The Shang Dynasty formed by strong rulers which defeated all their rivals came to power. It´s strong rule help the organized army of nobles, peasants, and slaves to battle upcoming enemies. Shang rulers believe in the link between heaven and Earth. The rulers made sacrifices to seek for help from the ancestors. This organized dynasty also improved in other ways like making an organize accurate calendar by observing the heavens. (World Cultures A Global Mosaic, 328 - 329)
After the strong rule of the Shang Dynasty it was overthrown by the Zhou which ruled for more than 800 years. Most of the basic Chinese teaching comes from the Zhou Dynasty. They believed in the Mandate of Heaven which is that a strong ruler was elected by heaven and its people should by loyal to the ruler. Also the dynastic cycle which is the ruling families rise in power and their fall? The Zhou also influenced the three schools of thoughts in China, Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. (World Cultures A Global Mosaic, 329)
After the 800 years dynasty, the Zhou dynasty was overruled my Shi Huangdi (The First Emperor). He believed in legalism which was a strong rule need strong rulers. These principals lasted till the Qing Dynasty. Huangdi was a strong ruler but with good effects. He forced the peasants to build roads through the whole empire. His power became to powerful that he controlled the south and the west. Shi was concern with the invaders that he also forced peasant to build the Great Wall of China. Now the Great Wall of China is a symbol that represents China today. (World Cultures A Global Mosaic, 337)
After Shi Huangdi death a local peasant name Liu Bang overthrew the Qin and created his own dynasty, the Han Dynasty. Bang enriched the wealth of china and cultural aspect. Because of Bang, the Chinese became part of the Silk Road. Chinese gave jade, bronzes, and silk for tea, grape, alfalfa. Also travelers learned ideas from Buddhism which was brought into China. Liu believed in legalism but also restored the teaching of Confucianism that a government needed to have a well example leader. The Han Dynasty help science advance, they invented machines that record the direction of an earthquake called Seismograph. (World Cultures A Global Mosaic, 337-340)
The father and son ruled the Sui Dynasty. Yang Chien and his son Wen Ti made external and internal improvement in the empire. Confucian teaching became popular again with the example that father and son was emperor of this dynasty. Father and son is one of the five relationships Confucianism teaches. Internally, they rebuild to capital near the Yellow River. Also the Grand Canal became wider; it extended from Hangzhou to the northwest region of Louyang. (mnsu.edo, Sui Dynasty)
The Tang Dynasty had advanced in literature. China´s best know poet, Li Bo. He was the court poet then went across China where he found inspiration to with "Fighting South of The Ramparts" related to Daoist teachings. (World Cultures: A Global Mosaic, 340) Also the economic position in China increased with the tea, brandy, and whisky trade. (bcps.org, Tang Dynasty) This dynasty as well as the Song Dynasty influenced Korea and Japan. (A World Cultures: A Global Mosaic, 340)
The Song Dynasty was part of the golden ages of China. They built a navy; making China a great sea power. Also they invented the sternpost rudder and the magnetic compass. These inventions were trade later with Europe and Arabs. Economic status prospers when cotton and pepper were traded in the Silk Road. (World Cultures A Global Mosaic, 340)
Each time a dynastic cycle began again the empire grew larger. Kublai Khan (emperor of the dynasty) a Mongol, gave better role for Mongols than to Confucian scholars. He tried to preserve his own culture. During this dynasty was the same time Marco Polo went to China. Since he work with the Mongol ruler his stories traveled to Europe. Those stories are widely known there and they say it hard to believe what he said. More roads and passages were built. A system of river was build so the messenger could carry the message easily. (World Cultures: A Global Mosaic, 341)
During this dynasty the empire suffered from inflation. The Ming Dynasty made major improvement in China. They developed a better relation with the West and became part of the Industrial Revolution on the other side of the world. Also during the Qing Dynasty, foreign relation were limited then in the Ming Dynasty they increases the trading regulations with China, this mainly affected (positively) the British. (World Cultures: A Global Mosaic, 345)
The Qing Dynasty wasn´t like the Yuang Dynasty, the Manhus invaders kept the Confucian ideas. This dynasty was very powerful by conquering states like Burma, Thailand, Laos, Nepal, Vietnam, and Korea. These people were against Chinese culture, they didn´t allowed the marriage to a Chinese person or wear Chinese clothing. (World Cultures: A Global Mosaic, 343)
Mao Zedong was a strong leader with strong ideas. He belongs to the Chinese Communist Party. He had the idea that if they had the support of the Chinese peasants they could win over China. Trouble arose when Chiang Kai Shek went against the Communist Party. About 90,000 Communist joined Mao in the Long March. The Long March represented the hard time before the Communist gain power in 1949 with Mao Zedong has their leader. (World Cultures: A Global Mosaic, 347 - 348)
The Republic of China before 1949 was island of Taiwan. In 1949 it was conquered by China with communist Mao Zedong. (Free Dictionary, Republic of China)
After Mao´s death, Deng Xiaopeng came to power. He changed many of Mao´s believed. Mao had strong economic policies but Deng loose them a little. He opened more China by encouraging Chinese students to study overseas and welcome foreigner business into the country. This affected positively the east coast. Sadly some student went against Deng demanding political freedom and a democratic government. (World Cultures: A Global Mosaic, 353)
