1.
Monarchy
–
The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
2.
Han campaigns against Dian
–
Dian was placed under Han rule in 109 BC, after Emperor Wudi dispatched an army against the kingdom as the empire expanded southward. Dian was a kingdom in southwestern China. Han Chinese textual sources record the claim that it was established by Zhuang Qiao and he had been sent to area as part of failed Chu military campaign. The Qin was overthrown by the Han, and the commanderies of the new dynasty, Ba and Shu, the earliest Han expedition against Dian was led by Tang Meng in 135 BC, who established the Jianwei commandery in the region. The Han had been attracted to the wealth of the kingdom, which traded cattle, fruit, horses, Han soldiers opened up new trade routes, then expanded further north, toward an area near Shu. The commandery was later abandoned because of rising costs and the wars against the Xiongnu to the north of China. A later Chinese expedition, heading south to established a trade route after a report on Central Asian trade in 122 BC, was captured by the Dian for four years, a military campaign dispatched by Emperor Wudi in 109 BC invaded and annexed Dian. The Yizhou commandery was established in the former kingdom, Dians surrender was verified by archaeologists, who discovered an imperial seal inscribed by the Han for the king of Dian. There were a series of rebellions by the Dian against Han rule. The first two incidents occurred in 86 BC and 83 BC, a rebellion in 35BC–28 BC was suppressed by Chen Li, governor of the Zangge commandery. More violence surfaced during Wang Mangs usurpation of the Han emperor, Wang responded by dispatching military campaigns against the southwest. One campaign lost 70% of its soldiers due to illness, another, with 100,000 men and double the supplies, had little success. There was also a rebellion in 42–45 and 176, during Emperor Mingdis reign in 57–75, the Han expanded further, and established a new commandery in Yunnan, Yongchang, west of the former Dian kingdom in Yizhou. In 114, tribes residing west of the Yuesui commandery accepted Han rule, Emperor Huangti embarked on a sinicization campaign during his reign between 146 and 168 that introduced Chinese ethics and culture to the tribes. The continued to be periodic rebellions, follow by their suppression by the Han, the sinicization of the Dian began after the Han annexation of 109 BC and is apparent in the artifacts uncovered by archaeologists in the area. Mirrors, coins, ceramics, and bronzes manufactured in Han style have been found in Yunnan, Emperor Huangti encouraged the teaching of Chinese belief systems in Dian. Dian artifacts, once visually distinct from the Han, borrowed heavily from Han imports by 100 BC, the Cambridge Illustrated History of China. The Formation of Chinese Civilization, An Archaeological Perspective, the Arts of China to Ad 900
3.
Han dynasty
–
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
4.
Simplified Chinese characters
–
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.
Traditional Chinese characters
–
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
6.
Dian Lake
–
Dianchi Lake, also known as Lake Dian and Kunming Lake, is a large lake located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau close to Kunming, Yunnan, in southern China. Its nickname is the Sparkling Pearl Embedded in a Highland and it was the model for the Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace in Beijing and its name is the source of Yunnans Chinese abbreviation 滇. It is a freshwater lake at 1,886.5 m above sea level. It is 39 km long north to south, and the average depth is 4.4 m. It is the eighth largest lake in China and the largest in Yunnan Province, Dianchi Lake was the site of the capital of the independent kingdom of the Cuan during the first millennium AD. At that time, it was known as Kunchuan, pollution is a major problem for the lake. But 90 percent of Kunmings wastewater was pumped untreated into the lake until the first wastewater plant was built in 1990. In addition, much of the system around the lake was destroyed during the Great Leap Forward in a misguided effort to raise rice production by filling the marshes in with trucked-in soil. Agricultural runoff is also a major problem, the lake water is now undrinkable despite several billion US dollars having been spent trying to clean it up. Together with other Yunnan lakes, Dian Lake is recognized as an ecoregion, among three major Yunnan lakes with a high number of endemics, the two other being Fuxian and Erhai, the most drastic loss of biodiversity has been seen in Dian. Today the only endemic fish known to survive in the lake itself is Anabarilius alburnops, the remaining have not been recorded there since the 1990s or earlier, and most of these are likely extinct. Two other species, Schizothorax grahami and Yunnanilus nigromaculatus, are endemic to the general region, among the non-endemic natives, only gold fish and Asian swamp eel still live in Dian Lake. In contrast to the status of the natives, the lake is now home to more than 25 introduced fish species, the Yunnan lake newt was endemic to the lake, but it has not been seen since 1979 and is considered extinct. Many native hydrophytes have disappeared from the lake. Dian Kingdom List of lakes in China Developing a Suitability Index for Residential Land Use, A case study in Dianchi Drainage Area Kunming Dianchi Administration Bureau
7.
Yunnan
–
Yunnan is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country. It spans approximately 394,000 square kilometres and has a population of 45.7 million in 2009, the capital of the province is Kunming, formerly also known as Yunnan. The province borders Vietnam, Laos, and Burma, Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the altitude can vary from the peaks to river valleys as much as 3,000 metres. Yunnan is rich in resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of plants in China. Yunnans reserves of aluminium, lead, zinc and tin are the largest in China, the Han Empire first recorded diplomatic relations with the province at the end of the 2nd century BC. It became the seat of a Sino-Tibetan-speaking kingdom of Nanzhao in the 8th centuryAD, Nanzhao was multi-ethnic, but the elite most-likely spoke a northern dialect of Yi. The Mongols conquered the region in the 13th century, with local control exercised by warlords until the 1930s, as with other parts of Chinas southwest, Japanese occupation in the north during World War II forced another migration of majority Han people into the region. These two wave of migration contributed to Yunnan being one of the most ethnically diverse provinces of China, major ethnic groups include Yi, Bai, Hani, Zhuang, Dai and Miao. The Yuanmou Man, a Homo erectus fossil unearthed by railway engineers in the 1960s, has determined to be the oldest-known hominid fossil in China. By the Neolithic period, there were settlements in the area of Lake Dian. These people used tools and constructed simple wooden structures. Around the 3rd century BC, the area of Yunnan around present day Kunming was known as Dian. The Chu general Zhuang Qiao entered the region from the upper Yangtze River and he and his followers brought into Yunnan an influx of Chinese influence, the start of a long history of migration and cultural expansion. In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang unified China and extended his authority south, commanderies and counties were established in Yunnan. An existing road in Sichuan – the Five Foot Way – was extended south to present day Qujing
8.
China
–
China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
9.
Spring and Autumn period
–
The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 771 to 476 BC which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty. The periods name derives from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 and 479 BC, which associates with Confucius. The gradual Partition of Jin, one of the most powerful states, marked the end of the Spring and Autumn period, in 771 BC, the Quanrong invasion destroyed the Western Zhou and its capital Haojing, forcing the Zhou king to flee to the eastern capital Luoyi. The event ushered in the Eastern Zhou dynasty, which is divided into the Spring and Autumn, during the Spring and Autumn period, Chinas feudal system of fengjian became largely irrelevant. The Zhou court, having lost its homeland in the Guanzhong region, held nominal power, during the early part of the Zhou dynasty period, royal relatives and generals had been given control over fiefdoms in an effort to maintain Zhou authority over vast territory. As the power of the Zhou kings waned, these became increasingly independent states. The most important states came together in regular conferences where they decided important matters, during these conferences one vassal ruler was sometimes declared hegemon. As the era continued, larger and more powerful states annexed or claimed suzerainty over smaller ones, by the 6th century BC most small states had disappeared and just a few large and powerful principalities dominated China. Some southern states, such as Chu and Wu, claimed independence from the Zhou, in Chengzhou, Prince Yijiu was crowned by his supporters as King Ping. The Zhou court would never regain its authority, instead. Though the king de jure retained the Mandate of Heaven, the title held little actual power, a total of 148 states are mentioned in the chronicles for this period,128 of which were absorbed by the four largest states by the end of the period. The kings prestige legitimized the military leaders of the states, over the next two centuries, the four most powerful states—Qin, Jin, Qi and Chu—struggled for power. These multi-city states often used the pretext of aid and protection to intervene, during this rapid expansion, interstate relations alternated between low-level warfare and complex diplomacy. Duke Yin of Lu ascended the throne in 722 BC, from this year on the state of Lu kept an official chronicle, the Spring and Autumn Annals, which along with its commentaries is the standard source for the Spring and Autumn period. Corresponding chronicles are known to have existed in states as well. In 717 BC, Duke Zhuang of Zheng went to the capital for an audience with King Huan, during the encounter the duke felt he was not treated with the respect and etiquette which would have been appropriate, given that Zheng was now the chief protector of the capital. In 715 BC Zheng also became involved in a dispute with Lu regarding the Fields of Xu. The fields had been put in the care of Lu by the king for the purpose of producing royal sacrifices for the sacred Mount Tai
10.
Tibeto-Burman languages
–
The name derives from the most widely spoken of these languages, namely Burmese and the Tibetic languages. These languages also have extensive literary traditions, dating from the 12th and 7th centuries respectively, most of the other languages are spoken by much smaller communities, and many of them have not been described in detail. Some taxonomies divide Sino-Tibetan into Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman branches, however, other scholars deny that Tibeto-Burman comprises a monophyletic group. Van Driem argues that the Sino-Tibetan family should be called Tibeto-Burman, others exclude a relationship with Chinese altogether. During the 18th century, several scholars noticed parallels between Tibetan and Burmese, both languages with extensive literary traditions, others identified related languages in the highlands of southeast Asia and southwest China. The name Tibeto-Burman was first applied to this group in 1856 by James Logan, the third volume of the Linguistic Survey of India was devoted to the Tibeto-Burman languages of British India. Julius Klaproth had noted in 1823 that Burmese, Tibetan and Chinese all shared common basic vocabulary, several authors, including Ernst Kuhn in 1883 and August Conrady in 1896, described an Indo-Chinese family consisting of two branches, Tibeto-Burman and Chinese-Siamese. The Tai languages were included on the basis of vocabulary and typological features shared with Chinese, jean Przyluski introduced the term sino-tibétain as the title of his chapter on the group in Antoine Meillet and Marcel Cohens Les Langues du Monde in 1924. The Tai languages have not been included in most Western accounts of Sino-Tibetan since the Second World War, the link to Chinese is now accepted by most linguists, with a few exceptions such as Roy Andrew Miller and Christopher Beckwith. More recent controversy has centred on the proposed primary branching of Sino-Tibetan into Chinese, most of the Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken in inaccessible mountain areas and many are unwritten, which has greatly hampered their study. It is generally easier to identify a language as Tibeto-Burman than to determine its precise relationship with other languages of the group. These subgroups are here surveyed on a geographical basis, the southernmost group are the Karen languages, spoken by three million people on both sides of the Burma–Thailand border. They differ from all other Tibeto-Burman languages in having a word order, attributed to contact with Tai–Kadai. The most widely spoken Tibeto-Burman language is Burmese, the language of Myanmar, with over 32 million speakers. All languages of the Loloish subgroup show significant Austroasiatic influence, the Pai-lang songs, transcribed in Chinese characters in the 1st century, appear to record words from a Lolo-Burmese language, but arranged in Chinese order. The Tibeto-Burman languages of southwest China have been influenced by Chinese over a long period. The grouping of the Bai language, with one million speakers in Yunnan, is particularly controversial, the Naxi language of northern Yunnan is usually included in Lolo-Burmese, though other scholars prefer to leave it unclassified. The hills of northwestern Sichuan are home to the small Qiangic and Rgyalrongic groups of languages, the most easterly Tibeto-Burman language is Tujia, spoken in the Wuling Mountains on the borders of Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Chongqing
11.
Southward expansion of the Han dynasty
–
The southward expansion of the Han dynasty comprises a series of military campaigns and expeditions in what is now modern South China and Northern Vietnam. Military expansion to the south began under the previous Qin dynasty, campaigns were dispatched against the Yue tribes, leading to the annexation of Minyue by the Han in 135 BCE and 111 BCE, Nanyue in 111 BCE, and Dian in 109 BCE. Chinese culture influenced the conquered territories, and merged with native traditions. Han influences are apparent in artifacts excavated in the Baiyue tombs of southern China and this influence extended to the kingdoms of Southeast Asian, where contact led to trade and diplomacy. The demand for Chinese silk established trade routes between Europe, the Middle East, and China, military campaigns against the Baiyue began under the Qin, the dynasty that preceded the Han. The First Emperor of the Qin desired the resources of the Baiyue and he sent a large campaign against Lingnan in 214 BC, comprising conscripted merchants and soldiers. Military garrisons were installed, the Lingqu Canal was constructed, the collapse of the Qin caused the dissolution of Qin administration in southern China. Indigenous Yue kingdoms emerged in the former Qin territories, including the Nanyue kingdom in Guangxi, Guangdong, and Vietnam, Minyue in Fujian, supported by the Han, Minyue was established in 202 BC and Eastern Ou in 192 BC after the fall of the Qin dynasty. Zhao Tuo, a former Chinese commander of the Qin, established Nanyue in 208 BC after the death of the emperor Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Gaozu, first emperor of the Han dynasty, approved Zhao Tuos new title as king. Zhao was born in the city of Zhending in Central China, in 180 BC, Zhao offered to submit as a vassal state and the Han accepted, a decision partly based on his familys northern Chinese ancestry. Military campaigns were launched against the Baiyue under the reign of the Han emperor Han Wudi, Eastern Ou requested Han military assistance when Minyue invaded the kingdom in 138 BC. Supreme commander Tian Fen opposed Han intervention. Tian told the emperor that the Yue tribes could not be trusted, battles between the Yue tribes occurred frequently, and Tian believed that protecting them was not a responsibility of the Han court. The Han official Zhuang Zhu convinced the emperor to intervene in the war, zhuangs argument was based on the emperors role as the Son of Heaven, a concept in Chinese political philosophy. Now a small country has come to report its distress to the Son of Heaven, if he does not save it, to whom can it turn for aid. And how can the Son of Heaven claim that the rulers of all states are like sons to him if he ignores their pleases. The Minyue surrendered after a Han naval force led by Zhuang Zhu was dispatched from Shaoxing in northern Zhejiang, the Yue tribes of Eastern Ou were transferred to the north, between the Yangtze River and Huai River. A second intervention was launched in 135 BC after Minyue, ruled by Zou Ying, invaded Nanyue, Zhao asked the Han for their support, and the emperor responded by sending an army led by Wang Hui and Han Anguo against Minyue. Zou Ying was assassinated with a spear by his younger brother Zou Yushan, Ying beheaded the corpse and gave the head to a messenger, who delivered it to Wang as a sign of Minyues surrender
12.
Cowry
–
Cowry or cowrie, plural cowries, is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. The word cowry is also used to refer only to the shells of these snails. Many people throughout history have found the very rounded, shiny, porcelain-like shells of cowries pleasing to look at, indeed, the term porcelain derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell due to their similar translucent appearance. The cowry was the shell most widely used worldwide as shell money, cowry shell money was important at one time or another in the trade networks of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. Some species in the family Ovulidae are also referred to as cowries. In the British Isles the local Trivia species are sometimes called cowries, the Ovulidae and the Triviidae are somewhat closely related to Cypraeidae. The shells of cowries are usually smooth and shiny and more or less egg-shaped, with a flat surface which shows a long, narrow, slit-like opening. The narrower end of the cowry shell is the anterior end. The spire of the shell is not visible in the shell of most species, but is visible in juveniles. Nearly all cowries have a porcelain-like shine, with exceptions such as Hawaiis granulated cowry. Lengths range from 5 mm for some species up to 19 cm for the Atlantic deer cowry, the word cowrie comes from Hindi कौड़ी and ultimately from Sanskrit कपर्द. Cowry shells, especially Monetaria moneta, were used for centuries as currency in Africa, after the 1500s, however, it became even more common. Western nations, chiefly through the trade, introduced huge amounts of Maldivian cowries in Africa. The Ghanaian unit of currency known as the Ghanaian cedi was named after cowry shells, starting over three thousand years ago, cowry shells, or copies of the shells, were used as Chinese currency. They were also used as means of exchange in India, the Classical Chinese character for money originated as a stylized drawing of a Maldivian cowrie shell. Words and characters concerning money, property or wealth usually have this as a radical, before the Spring and Autumn period the cowrie was used as a type of trade token awarding access to a feudal lords resources to a worthy vassal. There is some debate about how the Ojibway traded for or found these shells, so far inland and so far north, oral stories and birch bark scrolls seem to indicate that the shells were found in the ground, or washed up on the shores of lakes or rivers. Petroforms in the Whiteshell Provincial Park may be as old as 8,000 years, cowry shells are also worn as jewelry or otherwise used as ornaments or charms
13.
Shell money
–
Shell money is a medium of exchange similar to money that was once commonly used in many parts of the world. Shell money usually consisted either of sea shells or pieces of them. The use of shells in trade began as direct commodity exchange, the distinction between beads as commodities and beads as money has been the subject of debate among economic anthropologists. Some form of shell money appears to have found on almost every continent, America, Asia, Africa. The shell most widely used worldwide as currency was the shell of Cypraea moneta, cowry shell money was important at one time or another in the trade networks of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. In western Africa, shell money was legal tender up until the mid 19th century. Before the abolition of the trade, large shipments of cowry shells were sent to some of the English ports for reshipment to the slave coast. It was also common in West Central Africa as the currency of the Kingdom of Kongo called locally nzimbu, as the value of the cowry was much greater in West Africa than in the regions from which the supply was obtained, the trade was extremely lucrative. In some cases the gains are said to have been 500%, the use of the cowry currency gradually spread inland in Africa. By about 1850 the German explorer Heinrich Barth found it widespread in Kano, Kuka, Gando. The shells were used in the parts of Africa until the early 20th century. The shell of the land snail, Achatina monetaria, cut into circles with an open center was also used as coin in Benguella. In China, cowries were so important that many characters relating to money or trade contain the character for cowry, starting over three thousand years ago, cowry shells, or copies of the shells, were used as Chinese currency. The Classical Chinese character for money/currency, 貝, originated as a pictograph of a cowrie shell, cowries were formerly used as means of exchange in India. In Bengal, where it required 3840 to make a rupee, in Southeast Asia, when the value of the Siamese tical was about half a troy ounce of silver, the value of the cowrie was fixed at 1⁄6400 Baht. In modern Thailand, it refers to interest paid for the use of borrowed or deposited. In Orissa, India, cowry the currency was used till 1805 which was replaced by the British East India company which was one of the causes of Paik rebellion in 1817. In northern Australia, different shells were used by different tribes, in the islands north of New Guinea the shells were broken into flakes
14.
Western Han
–
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
15.
Sima Qian
–
Sima Qian, formerly romanized Ssu-ma Chien, was a Chinese historian of the Han dynasty. Sima Qian was born at Xiayang in Zuopingyi around 145 BC, Simas precise year of birth is still debated, but it is generally agreed that he lived most of his life during the reign of the Emperor Wu whose long reign lasted from 141-87 BC. His father, Sima Tan, around 136 BC received an appointment to the relatively low-ranking position of grand historian. The grand historians primary duty was to formulate the yearly calendar, identifying which days were ritually auspicious or inauspicious, and present it to the emperor prior to New Years Day. Besides these duties, the historian was also to travel with the emperor for important rituals. By his account, by the age of ten Sima was able to read the old writings and was considered to be a promising scholar, Sima grew up in a Confucian environment, and Sima always regarded his historical work as an act of Confucian filial piety to his father. In 126 BC, around the age of twenty, Sima Qian began a tour around China as it existed in the Han dynasty. He then went to seek the place of the legendary Xia dynasty rulers Yu on Mount Kuaiji. He then went north to Huaiyin to see the grave of Han dynasty general Han Xin, then continued north to Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, where he studied ritual and other traditional subjects. After his travels, Sima was chosen to be a Palace Attendant in the government, Sima married young and had one daughter. In 110 BC, at the age of thirty-five, Sima Qian was sent westward on an expedition against some barbarian tribes. That year, his father ill and could not attend the Imperial Feng Sacrifice. Suspecting his time was running out, he summoned his son home to complete the historical work he had begun. Sima Tan wanted to follow the Annals of Spring and Autumn - the first chronicle in the history of Chinese literature, fueled by his fathers inspiration, Sima Qian started to compile Shiji, which became known in English as the Records of the Grand Historian, in 109 BC. Three years after the death of his father, Sima Qian assumed his fathers position as Court Astrologer. In 105 BC, Sima was among the chosen to reform the calendar. As a senior official, Sima was also in the position to offer counsel to the emperor on general affairs of state. In 99 BC, Sima Qian became embroiled in the Li Ling affair, Emperor Wu attributed the defeat to Li Ling, with all government officials subsequently condemning him for it
16.
Records of the Grand Historian
–
The work covers the world as it was then known to the Chinese and a 2500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the authors own time. The Records has been called a text in Chinese civilization. After Confucius and the First Emperor of Qin, Sima Qian was one of the creators of Imperial China, not least because by providing definitive biographies, the Records set the model for the 24 subsequent dynastic histories of China. The work that became Records of the Grand Historian was begun by Sima Tan, after his death in 110 BC, it was continued and completed by his son and successor Sima Qian, who is generally credited as the works author. Sima Qian is known to have completed the Records before his death in c.86 BC, with one copy residing in the capital of Changan. Details regarding the Records early reception and circulation are not well known, beginning in the Northern and Southern dynasties and the Tang dynasty, a number of scholars wrote and edited commentaries to the Records. Most 1st millennium editions of the Records include the commentaries of Pei Yin, Sima Zhen, the primary modern edition of the Records is the Zhonghua Book Company edition of 1959, and is based on an edition prepared by the Chinese historian Gu Jiegang in the early 1930s. There are two known surviving fragments of Records manuscripts from before the Tang dynasty, both of which are preserved in the Ishiyama-dera temple in Ōtsu, Japan, a number of woodblock printed editions of the Records survive, the earliest of which date to the Song dynasty. In all, the Records is about 526,000 Chinese characters long, making it four times longer than Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, Sima Qian conceived and composed his work in self-contained units, with a good deal of repetition between them. His manuscript was written on bamboo slips with about 24 to 36 characters each, even after the manuscript was allowed to circulate or be copied, the work would have circulated as bundles of bamboo slips or small groups. Endymion Wilkinson calculates that there were probably between 466 and 700 bundles, whose total weight would have been 88–132 pounds, which would have been difficult to access, later copies on silk would have been much lighter, but also expensive and rare. Until the work was transferred to many centuries later, circulation would have been difficult and piecemeal. Sima Qian organized the chapters of Records of the Grand Historian into five categories, the first five cover either periods, such as the Five Emperors, or individual dynasties, such as the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. The last seven cover individual rulers, starting with the First Emperor of Qin, Tables Chapters 13 to 22 are the Tables, which are one genealogical table and nine other chronological tables. Each table except the last one begins with an introduction to the period it covers, Hereditary Houses The Hereditary Houses is the second largest of the five Records sections, and comprises chapters 31 to 60. Within this section, the chapters are very different in nature than the later chapters. Many of the chapters are chronicle-like accounts of the leading states of the Zhou dynasty, such as the states of Qin and Lu. The later chapters, which cover the Han dynasty, contain biographies, Ranked Biographies The Ranked Biographies is the largest of the five Records sections, covering chapters 61 to 130, and accounts for 42% of the entire work
17.
Chu (state)
–
Chu was a hegemonic, Zhou dynasty era state. From King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BCE, with its continued expansion Chu became a great Warring States period power. Also known as Jing, Jingchu and Shu, Chu included most of the provinces of Hubei and Hunan, along with parts of Chongqing, Guizhou, Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang. For more than 400 years, the Chu capital Danyang was located at the junction of the Dan and Xi Rivers near present-day Xichuan County, Henan, but later moved to Ying. The ruling house of Chu originally bore the clan name Nai and lineage name Yan, according to legends recounted in Sima Qians Records of the Grand Historian, the royal family of Chu descended from the Yellow Emperor and his grandson and successor Zhuanxu. Zhuanxus great-grandson Wuhui was put in charge of fire by Emperor Ku, wuhuis son Luzhong had six sons, all born by Caesarian section. The youngest, Jilian, adopted the ancestral surname Mi, jilian’s descendant Yuxiong was the teacher of King Wen of Zhou. After the Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty, King Cheng awarded Yuxiongs great-grandson Xiong Yi with the fiefdom of Chu, Xiong Yi built the first capital of Chu at Danyang. In 977 BCE, during his campaign against Chu, King Zhao of Zhous boat sank, after this death, Zhou ceased to expand to the south, allowing the southern tribes and Chu to cement their own autonomy much earlier than the states to the north. The Chu viscount Xiong Qu overthrew E in 863 BCE but subsequently made its capital Ezhou one of his capitals, in either 703 or 706, the ruler Xiong Tong proclaimed himself king, establishing Chus full independence from the Zhou dynasty. In its early years, Chu was a successful expansionist and militaristic state that developed a reputation for coercing and absorbing its allies, Chu grew from a small state into a large kingdom. King Zhuang was even considered one of the five Hegemons of the era, after a number of battles with neighboring states, sometime between 695 and 689 BCE, the Chu capital moved southeast from Danyang to Ying. Chu first consolidated its power by absorbing lesser states in its original area, the threat from Chu resulted in multiple northern alliances under the leadership of Jin. These alliances kept Chu in check, with the first major victory won at the Chengpu in 632 BCE, at the beginning of the sixth century BCE, Jin strengthened the state of Wu near the Yangtze delta to act as a counterweight against Chu. Wu defeated Qi and then invaded Chu in 506 BCE, following the Battle of Boju, it occupied Chus capital at Ying, forcing King Zhao to flee to his allies in Yun and Sui. King Zhao eventually returned to Ying but, after another attack from Wu in 504 BCE, Chu began to strengthen Yue in modern Zhejiang to serve as allies against Wu. Yue was initially subjugated by King Fuchai of Wu until he released their king Goujian, freed from its difficulties with Wu, Chu annexed Chen in 479 BCE and overran Cai to the north in 447 BCE. This policy of expansion continued until the last generation before the fall to Qin, however, by the end of the 5th century BCE, the Chu government had become very corrupt and inefficient, with much of the states treasury used primarily to pay for the royal entourage
18.
Kunming
–
Kunming is the capital of and largest city in Yunnan Province, Southwest China. Kunming is also called the Spring city due to its weather, the headquarters of many of Yunnans large businesses are in Kunming. It was important during World War II as a Chinese military center, American air base, located in the middle of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, Kunming is located at an altitude of 1,900 metres above sea level and at a latitude just north of the Tropic of Cancer. Kunming consists of an old, previously walled city, a commercial district, residential. The city has an observatory, and its institutions of higher learning include Yunnan University, Yunnan Normal University. On the outskirts is a bronze temple, dating from the Ming dynasty. Its economic importance derives from its geographical position, positioned near the border with Southeastern Asian countries, serving as a transportation hub in Southwest China, linking by rail to Vietnam and by road to Burma and Laos. This positioning also makes it an important trade center in this region of the nation and it also houses some manufacturing, chiefly copper, though some other chemicals, machinery, textiles, paper and cement take key. Though having a nearly 2,400 year history, its prosperity dates only from 1910. The city has continued to develop rapidly under Chinas modernization efforts, Kunmings streets have widened while office buildings and housing projects develop at a fast pace. Kunming has been designated a special tourism center and as such sports a proliferation of high-rises, Kunming will be the hub and terminus for the Pan Asia High Speed Network using high speed trains to connect China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Because of the establishment of National Southwestern Associated University, Kunming was usually regarded as the bulwark of modern China democracy during The Second Sino-Japanese War, Kunming long profited from its position on the caravan roads through to South-East Asia, India and Tibet. Early townships in the edge of Lake Dianchi can be dated back to 279 BC. Early settlements in the area around Lake Dian date back to Neolithic times, the Dian Kingdom, whose original language was likely related to Tibeto-Burman languages was also established near the area. Dian was subjugated by the Chinese Han dynasty under the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in 109 BC, the Han dynasty incorporated the territory of the Dian Kingdom into their Yizhou Commandery, but left the King of Dian as the local ruler. During the Sui dynasty, two expeditions were launched against the area, and it was renamed Kunzhou in Chinese sources. Founded in 765, Kunming was known to the Chinese as Tuodong city in the Kingdom of Nanzhao during the 8th and 9th centuries, Tuodong later became part of the successor Kingdom of Dali. Eventually this changed when Tuodong came under the control of the Yuan dynasty invasion of the southwest in 1252–1253, in 1276 it was founded by the Mongol rulers as Kunming County and became the provincial capital of Yunnan
19.
Chengdu
–
Chengdu, formerly romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which has served as capital of Chinas Sichuan province. It is one of the three most populous cities in Western China, as of 2014 the administrative area houses 14,427,500 inhabitants, with an urban population of 10,152,632. At the time of the 2010 census, Chengdu was the 5th-most populous agglomeration in China, with 10,484,996 inhabitants in the area including Xinjin County. The surrounding Chengdu Plain is also known as the Country of Heaven and its prehistoric settlers included the Sanxingdui culture. It was the capital of Liu Beis Shu during the Three Kingdoms Era, after the fall of Nanjing to the Japanese in 1937, Chengdu briefly served as the capital of China. It is now one of the most important economic, financial, commercial, cultural, transportation, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is one of the 30 busiest airports in the world, and Chengdu Railway Station is one of the six biggest in China. Chengdu also hosts many international companies and more than 12 consulates, more than 260 Fortune 500 companies have established branches in Chengdu. In 2006, China Daily named it Chinas 4th-most-livable city, the name Chengdu is attested in sources going back to shortly after its founding. The present spelling is based on pinyin romanization, its Postal Map romanization was Chengtu and its former status as the seat of the Chengdu Prefecture prompted Marco Polos spellings Sindafu, Sin-din-fu, &c. and the Protestant missionaries romanization Ching-too Foo. Although the official name of the city has remained constant, the area has sometimes taken other names. The city logo adopted in 2011 is inspired by the Golden Sun Bird excavated from the Jinsha Ruins, archaeological discoveries at the Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites have established that the area surrounding Chengdu was inhabited over four thousand years ago. At the time of Chinas Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, in the early 4th century BC, the ninth king of Shus Kaiming dynasty relocated from nearby Pi County, giving his new capital the name Chengdu. Shu was conquered by Qin in 316 BC and the settlement refounded by the Qin general Zhang Yi, under the Han, the brocade produced at Chengdu became fashionable and was exported throughout China. A Brocade Official was established to oversee its quality and supply, after the fall of the Eastern Han, Liu Bei ruled Shu, the southwestern of the Three Kingdoms, from Chengdu. His minister Zhuge Liang called the area the Land of Abundance, under the Tang, Chengdu was considered the second most prosperous city in China after Yangzhou. Both Li Bai and Du Fu lived in the city, Li Bai praised it as lying above the empyrean. The citys present Caotang was constructed in 1078 in honor of an earlier, more humble structure of that name erected by Du Fu in 760, the Taoist Qingyang Gong was built in the 9th century. Chengdu was the capital of Wang Jians Former Shu from 907 to 925, the Later Shu was founded by Meng Zhixiang in 934, with its capital at Chengdu
20.
Han Chinese
–
The Han Chinese, Han people or simply Han are an ethnic group native to East Asia. They constitute approximately 92% of the population of China, 95% of Taiwan, 76% of Singapore, 23% of Malaysia, Han Chinese are the worlds largest ethnic group with over 1.3 billion people. Similarly, the Chinese language also came to be named the Han language ever since, in the Oxford Dictionary, the Han are defined as The dominant ethnic group in China. In the Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania, the Han are called the dominant population in China, as well as in Taiwan, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the Han are the Chinese peoples especially as distinguished from non-Chinese elements in the population. The name Hanzhong, in turn, was derived from the Han River, which flows through the regions plains. The river, in turn, derives its name from such as Tianhan, Yinhan, Xinghan or Yunhan, all ancient Chinese poetic nicknames for the Milky Way. This gave rise to a commonly used nowadays by overseas Chinese for ethnic identity – Huaren. The term is used in conversation and is also an element in the Cantonese word for Chinatown. The vast majority of Han Chinese – over 1.2 billion of them – live in areas under the jurisdiction of the Peoples Republic of China, where they constitute about 92% of its population. Han Chinese also constitute the majority in both of the administrative regions of the PRC—about 95% and 96% of the population of Hong Kong and Macau. There are over 22 million Han Chinese in Taiwan, they began migrating from the coastal provinces of mainland China to Taiwan during the 13th to 17th century. At first, these migrants chose to settle in locations that bore a resemblance to the areas they had left behind in mainland China, hoklo immigrants from Quanzhou settled in coastal regions, and those from Zhangzhou tended to gather on inland plains, while the Hakka inhabited hilly areas. Clashes between these groups over land, water, and cultural differences led to the relocation of some communities, of about 40 million overseas Chinese worldwide, nearly 30 million live in Southeast Asia. They are collectively called Nanyang Chinese, according to a population genetic study, Singapore is the country with the biggest proportion of Hans in Southeast Asia. Up until the past few decades, overseas Han communities originated predominantly from areas in southern China, christmas Island has a Chinese majority at 70%, large Chinese populations also live in Malaysia and Thailand. Prior to the 1965 split, Malaysia and Singapore used to have the largest overseas Chinese population in the world and this position has since been taken by Thailand. The prehistory of the Han ethnic group is closely intertwined with both records and mythology. Han Chinese trace their ancestry from a confederation of late neolithic/early bronze-age agricultural tribes that lived along the Guanzhong, the Yellow Emperor is traditionally credited to have united with the neighbouring Shennong tribes after defeating their leader, Flame Emperor, at the Battle of Banquan
21.
Shu (state)
–
The State of Shu was an ancient state in what is now Sichuan Province. Shu was based on the Chengdu Plain, in the western Sichuan basin with some extension northeast to the upper Han River valley, to the east was the Ba tribal confederation. Further east down the Han and Yangtze rivers was the State of Chu, to the north over the Qinling Mountains was the State of Qin. To the west and south were tribal peoples of little military power and this independent Shu state was conquered by the state of Qin in 316 BC. Recent archaeological discoveries at Sanxingdui and Jinsha thought to be sites of Shu culture indicate the presence of a civilization in this region before the Qin conquest. In subsequent periods of Chinese history the Sichuan area continued to be referred to as Shu after this ancient state, before 316 BC the Sichuan Basin was isolated from what was then China, which was centered in the Yellow River basin to the northeast. The discovery of Sanxingdui in 1987 was a surprise since it indicated a major semi-Chinese culture that was previously unknown. Circa 2050-1250 BC the site of Sanxingdui 40 km north of Chengdu appears to have been the center of an extensive kingdom. Objects found in two pits are in a style distinct from objects found from further north. This culture is suggested by many archaeologists to be that of the Shu kingdom, there are very few mentions of Shu in the early Chinese historical records until the 4th century BC. The Shu was first mentioned in Shujing as one of the allies of King Wu of Zhou who helped defeated the Shang in 1046 BC at the Battle of Muye. However, shortly after Zhous conquest, it was mentioned in Yizhoushu that a subordinate of King Wu led an expedition against Shu, the expulsion of the Zhou from the Wei River valley in 771 BC probably increased Shus isolation. Written accounts of Shu are largely a mixture of stories and historical legends found in local annals. There are a few names of kings, such as Cancong, Boguan, Yufu. According to Chronicles of Huayang, Cancong was the first of the kings and had protruding eyes, while Duyu taught the people agriculture. In 666 BC a man from Chu called Bieling founded the Kaiming dynasty which lasted twelve generations until the Qin conquest, legend has it that when Bieling died in Chu his body floated upriver to Shu and came back to life. He was successful in managing a flood and Duyu then abdicated in his favor, a later account states that the Kaiming kings occupied the far south of Shu before travelling up the Min River and taking over from Duyu. As the state of Chu expanded westward up the Han and Yangtze valleys it pushed the Ba peoples west toward Shu, for the 5th and 4th centuries BC in Sichuan archaeologists speak of a mixed Ba-Shu culture, although the two peoples remained distinct
22.
Guizhou
–
Guizhou, formerly romanized as Kweichow, is a province of the Peoples Republic of China located in the southwestern part of the country. The area was first organized as a region of a Chinese empire under the Tang. During the Mongolian Yuan dynasty, the character 矩 was changed to the more refined 貴, the region formally became a province in 1413, with an eponymous capital then also called Guizhou but now known as Guiyang. From around 1046 BCE to the emergence of the Qin Dynasty, during the Warring States period, the Chinese state of Chu conquered the area, and control later passed to the Dian Kingdom. During the Three Kingdoms period, parts of Guizhou were governed by the Shu Han state based in Sichuan, followed by Cao Wei, during the 8th and 9th centuries in the Tang Dynasty, Chinese soldiers moved into Guizhou and married native women. Their descendants are known as Lǎohànrén, in contrast to new Chinese who populated Guizhou at later times and they still speak an archaic dialect. Many immigrants to Guizhou were descended from soldiers in garrisons who married these pre-Chinese women. It was during the following Ming Dynasty, which was again led by Han Chinese. The Ming established many garrisons in Guizhou from which to pacify the Yao and Miao minorities during the Miao Rebellions, chinese-style agriculture flourished with the expertise of farmers from Sichuan, Hunan and its surrounding provinces into Guizhou. Wu Sangui was responsible for the ousting the Ming in Guizhou, after the Second Opium War, criminal triads set up shop in Guangxi and Guizhou to sell British opium. For a time, Taiping Rebels took control of Guizhou, concurrently, Han Chinese soldiers moved into the Taijiang region of Guizhou, married Miao women, and their children were brought up as Miao. More unsuccessful Miao rebellions occurred during the Qing, in 1735, from 1795–1806, after the overthrow of the Qing in 1911 and following Chinese Civil War, the Communists took refuge in Guizhou during the Long March. While the province was ruled by the Guomindang warlord Wang Jialie. As the Second Sino-Japanese War pushed Chinas Nationalist Government to its southwest base of Chongqing, after the Chinese economic reform began in 1978, geographical factors led Guizhou to become the poorest province in China, with a GDP growth average of 9 percent from 1978–1993. Guizhou is a province, although its higher altitudes are in the west. It lies at the end of the Yungui Plateau. Guizhou has a humid climate. Its annual average temperature is roughly 10 to 20 °C, with January temperatures ranging from 1 to 10 °C, like in Chinas other southwest provinces, rural areas of Guizhou suffered severe drought during spring 2010
23.
Emperor Wu of Han
–
Emperor Wu of Han, born Liu Che, courtesy name Tong, was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of China, ruling from 141–87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years — a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor more than 1,800 years later. His reign resulted in vast territorial expansion, development of a strong and centralized state resulting from his governmental re-organization and it was also during his reign that cultural contact with western Eurasia was greatly increased, directly or indirectly. Many new crops and other items were introduced to China during his reign, Emperor Wu successfully repelled the nomadic Xiongnu from systematically raiding northern China, and dispatched his envoy Zhang Qian in 139 BC to seek an alliance with the Yuezhi of Kangju. This resulted in further missions to Central Asia, michael Loewe called the reign of Emperor Wu the high point of Modernist policies, looking back to adapt ideas from the pre-Han period. His policies and most trusted advisers were Legalist, favoring adherents of Shang Yang and these reforms had an enduring effect throughout the existence of imperial China and an enormous influence on neighboring civilizations. Emperor Wu was also known for his employment of shaman advisers, the personal name of Emperor Wu was Liu Che. The use of Han in referring to emperor Wu is a reference to the Han dynasty of which he was a part. His family name is Liu, the family or clan of the Han dynasty shared the family name of Liu, the family name of Liu Bang. The character Di is a title, this is the Chinese word which in imperial history of China means emperor, the character Wu literally means martial or warlike, but is also related to the concept of a particular divinity in the historical Chinese religious pantheon existing at that time. Combined, Wu plus di makes the name Wudi, the posthumous name used for historical and for religious purposes. One of Han Wudis innovations was the practice of changing names every so many years. Thus, the practice for dating years during the reign of Wudi came to be the nth year of the, when they got close to Han borders, She assassinated the general and claimed to Emperor Wu that he had defeated Joseon in battle. Emperor Wu, unaware of his deception, made him the commander of the Commandery of Liaodong. King Ugeo, offended, made a raid on Liaodong and killed She, in response, Emperor Wu commissioned a two-pronged attack against Joseon. Initially, Joseon offered to become a vassal, but peace negotiations broke down by the Chinese forces refusal to let a Joseon force escort its crown prince to Changan to pay tribute to Emperor Wu, Han took over the Joseon lands in 108 BC and established four commanderies. Also in 109 BC, Emperor Wu sent a force against the Kingdom of Dian. When the King of Dian surrendered, it was incorporated into Han territory with the King of Dian being permitted to keep his traditional authority, Emperor Wu established five commanderies over Dian and the other nearby kingdoms
24.
Chinese language
–
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
25.
Emperor Zhao of Han
–
Emperor Zhao of Han was an emperor of the Western Han dynasty from 87 to 74 BC. Emperor Zhao was the youngest son of Emperor Wu of Han, by the time Zhao was born, Emperor Wu was already 62. Zhao ascended the throne after the death of Emperor Wu in 87 BC and he was only eight years old. Emperor Wus long reign left the Han Dynasty greatly expanded, however constant warfare had depleted the empires coffers, Emperor Zhao, under the tutelage of Huo, took the initiative and lowered taxes as well as reduced government spending. As a result, citizens prospered and the Han Dynasty enjoyed an era of peace, Emperor Zhao died after reigning for 13 years, at the age of 20. In 94 BC, then-Prince Fuling was born to a concubine of Emperor Wu, Consort Zhao. This led to speculations that he, due to his favor for Consort Zhao and Prince Fuling, wanted to make Prince Fuling crown prince instead of Crown Prince Liu Ju, the son of Empress Wei Zifu. That, in turn, led to conspiracies against Prince Ju and Empress Wei, being misunderstood as a revolt, Prince Ju was defeated and went into exile, and both he and Empress Wei committed suicide soon afterwards. After Prince Jus death, Emperor Wu was forced to consider who would make a good heir, left with no other options, he decided on his youngest son, Prince Fuling, who was only six at that time. He therefore also chose a potential regent in Huo Guang, whom he considered to be capable and he also ordered Prince Fulings mother, Consort Zhao, arrested and executed, in fear that she would become an uncontrollable empress dowager, like Empress Dowager Lü. He entrusted Huo with the regency of Fuling, at Huos suggestion, he also made ethnic Xiongnu official Jin Midi and general Shangguang Jie co-regents. He died on March 2987 BC, shortly after creating Prince Fuling crown prince two days prior on March 27, Crown Prince Fuling then succeeded to the throne as Emperor Zhao at the age of 8. Early in Emperor Zhaos reign, Huo, Jin, and Shangguan served as co-regents, the palace was run by Princess Eyi, Emperor Wus daughter and Emperor Zhaos older sister, who had moved back to the palace to serve as Emperor Zhaos caretaker. Prince Dan of Yan was not happy about the turn in events that led to Emperor Zhaos ascension, in 86 BC, he secretly planned a rebellion, forming a conspiracy with two imperial clan members, Liu Zhang and Liu Ze. The conspiracy was discovered, but Prince Dan was not punished, later that year, Jin, a moderating influence in the co-regency, after being created a marquess on his sickbed, died. Huo and Shangguan were subsequently created marquesses as well, the young couple had a daughter, who was age five in 84 BC, when Shangguan Jie wanted to marry her to the emperor. Huo initially refused, believing her to be too young, Shangguan Jie turned elsewhere for support of his plan. Shangguan An was a friend of Princess Eyis lover, Ding Wairen, Princess Eyi agreed, and later in 84 BC, the young Lady Shangguan was appointed as an imperial consort
26.
Burma
–
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma, is a sovereign state in South East Asia bordered by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. About one third of Myanmars total perimeter of 5,876 km, forms an uninterrupted coastline of 1,930 km along the Bay of Bengal, the countrys 2014 census revealed a much lower population than expected, with 51 million people recorded. Myanmar is 676,578 square kilometres in size and its capital city is Naypyidaw and its largest city and former capital city is Yangon. Early civilizations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Burma, the Pagan Kingdom fell due to the Mongol invasions and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty, the country was for a period the largest empire in the history of Mainland Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur. The British invaded Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the became a British colony. Myanmar became an independent nation in 1948, initially as a nation and then, following a coup détat in 1962. For most of its independent years, the country has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife, during this time, the United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the country. In 2011, the junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election. While former military leaders still wield enormous power in the country, there is, however, continuing criticism of the governments treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority and its poor response to the religious clashes. In the landmark 2015 election, Aung San Suu Kyis party won a majority in both houses, Myanmar is a country rich in jade and gems, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources. In 2013, its GDP stood at US$56.7 billion, the income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by supporters of the former military government. As of 2016, according to the Human Development Index, Myanmar had a level of human development. The renaming remains a contested issue, many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use Burma because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country. The countrys official name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Countries that do not officially recognise that name use the long form Union of Burma instead, in English, the country is popularly known as either Burma or Myanmar /ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/. Both these names are derived from the name of the majority Burmese Bamar ethnic group, Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of the name of the group, while Burma is derived from Bamar, the colloquial form of the groups name
27.
Seal script
–
Seal script is an ancient style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of the Zhou dynasty script, arising in the Warring State of Qin, there are two uses of the word seal script, the Large or Great Seal script and the lesser or Small Seal Script, the latter is also called simply seal script. The Large Seal script was originally a later, vague Han dynasty reference to writing of the Qin system similar to and it has also been used to refer to Western Zhou forms or even oracle bones as well. There were several different variants of seal script which developed in each kingdom independently during the warring state period and spring, the birds and worms script was used in the Kingdoms of Wu, Chu, and Yue. It was found on several artifacts including the Spear of Fuchai, on one side of the blade of Goujian, eight characters were written in an ancient script. The script was found to be the one called 鳥蟲文 birds and worms characters, initial analysis of the text deciphered six of the characters, 越王 and 自作用劍. As a southern state, Chu was close to the Wu-Yue influences, Chu produced broad bronze swords that were similar to Wuyue swords, but not as intricate. Chu also used the Birds and Worms style, which was borrowed by the Wu, the script of the Qin system had evolved organically from the Zhou script starting in the Spring and Autumn period. Beginning around the Warring States period, it became vertically elongated with a regular appearance and this was the period of maturation of Small Seal script, also called simply seal script. Through Chinese commentaries, it is known that Li Si compiled Cangjiepian and their form is characterized by being less rectangular and more squarish. The first known character dictionary was the 3rd century BC Erya, collated and bibliographed by Liu Xiang and his son Liu Xin, not long after, however, the Shuowen Jiezi, the lifework of Xu Shen, was written. Its 9,353 entries reproduce the standardized small-seal script variant for each entry, entries are categorized under 540 section headers. It has been anticipated that the Small Seal script will some day be encoded in Unicode, codepoints U+34000 to U+368FF have been tentatively allocated. Old Texts Phags-pa Chén Zhāoróng Research on the Qín Lineage of Writing, academia Sinica, Institute of History and Philology Monograph. Qin Yun Song, Big Seal Script Banner Script translation Richard Sears on seal script
28.
Miao people
–
The Miao is an ethnic group recognized by the government of China as one of the 55 official minority groups. Miao is a Chinese term and does not reflect the self-designations of the component groups of people, which include Hmong, Hmub, Xong, and A-Hmao. Because of the given reasons, many Miao peoples cannot communicate with each other in their mother tongues. The Miao live primarily in southern Chinas mountains, in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hainan, Guangdong, some members of the Miao sub-groups, most notably the Hmong people, have migrated out of China into Southeast Asia. Following the communist takeover of Laos in 1975, a group of Hmong refugees resettled in several Western nations, mainly in the United States, France. There has been a recent tendency by Hmong Americans to group all Miao peoples together under the term Hmong because of their disdain for the Chinese term Miao, the term Miao gained official status in 1949 as a minzu encompassing a group of linguistically-related ethnic minorities in Southwest China. Historically, the term Miao had been applied inconsistently to a variety of non-Han peoples, early Western writers used Chinese-based names in various transcriptions, Miao, Miao-tse, Miao-tsze, Meau, Meo, mo, miao-tseu etc. In Southeast Asian contexts words derived from the Chinese Miao took on a sense which was perceived as derogatory by the Hmong subgroup living in that region, in China, however, the term has no such context and is used by the Miao people themselves, of every group. The later prominence of Hmong people in the West has led to a situation where the entire Miao linguistic/cultural family is referred to as Hmong in English language sources. Following the recent increased interaction of Hmong in the West with Miao in China it is reported that some upwardly aspiring non-Hmong Miao have even begun to identify themselves as Hmong. However, most non-Hmong Miao in China are unfamiliar with the term as referring to their group and continue to use Miao. Though the Miao themselves use various self-designations, the Chinese traditionally classify them according to the most characteristic colour of the womens clothes.6 million. Outside of China, members of the Miao linguistic/cultural family sub-group or nations of the Hmong live in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Burma due to outward migrations starting in the 18th century. As a result of recent migrations in the aftermath of the Indochina and Vietnam Wars from 1949–75, many Hmong people now live in the United States, French Guiana, France, altogether, there are approximately 8 million speakers in the Miao language family. This language family, which consists of 6 languages and around 35 dialects belongs to the Hmong/Miao branch of the Hmong–Mien language family, there are about 1. 5–2 million Hmong in China. Note, The Miao areas of Sichuan province became part of the newly created Chongqing Municipality in 1997, most Miao currently live in China. Miao population growth in China,1953,2,510,0001964,2,780,0001982,5,030,0001990,7,390,0003,600,000 Miao, about half of the entire Chinese Miao population, were in Guizhou in 1990. There are 2,000,000 Hmong spread throughout northern Vietnam, Laos, Burma,174,000 live in Thailand, where they are one of the six main hill tribes
29.
Ox
–
An ox, also known as a bullock in Australia and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle, castration makes the animals easier to control, cows or bulls may also be used in some areas. Oxen are used for plowing, for transport, for threshing grain by trampling, oxen may be also used to skid logs in forests, particularly in low-impact, select-cut logging. Oxen are usually yoked in pairs, light work such as carting household items on good roads might require just one pair, while for heavier work, further pairs would be added as necessary. A team used for a load over difficult ground might exceed nine or ten pairs. Oxen are thought to have first been harnessed and put to work around 4000 BC, working oxen are taught to respond to the signals of the teamster, bullocky or ox-driver. These signals are given by verbal command and body language, reinforced by a goad, in pre-industrial times, most teamsters were known for their loud voices and forthright language. Verbal commands for draft animals vary widely throughout the world and their teamster makes or buys as many as a dozen yokes of different sizes for each animal as it grows. The steers are normally considered fully trained at the age of four, a tradition in south eastern England was to use oxen as dual-purpose animals, for draft and beef. A plowing team of eight oxen normally consisted of four pairs aged a year apart, each year, a pair of steers of about three years of age would be bought for the team and trained with the older animals. The pair would be kept for four years, then sold at about seven years old to be fattened for beef – thus covering much of the cost of buying that years new pair. Use of oxen for plowing survived in areas of England until the early twentieth century. Pairs of oxen were always hitched the same way round, in southern England it was traditional to call the near-side ox of a pair by a single-syllable name and the off-side one by a longer one. Ox trainers favour larger animals for their ability to do more work, oxen are therefore usually of larger breeds, and are usually males because they are generally larger. Females can also be trained as oxen, but as well as being smaller, are more valued for producing calves. Bulls are also used in parts of the world, especially Asia. Working oxen usually require shoes, although in England not all working oxen were shod, since their hooves are cloven, two shoes or ox cues are required for each hoof, unlike the single shoe of a horse. Ox shoes are usually of approximately half-moon or banana shape, either with or without caulkins, unlike horses, oxen are not easily able to balance on three legs while a farrier shoes the fourth
30.
Casting
–
Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process. Casting materials are usually metals or various cold setting materials that cure after mixing two or more together, examples are epoxy, concrete, plaster and clay. Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. The oldest surviving casting is a frog from 3200 BC. In metalworking, metal is heated until it becomes liquid and is poured into a mold. The mold is a cavity that includes the desired shape. The mold and the metal are then cooled until the metal solidifies, the solidified part is then recovered from the mold. Subsequent operations remove excess material caused by the casting process, when casting plaster or concrete, the material surface is flat and lacks transparency. Often topical treatments are applied to the surface, for example, painting and etching can be used in a way that give the appearance of metal or stone. Alternatively, the material is altered in its initial casting process, by casting concrete, rather than plaster, it is possible to create sculptures, fountains, or seating for outdoor use. A simulation of high-quality marble may be made using certain chemically-set plastic resins with powdered stone added for coloration, raw castings often contain irregularities caused by seams and imperfections in the molds, as well as access ports for pouring material into the molds. The process of cutting, grinding, shaving or sanding away these unwanted bits is called fettling, simulation accurately describes a cast component’s quality up-front before production starts. The casting rigging can be designed with respect to the component properties. This has benefits beyond a reduction in sampling, as the precise layout of the complete casting system also leads to energy, material. The software supports the user in component design, the determination of melting practice and casting methoding through to pattern and mold making, heat treatment and this saves costs along the entire casting manufacturing route. Since the late 80s, commercial programs are available which make it possible for foundries to gain new insight into what is happening inside the mold or die during the casting process
31.
Central Asians
–
Central Asia stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. It is also referred to as the -stans as the five countries generally considered to be within the region all have names ending with the Persian suffix -stan. Central Asias five former Soviet republics are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Central Asia has historically been closely tied to its nomadic peoples and the Silk Road. It has acted as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, the Silk Road connected Muslim lands with the people of Europe, India, and China. This crossroads position has intensified the conflict between tribalism and traditionalism and modernization, in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Central Asia was predominantly Iranian, peopled by Eastern Iranian-speaking Bactrians, Sogdians and Chorasmians and the semi-nomadic Scythians and Parthians. Central Asia is sometimes referred to as Turkestan, the idea of Central Asia as a distinct region of the world was introduced in 1843 by the geographer Alexander von Humboldt. The borders of Central Asia are subject to multiple definitions, historically built political geography and geoculture are two significant parameters widely used in the scholarly literature about the definitions of the Central Asia. The most limited definition was the one of the Soviet Union. This definition was also used outside the USSR during this period. However, the Russian culture has two terms, Средняя Азия and Центральная Азия. Since then, this has become the most common definition of Central Asia, the UNESCO general history of Central Asia, written just before the collapse of the USSR, defines the region based on climate and uses far larger borders. An alternative method is to define the region based on ethnicity and these areas include Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Turkic regions of southern Siberia, the five republics, and Afghan Turkestan. Afghanistan as a whole, the northern and western areas of Pakistan, the Tibetans and Ladakhi are also included. Insofar, most of the peoples are considered the indigenous peoples of the vast region. Central Asia is a large region of varied geography, including high passes and mountains, vast deserts. The vast steppe areas of Central Asia are considered together with the steppes of Eastern Europe as a geographical zone known as the Eurasian Steppe. Much of the land of Central Asia is too dry or too rugged for farming, the Gobi desert extends from the foot of the Pamirs, 77° E, to the Great Khingan Mountains, 116°–118° E. Central Asia has the following geographic extremes, The worlds northernmost desert, at Buurug Deliin Els, Mongolia, the Northern Hemispheres southernmost permafrost, at Erdenetsogt sum, Mongolia, 46°17′ N
32.
Fuxian Lake
–
Fuxian Lake stretches out through Chengjiang, Jiangchuan and Huaning Counties in Yunnan Province, spanning an area of 212 square kilometers. The lake is ranked third-largest in Yunnan, after Dian Lake, also the deepest lake in Yunnan, it is 155 meters deep at its greatest depth. It is also the third-deepest fresh water lake in China, after Tianchi, Fuxian Lake is known for its unique fauna, including many endemic species. However, its isolation makes it vulnerable to biological invasions. Together with other Yunnan lakes, Fuxian is recognized as an ecoregion, Fuxian is one of three major Yunnan lakes with a high number of endemics, the others being Dian and Erhai. There are 24 native fish species and subspecies in Fuxian Lake, the situation for most of these is precarious because they have been negatively impacted by the many introduction of exotic species of fish, habitat degradation, water pollution, and overfishing. The endemic fish are all cyprinids or stone loaches, a fungus Dyrithiopsis lakefuxianensis growing on submerged wood has been collected and described as a new species to science from Fuxian Lake, as suggested by its scientific name. A few native hydrophytes have disappeared from the lake, the prehistoric Fuxianhuia, significant in discussions of arthropod evolution, is also named after the lake, where it was discovered in 1987. In 2001 it was reported that earthenware and stonework covering an area of approximately 2. 4–2.7 square kilometers had been discovered beneath the lake, carbon dating circa 2007 confirmed an age of 1,750 years, or approximately 257 CE. It is thought that the remains may represent buildings from the ancient Dian Kingdom that slid into the lake during an earthquake, in 2006, CCTV made an additional survey. Carbon dating in 2007 found relics to be roughly 1,750 years old, in October 2014 additional research was made on the site by a multidisciplinary team. Portions were mapped and 42 handmade stone artifacts were recovered from a depth of seven meters, there are two major sites west of the lake, a military base at Lijiashan and a nearby tourism resort
33.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
