hong became the leader of a religious movement called the god worshipping society which attracted Ed thousands of converts many peasant followers adored the anti-government Rhetoric preached by the society as Hong believed that the demon infested Ching Dynasty needed to be destroyed Hong had created his own adaptation of the Bible called the authorized taiping version of the Bible and explained that the

religion had existed long ago but was wiped out by the evil confucious and the imperial system by 1850 Hong had tens of thousands of follow followers with modern size estimates ranging all the way to 30,000 members the Ching Dynasty Feared the steadily growing cult and decided to take action against it in the province of Guang XI many peasants who had suffered through famine and economic struggles were drawn to Hong's movement but were ordered not to join by Imperial troops any new converts were to be executed by January 1851 the god worshipping Society quickly militarized and

battled against 7,000 Ching soldiers it is said that the command of the cult was shockingly organized compared to Prior rebellions and after the Bloodshed of over a thousand men Hong soldiers emerged Victorious Hong then declared the founding of the Heavenly Kingdom of transcendent peace his movement that would hopefully topple the Ching Dynasty the movement marched from City to City to recruit members and it grew at an unprecedented rate both men and women in many major settlements were prepared to die for the cause in March of the Year 1853 one of Hong's forces which Consisted of

over 500,000 soldiers launched a Siege on the city of Nan Jing which was defended by somewhere between 40,000 to 80,000 Ching soldiers after 13 days of a ruthless battle including major bombings spy missions and major violent charges Hong soldiers or the taii Ping Rebellion took the city and declared it as their Capital City the movement's ruling was divided between Kings who all claimed they could communicate with God himself the most Notable of these was Yang xio Ching who served as king of the East he served as Hong's right-hand man and implemented reforms such as the

outlawing of opium and the social Equalization of both men and women the two genders were separated that is outside of Hong's Haram European Travelers observing the new Christian Kingdom in South China much of which was now under taiping control were astounded by how rigid the rules of the land were sex drinking gambling tobacco Prostitution and dancing were all outlawed and disobeying these rules resulted in the death penalty despite the distrust between the Ching Dynasty and Western Powers as a result of the Opium Wars the typing rebellion was not supported by Europe Hong had reached out

to the Western powers for assistance since they now shared a religion the United States viewed Hong and the Rebellion quite favorably and prepared to recognize their independence from the Ching though nothing solidified Britain France and the Americans eventually supported the Ching for a handful of reasons and came to see the taiping Rebellion as a diametrically oppositional Force rather than brothers in Christ the British wanted their payments that were outlawed in the treaty signed during the Opium Wars which the Ty peasant Rebellion obviously would not be paying furthermore Hong's claims of being directly related to God

And Jesus were seen as disrespectful by many Europeans and they distrusted the leader's agenda given how much violence and death occurred with each move of the taiping a particularly disturbing example of this violence occurred in 1856 in an event called the Tian Jing incident y xio Ching overstepped his political bounds when he began claiming that he was the true vessel for God's word he had been gaining traction as a leader in his own right and wanted to Seize power over the kingdom and had amassed thousands of followers himself he continuously pretended to be possessed by

the heavenly father and accused Hong of being an impostor considering such rhetoric to be treasonous Hong did not take kindly to yong's actions and dispatch the King of the West as well as a handful of generals to exterminate the king of the East and as well as all of his followers and relatives they stormed yong's Palace And killed him then slaughtered all of his family members before moving on to his followers many were tricked into entering the palace and were systematically executed over the course of 3 months Hong's men would kill 27,000 civilians in the

mass executions the cult was becoming increasingly more dangerous under Hong's tyrannical Rule and reports of indiscriminate slaughterings of civilian I with each new land they took became more and more Common however the Ching Dynasty's attention needed to be divided between the tying rebellion and the Western European powers a second Opium War was on the way despite the overwhelming victory of the first Opium War Western Powers such as the British government France and the United States were still not satisfied with their earnings in China they wanted opium to be wholly legalized in China and were not

content with the results of The treaty of Nan King and other treaty signed in later years the British were looking for an excuse to extend their trading rights and reinvade China and in October of 1856 the opportunity came the Chinese crew of a British registered ship called the arrow were arrested by Chinese officials in Canton on suspicion of being Pirates the captain of the ship a Brit by the name of Thomas Kennedy was aboard a nearby ship at the time and reported that he saw the British flag Being lowered by the Chinese Marines during the

ordeal Furious British diplomats demanded that an apology be issued immediately and that the 12 arrested crew members be released much to their surprise the new Viceroy Ying Chen only released nine of the 12 refusing to let the other three go within the month a bombardment of Kenton by the British began with the powerful Army firing a shot at the poorly protected City in their efforts to fight Back the Chinese attacked American ships which Drew yet another powerful nation in on the fight against the Ching yaming Chen offered a bounty for every British head taken but

it was of little use after blasting holes in the flimsy City walls skirmishes broke out between the Western and Chinese troops as the attackers entered Canton the American flag was planted on the residence of yaming Chen by the US conso as a symbol of their dominance after negotiations to Cease fighting failed the British struck even harder with over 20 Chinese ships being destroyed in November though the United States and Russia were both disinterested in formal alliances with the British against the Chinese the French joined their fight against China in late 1857 their official excuse for

joining or CES belli was the Chinese execution of a French missionary August shapen who was accused accused of plotting Insurrection in a region Foreigners were not supposed to be in he refused to pay a bribe to the arresting officials and as a result was sentenced to death the missionary had been beaten 100 times on the cheek causing his teeth to be knocked out his jaw was completely lacerated by this and his face was destroyed he was then placed in a tiny iron cage which hung at the Gate of the jail his death was by Suffocation

as the Chinese removed the wooden planks he stood on one by one which strained the Muscles of his neck until he died Chinese children hurled stones at chopped a lens's decapitated head until it toppled to the ground and was eaten by stray dogs on January 1st 1858 the combined British and French forces cruised a victory after a joint attack on Canton and captured yaming Chen as their prisoner the Western power suffered only 15 casualties while somewhere between 200 to 650 of the Hem in militarily inferior Chinese were Killed in action Vice Roy yaming Chen was

exiled to India where he starved himself to death utterly humiliated the Chinese were forced to negotiate once again an alliance was formed at this time between Great Britain France the United States and Russia so each respective Global power benefited greatly from their New Deal the Treaty of tan Jin the new treaty stated that one all four countries had the right to establish embassies in Beijing which was Close to foreigners at the time two more Chinese ports would be opened for foreign trade three free travel would be established along the Yi River for All Foreign ships

four free travel in mainland China would be established as a right for foreigners five China would pay millions of towels of silver to both Britain and France shortly after this disastrous treaty for the Chinese was agreed to ministers urge the San Fung Emperor to resist against the Western Power once again the emperor decided he was going to deny the four Count's ability to set up foreign legations in Beijing and the alliance caught wind of this once again the war was on three battles were fought at the taku forts the battles were fought there as the

forts were in a strategic position that allowed access to Beijing after split losses and hundreds of deaths scattered amongst both sides the Western forces eventually emerged Victorious once again They pushed into Beijing with the British troops Burning Down The Cen Fung Emperor's Summer Palace when they arrived at the city the old Palace is said to have burnt for 3 days and three nights the Ching Army was rendered useless by this point so the emperor fled the capital leaving his brother Prince Gong behind to negotiate peace with Britain and France a new treaty was reached in

1860 which amongst other concessions such as major payments to The Western powers and freedom of religion for Christians contained the finnel blow for the Chinese Empire the legalization of opium the massive defeats in the two successive Opium Wars marked the beginning of the end for the Ching Dynasty the era is known today as the century of humiliation the days of being cut off from the Western World were long gone and a stretch of great instability was about to [Music] Begin all this time Hong in the iing Rebellion had not yet subsided more cities had been

taken over the course of the second Opium War while the ching were thinly stretched fighting against vastly Superior Powers it was around this time that the Ching rulers sided with regional Warlords or the new armies that oppose the expanding taiping Kingdom Western countries also began to oppose the taiping as the cult had begun attacking regions with important trading Ports for foreigners the Brits and Americans applied the struggling ching with weaponry and training and thus a fresh and prepared Ching Army was able to launch a major offensive against the taing the Ching adopted The Vicious and

Savage military techniques of the taiping Rebellion burning entire towns to the ground and executing civilians in Mass famine and plagues began as each side destroyed an unfathomable amount of crops and settlements hundreds of cities Were entirely destroyed their citizens murdered some taiping citizens and besieged cities resorted to cannibalism and selling human flesh because the famines were so bad the taing were pushed further and further back losing much of their land in southern China until only the capital of Nan Jing remained the Ching had the taiping kingdom completely surrounded and many began to starve within the

city limits as the Ching forces ruined the supply Lines it was simply a matter of time before they were completely defeated so Hong's officials urged him to EV Evacuate the city to regroup and establish a new plan to fight against the renewed Ching forces however Hong truly believed the taiping had got on their side and that they could not be defeated so long as they were his chosen people after the city continued to deteriorate multiple pushpull battles with his increasingly desperate advisers Finally convinced Hong to leave the palace Hong addressed his followers and stated that

they would survive off of Mana that God would send from heav heav Mana was an edible substance in the Bible that God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert and Hong believed the Divinity would offer the same substance and abundance for him and his followers they began ingesting weeds believing them to be Mana resulting in Hong's death of Food poisoning in June of 1864 the Ching Army finally marched into the city of Nan Jing and killed all the remaining taiping leaders though they were not finished there many of Hong's follow followers were

executed in house by- housee massacres at the hands of the Ching while thousands of others resorted to burning themselves in Mass suicides on July 30th of the same year the Ching forces located hong shu Chan's body and removed it from its buo place wanting to Punish the crazed leader for eternity and ensure that his body would never have a final resting place they cut off his head and cremated the remains Hong's ashes were then blasted out of a cannon so that they would be dispersed without any organization after tens of millions of death most of

which were due to plague and famine the war had been definitively won by the Ching Dynasty and they believed once again that they could hold on to their power in China This belief however was [Applause] misguided corruption ran rampant in the unstable years following the Opium Wars and that Ching Dynasty lacked strong central leadership to the east of China grew an increasingly modernized Japan who was grappling with the effects of Western intrusions far better than the Ching under Emperor miji Japan was expanding their territory with a rapidly Strengthening military and set their sights on Korea

even though the nation had been under China's grasp for centuries in 1875 Korea was forced to sign a treaty that opened up their ports to foreigners with with a heavy focus on Japanese trade this effectively depleted the Chinese of their power in the region as the Koreans were forced to declare their Foreign Relations as independent from the Ching both the ching and the Japanese stationed troops in Korea though there was no direct conflict both sides forces were momentarily pulled after a series of treaties the peace however did not last for very long tensions continue to

rise over the next two decades with troops moving about until the two empires reached a boiling point in 1894 a series of coups and assassinations in Korea broke the convention that initially held the peace And on August 1st war was officially declared between the Ching Empire and the Empire of Japan though the Chinese had four times as many troops as the Japanese they were not as well prepared once again the Japanese empire had done a much better job of modernizing and their troops were far more capable the Chinese had by this point purchased plenty of

modern military equipment though they were poorly trained and disorganized the Japanese pushed the Chinese back time and time again in a series of devastating losses for the Ching troops the Navy nor the foot soldiers were any match for the Japanese by the early spring of 1895 the Japanese had successfully invaded both Manchuria as well as the province of of Shandong the Chinese were defeated and the Treaty of shim eki was signed on April 17th it stated that China must seeed Taiwan recognize the independence of Korea and pay a massive sum of tals To Japan just

like that the Ching Dynasty had suffered yet another major defeat that tacked onto the century of humiliation in the aftermath of the Opium Wars the taiping Rebellion the first Sino Japanese war and lastly the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 a violent anti-foreigner movement run by a secret society the Ching dynasty was in a complete state of disarray other rebellions broke out across the Empire as many people had lost faith in the Ching Dynasty's ability to maintain China's power in a rapidly industrializing modern world in 1910 there were 285 rebellions in the calendar year alone however most

were spearheaded by peasants who had little Direction in terms of what exactly the new China should look like one movement stood out from the rest of the pack the Revolutionary Alliance Dr sunet sen a former physician turned revolutionary had founded the group and amassed 10,000 Followers by the year 1911 many of which were well educated and had studied abroad they aimed to radicalize Ching soldiers to fight against the dynasty and successfully continued to grow in the shadows the Revolutionary Alliance spread their roric through fake book clubs and other such harmless things and would simply dissolve

the groups if the authorities investigated many soldiers across China Were radicalized and ready to turn against the Ching on October 11th 1911 the first attack was launched turned members of the new Army stationed in wuang attacked a viceroy's place of residence and took command of the city after he fled 500 Manu soldiers were killed in the process and another 300 were captured the Ammunition Depot and mint were now under control of the Mutiny and so a military government was formed however the rebels did not yet Have Central leadership as Dr sunet sen was not even

in China at the time he was making the rounds in the west lobbying for American British and French support and funds and requesting that they stop assisting the Ching Dynasty financially after securing the leadership of a high ranking officer named Lee Yuan Hong the mutineers conquest continued two more cities were taken and the threat that they would take the whole Hub Province was becoming very real the Ching needed To respond fast and urged a retired vicroy by the name of Yuan shakai to take control of the situation and stop the Rebellion while he pondered whether

whether or not he should accept the Rebellion grew and grew Shing political figures and their families were massacred their army supply lines were blocked and the Rebellion gained more and more land after Lee Yuan Hong finally accepted he was appointed as prime minister on the 1st of November 1911 and began negotiations with the revolutionaries shortly after sonat sen the founder of the Revolutionary Alliance returned from his diplomatic travels and was elected the president of the provisional Republican government the center of Yen's newly declared Republic of China was based in the city of Nan Jing which

they had recently captured the Ching Dynasty were all but defeated their plan was a classic example of too little too late and as a Result the royal family and Emperor abdicated the throne in early 1912 this major change was not like the power struggles between rivaling families and Warlords of days gone by with the Ching's dynasties usurping by the Republic of China the dynastic cycle of China ended thousands of years of dynasties had come to a close as China moved in a New Direction in the Modern Age Dr sunet sen handed the presidency of the

Republic over to Yuan shakai as Part of their prior negotiations that included that Yuan would seize the title of the newly established Reign should he convince the Emperor of Ching to abdicate sunen had no problem with this deal so long as it meant that the Ching Dynasty would end unfortunately just a few short years later in late 1915 the politically ambitious Yuan shakai decided that he wanted more than just the presidency he wanted to be an emperor he declared himself as the Emperor of China a decision that displeased many the people did not want want

more of the same and yet another Emperor would be exactly that he was almost immediately abdicated being removed from power in March of 1916 though before that could happen he died just 3 months later in June and left behind an unstable Republic without a Consolidated central government all because of his selfish desire to restore the monarchy and Rule as an emperor what Ensued was a period known as the warlord era which lasted from 1916 all the way until 1928 because so many political forces and Regional Warlords refused to follow Yan shakai China was severely fragmented

one look at a map of all the divided militaries demonstrates the governmental disaster that had been brought on by the Republic's first president the future held great uncertainty though some men still held on to hope one of those men Was the arch revolutionary s yaten he established a new re evolutionary government in the south of China with the aim of reestablishing a Consolidated power under the Republic of China his new movement was now called the Quan Tong or kmt for short and aimed to consolidate power under the Republic of China another major future political power

was brewing in China during this period as well the May 4th movement a patriotic intellectual and political Revolutionary movement that lasted from 1917 to 1921 had led to an increase in Marxist ideologies and the creation of the Chinese Communist party or simply the CCP though these two parties formed an alliance in 1922 with both sides aiming to end the regionalism plaguing the nation they would go on to fight against each other just a small handful of years in the bloody Chinese civil war after sunet Sen's untimely death of cancer in 1925 a power vacuum was

Created within this new movement and every man for himself contest ensued to Seas control occurred and resulted in general and Rising political power to Jing kayek taking the Reigns The General aimed to unify the fragmented fractions of the warlord era and consolidate power and wanted to tame the rising Communist party as well believing them to be a threat to the government's future because of their associations with peasant rebellions after the kmt was Successful in beating back the war Warlords and re claiming major cities across China the CCP no longer served an immediate purpose to them

instead they stood in the way of Jen KK's kmt and Consolidated unified China after uncovering a plot to overthrow him kek began violently suppressing communist organizers a famous example of this was the Shanghai massacre in which thousands of Communists leftists and Shanghai labor union militia members were Pur Ed In the name of securing China's future when the struggling CCP was trying to plot a course of action in the aftermath of the massacre leaders Lee Lon and Mao zong held differing opinions on the future of Communism in China Lee advocated for staying put in metropolitan areas

and refused the idea of retreat while ma felt that a focus on the rural peasantry was the true soul of Communism and that they should regroup to establish themselves as a formidable Force against the kmt mau's plan prevailed and in the coming years he was able to piece together his revolution in the remote regions of China where the far more powerful kmt did not have full control this conflict however was not simply a Chinese problem the USSR supported Lee and Mao in this endeavor as they too were attempting to build a global Empire of communist

Nations it was at this time in the 1930s as well that the imperialist driven Japanese Began moving into mainland China to expand their influence the invasion of Manchuria in the northeast of China marked a new age of Japanese imperialism in China and would steadily swell until exploding into a full-fledged official War a few years later that war had not yet begun however and the result of the invasion of Manchuria was that the Nationalist kmt needed to divide their attention between the civil war with the CCP as well as the now threatening Japan And temporarily seized

their military campaign against the Communists they launched their fourth encirclement campaign to annihilate the remaining CCP members in 1932 though the Red Army was able to tactically retreat and avoid extermination after the first few battles Japan continued to push inward in the Northeast which stretched the kmt's Manpower and resources thin allowing the Guerilla Communists to gain ground against their vulnerable Opponents Mau was not ashamed of his numerous tactical Retreats but incredibly proud of his Red Army and their Guerilla tactics stating that the gorilla versus standing army Dynamic was a necessary one between the oppressed and

the oppressor he recognized that they were an inferior force in terms of sheer strength and would need to adopt a hidden run mentality to fight against the kmt he put a heavy emphasis on maintaining the good favor of the Civilian population as well as such is necessary to to grow in a revolution against powerful government forces such as the nationalists in 1934 after signing a treaty with the Japanese that allowed for full focus on the Communists though relations with Germany were not ideal for China given the European Count's racial arrogance they accepted the help of

a Nazi General named Hans Fonz Hans enacted massive encirclements and a scorched Earth policy against the Communists a strategy that includes destroying everything that allows the enemy to wage war such as crops and other resources he believed that this would draw the weakened CCP out into the open where they could be swiftly defeated without the ability to Ambush or surprise the kmt it worked with the Communists suffering major defeats at the hands of the strengthened nationalists who would put together their largest army yet for this Operation this spurred a major tactical Retreat known as the

Long March which would cover 10,000 km over the course of 13 months with the ccp's goal being to reestablish their base in Northwestern China instead of the southeast 990,000 soldiers and 20,000 civilians began the Trek in September of 1934 and were subjected to 15 major battles constant skirmishes starvation disease and harsh weather along the way it was truly a brutal period with 90% of Ma's forces not not living to see the end of the journey this non-stop suffering did not phase the communist leader however in October 1935 Mao and the remaining 10% of his company

arrived in the Northeast province of Shan XI and United with local Communist forces working out of there more of the peasantry and neighboring areas were recruited as the CCP treated them exceedingly well and plans began to continue the war against The kmt however in 1937 hostilities ceased between the two parties Japan was increasingly dangerous to the future of China's existence forcing the kmt and the CCP to form a second united front against them Jing kek did not want to accept this piece though his hand was forced after he was seized by his own generals who

believed the Japanese threat to be larger than the Communist one the second Sino ja Japanese War Began in July 1937 and would last until the end of World War II in September 1945 it would be the sign of some of the most disturbing battles and massacres not only in Chinese history but in that of the entire world the Japanese already had one foot ahead of the Chinese because of the favorable terms that had been outlined in their previous ceasefire agreement they controlled regions of China that the kmt were not Allowed to militarize in and already

had troops group stationed within her borders after taking Beijing and Shanghai by November of 1937 the Japanese set their sights on the kmt's capital of Nan Jing this resulted in the slaughter of over 200,000 Chinese and a massacre widely known as the rape of Nan Jing in December of the same year Japanese troops had begun making their way to the capital city by this time Jen kek had already pulled all official Army Members out of naning as he did not want to suffer a major loss of troops this left the city utterly hopeless in the

face of the Imperial Japanese military defended only by mostly untrained auxiliary troops that served as support Personnel to the kmt Army during the Japanese soldiers March to the city the N Jing safety zone had been prepared in the Heart of the City many westerners including missionaries and businessmen were residing in the city at the time And set up a series of demilitarized refugee camps for the citizens that had not fled the city this move would end up saving the lives of 250,000 people on December 13th the Japanese arrived and faced little military resistance they began

executing Chinese prisoners of war and started forming Mass Graves homes were ransacked buildings were burnt and destroyed and the soldiers began separating families of the terrified citizens some of the Japanese men engaged in Kill contests where they would race to see who could be the first to execute 100 victims using only a sword prisoners were used as target practice young children were promptly executed while their mothers viciously raped and then killed by Japanese troops unarmed boys were beheaded in indiscriminate Slaughter whenever spotted by the Japanese troops young girls were dragged into the street to be

abused the naning massacre is Among the worst atrocities in human history and is an eternal stain on the history of East Asia it is estimated that 200,000 civilians were massacred with 20,000 to 880,000 after the Japanese decimation of Nan Jing the deao Chinese Capital became Wuhan which acted as the site for the aptly named Battle of Wuhan which lasted for 4 months in 1938 hundreds of thousands died as both sides suffered unimaginably High casualties though it Resulted in another Japanese Victory the heavy losses weakened the Imperial Army who were also now struggling with military financing

when they pushed into communist Army territory in the following period a Japanese retreat was forced by Guerilla Fighters the tides of War were shifting with the Allied Chinese slowing down the Imperial Japanese Army's advances until something of a stalemate was reached and major large pitched battles became less common The gorilla tactics had proved highly effective and allowed for the preservation of the Chinese military in the face of their invas ERS they held out until the end of World War II and lived to see Japan's major defeat at the hands of the Allied United States with

the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in September of 1945 the Japanese formally surrendered in China with the end of the war China was recognized as one of the big four allies Alongside the United Kingdom the Soviet Union and the United States and regained all the territory that the Japanese had taken the final days of World War II did not see the fighting stop in China however the Civil War resumed and a battle for the remaining resources and major metropolitan areas commenced between the kmt and the CCP the United States tried to mediate the conflict

but failed the resumed Civil War lasted from 1945 to 1949 and resulted in maidong and His hardened Red Army taking control over China once and for all having been able to Garner far more report in the kmt and rural areas zidong was able to capture the resourcer centers of the country using his people's Liberation Army the armed wing of the CCP it was truly a decisive Victory with the strength of the two armies essentially being reversed from what they had been in the first part of the Civil [Music] War the People's Republic of China was

established by the CCP on October 1st 19 1949 a 55-year-old MAO zong now leading the country was initially seen very favorably by the people of China as he had once again reunited China and seemed to be a man of the people ma was able to reduce class inequality in his first years in office by implementing major reforms that redistributed land amongst the peasantry over 1 million landlords were executed during this time known as The Land Reform movement as ma desire to destroy the remaining fragments of feudal and capitalist Societies in China he also desired the

modernization and industrialization of China and attempted to do so in the 1958 social and economic campaign called the Great Leap Forward which would result in the execution and famine related deaths of somewhere between 30 and 45 million Chinese citizens the reforms focused on collectivization and communal farming Was introduced as nobody was allowed to own private property the monopolization of Agriculture allowed for the government to cheaply acquire grain during this time backyard furnaces were implemented within each commune to encourage steel production though nobody was trained particularly well on how exactly to work with them people were

forced to hurl their possessions into the furnaces to increase steel production and larger factories began to Pop up as well many were pulled from their initial jobs and schooling to work in these factories but it was no use at every Avenue the steel production was predictably an immense failure that produced consistently poor quality and often times unusable results and simply diverted important Manpower and resources away from essential Industries such as food production by 1959 the great Chinese famine began as a result Of these policy failures as well as natural weather disasters that ruined the green

reserves of the communities reports of the consumption of household pets and even cannibalism became increasingly common at this time the famines caused by the Great Leap Forward had killed tens of millions of Chinese citizens forcing Ma's resignation as state chairman he was succeeded by Leu xiaoi though Mao had not truly given up his power in any real sense it was Merely a temporary retreat in July of 1966 Mau took a symbolic dip in the yangi River to demonstrate his good health and capable mind following rumors that his old age had taken a toll on him

he became the state chairman once again and began his second period of reforms the cultural revolution the movement aimed to once again destroy all remnants of capitalist sentiment in Chinese society and secure maest power at the helm of China it did so by launching a Radical campaign against the Boris infiltrators he proed perceived to be negatively affecting the country ma mobilized a student-led Youth Organization named the red guards encouraging them to put down any anti-mist sentiment the Red Guard soldiers worshiped Mao like a God and would do whatever was asked of them this spurred the

red August a series of massacres that would result in the deaths of 10,000 people 27 Educators Were murdered by their own students during this time for opposing the Chairman's policy while countless other intellectuals and elderly citizens were tortured the police were banned from interfering with the violence as ma continued to encourage the slaughter and torture of those who opposed him temples scriptures and historical sites were destroyed by Red guards in the name of producing a new reformed China the country fell into Anarchy when the Revolutionaries began dividing up into factions prompting ma to restore order

with the use of the official military in 19 68 he turned on the red guards as they had served their purpose in destroying his enemies and banished many to the countryside where they would be less of a danger to society by the time the cultural revolution had ended somewhere between 500,000 to 2 million had perished by the time Mao died in 1976 he had approximately 40 million to 80 million deaths of starvation overwork and mass execution attributed to his name Mau was succeeded by D Shao ping who would openly criticize Mae policies in coming years

and lean towards a slightly more open China with a market driven economy China's trade and economy were greatly strengthened and the GDP would increase tfold because of his Reign there were however still turbulent times [Music] Ahead in the spring of 1989 there was a major call for political and economic reform form of China's communist leadership among University students there was an increasing sentiment that communism was on the decline and a Tipping Point was reached when hu Yao bong former chairman and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party died on April 15th 1989 at the age

of 73 who was well- liked by the population and was seen as a Beacon of Hope in a Political landscape of corruption and nepotism an enemy of many party Elders who was an advocate for more liberal economic policies and less restrictions on Free Speech whose death turned him into something of an emblem for liberalization amongst the students his funeral proceedings commenced on April 22nd and public Gatherings were arranged to honor him in numerous Chinese cities these gatherings began to serve as demonstrations to protest the country's Lack of democracy the largest of these demonstrations was in

tanaman square in the heart of Beijing and it only continued to grow after clashes with police spurred more and more angered students to join in protest the students desired dialogue with the government and drafted seven demands for the ruling [Music] class the pleas were as follows one affirm who ya bong's views on democracy and freedom as correct two admit that The campaigns against spiritual pollution and bouro liberalization had been wrong three publish information on the income of State leaders and their family members four allow privately run newspapers and stop press censorship five increase funding for

education and raise intellectuals pay six end restrictions on demonstrations in Beijing seven provide objective coverage of students in official media when the students attempted to bring their Demands to a committee of the Communist Party the police shut them down once again though they continued to for their cause strikes started at the country's universities and the government began taking a harsher stance on the protests fearing Anarchy they accused the students of plotting civil unrest which only led to Greater anger on both sides 100,000 students and workers took to tonan square to protest following this decision demanding

that the government Retract their declaration many took to hunger striking which garnered more support for their cause speeches from the government in the Square were unsuccessful the students would not let up the students have certain requirements which must be met otherwise they won't leave the square after multiple debates and plenty of inner turmoil within the government on how to handle the situation many officials were fired in the last 2 weeks of May martial Law was declared and the military was ordered into Beijing but the troops were blocked by Beijing citizens who flooded the streets in

massive droves some art students among the protesters built and erected a massive papier-mâché statue called the goddess of democracy which became a symbol of their Defiance against the Communist Party many Western journalists were stationed in the Square broadcasting the events to the rest of the world just like the government However the students were becoming increasingly hectic and entered a state of disarray the square was incredibly overcrowded and the protesters centralized leadership students began breaking up into factions and accusing each other of having ulterior motives such as becoming famous from the protests or even secretly conspiring

with the government it was a perfect storm of chaos it was at this time that all hell broke loose by the dawn of June The government reached a Breaking Point and on the third of the month the people's Liberation Army was ordered into Beijing the government issued an emergency broadcast demanding citizens to stay out of tianan square but the protesters did not listen some students created their own broadcasts and called for the city's inhabitants to arm themselves and head to the square to fight against the government when the troops arrived in Beijing protesters Began lighting

buses on fire to try to block the Army's path prompting the troops to open fire with their assault rifles many were killed while others were ruthlessly beaten by gangs of troops in the streets some soldiers were caught by Rock in Molotov cocktail wielding protesters and beaten to death after being dragged outside of their vehicles the tanks marched forward crushing those who stood in their way because of the government's Crackdown on Any remembrance or recognition of the tanman Square massacre it is still unknown just how many were killed in the chaotic clashes journalists were prevented from

reporting on the events so little footage remains even though there is no official death toll estimates ranged between several hundred to 10,000 by the morning of June 5th the troops had seized complete control of tanaman square and cleared the area of protesters there was however one Infamous lone protester known as tankman who continued his resistance that day an American photographer named Jeff Weider captured images of a solitary unarmed protester confronting a line of Tanks a photograph of tinman got Weider nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and the imagery has since been adopted globally as a symbol

of resistance in the face of Oppression and tyranny following the government's control of the square all governmental and state media employees Who expressed sympathetic attitudes towards the students lost their jobs with some being placed on house arrest some known protesters were executed after the fact While others were handed long prison sentences being a democratic country that mostly sympathized with the anti-communist protests the United States issued both diplomatic and economic sanctions on China and the Western world's opinion on the country greatly soured the country's economic State was significantly weakened by the sudden lack of trade a

period of great changes was occurring around the remaining communist World during this time and in 1991 one the Soviet Union collapsed leaving China as the only major communist state on Earth despite This Global isolation as well as the fiscal hit taken following the tion andman incident China was able to recover financially throughout the 1990s after sanctions were gradually Lifted as a more mixed economy of capitalism and socialism began to take shape insular foreign policies were reversed and the open for trade country continued operating under the the Mantra of the now retired dong Xiao Ping's famed

Mantra to get rich is glorious we are getting closer to the modern day which brings us to the most important figure of contemporary China XI jingping but who exactly is xiin Ping and where did he come From on the 15th of June 1953 Xi Jinping was born in Beijing his father XI Jong Chun was a former member of the Red Army and had been comrades in arms with MAO adong during the Chinese Civil War he served as a high-ranking official within the Communist party and though would eventually fall out of favor with the Chinese government

after openly critiquing their handling of the ton andman Square protests he was able to hold a position until his retirement in 1993 Chi Jin Ping's mother Chien was a like-minded communist who had worked with the government as a consultant in the Comm IST party state run schools after his graduation from Singa University's chemical engineering program in Beijing Jean Ping's political career began in 1972 he started out working as a secretary for Gung b a senior official in the government and a former subordinate of his fathers after 3 years Under Gung she began working as a

deputy secretary for the CCP in the province of Hab a position that includes working with policy implementation and party organization he did an exceptional job and continued to climb the governmental ladder throughout the 80s and90s marrying famed folk singer pong liuan along the way by 1999 he had achieved the role of the fujan province's acting Governor this meant that he had boosted administrative control and a larger hand In infrastructure development though his career did not slow down with this major achievement 8 years later after another series of promotions inner turmoil and controversy surrounding a major

Social Security fund corruption Scandal opened up many opportunities within the government having successfully avoided any controversy himself she seized this chance to move on up in October of 2017 the blooming politician was appointed to the nine-man poit bureau standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party the committee consists of the government's top leadership and when she was ranked above Lea Chiang a fellow Rising political star and Contender for the succession of President hu jino it became quite clear that he would be the nation's next leader he was elected vice president in the spring of 2008 and

saw a number of major projects such as the Summer Olympics in Beijing which took place later that same year he also Became the leading figure in the issue of affairs with Hong Kong in later years he would become locked into a rivalry with Bo shilai who was also seen as a top contender but a major political Scandal paved the way for she's leadership the Wong Le Jun incident began when Neil Haywood a British businessman was found dead in his Chongqing hotel room in 2011 Heywood had business dealings with Bo and his spouse guushii for over

a decade the death was Initially ruled as an alcohol poisoning caused by excessive consumption however just a few short months later the Municipal Police Chief Wong Lee Jun sought Asylum at the United States Chinese Consulate and claimed that goo had poisoned Hayward which was what truly killed the Brit rather than alcohol consumption after a thorough murder investigation the murderous truth was revealed as goo had indeed decided to kill Neil during a mental breakdown Over blackmail and demands of $22 million over a failed real estate venture goo was handed a suspended death sentence though it was

eventually commuted to a life sentence in late 2015 while ala Chang's political career was utterly decimated and he was purged of his role in the CCP as a result of him and his second wife's misconduct this Scandal paved the way for XI jinping's unopposed rise to power so its effects on the modern world cannot be Understated on March 14th 2013 she was elected president by the national people's Congress and quickly enacted a series of measures to fortify the Communist party's grip on Chinese Society anti-corruption campaigns were launched to weed out political Rivals and his power

was centralized a campaign for ideological control was also set in motion after his election internet and media censorship were heightened to ensure no content deemed as oppositional To the ccp's ideals could be consumed in China and surveillance on civilians greatly increased China possesses 700 million surveillance cameras roughly one for every two citizens furthermore the social credit system was introduced as a means of keeping the population in check the social credit score essentially rates the country's individual citizens on how well they are performing in life and how aligned they are with the ccp's ideals Financial standing

criminal History and other such factors all affect one's social credit score by 2018 presidential term limits were completely abolished shei was recently awarded his third third 5-year term and with such tightly Consolidated power he is now on track to remain in power for the rest of his life or at least as long as he [Music] desires under Shin Ping's Stern authoritarian leadership China has maintained its role as an Unstoppable Economic Force they continue to industrialize at a rapid pace and lead the world in the manufacturing sector the population has now soared to 1.4 billion surpassed

only marginally in 2023 by India and the influence of the country only continues to grow tensions are currently rising with XI jinping's potential aims to invade Taiwan and the tightening of his governmental power over Hong Kong many African countries that China is heavily invested in are Feeling an increase in Chinese intervention as well in a process that many are labeling as neoc Colonial IST many westerners Fear The Diplomatic and Global implications of this aim for expansion as the looming threat of the Chinese military becomes more threatening by the day they have flourished into the world's

second most powerful Army behind just the United States and possess the largest navy on Earth Mandarin Chinese spoken by nearly A billion people worldwide is often called the language of the future as China continues to solidify its place is a key player in the new era of globalization however nobody truly knows what the next great nation of Tomorrow will be or what the future will hold there is only one certainty about the fascinating region the stories that make up the rich history of Earth's longest continuous civilization China will be told for generations to come