1.
Pixiu
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Pixiu, is a Chinese mythical hybrid creature, commonly, but incorrectly referred to in the West by the Greek word chimera, is considered to be a very powerful protector to practitioners of Feng Shui. It resembles a strong, winged lion, Pixiu is an earth and sea variation, particularly an influential and auspicious creature for wealth. It is said to have a voracious appetite towards only gold, silver, therefore, traditionally to the Chinese, Pixiu has always been regarded as an auspicious creature that possessed mystical power capable of drawing Cai Qi from all directions. Because of this, according to Chinese zodiac, it is helpful for those who are going through a bad year. There are two different types of Pixiu, a male and a female, the physical difference is seen by their antlers. The one with two antlers is the female of the species and is called a “Bìxié” and the one with one antler is the male of the species and is called a “Tiān lù, Tiān lù - is in charge of wealth. Displaying Tiān lù at home or in the office is said to prevent wealth from flowing away and it is also believed that Bìxié has the ability of assisting anyone who is suffering from bad Feng Shui that is due to having offended the Grand Duke Jupiter. Pixiu craves the smell of gold and silver and it likes to bring his money in his mouth. Statues of this creature are often used to attract wealth in feng shui, today, Pixiu are also a popular design on jade pendants. Their fantastic legend has been passed down through two-thousand years of Chinese lore. They have the head of a Chinese dragon, the bold body of a lion and, historically, depending on whether it is a male or female. Ancient Chinese descriptions, depictions and stone carvings of Pixiu from the Han dynasty show the male with a single antler, as with the Chinese Phoenix, the common image today is a representation of a single sex with one antler. Pixiu have protruding eyes and sharp teeth and its strong body resembles a Chinese lion and its feet have paws and claws. There is one ancient, stone sculpture variation found with hooves, many have a bifurcated tail that hangs low and downward, covering their buttocks and rectums, a representative metaphor that they hold gold inside their stomachs but will not let it out. Looking at the posture of Pixiu, the creature seems to project a sense of strength, elegance, likewise it has a big, opened mouth ready to gobble up gold and fortunes for its master. Because of this, a Pixiu statue is often employed in the home as a way of receiving and keeping fortunes, one story of the Pixiu tells that it violated a law of Heaven by defecating on the floor of Heaven. When it was out, it was punished by a spanking executed by the Jade Emperor. The spanking was hard enough to cause its rectum to be permanantly sealed, the Jade Emperor further declared that the diet of the Pixiu would be restricted to gold, silver and jewels
2.
Harvard Bixi
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The stele was presented to the university by the Chinese Harvard Alumni for its Tercentenary in September 1936. The Bixi was created ca.1820 in Beijing, and the stele was originally a gift from the Jiaqing Emperor to Songjun, the governor-general of Jiangsu and Jiangxi. Although the original inscription was unknown, the stele was kept in the Old Summer Palace in Beijing until the complex was destroyed in 1860, during the Second Opium War. The meticulous carvings of dragons chasing pearls on the sides and top of the tablet are the only traces that indicate the stele’s imperial past. In the 1930s there were five Harvard Clubs in China, more than 35 members of the clubs were known to be involved in donating the stele, and at least two of them attended the Tercentennial Ceremony in September 1936. They were Dr. J. Heng Liu, president of Harvard Club of Nanking, and Fred Sze, a banker, new inscriptions were carved on the front of the marble tablet. Shih Hu, who was invited to take part in the Tercentenary Celebration to receive a doctoral degree from Harvard, was believed to be the calligrapher of the inscription. The Bixis stele is inscribed with Chinese text in which the content commemorates the tercentennial of Harvard University on behalf of Chinese Harvard Alumni. In September 1936 Dr. J. Heng Liu provided an English translation of the inscription which has been the official translation recorded in the Harvard Archives, with this belief, many pioneers have devoted their lives to the promotion of education in all countries. Far-reaching effects in the enhancement of civilization are attained invariably although the results may not be apparent until hundreds of years have elapsed, the truth of this statement is established by the celebration of this tercentennial of Harvard University. Imbued with the spirit of education, John Harvard left England over 300 years ago for the new colony in North America to become a teacher in Boston, subsequently, he was instrumental in founding a college in Cambridge. Today, as we celebrate the tercentennial of our alma mater, we look back with pride to the achievements of the founder, due to acid rain and severe weathering, many of the inscriptions on the stele have become illegible. In the early 1980s the Fogg Museum Conservation Department examined the condition of the stele, the site chosen was the Holyoke Center Arcade. Due to financial cost the plan was abandoned, in 1998 an informational notice appeared in front of the stele which stated the origin of the stele and that the University was working on a suitable indoor location for the statue. The notice did not offer a translation of the inscription, plans were also underway to relocate the stele to the Center for Government and International Studies buildings on Cambridge Street and Sumner Road. The CGIS was completed in 2005 but the stele remained in the Harvard Yard, various groups such as the Harvard Club of Beijing, Harvard Club of Taipei and Harvard-Yenching Institute have expressed interests in preserving or restoring the stele since 2004. In 2009 the University Planning Office began to work on adding information to the base of the stele. A signage designer has been commissioned to study options for creating a sign at the base, a low-resolution preview of the 3D model of the monument is now available in the museums virtual 3D gallery
3.
Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
4.
Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
5.
Standard Chinese
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Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, and its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a language with topic-prominent organization. It has more initial consonants but fewer vowels, final consonants, Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There exist two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, while Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters. There are many characters that are identical between the two systems, in English, the governments of China and Hong Kong use Putonghua, Putonghua Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin, while those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, use Mandarin. The name Putonghua also has a long, albeit unofficial, history and it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or common tongue/speech, was different from the Guoyu. The former was a prestige variety, while the latter was the legal standard. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different, Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, which is close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called the speech of the modern man. The use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai, prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the term for Standard Chinese. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca, Huayu, or language of the Chinese nation, originally simply meant Chinese language, and was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name Huayu to refer to Mandarin and it also incorporates the notion that Mandarin is usually not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. The term Mandarin is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire, in English, Mandarin may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name Modern Standard Mandarin is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the language from other northern. Chinese has long had considerable variation, hence prestige dialects have always existed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán rather than colloquial regional dialects, rime books, which were written since the Northern and Southern dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times
6.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
7.
Chinese language
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Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases mutually unintelligible, language varieties, forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the Han majority and many ethnic groups in China. Nearly 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language, the varieties of Chinese are usually described by native speakers as dialects of a single Chinese language, but linguists note that they are as diverse as a language family. The internal diversity of Chinese has been likened to that of the Romance languages, There are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin, followed by Wu, Min, and Yue. Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and certain Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms, all varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. Standard Chinese is a form of spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. It is the language of China and Taiwan, as well as one of four official languages of Singapore. It is one of the six languages of the United Nations. The written form of the language, based on the logograms known as Chinese characters, is shared by literate speakers of otherwise unintelligible dialects. Of the other varieties of Chinese, Cantonese is the spoken language and official in Hong Kong and Macau. It is also influential in Guangdong province and much of Guangxi, dialects of Southern Min, part of the Min group, are widely spoken in southern Fujian, with notable variants also spoken in neighboring Taiwan and in Southeast Asia. Hakka also has a diaspora in Taiwan and southeast Asia. Shanghainese and other Wu varieties are prominent in the lower Yangtze region of eastern China, Chinese can be traced back to a hypothetical Sino-Tibetan proto-language. The first written records appeared over 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty, as the language evolved over this period, the various local varieties became mutually unintelligible. In reaction, central governments have sought to promulgate a unified standard. Difficulties have included the great diversity of the languages, the lack of inflection in many of them, in addition, many of the smaller languages are spoken in mountainous areas that are difficult to reach, and are often also sensitive border zones. Without a secure reconstruction of proto-Sino-Tibetan, the structure of the family remains unclear. A top-level branching into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman languages is often assumed, the earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BCE in the late Shang dynasty
8.
Vietnamese alphabet
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The Vietnamese alphabet is the modern writing system for the Vietnamese language. The many diacritics, often two on the letter, make written Vietnamese easily recognizable. There are 29 letters in the Vietnamese alphabet, note, Naming b bê bò and p bê phở is to avoid confusion in some dialects or some contexts, the same for s xờ mạnh and x xờ nhẹ, i i ngắn and y i dài. Q, q is always followed by u in every word and phrase in Vietnamese, e. g. quang, quần, quyến rũ, etc. The alphabet is derived from the Portuguese, although the usage of gh and gi was borrowed from Italian. The correspondence between the orthography and pronunciation is somewhat complicated, in some cases, the same letter may represent several different sounds, and different letters may represent the same sound. This may be because the orthography was designed centuries ago and the language has changed. The letters y and i are mostly equivalent, and there is no rule that says when to use one or the other, except in sequences like ay. Most people and the media continue to use the spelling that they are most accustomed to. The uses of the i and y to represent the phoneme /i/ can be categorized as standard and non-standard as follows. This standard set by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục is not definite and it is unknown why the literature books use Lí while the history books use Lý. The table below matches the vowels of Hanoi Vietnamese and their respective orthographic symbols used in the writing system. Notes, The vowel /i/ is, usually written i, /si/ = sĩ. sometimes written y after h, k, l, m, s, t, v, /mi/ = Mỹ America. It is always written y when, preceded by a vowel, /xwiən/ = khuyên to advise, at the beginning of a word derived from Chinese. The vowel /ɔ/ is written oo before c or ng, /ʔɔk/ = oóc organ and this generally only occurs in recent loanwords or when representing dialectal pronunciation. Similarly, the vowel /o/ is written ôô before c or ng, the diphthong /uə/ is written, ua in open syllables, /muə/ = mua to buy, uô before a consonant, /muən/ = muôn ten thousand. The diphthong /ɨə/ is written, ưa in open syllables, /mɨə/ = mưa to rain, ươ before consonants, Vietnamese is a tonal language, i. e. the meaning of each word depends on the tone in which it is pronounced. There are six tones in the standard northern dialect
9.
History of writing in Vietnam
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The two scripts coexisted until the era of French Indochina when the Latin alphabet quốc ngữ script gradually became the written medium of both government and popular literature. In Vietnamese, Chinese characters are called chữ Hán, Hán tự, Hán văn, Hán văn also means Chinese language literature. The Vietnamese word chữ is derived from the Old Chinese word 字, however the character set for chữ nôm is extensive, up to 20,000, and both arbitrary in composition and inconsistent in pronunciation. There is a significant orthographic overlap between Hán and Nôm and many characters are used in both Hán and Nôm with the same reading, the term chữ quốc ngữ means Vietnamese written in romanised script. No writings in Chinese by Vietnamese writers survive from the Chinese domination period, in Imperial Vietnam, formal writings were, in most cases, done in classical Chinese. This was true both of the language of government and administration, and also of entry into government and administration by the wholly Chinese-language Confucian examination system in Vietnam, Chinese was also the language of medicine, astrology, religion, science and high literature such as poetry. Vietnamese existed only as a language, before the creation of the nom script to preserve and circulate less serious poetry. In Vietnam classical Chinese texts was read with the vocalization of Chinese text as such, equivalent to the Chinese On-readings in Japanese kambun and this occurring alongside entry of Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary into the vernacular Vietnamese language. And creating, in Samuel Martins term, a Sinoxenic dialect, the Sinologist Edwin G. Pulleyblank was the one of the first linguists to actively employ Sino-Vietnamese to recover the earlier history of Chinese. During the Ming dynasty occupation of Vietnam chữ nôm printing blocks, texts and inscriptions were destroyed, the use of classical Chinese, and its written form, chữ nho, died out in Vietnam early in the 20th century during the middle years of French Indochina. At this time there were four competing writing systems in Vietnam, chữ nho, chữ nôm, quốc ngữ. Some scholars still study it today although its application is mostly confined to the context of Vietnamese texts. Individual Hán tự are still written by calligraphers for special occasions such as the Vietnamese New Year, Hán Nôm Institute is the national centre for academic research into both Hán and nôm texts. Since the mid-1990s a small resurgence in teaching of Chinese characters, the significance of the characters has occasionally entered Western depiction of Vietnam, for instance novelist E. M. Nathanson mentions the characters in A Dirty Distant War. For linguists the Sino-Vietnamese readings of Chinese characters provide data for the study of historical Chinese phonology, 漢字 Hán tự, A Vietnamese-Chinese wordlist Từ điển Hán Việt Thiều Chửu Hán Việt Từ Điển Trích Dẫn, Vietnamese Han character dictionary Thiều Chửu dictionary
10.
Kanji
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Kanji, or kanji, are the adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana and katakana. The Japanese term kanji for the Chinese characters literally means Han characters and is using the same characters as the Chinese word hànzì. Chinese characters first came to Japan on official seals, letters, swords, coins, mirrors, the earliest known instance of such an import was the King of Na gold seal given by Emperor Guangwu of Han to a Yamato emissary in 57 AD. Chinese coins from the first century AD have been found in Yayoi-period archaeological sites, however, the Japanese of that era probably had no comprehension of the script, and would remain illiterate until the fifth century AD. The earliest Japanese documents were written by bilingual Chinese or Korean officials employed at the Yamato court. For example, the correspondence from King Bu of Wa to Emperor Shun of Liu Song in 478 has been praised for its skillful use of allusion. Later, groups of people called fuhito were organized under the monarch to read, during the reign of Empress Suiko, the Yamato court began sending full-scale diplomatic missions to China, which resulted in a large increase in Chinese literacy at the Japanese court. The Japanese language had no form at the time Chinese characters were introduced. Chinese characters also came to be used to write Japanese words, around 650 CE, a writing system called manyōgana evolved that used a number of Chinese characters for their sound, rather than for their meaning. Manyōgana written in cursive style evolved into hiragana, or onna-de, that is, ladies hand, major works of Heian-era literature by women were written in hiragana. Katakana emerged via a path, monastery students simplified manyōgana to a single constituent element. Thus the two writing systems, hiragana and katakana, referred to collectively as kana, are descended from kanji. Katakana are mostly used for representing onomatopoeia, non-Japanese loanwords, the names of plants and animals, and for emphasis on certain words. In 1946, following World War II and under the Allied Occupation of Japan and this was done with the goal of facilitating learning for children and simplifying kanji use in literature and periodicals. The number of characters in circulation was reduced, and formal lists of characters to be learned during each grade of school were established, some characters were given simplified glyphs, called shinjitai. Many variant forms of characters and obscure alternatives for common characters were officially discouraged and these are simply guidelines, so many characters outside these standards are still widely known and commonly used, these are known as hyōgaiji. The kyōiku kanji are 1,006 characters that Japanese children learn in elementary school, originally the list only contained 881 characters. This was expanded to 996 characters in 1977 and it was not until 1982 the list was expanded to its current size
11.
Hiragana
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Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and in some cases rōmaji. It is a lettering system. The word hiragana literally means ordinary or simple kana, Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems. With one or two exceptions, each sound in the Japanese language is represented by one character in each system. Because the characters of the kana do not represent single consonants, words that do have common kanji renditions may also sometimes be written instead in hiragana, according to an individual authors preference, for example to impart an informal feel. Hiragana is also used to write furigana, a reading aid that shows the pronunciation of kanji characters, There are two main systems of ordering hiragana, the old-fashioned iroha ordering and the more prevalent gojūon ordering. Of the 50 theoretically possible combinations, yi and wu do not exist in the language, wo is usually pronounced as a vowel in modern Japanese, and is preserved in only one use, as a particle. Romanization of the kana does not always follow the consonant-vowel scheme laid out in the table. For example, ち, nominally ti, is very often romanised as chi in an attempt to represent the actual sound in Japanese. These basic characters can be modified in various ways, by adding a dakuten marker, a voiceless consonant is turned into a voiced consonant, k→g, ts/s→z, t→d, h→b and ch/sh→j. Hiragana beginning with an h can also add a handakuten marker changing the h to a p, a small version of the hiragana for ya, yu or yo may be added to hiragana ending in i. This changes the i vowel sound to a glide to a, u or o, for example, き plus ゃ becomes きゃ. Addition of the small y kana is called yōon, a small tsu っ, called a sokuon, indicates that the following consonant is geminated. In Japanese this is an important distinction in pronunciation, for example, the sokuon also sometimes appears at the end of utterances, where it denotes a glottal stop, as in いてっ. However, it cannot be used to double the na, ni, nu, ne, no syllables consonants – to double these, Hiragana usually spells long vowels with the addition of a second vowel kana, for example, おかあさん. In informal writing, small versions of the five vowel kana are used to represent trailing off sounds. Standard and voiced iteration marks are written in hiragana as ゝ and ゞ respectively, the following table shows the complete hiragana together with the Hepburn romanization and IPA transcription in the gojūon order. Hiragana with dakuten or handakuten follow the gojūon kana without them, obsolete and normally unused kana are shown in gray
12.
Romanization of Japanese
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The romanization of Japanese is the application of the Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is referred to in English as rōmaji. There are several different romanization systems, the three main ones are Hepburn romanization, Kunrei-shiki romanization, and Nihon-shiki romanization. Variants of the Hepburn system are the most widely used, Japanese is normally written in a combination of logographic characters borrowed from Chinese and syllabic scripts which also ultimately derive from Chinese characters. It is also used to transliterate Japanese terms in text written in English on topics related to Japan, such as linguistics, literature, history, and culture. Rōmaji is the most common way to input Japanese into word processors and computers, all Japanese who have attended elementary school since World War II have been taught to read and write romanized Japanese. The word rōmaji literally means Roman letters, and in Japan it is often used to refer to the Latin alphabet itself than to any specific form of romanized Japanese. The earliest Japanese romanization system was based on the Portuguese orthography and it was developed around 1548 by a Japanese Catholic named Yajiro. Jesuit priests used the system in a series of printed Catholic books so that missionaries could preach and teach their converts without learning to read Japanese orthography. The most useful of these books for the study of early modern Japanese pronunciation and early attempts at romanization was the Nippo jisho, in general, the early Portuguese system was similar to Nihon-shiki in its treatment of vowels. The latter continued to be printed and read after the suppression of Christianity in Japan, the Hepburn system included representation of some sounds that have since changed. The Nihon-shiki romanization was an outgrowth of that movement, several Japanese texts were published entirely in rōmaji during this period, but it failed to catch on. Today, the use of Nihon-shiki for writing Japanese is advocated by the Oomoto sect, during the Allied occupation of Japan, the government of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers made it official policy to romanize Japanese. However, that failed and a more moderate attempt at Japanese script reform followed. Hepburn romanization generally follows English phonology with Romance vowels and it is an intuitive method of showing Anglophones the pronunciation of a word in Japanese. It was standardized in the USA as American National Standard System for the Romanization of Japanese, Hepburn is the most common romanization system in use today, especially in the English-speaking world. The Revised Hepburn system of romanization uses a macron to indicate long vowels. For example, the name じゅんいちろう, is written with the kana characters ju-n-i-chi-ro-u, without the apostrophe, it would not be possible to distinguish this correct reading from the incorrect ju-ni-chi-ro-u
13.
Chinese mythology
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Chinese mythology includes creation myths and legends, such as myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state. As in many mythologies, Chinese mythology has in the past been believed to be, at least in part. Some myths are widely shared across multiple ethnic groups, but may exist as versions with some differences, historians have written evidence of Chinese mythological symbolism from the 12th century BC in the Oracle bone script. Legends were passed down for over a thousand years before being written in such as Classic of Mountains. Other myths continued to be passed down through oral traditions like theater, imperial historical documents and philosophical canons such as Book of Rites, Records of the Grand Historian, Book of Documents, and Lüshi Chunqiu all contain Chinese myths. Some myths survive in theatrical or literary formats as plays or novels, books in the shenmo genre of vernacular fiction revolve around gods and monsters. Examples include, Shangdi, also sometimes Huángtiān Dàdì, appeared as early as the Shang dynasty, in later eras, he was more commonly referred to as Huángtiān Shàngdì. The use of Huángtiān Dàdì refers to the Jade Emperor and Tian, Yu Di appeared in literature after the establishment of Taoism in China, his appearance as Yu Huang dates back to beyond the times of Yellow Emperor, Nüwa, or Fuxi. Tian appeared in literature c.700 BC, possibly earlier as dating depends on the date of the Shujing, there are no creation-oriented narratives for Tian. The qualities of Tian and Shangdi appear to have merged in later literature and are now worshiped as one entity in, for example, the extent of the distinction between Tian and Shangdi is debated. Nüwa appeared in no earlier than c.350 BC. Her companion, Fuxi, was her brother and husband and they are sometimes worshiped as the ultimate ancestor of all humankind, and are often represented as half-snake, half-humans. It is sometimes believed that Nüwa molded humans from clay for companionship and she repaired the sky after Gong Gong damaged the pillar supporting the heavens. Pangu, written about by Taoist author Xu Zheng c.200 AD, was claimed to be the first sentient being and creator, “making the heavens and these legendary rulers ruled between c.2850 BC to 2205 BC, before the Xia dynasty. The list of names comprising the Three August Ones and Five Emperors vary widely among sources, Emperor Ku, great-grandson of the Huang Emperor and nephew of Zhuanxu. Yao, son of Ku, Yaos elder brother succeeded Ku, Shun, successor of Yao, who passed over his own son and made Shun his successor because of Shuns ability and morality. These rulers are generally regarded as morally upright and benevolent, examples to be emulated by latter day kings, historically, when Qin Shi Huang united China in 221 BC, he felt that his achievements had surpassed those of all the rulers who had gone before him. He combined the ancient titles of Huáng and Dì to create a new title, Huángdì, Shun passed on his place as emperor to Yu the Great
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Nine sons of the dragon
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The nine sons of the dragon are Chinese dragons who are the mythological sons of the Dragon King. There are many variations in the different descriptions of the nine sons, including in basic facts like their names, several Ming Dynasty texts list what were claimed as the Nine Offspring of the Dragon, and subsequently these feature prominently in popular Chinese stories and writings. The scholar Xie Zhaozhe in his work Wu Za Zu gives the following listing in order of oldest to youngest, the, a creature that likes music, are used to adorn musical instruments. The, a creature that likes to fight, is aggressive and is found on cross-guards on sword as ornaments. The, a creature that likes to climb and eat and they are typically placed on the four corners of roofs. The, a creature that likes to scream, and are represented on the tops of bells, the, a creature that likes to sit down, are represented upon the bases of Buddhist idols. The, a creature with a large shell able to carry heavy objects, the, a creature that likes litigation, are placed over prison gates. The, a creature that likes to drink water, and is used on bridge structures. The, a creature that likes swallowing, are placed on both ends of the ridgepoles of roofs, further, the same author enumerates nine other kinds of dragons, which used as ornamental decoration or as part of classical Chinese architecture. These examples can be found architecture throughout Asia used for adorning key-holes, on roofing, incense burners, door knockers, bridges, yangs list is bixi, chiwen or cháofēng, pulao, bian, taotie, qiuniu, yazi, suanni, and jiaotu. The 9 sons of the dragon were recognized by the Chinese governments official Shanghai Mint in 2012s year of the Dragon by issuing 2 sets of coins, one in silver, each coin in the 9 coin sets depicts one of the 9 sons. A 10th additional coin was issued depicting the dragon in silver and brass. For example, a Chinese dragon is described in terms of nine attributes. This is also why there are nine forms of the dragon, the Nine-Dragon Wall is a spirit wall with images of nine different dragons, and is found in imperial Chinese palaces and gardens. Because nine was considered the number of the emperor, only the most senior officials were allowed to wear nine dragons on their robes — and then only with the robe completely covered with surcoats. Lower-ranking officials had eight or five dragons on their robes, again covered with surcoats, there are many places in China with the phrase Nine Dragons in their name, the most famous being Kowloon in Hong Kong. The part of the Mekong in Vietnam is known as Cửu Long, with the same meaning. com The 9 Sons of the Dragon on Vimeo
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Dragon King
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The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain as well as the representation of the yang masculine power of generation. He is the personification of the ancient concept of the lóng in Chinese culture. One of his epithets is Dragon King of Wells and Springs, besides being a water deity, the Dragon God frequently also serves as a territorial tutelary deity, similarly to Tudigong and Houtu. The Yellow Dragon does not have a body of water of which he is the patron. However, as the incarnation of the Yellow Deity with Four Faces he represents the metaphysical source of the universe. They appear in the novels like The Investiture of the Gods. Each of them has a name, and they share the surname Ao. The Azure Dragon or Blue-Green Dragon, or Green Dragon, is the Dragon God of the east and his proper name is Ao Guang, and he is the patron of the East China Sea. The Red Dragon is the Dragon God of the south and of the essence of summer and he is the patron of the South China Sea and his proper name is Ao Qin. The White Dragon is the Dragon God of the west and the essence of autumn and his proper names are Ao Run, Ao Jun or Ao Ji. He is the patron of Qinghai Lake, the Black Dragon, also called Dark Dragon or Mysterious Dragon, is the Dragon God of the north and the essence of winter. His proper names are Ao Shun or Ao Ming, and his body of water is Lake Baikal, Chinese dragon Nagaraja Prince Nezhas Triumph Against Dragon King Shenlong Nikaido, Yoshihiro. Asian Folk Religion and Cultural Interaction, local Religion in North China in the Twentieth Century, The Structure and Organization of Community Rituals and Beliefs. Tom, K. S. Echoes from Old China, Life, Legends, media related to Dragon King at Wikimedia Commons
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Chinese dragon
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Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and Chinese folklore. The dragons have many forms such as turtles, fish, and imaginary. Chinese dragons traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers, particularly control over water, rainfall, typhoons, the dragon is also a symbol of power, strength, and good luck for people who are worthy of it. With this, the Emperor of China usually used the dragon as a symbol of his imperial power and strength. In Chinese daily language, excellent and outstanding people are compared to a dragon, while people with no achievements are compared with other, disesteemed creatures. A number of Chinese proverbs and idioms feature references to a dragon, historically, the dragon was associated with the Emperor of China and used a symbol to represent imperial power. The founder of Han dynasty Liu Bang claimed that he was conceived after his mother dreamt of a dragon, during the Tang dynasty, Emperors wore robes with dragon motif as an imperial symbol, and high officials might also be presented with dragon robes. In the Yuan dynasty, the two-horned five-clawed dragon was designated for use by the Son of Heaven or Emperor only, similarly during the Ming and Qin dynasty, the five-clawed dragon was strictly reserved for use by the Emperor only. The dragon in the Qing dynasty appeared on the first Chinese national flag, the dragon is sometimes used in the West as a national emblem of China. However, this usage within either the Peoples Republic of China or the Republic of China on Taiwan as the symbol of nation is not common, instead, it is generally used as the symbol of culture. In Hong Kong, the dragon was on the Coat of arms of Hong Kong during colonial time, now it is part of the design of Brand Hong Kong, a symbol used to promote Hong Kong as an international brand name. The dragon is the symbol of Chinese emperor in many dynasties, during the Qing dynasty, the Azure Dragon was featured on the first Chinese national flag, until Qing collapsed. It featured shortly again on the Twelve Symbols national emblem, which was used during the Republic of China, the ancient Chinese self-identified as the descendants of the dragon because the Chinese dragon is an imagined reptile that represents evolution from the ancestors and qi energy. Some of the earliest Dragon artifacts are the pig dragon carvings from the Hongshan culture, the coiled dragon or snake form played an important role in early Chinese culture. The character for dragon in the earliest Chinese writing has a coiled form. Ancient Chinese referred to unearthed dinosaur bones as dragon bones and documented them as such, for example, Chang Qu in 300 BC documents the discovery of dragon bones in Sichuan. The modern Chinese word for dinosaur is konglong, and villagers in central China have long unearthed fossilized dragon bones for use in traditional medicines, the binomial name for a variety of dinosaurs discovered in China, Mei long, in Chinese means sleeping dragon. From its origins as totems or the depiction of natural creatures
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Turtle
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Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs and acting as a shield. Turtle may refer to the order as a whole or to fresh-water, the order Testudines includes both extant and extinct species. The earliest known members of this date from 157 million years ago, making turtles one of the oldest reptile groups. Of the 327 known species alive today, some are highly endangered, turtles are ectotherms—animals commonly called cold-blooded—meaning that their internal temperature varies according to the ambient environment. However, because of their metabolic rate, leatherback sea turtles have a body temperature that is noticeably higher than that of the surrounding water. Turtles are classified as amniotes, along with reptiles, birds. Like other amniotes, turtles breathe air and do not lay eggs underwater, Chelonia is based on the Greek word χελώνη chelone tortoise, turtle, also denoting armor or interlocking shields, testudines, on the other hand, is based on the Latin word testudo tortoise. Turtle may either refer to the order as a whole, or to particular turtles that make up a form taxon that is not monophyletic, the meaning of the word turtle differs from region to region. In North America, all chelonians are commonly called turtles, including terrapins, in Great Britain, the word turtle is used for sea-dwelling species, but not for tortoises. The term tortoise usually refers to any land-dwelling, non-swimming chelonian, most land-dwelling chelonians are in the Testudinidae family, only one of the 14 extant turtle families. Terrapin is used to describe several species of small, edible, hard-shell turtles, typically found in brackish waters. Some languages do not have this distinction, as all of these are referred to by the same name, for example, in Spanish, the word tortuga is used for turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. A sea-dwelling turtle is tortuga marina, a freshwater species tortuga de río, the largest living chelonian is the leatherback sea turtle, which reaches a shell length of 200 cm and can reach a weight of over 900 kg. Freshwater turtles are generally smaller, but with the largest species, the Asian softshell turtle Pelochelys cantorii, a few individuals have been reported up to 200 cm. This dwarfs even the better-known alligator snapping turtle, the largest chelonian in North America and they became extinct at the same time as the appearance of man, and it is assumed humans hunted them for food. The only surviving giant tortoises are on the Seychelles and Galápagos Islands and can grow to over 130 cm in length, the largest ever chelonian was Archelon ischyros, a Late Cretaceous sea turtle known to have been up to 4.6 m long. The smallest turtle is the speckled padloper tortoise of South Africa and it measures no more than 8 cm in length and weighs about 140 g. Two other species of turtles are the American mud turtles
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Chinese sculpture
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Chinese art is visual art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in China or by Chinese artists. The Chinese art in the Republic of China and that of overseas Chinese can also be considered part of Chinese art where it is based in or draws on Chinese heritage, early stone age art dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. After this early period Chinese art, like Chinese history, is classified by the succession of ruling dynasties of Chinese emperors. After contacts with Western art became increasingly important from the 19th century onwards, traditional Chinese painting involves essentially the same techniques as Chinese calligraphy and is done with a brush dipped in black or colored ink, oils are not used. As with calligraphy, the most popular materials on which paintings are made of paper, the finished work can be mounted on scrolls, such as hanging scrolls or handscrolls. Traditional painting can also be done on album sheets, walls, lacquerware, folding screens, the two main techniques in Chinese painting are, Gong-bi, meaning meticulous, uses highly detailed brushstrokes that delimits details very precisely. It is often coloured and usually depicts figural or narrative subjects. It is often practised by artists working for the court or in independent workshops. Bird-and-flower paintings were often in this style and this style is also referred to as xie yi or freehand style. Artists from the Han to the Tang dynasties mainly painted the human figure, much of what is known of early Chinese figure painting comes from burial sites, where paintings were preserved on silk banners, lacquered objects, and tomb walls. Many early tomb paintings were meant to protect the dead or help their souls get to paradise, others illustrated the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, or showed scenes of daily life. Most Chinese portraits showed a formal full-length frontal view, and were used in the family in ancestor veneration, Imperial portraits were more flexible, but were generally not seen outside the court, and portraiture formed no part of Imperial propaganda, as in other cultures. Many critics consider landscape to be the highest form of Chinese painting, the time from the Five Dynasties period to the Northern Song period is known as the Great age of Chinese landscape. In the south, Dong Yuan, Juran, and other artists painted the rolling hills and rivers of their native countryside in peaceful scenes done with softer and these two kinds of scenes and techniques became the classical styles of Chinese landscape painting. Chinese ritual bronzes from the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties come from a period of over a thousand years from c,1500, and have exerted a continuing influence over Chinese art. They are cast with complex patterned and zoomorphic decoration, but avoid the human figure, smaller figures in pottery or wood were placed in tombs for many centuries afterwards, reaching a peak of quality in the Tang Dynasty. Buddhism is also the context of all large portrait sculpture, in total contrast to other areas in medieval China even painted images of the emperor were regarded as private. Imperial tombs have spectacular avenues of approach lined with real and mythological animals on a scale matching Egypt, and smaller versions decorate temples and palaces
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Chinese culture
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Chinese culture is one of the worlds oldest cultures, tracing back to thousands of years ago. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a geographical region in eastern Asia with customs. Important components of Chinese culture include ceramics, architecture, music, literature, martial arts, cuisine, visual arts, philosophy, there are 56 officially labelled ethnic groups in China. In terms of numbers however, Han Chinese is by far the largest group, throughout history, many groups have merged into neighboring ethnicities or disappeared. At the same time, many within the Han identity have maintained distinct linguistic, the term Zhonghua Minzu has been used to describe the notion of Chinese nationalism in general. Much of the traditional identity within the community has to do with distinguishing the family name and they were located on the Yellow and Yangtze River. Traditional Chinese Culture covers large geographical territories, where region is usually divided into distinct sub-cultures. Each region is represented by three ancestral items. For example, Guangdong is represented by chenpi, aged ginger, others include ancient cities like Linan, which include tea leaf, bamboo shoot trunk, and hickory nut. Such distinctions give rise to the old Chinese proverb, 十里不同風, 百里不同俗/十里不同风, 百里不同俗, literally the praxis vary within ten li, since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period, some form of Chinese monarch has been the main ruler above all. Different periods of history have different names for the various positions within society, conceptually each imperial or feudal period is similar, with the government and military officials ranking high in the hierarchy, and the rest of the population under regular Chinese law. From the late Zhou Dynasty onwards, traditional Chinese society was organized into a system of socio-economic classes known as the four occupations. However, this system did not cover all groups while the distinctions between all groups became blurred ever since the commercialization of Chinese culture in the Song Dynasty. This led to the creation of a meritocracy, although success was only to males who could afford test preparation. Imperial examinations required applicants to write essays and demonstrate mastery of the Confucian classics and those who passed the highest level of the exam became elite scholar-officials known as jinshi, a highly esteemed socio-economic position. A major mythological structure developed around the topic of the mythology of the imperial exams, trades and crafts were usually taught by a shifu. The female historian Ban Zhao wrote the Lessons for Women in the Han Dynasty and outlined the four women must abide to, while scholars such as Zhu Xi. Chinese marriage and Taoist sexual practices are some of the rituals, most social values are derived from Confucianism and Taoism
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Plinth
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In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. Gottfried Sempers The Four Elements of Architecture posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, the plinth usually rests directly on the ground or stylobate. According to Semper, the plinth exists to negotiate between a structure and the ground, Sempers theory has been influential in the development of architecture. Many houses in rural areas of Bangladesh are built on plinths. The word is used for the base of a cabinet or an audio turntable. In dam engineering, the plinth is the link between the ground and the dam, for the case of arch dams, the term is changed to pulvino
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Stele
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A stele is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in ancient Western culture as a monument. Grave steles were often used for funerary or commemorative purposes, Stelae as slabs of stone would also be used as ancient Greek and Roman government notices or as boundary markers to mark borders or property lines. The surface of the stele usually has text, ornamentation, or both, the ornamentation may be inscribed, carved in relief, or painted. Traditional Western gravestones may technically be considered the equivalent of ancient stelae. The most famous example of an inscribed stela leading to increased understanding is the Rosetta Stone, an informative stele of Tiglath-Pileser III is preserved in the British Museum. Two steles built into the walls of a church are major documents relating to the Etruscan language, unfinished standing stones, set up without inscriptions from Libya in North Africa to Scotland were monuments of pre-literate Megalithic cultures in the Late Stone Age. The Pictish stones of Scotland, often carved, date from between the 6th and 9th centuries. An obelisk is a kind of stele. The Insular high crosses of Ireland and Britain are specialized steles, totem poles of North and South America that are made out of stone may also be considered a specialized type of stele. Gravestones, typically with inscribed name and often with inscribed epitaph, are among the most common types of stele seen in Western culture. Most recently, in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, the memorial is meant to be read not only as the field, but also as an erasure of data that refer to memory of the Holocaust. Steles have been the medium of stone inscription in China since the Tang dynasty. Chinese steles are generally rectangular stone tablets upon which Chinese characters are carved intaglio with a funerary, commemorative and they can commemorate talented writers and officials, inscribe poems, portraits, or maps, and frequently contain the calligraphy of famous historical figures. During the Han dynasty, tomb inscriptions containing biographical information on deceased people began to be written on stone tablets rather than wooden ones, erecting steles at tombs or temples eventually became a widespread social and religious phenomenon. Emperors found it necessary to promulgate laws, regulating the use of funerary steles by the population, Steles are found at nearly every significant mountain and historical site in China. The First Emperor made five tours of his domain in the 3rd century BC and had Li Si make seven stone inscriptions commemorating and praising his work, of which fragments of two survive. One of the most famous mountain steles is the 13 m high stele at Mount Tai with the calligraphy of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang commemorating his imperial sacrifices there in 725. A number of stone monuments have preserved the origin and history of Chinas minority religious communities
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Chinese funerary art
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Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term also encompasses cenotaphs, tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and communal memorials to the dead, funerary art may serve many cultural functions. The deposit of objects with an apparent aesthetic intention is found in almost all cultures—Hindu culture, an important factor in the development of traditions of funerary art is the division between what was intended to be visible to visitors or the public after completion of the funeral ceremonies. A similar division can be seen in grand East Asian tombs, in other cultures, nearly all the art connected with the burial, except for limited grave goods, was intended for later viewing by the public or at least those admitted by the custodians. In these cultures, traditions such as the sarcophagus and tomb monument of the Greek and Roman empires. The mausoleum intended for visiting was the grandest type of tomb in the classical world, Tomb is a general term for any repository for human remains, while grave goods are other objects which have been placed within the tomb. Such objects may include the personal possessions of the deceased, objects created for the burial. Knowledge of many cultures is drawn largely from these sources. A tumulus, mound, kurgan, or long barrow covered important burials in many cultures, a mausoleum is a building erected mainly as a tomb, taking its name from the Mausoleum of Mausolus at Halicarnassus. Stele is a term for erect stones that are often what are now called gravestones, ship burials are mostly found in coastal Europe, while chariot burials are found widely across Eurasia. Catacombs, of which the most famous examples are those in Rome, a large group of burials with traces remaining above ground can be called a necropolis, if there are no such visible structures, it is a grave field. A cenotaph is a memorial without a burial, particularly influential in this regard was John Weevers Ancient Funerall Monuments, the first full-length book to be dedicated to the subject of tomb memorials and epitaphs. Others, however, have found this distinction rather pedantic, related genres of commemorative art for the dead take many forms, such as the moai figures of Easter Island, apparently a type of sculpted ancestor portrait, though hardly individualized. These are common in cultures as diverse as Ancient Rome and China, many cultures have psychopomp figures, such as the Greek Hermes and Etruscan Charun, who help conduct the spirits of the dead into the afterlife. Most of humanitys oldest known archaeological constructions are tombs, mostly megalithic, the earliest instances date to within a few centuries of each other, yet show a wide diversity of form and purpose. Tombs in the Iberian peninsula have been dated through thermoluminescence to c.4510 BCE, and some burials at the Carnac stones in Brittany also date back to the fifth millennium BCE. The commemorative value of burial sites are indicated by the fact that, at some stage, they became elevated. This effect was achieved by encapsulating a single corpse in a basic pit, surrounded by an elaborate ditch
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Second Sino-Japanese War
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The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from July 7,1937 to September 9,1945. The First Sino-Japanese War was fought from 1894 to 1895, China fought Japan, with some economic help from Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the war merged into the conflict of World War II as a major front of what is broadly known as the Pacific War. Many scholars consider the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to have been the beginning of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War was the largest Asian war in the 20th century. The war was the result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy to expand its influence politically and militarily in order to access to raw material reserves, food. The period after World War One brought about increasing stress on the Japanese polity, leftists sought universal suffrage and greater rights for workers. Increasing textile production from Chinese mills was adversely affecting Japanese production, the Depression brought about a large slowdown in exports. All of this contributed to militant nationalism, culminating in the rise to power of a militarist fascist faction and this faction was led at its height by the Imperial Rule Assistance Associations Hideki Tojo cabinet under the edict from Emperor Shōwa. Before 1937, China and Japan fought in small, localized engagements, the last of these incidents was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937, which is traditionally seen as the beginning of total war between the two countries. Since 2017 the Chinese Government has regarded the invasion of Manchuria by the Kwantung Army in 1931, initially the Japanese scored major victories, such as the Battle of Shanghai, and by the end of 1937 captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing. After failing to stop the Japanese in Wuhan, the Chinese central government was relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior, by 1939, after Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi, and with Japans lines of communications stretched deep into the Chinese interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were also unable to defeat the Chinese communist forces in Shaanxi, on December 7,1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the following day the United States declared war on Japan. The United States began to aid China via airlift matériel over the Himalayas after the Allied defeat in Burma that closed the Burma Road, in 1944 Japan launched the invasion, Operation Ichi-Go, that conquered Henan and Changsha. However, this failed to bring about the surrender of Chinese forces, in 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. At the same time, China launched large counteroffensives in South China and retook the west Hunan, the remaining Japanese occupation forces formally surrendered on September 9,1945 with the following International Military Tribunal for the Far East convened on April 29,1946. China was recognized as one of the Big Four of Allies during the war, in the Chinese language, the war is most commonly known as the War of Resistance Against Japan, and also known as the Eight Years War of Resistance, simply War of Resistance. It is also referred to as part of the Global Anti-Fascist War, which is how World War 2 is perceived by the Communist Party of China, in Japan, nowadays, the name Japan–China War is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. In Japan today, it is written as 日中戦争 in shinjitai, the word incident was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war
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East Asian cultural sphere
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The Sinosphere, or East Asian cultural sphere, refers to a grouping of countries and regions in East Asia that were historically influenced by the culture of China. The East Asian cultural sphere shares a Confucian ethical philosophy, Buddhism, political and legal structures, the core regions of the East Asian cultural sphere are Mainland China, Taiwan Island, North Korea, South Korea, Ryukyu Islands, Japan and Vietnam. Although Mongolia and parts of Central Asia are sometimes included and perhaps more on an ethnic basis, the terms East Asian cultural sphere and Chinese character cultural sphere are used interchangeably with Sinosphere but have different denotations. British historian Arnold J. Toynbee listed the Far Eastern civilization as one of the main civilizations outlined in his book and he included Japan and Korea in his Far Eastern civilization, and proposed that it grew out of the Sinic civilization that originated in the Yellow River basin. Toynbee compared the relationship between the Sinic and Far Eastern civilization with that of the Hellenic and Western civilizations, according to Toynbee, the Hellenic and Western civilizations had an apparentation-affiliation relationship, while the Far Eastern world was controlled by the ghost of the Sinic universal state. Japanese historian Nishijima Sadao conceived a Chinese or East Asian cultural sphere largely isolated from other cultures, according to Sadao, this cultural sphere shared the philosophy of Confucianism, the religion of Buddhism, and similar political and social structures. His cultural sphere includes China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, the American Sinologist and historian Edwin O. Reischauer grouped China, Korea, and Japan together into a cultural sphere that he called the Sinic world. These countries are centralized states that share a Confucian ethical philosophy, Reischauer states that this culture originated in Northern China, and compared the relationship between Northern China and East Asia with that of Greco-Roman civilization and Europe. The elites of East Asia were tied together through a written language based on Chinese characters. Political scientist Samuel P. Huntington considered the Sinic world as one of civilizations in his The Clash of Civilizations. Huntingtons Sinic civilization includes China, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, of the many civilizations that Huntington discusses, the Sinic world is the only one that is based on a cultural, rather than religious, identity. Huntingtons theory was that in a post-Cold War world, humanity identify with groups, tribes, ethnic groups, religious communities. Huntington argued that the Sinic world would eventually oppose the Wests hegemony in Asia, countries from the East Asian cultural sphere share a common architectural style stemming from the architecture of ancient China. The countries of China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Confucianism focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, the most basic of which are rén, yì, and lǐ. Mid-Imperial Chinese philosophy is defined by the development of Neo-Confucianism. During the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism from India also became a prominent philosophical, Neo-Confucianism has its origins in the Tang Dynasty, the Confucianist scholar Han Yu is seen as a forebear of the Neo-Confucianists of the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty philosopher Zhou Dunyi is seen as the first true pioneer of Neo-Confucianism, elsewhere in East Asia, Japanese philosophy began to develop as indigenous Shinto beliefs fused with Buddhism, Confucianism and other schools of Chinese philosophy. Similar to Japan, in Korean philosophy elements of Shamanism were integrated into the Neo-Confucianism imported from China, East Asian literary culture was based on the use of Literary Chinese, which became the medium of scholarship and government across the region
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Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
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Korea
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Korea is a historical state in East Asia, since 1945 divided into two distinct sovereign states, North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by China to the northwest and it is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan. Korea emerged as a political entity after centuries of conflict among the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Later Silla divided into three states during the Later Three Kingdoms period. Goryeo, which had succeeded Goguryeo, defeated the two states and united the Korean Peninsula. Around the same time, Balhae collapsed and its last crown prince fled south to Goryeo, Goryeo, whose name developed into the modern exonym Korea, was a highly cultured state that created the worlds first metal movable type in 1234. However, multiple invasions by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty during the 13th century greatly weakened the nation, following the Yuan Dynastys collapse, severe political strife followed, and Goryeo eventually fell to a coup led by General Yi Seong-gye, who established Joseon in 1388. The first 200 years of Joseon were marked by peace and saw the creation of the Korean alphabet by Sejong the Great in the 14th century. During the later part of the dynasty, however, Koreas isolationist policy earned it the Western nickname of the Hermit Kingdom, by the late 19th century, the country became the object of imperial design by the Empire of Japan. Despite attempts at modernization by the Korean Empire, in 1910 Korea was annexed by Japan and these circumstances soon became the basis for the division of Korea by the two superpowers, exacerbated by their incapability to agree on the terms of Korean independence. To date, both continue to compete with each other as the sole legitimate government of all of Korea. Korea is the spelling of Corea, a name attested in English as early as 1614. It is a derived from Cauli, Marco Polos transcription of the Chinese 高麗. This was the Hanja for the Korean kingdom of Goryeo or Koryŏ, Goryeos name was a continuation of the earlier Goguryeo or Koguryŏ, the northernmost of the Samguk, which was officially known by the shortened form Goryeo after the 5th-century reign of King Jangsu. The original name was a combination of the go with the name of a local Yemaek tribe. The name Korea is now used in English contexts by both North and South Korea. In South Korea, Korea as a whole is referred to as Hanguk, the name references the Samhan—Ma, Jin, and Byeon—who preceded the Three Kingdoms in the southern and central end of the peninsula during the 1st centuries BC and AD. It has been linked with the title khan used by the nomads of Manchuria
27.
Vietnam
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Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 92.7 million inhabitants as of 2016, it is the worlds 14th-most-populous country, and its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976, with Ho Chi Minh City as a historical city as well. The northern part of Vietnam was part of Imperial China for over a millennium, an independent Vietnamese state was formed in 939, following a Vietnamese victory in the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Following a Japanese occupation in the 1940s, the Vietnamese fought French rule in the First Indochina War, thereafter, Vietnam was divided politically into two rival states, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified in what is known as the Vietnam War, the war ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975. Vietnam was then unified under a communist government but remained impoverished, in 1986, the government initiated a series of economic and political reforms which began Vietnams path towards integration into the world economy. By 2000, it had established relations with all nations. Since 2000, Vietnams economic growth rate has been among the highest in the world and its successful economic reforms resulted in its joining the World Trade Organization in 2007. It is also a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Vietnam remains one of the worlds four remaining one-party socialist states officially espousing communism. The name Việt Nam is a variation of Nam Việt, a name that can be traced back to the Triệu Dynasty of the 2nd century BC. The word Việt originated as a form of Bách Việt. The form Vietnam is first recorded in the 16th-century oracular poem Sấm Trạng Trình, the name has also been found on 12 steles carved in the 16th and 17th centuries, including one at Bao Lam Pagoda in Haiphong that dates to 1558. Then, as recorded, rewarded Yuenan/Vietnam as their nations name, to also show that they are below the region of Baiyue/Bach Viet. Between 1804 and 1813, the name was used officially by Emperor Gia Long and it was revived in the early 20th century by Phan Bội Châus History of the Loss of Vietnam, and later by the Vietnamese Nationalist Party. The country was usually called Annam until 1945, when both the government in Huế and the Viet Minh government in Hanoi adopted Việt Nam. Archaeological excavations have revealed the existence of humans in what is now Vietnam as early as the Paleolithic age, Homo erectus fossils dating to around 500,000 BC have been found in caves in Lạng Sơn and Nghệ An provinces in northern Vietnam. The oldest Homo sapiens fossils from mainland Southeast Asia are of Middle Pleistocene provenance, teeth attributed to Homo sapiens from the Late Pleistocene have also been found at Dong Can, and from the Early Holocene at Mai Da Dieu, Lang Gao and Lang Cuom. The Hồng Bàng dynasty of the Hùng kings is considered the first Vietnamese state, in 257 BC, the last Hùng king was defeated by Thục Phán, who consolidated the Lạc Việt and Âu Việt tribes to form the Âu Lạc, proclaiming himself An Dương Vương
28.
Mongolia
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Mongolia /mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ is a landlocked unitary sovereign state in East Asia. Its area is equivalent with the historical territory of Outer Mongolia. It is sandwiched between China to the south and Russia to the north, while it does not share a border with Kazakhstan, Mongolia is separated from it by only 36.76 kilometers. At 1,564,116 square kilometers, Mongolia is the 18th largest and it is also the worlds second-largest landlocked country behind Kazakhstan and the largest landlocked country that does not border a closed sea. The country contains very little land, as much of its area is covered by grassy steppe, with mountains to the north and west. Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the countrys population, approximately 30% of the population is nomadic or semi-nomadic, horse culture is still integral. The majority of its population are Buddhists, the non-religious population is the second largest group. Islam is the dominant religion among ethnic Kazakhs, the majority of the states citizens are of Mongol ethnicity, although Kazakhs, Tuvans, and other minorities also live in the country, especially in the west. Mongolia joined the World Trade Organization in 1997 and seeks to expand its participation in regional economic, the area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Turkic Khaganate, and others. In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history. His grandson Kublai Khan conquered China to establish the Yuan dynasty, after the collapse of the Yuan, the Mongols retreated to Mongolia and resumed their earlier pattern of factional conflict, except during the era of Dayan Khan and Tumen Zasagt Khan. In the 16th century, Tibetan Buddhism began to spread in Mongolia, being led by the Manchu-founded Qing dynasty. By the early 1900s, almost one-third of the male population were Buddhist monks. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence from the Qing dynasty, shortly thereafter, the country came under the control of the Soviet Union, which had aided its independence from China. In 1924, the Mongolian Peoples Republic was declared as a Soviet satellite state, after the anti-Communist revolutions of 1989, Mongolia conducted its own peaceful democratic revolution in early 1990. This led to a multi-party system, a new constitution of 1992, homo erectus inhabited Mongolia from 850,000 years ago. Modern humans reached Mongolia approximately 40,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic, the Khoit Tsenkher Cave in Khovd Province shows lively pink, brown, and red ochre paintings of mammoths, lynx, bactrian camels, and ostriches, earning it the nickname the Lascaux of Mongolia. The venus figurines of Malta testify to the level of Upper Paleolithic art in northern Mongolia, the wheeled vehicles found in the burials of the Afanasevans have been dated to before 2200 BC
29.
Russian Far East
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The Russian Far East is the Russian part of the Far East, i. e. the extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. The Far Eastern Federal District, which covers this area, borders with the Siberian Federal District to the west. The Far Eastern Federal District has land borders with the Peoples Republic of China and North Korea to the south west and maritime borders with Japan, although traditionally considered part of Siberia, the Russian Far East is categorized separately from Siberia in Russian regional schemes. In Russia, the region is referred to as just Far East. What is known in English as the Far East is usually referred to as the Asia-Pacific Region, primorskaya Oblast was established as a separate administrative division of the Russian Empire in 1856, with its administrative center at Khabarovsk. Until 2000, the Russian Far East lacked officially defined boundaries, a single term Siberia and the Far East was often used to refer to Russias regions east of the Urals without drawing a clear distinction between Siberia and the Far East. Since 2000, the term Far East has been used in Russia to refer to the federal district. Defined by the boundaries of the district, the Far East has an area of 6.2 million square kilometers—over one-third of Russias total area. Russia in the early 1900s persistently sought a warm water port on the Pacific Ocean for the navy as well as to facilitate maritime trade, the recently established Pacific seaport of Vladivostok was operational only during the summer season, but Port Arthur in Manchuria was operational all year. After the First Sino-Japanese War and the failure of the 1903 negotiations between Japan and the Tsarss government, Japan chose war to protect its domination of Korea and adjacent territories. Russia, meanwhile, saw war as a means of distracting its populace from government repression, Japan issued a declaration of war on 8 February 1904. However, three hours before Japans declaration of war was received by the Russian Government, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur, eight days later Russia declared war on Japan. Japan also received the southern half of the Island of Sakhalin from Russia, between 1937 and 1939, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin deported over 200,000 Koreans to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, fearing that the Koreans might act as spies for Japan. Many Koreans died on the way in cattle due to starvation, illness. Many community leaders were purged and executed, Koryo-saram were not allowed to travel outside of Central Asia for the next 15 years, Koreans were also not allowed to use the Korean language and its use began to become lost with the involvement of Koryo-mar and the use of Russian. Development of numerous remote locations relied on GULAG labour camps during Stalins rule, after that, the large-scale use of forced labour waned and was superseded by volunteer employees attracted by relatively high wages. Indeed, Japan turned its interests to Soviet territories. Conflicts between the Japanese and the Soviets frequently happened on the border of Manchuria between 1938 and 1945, the first confrontation occurred in Primorsky Krai, the Battle of Lake Khasan was an attempted military incursion of Manchukuo into the territory claimed by the Soviet Union
30.
Qianlong Emperor
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The Qianlong Emperor was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. This turned around in his years, the Qing empire began to decline with rampant corruption and wastefulness in his court. Hongli was adored both by his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor and his father, the Yongzheng Emperor, some historians argue that the main reason why the Kangxi Emperor appointed the Yongzheng Emperor as his successor was because Hongli was his favourite grandson. He felt that Honglis mannerisms were similar to his own. As a teenager, Hongli was very capable in martial arts, after his fathers enthronement in 1722, Hongli was made a qinwang under the title Prince Bao of the First Rank. For many years, the Yongzheng Emperor did not designate any of his sons as the crown prince, Hongli went on inspection trips to the south, and was known to be an able negotiator and enforcer. He was also appointed as the regent on occasions when his father was away from the capital. Honglis accession to the throne was already foreseen before he was proclaimed emperor before the assembled imperial court upon the death of the Yongzheng Emperor. The name in the box was to be revealed to other members of the family in the presence of all senior ministers only upon the death of the emperor. When the Yongzheng Emperor died suddenly in 1735, the will was taken out and read before the entire Qing imperial court, Hongli adopted the era name Qianlong, which is composed of the characters 乾 and 隆 and which collectively mean Lasting Eminence. The Qianlong Emperor was a military leader. Immediately after ascending the throne, he sent armies to suppress the Miao rebellion and his later campaigns greatly expanded the territory controlled by the Qing Empire. This was made not only by Qing military might, but also by the disunity. Under the Qianlong Emperors reign, the Dzungar Khanate was incorporated into the Qing Empires rule and renamed Xinjiang, while to the west, the incorporation of Xinjiang into the Qing Empire resulted from the final defeat and destruction of the Dzungars, a coalition of Western Mongol tribes. The Qianlong Emperor then ordered the Dzungar genocide, historian Peter Perdue has argued that the decimation of the Dzungars was the result of an explicit policy of massacre launched by the Qianlong Emperor. Khalkha Mongol rebels under Prince Chingünjav had plotted with the Dzungar leader Amursana, the Qing army crushed the rebellion and executed Chingünjav and his entire family. Poems glorifying the Qing conquest and genocide of the Dzungar Mongols were written by Zhao, Zhao Yi wrote the Yanpu zaji in brush-notes style, where military expenditures of the Qianlong Emperors reign were recorded. The Qianlong Emperor was praised as being the source of eighteenth-century peace, the Dzungar genocide has been compared to the Qing extermination of the Jinchuan Tibetan people in 1776, which also occurred during the Qianlong Emperors reign
31.
Marco Polo Bridge
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The Marco Polo Bridge or Lugou Bridge is a stone bridge located 15 km southwest of Beijing city center in the Fengtai District. It bridges the Yongding River, a tributary of Hai River. Situated at the end of the bridge is the Wanping Fortress. In recent years, the water of Yongding River has been diverted to different areas of Beijing so often there is no water under the bridge, the name Marco Polo Bridge derives from its appearance in his book of travels, where he praised it highly. The names Lugou or Lukou Bridge and Lugouqiao or Lukouchiao derive from Lugou, over this river there is a very fine stone bridge, so fine indeed, that it has very few equals in the world. Construction of the bridge on this site commenced in 1189. Following damage from the flooding Yongding, the bridge was reconstructed under the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty in 1698, following the Communist takeover of China in 1949, the bridge was decked in asphalt and carried motor vehicular traffic. The nearby New Marco Polo Bridge was completed in 1971 and traffic was moved to it and, later. The Marco Polo Bridge is 266.5 meters in length and 9.3 m in width, hundreds of artistically unique stone lions from different eras line both sides of the bridge. The most intriguing feature of these beasts is the fact there are more lions hiding on the head. Investigations to determine the number of animals have been carried out on several occasions but the results have proved inconsistent. However, record has it there were originally a total of 627 lions. The posture of each varies, as do their ages. Most date from the Ming and Qing dynasties, some are from the earlier Yuan dynasty, four ornamental columns each 4.65 m high and a white marble stele stand at the ends of the bridge. One stele, installed on top of a tortoise, records the reconstruction of the bridge by the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty in 1698. The other stele bears calligraphy by the Qianlong Emperor, a grandson of the Kangxi Emperor and it reads Morning moon over Lugou. For the 800 years since its completion, the bridge has been a well known spot in Beijing. As well as being famed for its features, Marco Polo Bridge is also considered to be an architectural masterpiece
32.
Beijing
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Beijing is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China and the worlds third most populous city proper. It is also one of the worlds most populous capital cities, the city, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts. Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by population after Shanghai and is the nations political, cultural. It is home to the headquarters of most of Chinas largest state-owned companies, and is a hub for the national highway, expressway, railway. The citys history dates back three millennia, as the last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing has been the political centre of the country for much of the past eight centuries. Beijing was the largest city in the world by population for much of the second millennium A. D, the city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, parks, gardens, tombs, walls and gates. Its art treasures and universities have made it centre of culture, encyclopædia Britannica notes that few cities in the world have served for so long as the political headquarters and cultural centre of an area as immense as China. Siheyuans, the traditional housing style, and hutongs, the narrow alleys between siheyuans, are major tourist attractions and are common in urban Beijing. The city hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, many of Beijings 91 universities consistently rank among the best in China, of which Peking University and Tsinghua University are ranked in the top 60 universities in the world. Beijings Zhongguancun area is known as Chinas Silicon Valley and Chinas center of innovation. According to the 2016 InterNations Expat Insider Survey, Beijing ranked first in Asia in the subcategory Personal Finance Index, expats live primarily in urban districts such as Dongcheng and Chaoyang in the east, or in suburban districts such as Shunyi. Over the past 3,000 years, the city of Beijing has had other names. The name Beijing, which means Northern Capital, was applied to the city in 1403 during the Ming Dynasty to distinguish the city from Nanjing, the English spelling is based on the pinyin romanisation of the two characters as they are pronounced in Standard Mandarin. Those dialects preserve the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 京 as kjaeng, the single Chinese character abbreviation for Beijing is 京, which appears on automobile license plates in the city. The official Latin alphabet abbreviation for Beijing is BJ, the earliest traces of human habitation in the Beijing municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where Peking Man lived. Homo erectus fossils from the date to 230,000 to 250,000 years ago. Paleolithic Homo sapiens also lived more recently, about 27,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found neolithic settlements throughout the municipality, including in Wangfujing, the first walled city in Beijing was Ji, a city from the 11th to 7th century BC
33.
Han dynasty
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The Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period. Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered an age in Chinese history. To this day, Chinas majority ethnic group refers to itself as the Han people and it was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han, and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods, the Western Han or Former Han and the Eastern Han or Later Han, the emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the gentry class. The Han Empire was divided into areas controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States, from the reign of Emperor Wu onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 AD, the Han dynasty was an age of economic prosperity and saw a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty. The coinage issued by the government mint in 119 BC remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang dynasty. The period saw a number of limited institutional innovations, the Xiongnu, a nomadic steppe confederation, defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a de facto inferior partner, but continued their raids on the Han borders. Emperor Wu of Han launched several campaigns against them. The ultimate Han victory in these wars eventually forced the Xiongnu to accept vassal status as Han tributaries, the territories north of Hans borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic Xianbei confederation. Imperial authority was seriously challenged by large Daoist religious societies which instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion. When Cao Pi, King of Wei, usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, following Liu Bangs victory in the Chu–Han Contention, the resulting Han dynasty was named after the Hanzhong fief. Chinas first imperial dynasty was the Qin dynasty, the Qin unified the Chinese Warring States by conquest, but their empire became unstable after the death of the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. Within four years, the authority had collapsed in the face of rebellion. Although Xiang Yu proved to be a commander, Liu Bang defeated him at Battle of Gaixia. Liu Bang assumed the title emperor at the urging of his followers and is known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu, Changan was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han
34.
Lushan County, Sichuan
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Lushan County, Sichuan is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of Yaan city, an ancient monument, located in Lushan County and dating to 205 AD of the Eastern Han Dynasty, is the remains of the mausoleum of Fan Min. It is known as Fan Mins Gate Towers and Sculptures, and, according to the archaeologist Chêng Tê-kun, the earthquake was centered in the district and causing more than 100 deaths and property damage directly and indirectly by the quake and by landslides. In an immediate response, the Peoples Liberation Army sent about 8,000 soldiers to the impact site, la grande statuaire, and Les origines de la statuaire en Chine, Collections Bouquins, Paris, Editions Robert Laffont
35.
Ya'an
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Yaan is a prefecture-level city in the western part of Sichuan province, China, located just below the Tibetan Plateau. Previously known as Yazhou-fu, the city is first mentioned during the Zhou Dynasty and it served as a county seat during the Qin and Han Dynasties, but was subsequently taken by nomadic tribes. After being reintegrated into the Chinese Empire in the late 5th century, the modern Yaan county was established in 1912. The busy little town was full of life, for its market is the trading centre for the Chinese. Accompanied by two coolies, I crossed the long bridge which oscillates alarmingly over the Ya Ho. Brick tea comprises not only what we call tea leaves, but also the leaves and some of the twigs of the shrub, as well as the leaves and fruit of other plants. This amalgam is steamed, weighed, and compressed into hard bricks and these rectangular parcels weigh between twenty-two and twenty-six pounds—the quality of the tea makes a slight difference to the weight—and are carried to Kangting by coolies. A long string of them, moving slowly under their monstrous burdens of tea, was a familiar sight along the road I followed, panda tea is also a local speciality. On April 20,2013, the city was hit by an earthquake, causing numerous casualties and heavy damage to housing. Yaan is located at the edge of the Sichuan Basin and on the upper reaches of the Yangtze. Its latitude ranges from 28° 51′ 10″ — 30° 56′ 40″ N, with an area of 15,300 square kilometres and a population of 1,530,000, The city is encircled by mountains, and four rivers flow through it. Yaan has a humid subtropical climate and is largely mild. The presence of the mountains to the northwest greatly affects the citys climate, in the short winters, they help shield the city from cold Siberian winds. January averages 6.3 °C, and while frost may occur, summers are hot and humid, with highs often reaching 30 °C, yet extended heat waves are rare, the daily average in July and August is around 25 °C. With nearly 1,700 millimetres of rainfall occurring on 213 days per year, in addition, rain often falls at night, so fog is not a common occurrence. China National Highway 318 Baoxing County Xikang Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed.2005 Forbes, Andrew, Henley, ASIN, B005DQV7Q2 Official website of Yaan Government National Geographic Magazine, Tea Horse Road
36.
Sichuan
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In antiquity, Sichuan was the home of the ancient states of Ba and Shu. Their conquest by Qin strengthened it and paved the way for the First Emperors unification of China under the Qin Dynasty, during the Three Kingdoms era, Liu Beis Shu was based in Sichuan. The area was devastated in the 17th century by Zhang Xianzhongs rebellion and the areas subsequent Manchu conquest, during the Second World War, Chongqing served as the temporary capital of the Republic of China, making it the focus of Japanese bombing. It was one of the last mainland areas to fall to the Communists during the Chinese Civil War and was divided into four parts from 1949 to 1952, with Chongqing restored two years later. It suffered gravely during the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–61 but remained Chinas most populous province until Chongqing Municipality was again separated from it in 1997, the people of Sichuan speak a unique form of Mandarin, which took shape during the areas repopulation under the Ming. The family of dialects is now spoken by about 120 million people, in Modern Chinese, the name Sichuan has the meaning four rivers and this folk etymology is usually extended to list the provinces four major rivers, the Jialing, Jinsha, Min, and Tuo. In addition to its map and Wade-Giles forms, the name has also been irregularly romanized as Szű-chuan and Szechuan. In antiquity, the area of modern Sichuan was known to the Chinese as Ba and Shu, in reference to the ancient states of Ba and it was the refuge of the Tang court during the An Lushan Rebellion of the mid-8th century. The region had its own religious beliefs and worldview. The most important native states were those of Ba and Shu, Ba stretched into Sichuan from the Han Valley in Shaanxi and Hubei down the Jialing River as far as its confluence with the Yangtze at Chongqing. Shu occupied the valley of the Min, including Chengdu and other areas of western Sichuan, the existence of the early state of Shu was poorly recorded in the main historical records of China. It was, however, referred to in the Book of Documents as an ally of the Zhou and this site, believed to be an ancient city of Shu, was initially discovered by a local farmer in 1929 who found jade and stone artefacts. The Sichuan basin is surrounded by the Himalayas to the west, the Qin Mountains to the north, Qin armies finished their conquest of the kingdoms of Shu and Ba by 316 BC. Any written records and civil achievements of earlier kingdoms were destroyed, Qin administrators introduced improved agricultural technology. Li Bing, engineered the Dujiangyan irrigation system to control the Min River and this innovative hydraulic system was composed of movable weirs which could be adjusted for high or low water flow according to the season, to either provide irrigation or prevent floods. The increased agricultural output and taxes made the area a source of provisions, Sichuan was subjected to the autonomous control of kings named by the imperial family of Han Dynasty. Shu-Han claimed to be the successor to the Han Dynasty, in 263, the Jin dynasty of North China, conquered the Kingdom of Shu-Han as its first step on the path to unify China again, under their rule. Salt production becomes a business in Ziliujing District
37.
Victor Segalen
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Victor Segalen was a French naval doctor, ethnographer, archeologist, writer, poet, explorer, art-theorist, linguist and literary critic. He studied naval medicine in Bordeaux and he traveled and lived in Polynesia and China. He died by accident in a forest in Huelgoat, France, in 1934, the French state inscribed his name on the walls of the Panthéon because of his sacrifice for his country during World War I. Lobservation médicale chez les écrivains naturalistes, thesis, Bordeaux,1902, Les Synesthésies et lécole symboliste,1902. Gauguin dans son dernier décor,1904, stèles,1912, new edition, presented by Simon Leys, Éditions de la Différence, coll. Peintures, Chez Georges Crès et Cie,1916, dossier pour une Fondation Sinologique, Rougerie,1986. Essai sur lexotisme, Fata Morgana,1978, nouvelle édition, Livre de poche, dans un monde sonore, Fata Morgana,2010, nouvelle édition. De Pékin aux marches tibétaines…,1929, voyage au pays du réel,1929. La Grande Statuaire chinoise, suivi de Les origines de la statuaire en Chine 1972. Briques et Tuiles, Fata Morgana,1975, le Fils du ciel, chronique des jours souverains,1985. Gustave Moreau, maître imagier de lorphisme,1995, quelques musées par le monde,1995. Correspondance,2004 Un grand fleuve, préface de Jean Esponde, Les Marquises, extrait de Journal des Îles, suivi de Cyclone dans les îles Tuamotu, préface de Jean Esponde, éd
38.
Relief
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Relief is a sculptural technique where the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term relief is from the Latin verb relevo, to raise, to create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. What is actually performed when a relief is cut in from a surface of stone or wood is a lowering of the field. The technique involves considerable chiselling away of the background, which is a time-consuming exercise. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mâché the form can be just added to or raised up from the background, and monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting. There are different degrees of relief depending on the degree of projection of the form from the field. There is also sunk relief, which was restricted to Ancient Egypt. However the distinction between high relief and low relief is the clearest and most important, and these two are generally the only used to discuss most work. Hyphens may or may not be used in all these terms, works in the technique are described as in relief, and, especially in monumental sculpture, the work itself is a relief. Reliefs are common throughout the world on the walls of buildings and a variety of settings. Relief is more suitable for depicting complicated subjects with figures and very active poses, such as battles. Most ancient architectural reliefs were painted, which helped to define forms in low relief. Rock reliefs are carved into solid rock in the open air. This type is found in cultures, in particular those of the Ancient Near East and Buddhist countries. A stele is a standing stone, many of these carry reliefs. The distinction between high and low relief is somewhat subjective, and the two are often combined in a single work. In particular, most later high reliefs contain sections in low relief, a low relief or bas-relief is a projecting image with a shallow overall depth, for example used on coins, on which all images are in low relief. Other versions distort depth much less and it is a technique which requires less work, and is therefore cheaper to produce, as less of the background needs to be removed in a carving, or less modelling is required
39.
Nanjing Museum
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The Nanjing Museum is located in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province in East China. With an area of 70,000 square metres, it is one of the largest museums in China, the museum has over 400,000 items in its permanent collection, making it one of the largest in China. Especially notable is the museums collections of Ming and Qing imperial porcelain. It was established by the Republic of China as the National Central Museum in 1933, during the Japanese invasion, many collections were transferred to Southwest China, and in the end moved to the National Palace Museum in Taipei when the Kuomintang lost the Chinese Civil War. The Nanjing Museum was one of the first museums established in China, the predecessor of the Nanjing Museum was the preparatory department of the National Central Museum, which established in 1933. The museum took over 12.9 hectares in the Half Hill Garden of Zhongshan Gate, cai Yuanpei, the first preparatory president of the council of the museum, proposed building three major halls, named Humanity, Craft and Nature. Because of Chinas political instability in the 1930s, only the Humanity Hall was built, part of the museums collection was relocated to Taiwan by the Kuomintang in 1949 and is now part of the National Palace Museum in Taipei. In 1999 and 2009, extensions were built to the museum, the main building was designed by Liang Sicheng in the 1930s combining Chinese and Western architectural styles. The front section is structure of traditional style and features a tiled roof. In the back is a Western-style flat-roof structure, added in the 1990s to the west of the main building is an art hall which references Chinese architecture of the first half of the 20th century. There are twelve exhibition halls at the museum, a highlight of the collection is a full-size suit of armor made from small jade tiles held together by silver wire
40.
Hunping
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The hunping, translated as soul jar or soul vase, is a type of ceramic funerary urn often found in the tombs of the Han dynasty and especially the Six Dynasties periods of early imperial China. It was characteristic of the Jiangnan region in modern Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the purpose of a hunping is somewhat enigmatic, but archaeologists suggest that they may have been used as containers for fruit accompanying the deceased into the afterlife. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the ancients may have hoped that the soul of the deceased would reside in the vessel. Since the last decades of the Han Dynasty, the top of hunping vessels started to be decorated with sculptures of men, animals, birds. Gradually, sculptural compositions became more elaborate, including images of entire buildings and it is due to an early-Jin Dynasty hunping, dating to 272, that an early example of a tortoise-born stele is known to us. A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Changsha
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Changsha is the capital of Hunan province, south central China. It covers 11,819 km2 and is bordered by Yueyang and Yiyang to the north, Loudi to the west, Xiangtan and Zhuzhou to the south, Yichun and Pingxiang of Jiangxi province to the east. According to 2010 Census, Changsha has 7,044,118 residents and it has a moist monsoon climate of the subtropical zone. The average annual air temperature is 16. 8–17.3 °C, Changsha is famous for that it was the capital of Changsha State in the Han Dynasty, and the capital of Chu State in Ten Kingdoms period. The lacquerware and Silk Texts recovered from Mawangdui there are an indication of the richness of local craft traditions, in 1904, Changsha was opened to foreign trade, and large numbers of Europeans and Americans settled there. Changsha was the site of Mao Zedongs conversion to communism and it was also the scene of major battles in the Sino-Japanese War and was briefly occupied by the Japanese. Nowadays, Changsha is an important commercial, manufacturing and transportation center in China, the origins of the name Changsha are lost in antiquity. In the 2nd century AD, historian Ying Shao wrote that the Qin dynasty use of the name Changsha for the area was a continuance of its old name, archeologial evidence provides evidence of settlement 150,000 to 200,000 BC. Development occurred drastically closer to 3000BC when Changsha developed with the proliferation of Longshan culture, despite this, pottery and bronze ware have been discovered. In the Central Plain region during the Zhou and Shang dynasties, Sima Qian writes in his Records of the Grand Historian Huangdi, loving his Shaohao, gave him a parcel of land, an area amounted to Changsha and surrounding land. Evidence exists that people lived and thrived in the area during the Bronze Age, numerous examples of pottery and items of interest were discovered and recovered. Changsha entered a time of turmoil, eastern Zhous collapse swept in turmoil with the Spring and Autumn Period. The Yue culture spread and took a stronghold through the region, during the height of the Warring States Period, the Chu Kingdom took a hardline nationalist and reform approach and took a large-scale military operations in South China. Chu Kingdom took control of Changsha and turned the city into an important part of the part of Chu. After years of war and occupation, Changsha slowly replaced Yue culture with Chu culture, nobles created tombs and got buried in tombs. In 1951-1957, archaeologists explored numerous large and medium-sized Chu tombs from the warring states era, there have been more than 3,000 tombs discovered of various people. The coming of Chu brought a lot of tools and production experience, massive changes quickly propelled Changsha through the Iron Age and into the feudal age of society. The city is sometimes called Qingyang in Warring States period texts, the slow wearing of time, turbulence, and turmoil weakened the Changsha and the region
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Xiao Xiu
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Xiao Xiu, styled Prince Anchengkang, was a younger half-brother of Emperor Wu, the first emperor of Chinas Liang Dynasty. According to the Liang Shu, he was the 7th son of the Xiao Yans father Xiao Shunzhi, Xiao Xiu is said to have been a disciple of the Buddhist monk Daodu. Xiao Xiu is better remembered not for what he did while alive, Xiao Xius tomb is located in the Ganjia Lane neighborhood in todays Qixia District north-east of Nanjing. It is thought that the ensemble of the tomb included a pair of winged lion-like animals, four steles supported by stone tortoises. Visited and photographed by Victor Segalen in 1917, the ensemble of the Tomb of Xiao Xiu soon became known to Europes. Presently, the site is on the grounds of Gan Jia Xiang Elementary School
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Liang dynasty
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The Liang dynasty, also known as the Southern Liang dynasty, was the third of the Southern Dynasties during Chinas Southern and Northern Dynasties period. Located in central China, north of Lake Dongting, the Liang dynasty was followed by the Chen dynasty, during the Liang dynasty, in 547 a Persian embassy paid tribute to the Liang, amber was recorded as originating from Persia by the Book of Liang. The ending date for Liang dynasty itself is a matter of controversy among historians, many historians consider the end of Emperor Jings reign in 556, when he was forced to yield the throne to Chen Baxian, who established Chen dynasty, to be Liangs end date. Others regard the abolition of Western Liang in 587 to be the end of Liang. A Liang scion named Xiao Xian attempted to revive the Liang dynasty during the collapse of the Sui dynasty and he was defeated and executed by Emperor Gaozu of Tang. Tombs of a number of members of the ruling Xiao family, with their sculptural ensembles, the best surviving example of the Liang dynastys monumental statuary is perhaps the ensemble of the Tomb of Xiao Xiu, a brother of Emperor Wu, located in Qixia District east of Nanjing. Tombs of the Liang Dynasty King of Liang Book of Liang Book of Zhou History of Northern Dynasties History of Southern Dynasties Zizhi Tongjian Media related to Liang dynasty at Wikimedia Commons
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Emperor Wu of Liang
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Emperor Wu of Liang, personal name Xiao Yan, courtesy name Shuda, nickname Lianer, was the founding emperor of the Liang Dynasty of Chinese history. His reign, until the end, was one of the most stable, Emperor Wu created universities and extending the Confucian civil service exams, demanding that sons of nobles study. He was well read himself and wrote poetry and patronized the arts, although for governmental affairs he was Confucian in values, he embraced Buddhism as well. He himself was attracted to many Indian traditions and he banned the sacrifice of animals and was against execution. It was said that he received the Buddhist precepts during his reign, the Emperor is the namesake of the Emperor Liang Jeweled Repentance, a widely read and major Buddhist text in China and Korea. Emperor Liang himself died while under house arrest, with some believing that Hou starved him to death. Xiao Yan was born in 464, during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of Liu Song, for Xiao Shunzhis contributions, Xiao Daocheng created him the Marquess of Linxiang and made him a general. Lady Zhang died in 471, predating Xiao Shunzhis becoming a marquess during Southern Qi, Xiao Yan had six other brothers born of Xiao Shunzhis concubines. One of them, Xiao Xiu is now mainly remembered because of his comparatively well-preserved funerary statuary ensemble near Nanjing, around 481 or 482, Xiao Yan married Chi Hui, the daughter of the Liu Song official Chi Ye and the Princess Xunyang. She bore him three daughters—Xiao Yuyao, Xiao Yuwan, and Xiao Yuhuan, but no sons. Wang was said to be impressed by Xiao Yans talents and appearance, and he said, Mr. Xiao will be Shizhong before he turns 30. When Xiao Luan later took the throne, Xiao Yan was created the Baron of Jianyang, in 495, when Northern Wei forces invade, Xiao Yan was on the frontline fighting Northern Wei troops, and he distinguished himself under the command of Wang Guangzhi. In 497, with Northern Wei again attacking, Xiao Yan was one of the generals that Emperor Ming sent to aid the embattled Yong Province and it was at Xiangyang that Xiao Yans wife Chi Hui died in 499. Xiao Yan would not take another wife for the rest of his life, the six officials each handled important matters of state according to their will and paid the young emperor little deference, drawing his ire. Xiao Yaoguang, who wanted to be himself and feared being the next target. This led to a rebellion by the senior general Chen Xianda from his post at Jiang Province, in fear, the general Pei Zhaoye, who controlled Shouyang as the governor of Yu Province, surrendered Shouyang to Northern Wei in 500, despite Xiao Yans counsel against it. Xiao Baojuan sent Cui Huijing to try to recapture Shouyang, Cui was initially successful, surrounding Xiao Baojuans troops inside the palace complex. However, Xiao Yi, upon hearing news of Cuis rebellion and he routed Cuis forces, and Cui was killed while trying to escape
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Nanjing
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Nanjing has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having served as the capitals of various Chinese dynasties, kingdoms and republican governments dating from the 3rd century CE to 1949. When being the capital of a state, for instance, the ROC, Nanjing is particularly known as Jinling or Ginling and the old name has been used since the Warring States period in Zhou Dynasty. Located in Yangtze River Delta area and the center of east China and it has also been awarded the title of 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honour of China, Special UN Habitat Scroll of Honour Award and National Civilized City. Nanjing boasts many high-quality universities and research institutes, with the number of universities listed in 100 National Key Universities ranking third, the ratio of college students to total population ranks No.1 among large cities nationwide. Nanjing is one of the three Chinese top research centers according to Nature Index, Key cultural facilities include Nanjing Library, Nanjing Museum and Art Museum. Archaeological discovery shows that Nanjing Man lived in more than 500 thousand years ago, zun, a kind of wine vessel, was found to exist in Beiyinyangying culture of Nanjing in about 5000 years ago. According to a legend quoted by an artist in Ming dynasty, Chen Yi, Fuchai, King of the State of Wu, later in 473 BCE, the State of Yue conquered Wu and constructed the fort of Yuecheng on the outskirts of the present-day Zhonghua Gate. In 333 BCE, after eliminating the State of Yue, the State of Chu built Jinling Yi in the part of present-day Nanjing. It was renamed Moling during reign of Qin Shi Huang, since then, the city experienced destruction and renewal many times. Nanjing was later the city of Danyang Prefecture, and had been the capital city of Yangzhou for about 400 years from late Han to early Tang. This city would soon play a role in the following centuries. Shortly after the unification of the region, the Western Jin dynasty collapsed, First the rebellions by eight Jin princes for the throne and later rebellions and invasion from Xiongnu and other nomadic peoples that destroyed the rule of the Jin dynasty in the north. Its the first time that the capital of the moved to southern part. During the period of North–South division, Nanjing remained the capital of the Southern dynasties for more than two and a half centuries, during this time, Nanjing was the international hub of East Asia. Based on historical documents, the city had 280,000 registered households, assuming an average Nanjing household had about 5.1 people at that time, the city had more than 1.4 million residents. As the old capital of China, many legendary stories happened here, residents in Nanjing all have the warmest affection for this city. Throughout glory and darkness in past centuries, Nanjing becomes a low-key city, GDP growth rate significantly exceeds the average rate in China for decades, which also maintain a fast developing model. Possibly the best preserved of them is the ensemble of the Tomb of Xiao Xiu, the period of division ended when the Sui Dynasty reunified China and almost destroyed the entire city, turning it into a small town
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Ming dynasty
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The Ming dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China – then known as the Empire of the Great Ming – for 276 years following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming, described by some as one of the greatest eras of orderly government, although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng, regimes loyal to the Ming throne – collectively called the Southern Ming – survived until 1683. He rewarded his supporters and employed them as a counterweight against the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats. One, Zheng He, led seven enormous voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean as far as Arabia, the rise of new emperors and new factions diminished such extravagances, the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor during the 1449 Tumu Crisis ended them completely. The imperial navy was allowed to fall into disrepair while forced labor constructed the Liaodong palisade, haijin laws intended to protect the coasts from Japanese pirates instead turned many into smugglers and pirates themselves. The growth of Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch trade created new demand for Chinese products and produced an influx of Japanese. This abundance of specie remonetized the Ming economy, whose money had suffered repeated hyperinflation and was no longer trusted. While traditional Confucians opposed such a prominent role for commerce and the newly rich it created, combined with crop failure, floods, and epidemic, the dynasty collapsed before the rebel leader Li Zicheng, who was defeated by the Manchu-led Eight Banner armies who founded the Qing dynasty. The Mongol-led Yuan dynasty ruled before the establishment of the Ming dynasty, consequently, agriculture and the economy were in shambles, and rebellion broke out among the hundreds of thousands of peasants called upon to work on repairing the dykes of the Yellow River. A number of Han Chinese groups revolted, including the Red Turbans in 1351, the Red Turbans were affiliated with the White Lotus, a Buddhist secret society. Zhu Yuanzhang was a peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red Turbans in 1352. In 1356, Zhus rebel force captured the city of Nanjing, with the Yuan dynasty crumbling, competing rebel groups began fighting for control of the country and thus the right to establish a new dynasty. In 1363, Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated his archrival and leader of the rebel Han faction, Chen Youliang, in the Battle of Lake Poyang, arguably the largest naval battle in history. Known for its ambitious use of ships, Zhus force of 200,000 Ming sailors were able to defeat a Han rebel force over triple their size, claimed to be 650. The victory destroyed the last opposing rebel faction, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang in uncontested control of the bountiful Yangtze River Valley, Zhu Yuanzhang took Hongwu, or Vastly Martial, as his era name. Hongwu made an effort to rebuild state infrastructure. He built a 48 km long wall around Nanjing, as well as new palaces, Hongwu organized a military system known as the weisuo, which was similar to the fubing system of the Tang dynasty. With a growing suspicion of his ministers and subjects, Hongwu established the Jinyiwei, some 100,000 people were executed in a series of purges during his rule
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