1.
Chinese name
–
Chinese personal names are names used by those from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora overseas. Prior to the 20th century, educated Chinese also utilized a courtesy name or style name called zi by which they were known among those outside of their family and closest friends. From at least the time of the Shang dynasty, the Han Chinese observed a number of naming taboos regulating who may or may not use a given name. In general, using the given name connoted the speakers authority, peers and younger relatives were barred from speaking it. Owing to this, many historical Chinese figures – particularly emperors – used a half-dozen or more different names in different contexts and those possessing names identical to the emperors were frequently forced to change them. Although some terms in the ancient Chinese naming system, such as xìng and míng, are used today, they were used in different. Commoners possessed only a name, and the modern concept of a surname or family name did not yet exist at any level of society.3 billion citizens. In fact, just the top three – Wang, Li, and Zhang – cover more than 20% of the population. This homogeneity results from the majority of Han family names having only one character. Chinese surnames arose from two separate traditions, the xìng and the shì. The original xìng were clans of royalty at the Shang court, the shì did not originate from families, but denoted fiefs, states, and titles granted or recognized by the Shang court. Apart from the Jiang and Yao families, the original xìng have nearly disappeared, xìng is now used to describe the shì surnames which replaced them, while shì is used to refer to maiden names. The enormous modern clans sometimes share ancestral halls with one another, nonetheless, however tenuous these bonds sometimes are, it remains a minor taboo to marry someone with the same family name. In modern mainland China, it is the norm that a woman keeps her name unchanged. A child usually inherits his/her fathers surname, though the law explicitly states that a child may use either parents or the grandparents. It is also possible, though far less common, for a child to both parents surnames. In the older generations, it was common for a married woman to prepend her husbands surname to her own. This practice is now almost extinct in mainland China, though there are a few such as the name change of Gu Kailai, but survives in some Hong Kong, Macau
Chinese name
–
The signature of
Sun Yat-sen; in English Chinese people usually keep their names in Chinese order unless they live or travel abroad
2.
Chinese surname
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Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames existed, namely xing or lineage names, and shi or clan names, Chinese family names are patrilineal, passed from father to children. Women do not normally change their surnames upon marriage, except in places with more Western influences such as Hong Kong, traditionally Chinese surnames have been exogamous. The colloquial expressions laobaixing and bǎixìng are used in Chinese to mean ordinary folks, prior to the Warring States period, only the ruling families and the aristocratic elite had surnames. Historically there was also a difference between clan names or xing and lineages names or shi, Xing were surnames held by the noble clans. They generally are composed of a nü radical which has taken by some as evidence they originated from matriarchal societies based on maternal lineages. Another hypothesis has been proposed by sinologist Léon Vandermeersch upon observation of the evolution of characters in oracular scripture from the Shang dynasty through the Zhou, the female radical seems to appear at the Zhou period next to Shang sinograms indicating an ethnic group or a tribe. This combination seems to designate specifically a female and could mean lady of such or such clan, prior to the Qin Dynasty China was largely a fengjian society. In this way, a nobleman would hold a shi and a xing, after the states of China were unified by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC, surnames gradually spread to the lower classes and the difference between xing and shi blurred. Many shi surnames survive to the present day, according to Kiang Kang-Hu, there are 18 sources from which Chinese surnames may be derived, while others suggested at least 24. The following are some of the sources, Xing, These were usually reserved for the central lineage of the royal family. Of these xings, only Jiang and Yao have survived in their form to modern days as frequently occurring surnames. Royal decree by the Emperor, such as Kuang, state name, Many nobles and commoners took the name of their state, either to show their continuing allegiance or as a matter of national and ethnic identity. These are some of the most common Chinese surnames, name of a fief or place of origin, Fiefdoms were often granted to collateral branches of the aristocracy and it was natural as part of the process of sub-surnaming for their names to be used. An example is Di, Marquis of Ouyangting, whose descendants took the surname Ouyang, there are some two hundred examples of this identified, often of two-character surnames, but few have survived to the present. Names of an ancestor, Like the previous example, this was also a common origin with close to 500 or 600 examples,200 of which are two-character surnames, often an ancestors courtesy name would be used. For example, Yuan Taotu took the character of his grandfathers courtesy name Boyuan as his surname. Sometimes titles granted to ancestors could also be taken as surnames, seniority within the family, In ancient usage, the characters of meng, zhong, shu and ji were used to denote the first, second, third and fourth eldest sons in a family
Chinese surname
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Many village names in China are linked to surnames. Pictured is Jiajiayuan (贾家源), i.e. "
Jia Family 's Spring", in Honggang Town,
Tongshan County, Hubei
3.
Sancai Tuhui
–
This encyclopedia is organized into 106 chapters in 14 categories, with text and illustrations for the articles. Reproductions of this encyclopedia are still in print in China, art and Daily Life, Knowledge and Social Space in Late-Ming Riyong Leishu
Sancai Tuhui
–
The world map
Shanhai Yudi Quantu in Sancai Tuhui
4.
Liu Bei
–
Liu Bei, courtesy name Xuande, was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Liu Bei overcame his many defeats to carve out his own realm, which at its peak spanned present-day Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Hunan, parts of Hubei, and parts of Gansu. His fictional counterpart in the novel was a example of a ruler who adhered to the Confucian set of moral values, such as loyalty. Historically, Liu Bei like many Han rulers was greatly influenced by Laozi and he was a brilliant politician and leader whose skill was a remarkable demonstration of a Legalist. Liu Beis somewhat Confucian tendencies were also dramatized compared to his rival states founders Cao Pi and Sun Quan, who both ruled as pure Legalists. The historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms described Liu Bei as a man seven chi and five cun tall, with arms that extended beyond his knees. The historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong gave a description about Liu Beis physical appearance. According to the historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei was born in Zhuo County and he was a descendant of Liu Zhen, a son of Liu Sheng and a grandson of Emperor Jing. However, Pei Songzhis commentary, based on the Dianlue, said that Liu Bei was a descendant of the Marquis of Linyi, the title of Marquis of Linyi was held by Liu Fu, and later by Liu Fus son Liu Taotu. All three descended from Emperor Jing, Liu Beis grandfather Liu Xiong and father Liu Hong were both employed as local clerks. Liu Bei grew up in a family, having lost his father when he was still a child. To support themselves, Liu Bei and his mother sold shoes, even so, Liu Bei was full of ambition from childhood, he once said to his peers, while under a tree that resembled the royal chariot, that he desired to become an emperor. At the age of 14, Liu Bei, sponsored by an affluent relative who recognised his potential in leadership. There he met and befriended Gongsun Zan, who would become a prominent warlord in northern China. The adolescent Liu Bei was said to be unenthusiastic in studying and displayed interest in hunting, music, concise in speech, calm in demeanour, and kind to his friends, Liu Bei was well liked by his contemporaries. In 184, at the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Liu Bei became much more politically aware and called for the assembly of a volunteer army to help government forces suppress the rebellion. Liu Bei received financial contributions from two wealthy horse merchants named Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang and rallied a group of followers, including Guan Yu, Zhang Fei. Liu Bei led his army to join the provincial army, together, they scored several victories against the rebels
Liu Bei
–
Liu Bei
Liu Bei
–
Statue of Liu Bei in
Zhuge Liang 's temple in
Chengdu
Liu Bei
–
Liu Bei declares himself king, portrait at the
Long Corridor of the
Summer Palace, Beijing
Liu Bei
–
Tomb of Liu Bei
5.
Emperor Xian of Han
–
Emperor Xian of Han, personal name Liu Xie, courtesy name Bohe, was the last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty in ancient China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until 10 December 220, Liu Xie was a son of Liu Hong and was a younger half-brother of his predecessor, Liu Bian. In 189, at the age of eight, he became emperor after the warlord Dong Zhuo, the newly enthroned Liu Xie, historically known as Emperor Xian, was in fact a puppet ruler under Dong Zhuos control. After Dong Zhuos assassination in 192, Emperor Xian fell under the control of Li Jue and Guo Si, the various regional warlords formally acknowledged Emperor Xians legitimacy but never took action to save him from being held hostage. In 195, Emperor Xian managed to escape from Changan and return to the ruins of Luoyang, where he soon became stranded. A year later, the warlord Cao Cao led his forces into Luoyang, received Emperor Xian, took him under his protection, and escorted him to Xu, although Cao Cao paid nominal allegiance to Emperor Xian, he was actually the de facto head of the central government. He skilfully used Emperor Xian as a card to bolster his legitimacy when he attacked and eliminated rival warlords in his quest to reunify the Han Empire under the central governments rule. Cao Caos success seemed inevitable until the winter of 208–209, when he lost the decisive Battle of Red Cliffs against the southern warlords Sun Quan, the battle paved the way for the subsequent emergence of the Three Kingdoms later. In late 220, some months after Cao Caos death, Cao Caos successor, Cao Pi, forced Emperor Xian to abdicate the throne to him. He then established the state of Cao Wei with himself as the new emperor – an event marking the end of the Han dynasty. The dethroned Emperor Xian received the noble title Duke of Shanyang from Cao Pi and spent the rest of his life in comfort and he died in 234 at the age of 53,14 years after the fall of the Han dynasty. Liu Xie was born in 181 to Emperor Ling and his Consort Wang, during her pregnancy, Consort Wang, fearful of Emperor Lings Empress He, had taken drugs that were intended to induce an abortion, but was not successful in her attempt. Soon after she gave birth to Liu Xie, the jealous Empress He poisoned her by putting poison in her food, Emperor Ling was enraged and wanted to depose her, but the eunuchs pleaded on her behalf, and she was not deposed. Liu Xie was raised personally by Emperor Lings mother Empress Dowager Dong and he Jin found out, and preemptively declared Liu Bian the new emperor. Later that year, Emperor Shao granted Liu Xie the title Prince of Bohai, after Liu Bian became emperor, He Jin became the most powerful official in the imperial court, and he and his advisor Yuan Shao quickly entered into a conspiracy to exterminate the eunuchs. One of these warlords was Dong Zhuo, who saw this as an opportunity to control the central government and he Jins plan was discovered by the eunuchs, who laid a trap for him and killed him. Yuan Shao then led his forces into the palace and killed the majority of the eunuchs, the remaining eunuchs initially took the young emperor and Liu Xie hostage, but were eventually forced to commit suicide when the battle turned against them. Dong Zhuo then murdered Empress Dowager He and the former Emperor Shao, in the spring of 190, a number of local officials, loosely forming a coalition led by Yuan Shao, quickly rose up against Dong Zhuo
Emperor Xian of Han
–
A
Qing dynasty illustration of Emperor Xian (center), Consort Dong (left) and Empress Fu Shou (right)
6.
Yuncheng
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Yùnchéng is the southernmost prefecture-level city in Shanxi province, Peoples Republic of China. It borders Linfen and Jincheng municipalities to the north and east, at the 2010 census, its population was 5,134,779 inhabitants whom 680,036 lived in the built-up area made of Yanhu District. In early China, it was the location of the state of Kunwu, the Municipal executive, legislature and judiciary are in Yanhu District, together with the CPC and Public Security Bureau. Yuncheng has a continental, monsoon-influenced semi-arid climate, with four distinct seasons, due to its southerly location and position to the north of the Zhongtiao Mountains, allowing for downsloping when winds are from the south, it is among the warmest locales in the province. Winters are cold and very dry, while summers are hot, monthly mean temperatures range from −0.9 °C in January to 27.4 °C in July, and the annual mean is 14.05 °C. Over 60% of the rainfall occurs from June to September. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 45% in March to 54% in May and July, China National Highway 209 Datong–Xian Passenger Railway, with frequent service to Beijing, Taiyuan, and Xian. Besides the Yuncheng North Railway Station, the railway also has stations at Yongji and Wenxi
Yuncheng
–
Xiezhou Guandi Temple
7.
Shanxi
–
Shanxi is a province of China, located in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is 晋, after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring, the name Shanxi means West of the Mountains, a reference to the provinces location west of the Taihang Mountains. Shanxi borders Hebei to the east, Henan to the south, Shaanxi to the west, the capital of the province is Taiyuan. In the Spring and Autumn period, the state of Jin was located in what is now Shanxi and it underwent a three-way split into the states of Han, Zhao and Wei in 403 BC, the traditional date taken as the start of the Warring States period. By 221 BC, all of states had fallen to the state of Qin. The Han Dynasty ruled Shanxi as the province of Bingzhou, during the invasion of northern nomads in the Sixteen Kingdoms period, several regimes including the Later Zhao, Former Yan, Former Qin, and Later Yan continuously controlled Shanxi. They were followed by Northern Wei, a Xianbei kingdom, which had one of its earlier capitals at present-day Datong in northern Shanxi, the Tang Dynasty originated in Taiyuan. During the Tang Dynasty and after, present day Shanxi was called Hédōng, empress Wu Zetian, Chinas only female ruler, was born in Shanxi. Shanxi was initially home to the jiedushi of Hedong, Li Cunxu, shi Jingtang, founder of the Later Jin, the third of the Five Dynasties, ceded a piece of northern China to the Khitans in return for military assistance. This territory, called The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, included a part of northern Shanxi, the ceded territory became a major problem for Chinas defense against the Khitans for the next 100 years, because it lay south of the Great Wall. He founded his dynasty by launching a coup against the Turkic Later Han Emperor. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of contention between Song China and the Liao Dynasty. Later the Southern Song Dynasty abandoned all of North China, including Shanxi, the Mongol Yuan Dynasty divided China into provinces but did not establish Shanxi as a province. Shanxi only gained its present name and approximate borders during the Ming Dynasty which were of the same landarea, with the collapse of the Qing dynasty, Shanxi became part of the newly established Republic of China. During most of the Republic of Chinas period of rule over mainland China, Yan Xishan devoted himself to modernizing Shanxi and developing its resources during his reign over the province. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan occupied much of the province after winning the Battle of Taiyuan, Shanxi was also a major battlefield between the Japanese and the Chinese communist guerrillas of the Eighth Route Army during the war. The soldiers of Shanxi province under Yan Xishan viciously fought against the invading Japanese, right after the defeat of Japan, much of the Shanxi countryside became important bases for the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the ensuing Chinese Civil War. Shanxi was eventually conquered by the communists, resulting in the warlord Yan Xishans retreat to Taiwan Island, for centuries, Shanxi served as the center of trade and banking, the Shanxi merchants were once synonymous with wealth
Shanxi
–
Temple of
Guandi in
Datong.
Shanxi
–
Map showing the location of Shanxi Province
Shanxi
–
Chenghuangshen (City God) Temple of
Pingyao.
Shanxi
–
Western gate of a Temple of Heshen (River God) in
Hequ,
Xinzhou.
8.
Hubei
–
Hubei is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the Central China region. The name of the province north of the lake, referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The provincial capital is Wuhan, a major thoroughfare and the political, cultural. It borders Henan to the north, Anhui to the east, Jiangxi to the southeast, Hunan to the south, Chongqing to the west, the high-profile Three Gorges Dam is located at Yichang, in the west of the province. The Hubei region was home to sophisticated Neolithic cultures, by the Spring and Autumn period, the territory of todays Hubei was part of the powerful State of Chu. During the Warring States period Chu became the major adversary of the upstart State of Qin to the northwest, which began to assert itself by outward expansionism. As wars between Qin and Chu ensued, Chu lost more and more land, first its dominance over the Sichuan Basin, then its heartland, which correspond to modern Hubei. In 223 BC Qin chased down the remnants of the Chu regime, Qin founded the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, the first unified state in the region. Qin was succeeded by the Han dynasty in 206 BC, which established the province of Jingzhou in what is now Hubei, the Qin and Han played an active role in the agricultural colonization of Hubei, maintaining a system of river dikes to protect farmland from summer floods. Towards the end of the Han Dynasty in the beginning of the 3rd century, the incursion of northern nomadic peoples into the region at the beginning of the 4th century began nearly three centuries of division into a nomad-ruled north and a Han Chinese-ruled south. Hubei, to the South, remained under southern rule for this entire period, until the unification of China by the Sui dynasty in 589. After the Tang dynasty disintegrated in the 10th century, Hubei came under the control of several regional regimes, Jingnan in the center, Wu to the east, and the Five Dynasties to the north. The Song dynasty reunified the region in 982 and placed most of Hubei into Jinghubei Circuit, Mongols conquered the region in 1279, and under their rule the province of Huguang was established, covering Hubei, Hunan, and parts of Guangdong and Guangxi. The Ming dynasty drove out the Mongols in 1368 and their version of Huguang province was smaller, and corresponded almost entirely to the modern provinces of Hubei and Hunan combined. While Hubei was geographically removed from the centers of the Ming power, during the last years of the Ming, todays Hubei was ravaged several times by the rebel armies of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng. The Manchu Qing dynasty which had much of the region in 1644, soon split Huguang into the provinces of Hubei. The Huangshi/Daye area, south-east of Wuhan, became an important center of mining, in 1911 the Wuchang Uprising took place in modern-day Wuhan, overthrowing the Qing dynasty and establishing the Republic of China. In 1927 Wuhan became the seat of a government established by left-wing elements of the Kuomintang, led by Wang Jingwei, during World War II the eastern parts of Hubei were conquered and occupied by Japan while the western parts remained under Chinese control
Hubei
–
Detail of an embroidered silk gauze ritual garment from a 4th-century BC,
Zhou era tomb at Mashan,
Jiangling County, Hubei
Hubei
–
Map showing the location of Hubei Province
Hubei
–
A family's ancestral hall,
Yangxin County
Hubei
–
Boats on the Yangtze River, upstream from the Three Gorges
9.
Guan Ping
–
Guan Ping was a military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He was the eldest son of Guan Yu, little about him is documented in historical records except that he was captured along with his father west of Maicheng by the forces of Sun Quan in 220. They were executed in Linju later, Guan Ping appears in the 14th century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. He is the son of Guan Ding, a farmer. His elder brother is Guan Ning, Guan Yu encounters Guan Ding and his family during his journey across five passes to find Liu Bei. He is so impressed with Guan Ping on first sight that he accepts him as his foster son, during the Battle of Runan, Guan Ping, Guan Yu and Zhou Cang lead 300 men to rescue Liu Bei, who is under attack by Cao Caos general Zhang He. Guan Ping participates in some of Liu Beis subsequent military exploits, including the Battle of Bowang against Cao Caos general Xiahou Dun, later, he is relocated to Jing Province to join his foster father in defending Liu Beis territories in Jing Province. In 219, Guan Ping follows Guan Yu to the Battle of Fancheng and scores some initial victories over Cao Caos forces, however, in the meantime, Sun Quan secretly breaks the alliance and sends his general Lü Meng to attack and conquer Jing Province in a stealth invasion. Guan Yu is completely caught off guard and eventually isolated in Maicheng with a fraction of his remaining forces, while trying to break out of the siege, Guan Yu and Guan Ping are captured in an ambush by Sun Quans forces. Sun Quan tries to persuade them to surrender, but they refuse so Sun has them executed, Guan Ping sometimes appears as a door god in Chinese and Taoist temples in partnership with Guan Yu. He also sometimes accompanies Guan Yu in his role as a war god, sometimes in combination with Zhou Cang, Guan Pings face is traditionally painted white, while Zhou Cang is black and Guan Yu red. Guan Ping appears as a character in Koeis Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi video game series. List of people of the Three Kingdoms Chen, Shou
Guan Ping
–
A
Qing dynasty portrait of Guan Ping
10.
Guan Xing
–
Guan Xing, courtesy name Anguo, was an official of the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period. He was the son of Guan Yu and a younger brother of Guan Ping. Little information about Guan Xing is found in historical records, the biography of Guan Yu in the Records of the Three Kingdoms contains only a few lines on Guan Xing. In his youth, Guan Xing was knowledgeable, and Zhuge Liang saw him as an exceptional talent, when he reached adulthood, he served as an official in Shu Han, but died some years later. His cause of death was not documented and he had two known sons – Guan Tong and Guan Yi. Guan Xing appears as a character in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in Luo Guanzhongs historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Xing was given much more significance. In Chapter 81, Guan Xing was said to have competed with Zhang Bao, liu Bei then asked them to become oath brothers in the same manner he did with their fathers many years ago. Zhang Bao was the older of the two, Guan Xing and Zhang Bao were then ordered to join Wu Ban, who would lead the vanguard in the campaign against Sun Quan. In Chapter 83, Guan Xing slew Pan Zhang, the commander of the division that previously captured Guan Yu, Guan Yus ghost had made Pan Zhang freeze in fear, allowing Guan Xing to slay him. In doing so, Guan Xing retrieved his fathers weapon, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, in Chapter 91, Guan Xing was appointed Commander of the Left Guard and Soaring Dragon General. He then followed Zhuge Liang on the Northern Expeditions against the state of Wei. He eventually died of illness in Chapter 102, Guan Xing is first introduced as a playable character in the eighth instalment of Koeis Dynasty Warriors video game series. Guan Xings appointment and the Northern Expeditions are depicted in the 2008 film Three Kingdoms, list of people of the Three Kingdoms Chen Shou
Guan Xing
–
A
Qing dynasty portrait of Guan Xing
11.
Courtesy name
–
A courtesy name, also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to ones given name. This practice is a tradition in East Asian cultures, including China, Japan, Korea, formerly in China, the zi would replace a males given name when he turned twenty, as a symbol of adulthood and respect. It could be either by the parents or by the first personal teacher on the first day of family school. Females might substitute their given name for a zi upon marriage, one also may adopt a self-chosen courtesy name. In China the popularity of the custom has declined to some extent since the May Fourth Movement in 1919, a courtesy name is not to be confused with an art name, another frequently mentioned term for an alternative name in Asian culture-based context. An art name is associated with art and is more of a literary name or a pseudonym that is more spontaneous. The zì, sometimes called the biǎozì or courtesy name, is a name given to Chinese males at the age of 20. It was sometimes given to females upon marriage, the practice is no longer common in modern Chinese society. According to the Book of Rites, after a man reaches adulthood, it is disrespectful for others of the generation to address him by his given name. The zì is mostly disyllabic and is based on the meaning of the míng or given name. Yan Zhitui of the Northern Qi dynasty believed that while the purpose of the míng was to one person from another. The relation which exists between a persons zì and míng may be seen in the case of Chiang Kai-shek, whose ming was Zhōngzhèng. Thus he was also called 蔣中正（Chiang Chung-cheng）in some context, another way to form a zì is to use the homophonic character zǐ – a respectful title for a male – as the first character of the disyllabic zì. Thus, for example, Gongsun Qiaos zì was Zǐchǎn, and Du Fus and it is also common to construct a zì by using as the first character one which expresses the bearers birth order among male siblings in his family. Thus Confucius, whose name was Kǒng Qiū, was given the zì Zhòngní, the characters commonly used are bó for the first, zhòng for the second, shū for the third, and jì typically for the youngest, if the family consists of more than three sons. General Sun Jians four sons, for instance, were Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Sun Yi, the use of zì began during the Shang dynasty, and slowly developed into a system which became most widespread during the succeeding Zhou dynasty. During this period, women were also given zì, the zì given to a woman was generally composed of a character indicating her birth order among female siblings and her surname. For example, Mèng Jiāng was the eldest daughter in the Jiāng family, prior to the twentieth century, sinicized Koreans, Vietnamese, and Japanese were also referred to by their zì
Courtesy name
–
Courtesy name (Zi)
12.
Guan Yu
–
Guan Yu, courtesy name Yunchang, was a general serving under the warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He played a significant role in the events led to the collapse of the dynasty. After Liu Bei gained control of Yi Province in 214, Guan Yu remained in Jing Province to govern, by the time Guan Yu found out about the loss of Jing Province after his defeat at Fancheng, it was too late. He was subsequently captured in an ambush by Sun Quans forces, Guan Yu is respected as an epitome of loyalty and righteousness. He is portrayed as having a red face, Guan Yu was deified as early as the Sui dynasty and is still worshipped by many Chinese people today in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among many overseas Chinese communities. In religious devotion he is called the Divus Guan or Lord Guan. He is a deity worshipped in Chinese folk religion, popular Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese Buddhism and his hometown Yuncheng has also named its airport after him. The authoritative historical source on Guan Yus life is the Records of the Three Kingdoms, during the fifth century, Pei Songzhi annotated the Sanguozhi by incorporating information from other sources to Chen Shous original work and adding his personal commentary. No descriptions of Guan Yus physical appearance exist in historical records, traditionally, he is portrayed as a red-faced warrior with a long lush beard. He had an air and looked quite majestic. Alternatively, the idea of his red face could have borrowed from opera representation. In illustrations of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu is traditionally depicted wearing a green robe over his body armour, supposedly, Guan Yus weapon was a guan dao named Green Dragon Crescent Blade, which resembled a glaive and was said to weigh 82 catties. A wooden replica can be today in the Emperor Guan Temple in Xiezhou County. Guan Yu was from Xie County, Hedong Commandery, which is in present-day Yuncheng and his original courtesy name was Changsheng. He was very interested in the Zuo Zhuan and could fluently recite lines from the book and he fled from his hometown after committing a serious crime and arrived in Zhuo Commandery. When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in the 180s, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei joined a militia formed by Liu Bei. When Liu Bei was appointed as the Chancellor of Pingyuan State, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were appointed as Majors of Separate Command, the three of them shared a brotherly-like relationship, to the point of sharing the same room. Zhang Fei and Guan Yu also stood guard beside Liu Bei when he sat down at meetings and they followed him on his exploits and protected him from danger
Guan Yu
–
A portrait of Guan Yu in the
Sancai Tuhui
Guan Yu
–
Liu Bei (left), Guan Yu (back), and Zhang Fei (right) in an illustration by Japanese painter Sakurai Sekkan (1715-90)
Guan Yu
–
A mural of Guan Yu's "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" (千里走單騎) in the
Summer Palace,
Beijing.
Guan Yu
–
Guan Yu captures
Pang De, as depicted in a
Ming dynasty painting by Shang Xi, c. 1430.
13.
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
Traditional Chinese characters
–
Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese characters
–
Job announcement in a Filipino Chinese daily newspaper written in Traditional Chinese characters.
Traditional Chinese characters
–
A Series of Reading workbook in Traditional Chinese used in some Elementary schools in the Philippines.
14.
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
Simplified Chinese characters
–
Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese characters
–
The slogan 战无不胜的毛泽东思想万岁 (Zhàn wúbù shèng de Máo Zédōng sīxiǎng wànsuì; Long live the invincible
Mao Zedong Thought) on
Xinhua Gate in Beijing.
Simplified Chinese characters
–
The first batch of Simplified Characters introduced in 1935 consisted of 324 characters.
15.
Standard Chinese
–
Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, and its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a language with topic-prominent organization. It has more initial consonants but fewer vowels, final consonants, Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There exist two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, while Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters. There are many characters that are identical between the two systems, in English, the governments of China and Hong Kong use Putonghua, Putonghua Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin, while those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, use Mandarin. The name Putonghua also has a long, albeit unofficial, history and it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or common tongue/speech, was different from the Guoyu. The former was a prestige variety, while the latter was the legal standard. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different, Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, which is close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called the speech of the modern man. The use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai, prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the term for Standard Chinese. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca, Huayu, or language of the Chinese nation, originally simply meant Chinese language, and was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name Huayu to refer to Mandarin and it also incorporates the notion that Mandarin is usually not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. The term Mandarin is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire, in English, Mandarin may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name Modern Standard Mandarin is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the language from other northern. Chinese has long had considerable variation, hence prestige dialects have always existed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán rather than colloquial regional dialects, rime books, which were written since the Northern and Southern dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times
Standard Chinese
–
A poster outside of high school in
Yangzhou urges people to speak Putonghua
Standard Chinese
–
Zhongguo Guanhua (中国官话/中國官話), or Medii Regni Communis Loquela ("Middle Kingdom's Common Speech"), used on the frontispiece of an early Chinese grammar published by
Étienne Fourmont (with
Arcadio Huang) in 1742
16.
Hanyu Pinyin
–
Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
Hanyu Pinyin
–
A school slogan asking elementary students to speak
Putonghua is annotated with pinyin, but without tonal marks.
Hanyu Pinyin
–
In
Yiling,
Yichang,
Hubei, text on road signs appears both in Chinese characters and in Hanyu Pinyin
17.
Bopomofo
–
Zhuyin fuhao, Zhuyin or Bopomofo is a system of phonetic notation for the transcription of spoken Chinese, particularly the Mandarin dialect. The first two are traditional terms, whereas Bopomofo is the term, also used by the ISO. Consisting of 37 characters and four marks, it transcribes all possible sounds in Mandarin. Zhuyin was introduced in China by the Republican Government in the 1910s and used alongside the Wade-Giles system, the Wade system was replaced by Hanyu Pinyin in 1958 by the Government of the Peoples Republic of China, and at the International Organization for Standardization in 1982. The informal name Bopomofo is derived from the first four syllables in the ordering of available syllables in Mandarin Chinese. The four Bopomofo characters that correspond to these syllables are placed first in a list of these characters. The same sequence is used by other speakers of Chinese to refer to other phonetic systems. The original formal name of the system was Guóyīn Zìmǔ and Zhùyīn Zìmǔ and it was later renamed Zhùyīn Fúhào, meaning phonetic symbols. In official documents, Zhuyin is occasionally called Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I, in English translations, the system is often also called either Chu-yin or the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols. A romanized phonetic system was released in 1984 as Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II, the Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation, led by Wu Zhihui from 1912 to 1913, created a system called Zhuyin Zimu, which was based on Zhang Binglins shorthand. A draft was released on July 11,1913, by the Republic of China National Ministry of Education and it was later renamed first Guoyin Zimu and then, in April 1930, Zhuyin Fuhao. The last renaming addressed fears that the system might independently replace Chinese characters. Zhuyin remains the predominant phonetic system in teaching reading and writing in school in Taiwan. It is also one of the most popular ways to enter Chinese characters into computers and smartphones, in elementary school, particularly in the lower years, Chinese characters in textbooks are often annotated with Zhuyin as ruby characters as an aid to learning. Additionally, one newspaper in Taiwan, the Mandarin Daily News. In teaching Mandarin, Taiwan institutions and some communities use Zhuyin as a learning tool. The Zhuyin characters were created by Zhang Binglin, and taken mainly from regularised forms of ancient Chinese characters, the modern readings of which contain the sound that each letter represents. It is to be noted that the first consonants are articulated from the front of the mouth to the back, /b/, /p/, /m/, /f/, /d/, /t/, /n/, Zhuyin is written in the same stroke order rule as Chinese characters
Bopomofo
–
An example of a Zhuyin keypad for Taiwan.
Bopomofo
–
Table showing Zhuyin in
Gwoyeu Romatzyh.
18.
Wu Chinese
–
Wu is a group of linguistically similar and historically related varieties of Chinese primarily spoken in the whole city of Shanghai, Zhejiang province, southern Jiangsu province and bordering areas. Major Wu varieties include those of Shanghai, Suzhou, Ningbo, Wuxi, Wenzhou/Oujiang, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua, Wu speakers, such as Chiang Kai-shek, Lu Xun and Cai Yuanpei, occupied positions of great importance in modern Chinese culture and politics. Wu can also be found being used in Shaoxing opera, which is only in national popularity to Peking opera, as well as in the performances of the popular entertainer. Wu is also spoken in a number of diaspora communities, with significant centers of immigration originating from Shanghai, Qingtian. Suzhou has traditionally been the center of Wu and was likely the first place the distinct variety of Sinitic known as Wu developed. Suzhou dialect is considered to be the most linguistically representative of the family. Due to the influence of Shanghainese, Wu as a whole is incorrectly labelled in English as simply, Shanghainese, among speakers of other Sinitic languages, Wu is often subjectively judged to be soft, light, and flowing. There is an idiom in Mandarin that specifically describes these qualities of Wu speech, Ngu nung nioe ngiu, Wu varieties have the largest vowel quality inventories in the world. The Jinhui dialect spoken in Shanghais Fengxian District has 20 vowel qualities, Wu Chinese, along with Min, is also of great significance to historical linguists due to their retention of many ancient features. These two languages have proven pivotal in determining the history of the Chinese languages. More pressing concerns of the present are those of language preservation, however, many analysts believe that a stable state of diglossia will endure for at least several generations if not indefinitely. Saying one speaks Wu is akin to saying one speaks a Romance language and it is not a particularly defined entity like Standard Mandarin or Hochdeutsch. They do this by affixing 話 Wo to their locations endonym, for example, 溫州話 Wēnzhōuhuà is used for Wenzhounese. Affixing 閒話 xiánhuà is also common and more typical of the Taihu division, Wu, the formal name and standard reference in dialectology literature. Northern Wu, Wu typically spoken in the north of Zhejiang and it by default includes the Xuanzhou division in Anhui as well, however this division is often neglected in Northern Wu discussions. Southern Wu, Wu spoken in southern Zhejiang and periphery, comprising the Oujiang, Wuzhou, Western Wu, A term gaining in usage as a synonym for the Xuanzhou division and modeled after the previous two terms since the Xuanzhou division is less representative of Northern Wu. Shanghainese, is also a common name, used because Shanghai is the most well-known city in the Wu-speaking region. The term Shanghainese is never used by linguists to refer to anything
Wu Chinese
–
Wu (Wú Yǔ) written in
Chinese characters
19.
Cantonese
–
Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a variety of Chinese spoken in the city of Guangzhou in southeastern China. It is the prestige variety of Yue, one of the major subdivisions of Chinese. In mainland China, it is the lingua franca of the province of Guangdong and some neighbouring areas such as Guangxi. In Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese serves as one of their official languages and it is also spoken amongst overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and throughout the Western World. When Cantonese and the closely related Yuehai dialects are classified together, Cantonese is viewed as vital part of the cultural identity for its native speakers across large swathes of southeastern China, Hong Kong and Macau. Although Cantonese shares some vocabulary with Mandarin, the two varieties are mutually unintelligible because of differences in pronunciation, grammar and lexicon, sentence structure, in particular the placement of verbs, sometimes differs between the two varieties. This results in the situation in which a Cantonese and a Mandarin text may look similar, in English, the term Cantonese is ambiguous. Cantonese proper is the variety native to the city of Canton and this narrow sense may be specified as Canton language or Guangzhou language in English. However, Cantonese may also refer to the branch of Cantonese that contains Cantonese proper as well as Taishanese and Gaoyang. In this article, Cantonese is used for Cantonese proper, historically, speakers called this variety Canton speech or Guangzhou speech, although this term is now seldom used outside mainland China. In Guangdong province, people call it provincial capital speech or plain speech. In Hong Kong and Macau, as well as among overseas Chinese communities, in mainland China, the term Guangdong speech is also increasingly being used among both native and non-native speakers. Due to its status as a prestige dialect among all the dialects of the Cantonese or Yue branch of Chinese varieties, the official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English, as defined in the Hong Kong Basic Law. The Chinese language has different varieties, of which Cantonese is one. Given the traditional predominance of Cantonese within Hong Kong, it is the de facto official spoken form of the Chinese language used in the Hong Kong Government and all courts and it is also used as the medium of instruction in schools, alongside English. A similar situation exists in neighboring Macau, where Chinese is an official language along with Portuguese. As in Hong Kong, Cantonese is the predominant spoken variety of Chinese used in life and is thus the official form of Chinese used in the government. The variant spoken in Hong Kong and Macau is known as Hong Kong Cantonese, Cantonese first developed around the port city of Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta region of southeastern China
Cantonese
–
Street in
Chinatown, San Francisco. Cantonese has traditionally been the dominant Chinese variant among Chinese populations in the Western world.
Cantonese
–
Gwóngdūng Wah / gwong 2 dung 1 waa 6 (Cantonese) written in
traditional Chinese (left) and
simplified Chinese (right) characters
Cantonese
–
Chinese dictionary from Tang dynasty. Modern Cantonese pronunciation is more similar to Middle Chinese from this era than other Chinese varieties.
20.
Jyutping
–
Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong, an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanisation Scheme, the LSHK promotes the use of this romanisation system. The name Jyutping is a contraction consisting of the first Chinese characters of the terms Jyut6jyu5, only the finals m and ng can be used as standalone nasal syllables. ^ ^ ^ Referring to the pronunciation of these words. There are nine tones in six distinct tone contours in Cantonese, however, as three of the nine are entering tones, which only appear in syllables ending with p, t, and k, they do not have separate tone numbers in Jyutping. Jyutping and the Yale Romanisation of Cantonese represent Cantonese pronunciations with the letters in, The initials, b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, ng, h, s, gw, kw. The vowel, aa, a, e, i, o, u, the coda, i, u, m, n, ng, p, t, k. But they differ in the following, The vowels eo and oe represent /ɵ/ and /œː/ respectively in Jyutping, the initial j represents /j/ in Jyutping whereas y is used instead in Yale. The initial z represents /ts/ in Jyutping whereas j is used instead in Yale, the initial c represents /tsʰ/ in Jyutping whereas ch is used instead in Yale. In Jyutping, if no consonant precedes the vowel yu, then the initial j is appended before the vowel, in Yale, the corresponding initial y is never appended before yu under any circumstances. Jyutping defines three finals not in Yale, eu /ɛːu/, em /ɛːm/, and ep /ɛːp/ and these three finals are used in colloquial Cantonese words, such as deu6, lem2, and gep6. To represent tones, only tone numbers are used in Jyutping whereas Yale traditionally uses tone marks together with the letter h. Jyutping and Cantonese Pinyin represent Cantonese pronunciations with the letters in, The initials, b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, ng, h, s, gw, kw. The vowel, aa, a, e, i, o, u, the coda, i, u, m, n, ng, p, t, k. But they have differences, The vowel oe represents both /ɵ/ and /œː/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas eo and oe represent /ɵ/ and /œː/ respectively in Jyutping. The vowel y represents /y/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas both yu and i are used in Jyutping, the initial dz represents /ts/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas z is used instead in Jyutping. The initial ts represents /tsʰ/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas c is used instead in Jyutping. To represent tones, the numbers 1 to 9 are usually used in Cantonese Pinyin, however, only the numbers 1 to 6 are used in Jyutping
Jyutping
–
Jyutping Romanization.
21.
Southern Min
–
Southern Min, or Minnan, is a branch of Min Chinese spoken in certain parts of China including southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, and southern Zhejiang, and in Taiwan. The Min Nan dialects are spoken by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora, most notably the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia. In common parlance, Southern Min usually refers to Hokkien, including Amoy and Taiwanese Hokkien, the Southern Min dialect group also includes Teochew, though Teochew has limited mutual intelligibility with Hokkien. Hainanese is not mutually intellgible with other Southern Min and is considered a separate branch of Min. Southern Min is not mutually intelligible with Eastern Min, Pu-Xian Min, any other Min branch, Hakka, Cantonese, Shanghainese or Mandarin. Southern Min dialects are spoken in the part of Fujian. The variant spoken in Leizhou, Guangdong as well as Hainan is Hainanese and is not mutually intelligible with other Southern Min or Teochew, Hainanese is classified in some schemes as part of Southern Min and in other schemes as separate. Puxian Min was originally based on the Quanzhou dialect, but over time became heavily influenced by Eastern Min, eventually losing intellegility with Minnan. A forms of Southern Min spoken in Taiwan, collectively known as Taiwanese, Southern Min is a first language for most of the Hoklo people, the main ethnicity of Taiwan. The correspondence between language and ethnicity is not absolute, as some Hoklo have very limited proficiency in Southern Min while some non-Hoklo speak Southern Min fluently, there are many Southern Min speakers also among Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. Many ethnic Chinese immigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian and brought the language to what is now Burma, Indonesia and present-day Malaysia and Singapore. In general, Southern Min from southern Fujian is known as Hokkien, Hokkienese, many Southeast Asian ethnic Chinese also originated in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong and speak Teochew language, the variant of Southern Min from that region. Southern Min-speakers form the majority of Chinese in Singapore, with the largest group being Hokkien, despite the similarities the two groups are rarely seen as part of the same Minnan Chinese subgroups. The variants of Southern Min spoken in Zhejiang province are most akin to that spoken in Quanzhou, the variants spoken in Taiwan are similar to the three Fujian variants and are collectively known as Taiwanese. Those Southern Min variants that are known as Hokkien in Southeast Asia also originate from these variants. The variants of Southern Min in the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong province are known as Teochew or Chaozhou. Teochew is of importance in the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora, particularly in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sumatra. The Philippines variant is mostly from the Quanzhou area as most of their forefathers are from the aforementioned area, the Southern Min language variant spoken around Shanwei and Haifeng differs markedly from Teochew and may represent a later migration from Zhangzhou
Southern Min
–
Koa-a books, Min Nan written in Chinese characters
Southern Min
–
Distribution of Southern Min.
22.
Hokkien
–
Hokkien /hɒˈkiɛn/ is a group of Southern Min dialects spoken throughout Southeastern China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and by other overseas Chinese. Hokkien originated in southern Fujian, the Min-speaking province and it is closely related to Teochew, though there is limited mutual intelligibility, and is somewhat more distantly related to Hainanese and Leizhou dialect. Besides Hokkien, there are also other Min and Hakka dialects in Fujian province, the term Hokkien is etymologically derived from the Southern Min pronunciation for Fujian, the province from which the language hails. The variety is known by other terms such as the more general Min Nan or Southern Min. Fujianese and Fukienese are also used, although they are somewhat imprecise, the term Hokkien is not usually used in Mainland China or Taiwan. Conversely Hokkien is the name in Southeast Asia in both English, Chinese or other languages. Speakers of Hokkien, particularly those in Southeast Asia, typically refer to Hokkien as a dialect, people in Taiwan most often refer to Hokkien as the Taiwanese language, with Minnan and Holo also being used and 福建話 is not as common. Hokkien originated in the area of Fujian province, an important center for trade and migration. The major pole of Hokkien varieties outside of Fujian is Taiwan, the Taiwanese version mostly have origins with the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou variants, but since then, the Amoy dialect is becoming the modern prestige standard for the language. There are many Hokkien speakers among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia as well as in the United States, many ethnic Han Chinese emigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian, and brought the language to what is now Burma, Indonesia and present day Malaysia and Singapore. Many of the Hokkien dialects of this region are similar to Taiwanese and Amoynese. Hokkien is reportedly the native language of up to 80% of the Chinese people in the Philippines, Hokkien speakers form the largest group of overseas Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. Southern and part of western Fujian is home to four principal Hokkien dialects, Chinchew, Amoy, Chiangchew and Longyan, originating from the cities of Quanzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Longyan. As Xiamen is the city of southern Fujian, Amoy is considered the most important, or even the prestige dialect. It is a hybrid of the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects, same as Amoy dialect, the varieties of Hokkien spoken in Taiwan are hybrids of the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects, and are collectively known as Taiwanese Hokkien or just Taiwanese. Used by a majority of the population, it bears much importance from a socio-political perspective, the varieties of Hokkien in Southeast Asia originate from these dialects. The Singaporeans, Southern Malaysians and people in Indonesias Riau and surrounding islands variant is from the Quanzhou area and they speak a distinct form of Quanzhou Hokkien called Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien. Among ethnic Chinese inhabitants of Penang, and other states in Northern Malaysia and Medan, with areas in North Sumatra, Indonesia
Hokkien
–
Distribution of Min Nan dialects. Hokkien is dark green.
23.
Taiwanese Romanization System
–
The Taiwanese Romanization System is a transcription system for Taiwanese Hokkien. It is derived from Pe̍h-ōe-jī and since 2006 has been promoted by Taiwans Ministry of Education. It is nearly identical to Taiwanese Language Phonetic Alphabet Romanization for Hakka apart from using ts tsh j instead of c ch j for the fricatives /ts tsʰ dz/, Taiwanese Romanization System uses 16 basic Latin letters,7 digraphs and a trigraph. In addition, it uses 6 diacritics to represent tones, nn is only used after a vowel to express nasalization, so it has no capital letter. Palatalization occurs when J, S, Ts, Tsh followed by i, so Ji, Si, Tsi, of the 10 unused basic Latin letters, R is sometimes used to express dialectal vowels, while the others are only used in loanwords. O pronounced ㄜ in general dialect in Kaohsiung and Tainan, ㄛ in Taipei, -nn forms the nasal vowels There is also syllabic m and ng. ing pronounced, ik pronounced. A hyphen links elements of a compound word, a double hyphen indicates that the following syllable has a neutral tone and therefore that the preceding syllable does not undergo tone sandhi. 臺灣閩南語羅馬拼音及其發音學習網, Taiwanese Romanization System learning site by Ministry of Education, Taiwan
Taiwanese Romanization System
–
Taiwanese Romanization System
24.
Eastern 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
Eastern Han dynasty
–
History of China
Eastern Han dynasty
–
A map of the Western Han Dynasty in 2 AD: 1) the territory shaded in dark blue represents the principalities and centrally-administered
commanderies of the Han Empire; 2) the light blue area shows the extent of the
Tarim Basin protectorate of the
Western Regions.
Eastern Han dynasty
–
A
silk banner from
Mawangdui,
Changsha,
Hunan province. It was draped over the coffin of
Lady Dai (d. 168 BC), wife of the Marquess Li Cang (利蒼) (d. 186 BC), chancellor for the Kingdom of Changsha.
Eastern Han dynasty
–
Han dynasty in 1 AD.
25.
End of the Han dynasty
–
The end of the Han dynasty refers to the period of Chinese history from 189 to 220 AD, which roughly coincides with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynastys last ruler, Emperor Xian. During this period, the country was thrown into turmoil by the Yellow Turban Rebellion, eventually, one of those warlords, Cao Cao, was able to gradually reunify the empire, ostensibly under Emperor Xians rule, but the empire was actually controlled by Cao Cao himself. Cao Caos efforts to reunite the Han empire were rebuffed at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 /209. The Han dynasty formally ended in 220 when Cao Caos son and heir, Cao Pi, Cao Pi became the emperor of a new state, Cao Wei. A year later, in response to Cao Pis usurpation of the Han throne, Liu Bei declared himself emperor of Shu Han, and in 229, Sun Quan followed suit, declaring himself emperor of Eastern Wu. The period from Emperor Xians abdication in 220 to the reunification of China under the Jin dynasty in 265 was known as the Three Kingdoms era in Chinese history. Towards the end of the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, Emperor Ling, convinced by Liu Yan, changed the Inspectors titles to Governor and granted them the authority to levy taxes and command armed forces within the borders. Liu Yan was commissioned as the Governor of Yi Province, while other important officials also became Governors, including Liu Yu. The increased influence of these provincial governors formed the basis on which later warlords would control large regions of the Han empire, Emperor Ling died in 189 and was succeeded by his 13-year-old son, Liu Bian, who became known as Emperor Shao. Empress He, now empress dowager, became regent to the emperor, while her older brother, General-in-Chief He Jin. He Jin and Yuan Shao plotted to exterminate all the Ten Attendants, a group of ten influential eunuch officials in the court, after the eunuchs discovered He Jins plot, they lured him into the palace and murdered him. In response, Yuan Shao led the guards on an indiscriminate massacre of the palace eunuchs. Dong Zhuo arrived on the scene and found Emperor Shao and the Prince of Chenliu, the young emperor appeared nervous and fearful, while the prince remained calm and composed, and gave orders to Dong Zhuo to escort them back to the palace. Dong Zhuo used the opportunity to control of state power. Not long later, Dong Zhuo deposed Emperor Shao and replaced him with the Prince of Chenliu, in the spring of 190, several provincial officials and warlords formed a coalition against Dong Zhuo, claiming that he was set on usurping the throne and had effectively kidnapped Emperor Xian. Yuan Shao, Administrator of Bohai, was nominated to be the leader of the coalition, the coalition armies was stationed at Henei and appeared to be ready to move on the capital Luoyang. However, the coalition was actually rather disorganized, and Yuan Shao did not have command over the entire alliance. Besides, the members were also hesitant to directly confront Dong Zhuo
End of the Han dynasty
–
Warlords in China around 194
End of the Han dynasty
–
History
26.
Shu Han
–
Shu or Shu Han was one of the three major states that competed for supremacy over China in the Three Kingdoms period. The state was based in the area around present-day Sichuan and Chongqing, towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, Liu Bei, a warlord and distant relative of the Han imperial clan, rallied the support of many capable followers. Following the counsel of his advisor, Zhuge Liang, and Zhuges Longzhong Plan, Liu Bei took over Yi Province from the warlord Liu Zhang between 212 and 215 and wrestled control of Hanzhong from his rival Cao Cao in 219. From the territories he gained, Liu Bei established a position for himself in China during the years of the Han dynasty. However, in 219, the alliance between Liu Bei and his ally, Sun Quan, was broken when Sun sent his general Lü Meng to invade Jing Province, Liu Bei lost his territories in Jing Province to Sun Quan. Guan Yu, the general guarding Liu Beis assets in Jing Province, was captured and executed by Sun Quans forces. Cao Cao died in 220 and was succeeded by his son, Cao Pi, Cao Pi then established the state of Cao Wei and declared himself emperor. Liu Bei contested Cao Pis claim to the throne and proclaimed himself Emperor of Shu Han in 221. Although Liu Bei is widely seen as the founder of Shu, he never claimed to be the founder of a new dynasty, rather, Liu Bei ruled as emperor for less than three years. In 222, he launched a campaign against Sun Quan to retake Jing Province and avenge Guan Yu, however, due to grave tactical mistakes, Liu Bei suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Sun Quans general Lu Xun and lost the bulk of his army. He survived the battle and retreated to Baidicheng, where he died from illness a year later, Liu Beis son Liu Shan succeeded his father, making him the youngest of three rulers at only 16. Before his death, Liu Bei also appointed the chancellor Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Liang was the de facto head of the Shu government throughout Liu Shans reign and was responsible for masterminding most of Shus policies during his regency. When Liu Shan succeeded his father, Shu was the weakest of the three major powers, following his fathers defeat in 221, the portion of Jing Province previously held by Shu was now firmly under the control of Wu. This greatly limited Shu in terms of resources and manpower, Zhuge Liang advocated an aggressive foreign policy towards Wei, because he strongly believed it was critical to the survival of Shu and its sovereignty. Between the years of 228 and 234, he launched a series of five military campaigns against Wei, with the aim of conquering Changan, most of the battles were fought around present-day Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. However, aside from gaining Jiang Wei as an officer in 228, the Shu government was then headed by Jiang Wan, Fei Yi and others after Zhuge Liangs death, and Shu temporarily ceased its aggression towards Wei. The Wei regent Cao Shuang launched an invasion of Hanzhong in 244, despite being outnumbered 2-to-1, the Shu forces successfully defeated them at the Battle of Xingshi, with the humiliated Wei forces fleeing. Between 247 and 262, the Shu general Jiang Wei resumed Zhuge Liangs legacy by leading a series of campaigns against Wei
Shu Han
–
The territories of Shu Han (in red), 262.
Shu Han
–
A
Qing dynasty illustration of a battle between Wei and Shu at the banks of the
Wei River. Many battles were fought between Shu and Wei in the Three Kingdoms period.
27.
Three Kingdoms
–
The Three Kingdoms was the tripartite division of China between the states of Wei, Shu, and Wu, following the Han dynasty and preceding the Jin dynasty. The term Three Kingdoms itself is something of a mistranslation, since each state was eventually headed not by a king, nevertheless, the term Three Kingdoms has become standard among sinologists. Academically, the period of the Three Kingdoms refers to the period between the foundation of the state of Wei in 220 AD and the conquest of the state of Wu by the Jin dynasty in 280. The earlier, unofficial part of the period, from 184 to 220, was marked by infighting between warlords in various parts of China. The middle part of the period, from 220 and 263, was marked by a more militarily stable arrangement between three states of Wei, Shu, and Wu. The later part of the era was marked by the conquest of Shu by Wei, the usurpation of Wei by the Jin dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period is one of the bloodiest in Chinese history. While the census may not have been particularly accurate due to a multitude of factors of the times, technology advanced significantly during this period. Shu chancellor Zhuge Liang invented the wooden ox, suggested to be a form of the wheelbarrow. Wei mechanical engineer Ma Jun is considered by many to be the equal of his predecessor Zhang Heng, although relatively short, this historical period has been greatly romanticized in the cultures of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. It has been celebrated and popularized in operas, folk stories, novels and in recent times, films, television. The best known of these is Luo Guanzhongs Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the authoritative historical record of the era is Chen Shous Records of the Three Kingdoms, along with Pei Songzhis later annotations of the text. There is no set time period for the era, and many definitions are given. The strictest rule of dating would be to deem the era to be from the point where all three states coexisted as independent states up until the downfall of the Shu-Han states. Mao Zonggang, a commentator on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, mentions in his commentary on Chapter 120 of the novel that, the Han royal house declined when the eunuchs abused the sovereign and officials subverted the government. In doing so, he suggests that the historiography of the Three Kingdoms should begin at the rise of the Ten Eunuchs to power. He further argues that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms defines the end of the era as 280, to end the tale before Hans enemy had itself met its fate would be to leave the reader unsatisfied. The novel could have ended with the fall of Wei, to end the tale before Hans ally had fallen would be to leave the reader with an incomplete picture. So the tale had to end with the fall of Wu, the power of the Eastern Han dynasty went into depression and steadily declined from a variety of political and economic problems after the death in 105 of Emperor He
Three Kingdoms
–
History of China
Three Kingdoms
–
A Chinese Three Kingdoms era decorated brick taken from the wall of an underground tomb, with miniature paintings depicting people in domestic scenes
Three Kingdoms
–
Map of Chinese provinces in the prelude of Three Kingdom period (In the late Han dynasty period, 189 AD).
28.
Jing Province
–
Jingzhou or Jing Province was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China referenced in Chinese historical texts such as the Tribute of Yu, Erya and Rites of Zhou. It became a division during the reign of Emperor Wu in the Western Han dynasty. In the Warring States period, the Chu state covered most of present-day Hubei and Hunan, the areas that would form Jingzhou in a later era. The Qin state dropped the name Chu and used Jing instead to avoid a taboo, since the personal name of Qins King Zhuangxiang was Zichu because his adoptive mother. Chu was conquered by Qin in 223 BCE in the stages of the Qin unification campaign. In 106 BCE, during the reign of Emperor Wu in the Western Han dynasty, China was divided into 13 administrative divisions, each governed by an Inspector. Jingzhou was one of the 13, and its area was one of the largest, covering roughly the modern provinces of Hubei and Hunan. However, Jingzhou did not have a capital and was only an administrative division in name. From 188 CE onwards, during the reign of Emperor Ling in the Eastern Han dynasty, the Book of Han mentioned that Jingzhou had seven commanderies – Nanyang, Nan, Jiangxia, Changsha, Guiyang, Wuling and Lingling – under its jurisdiction. Before Liu Biao became the Governor of Jingzhou during the reign of Emperor Xian, however, as remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels were still active in southern Jingzhou, the capital was moved north to Xiangyang. Liu Biao died in 208 and was succeeded by his son, Liu Cong, as the Governor of Jingzhou. Cao Cao subsequently partitioned Xiangyang and Nanxiang commanderies from the two he controlled – Nanyang and Nan and it was believed that the term Nine Commanderies of Jing and Xiang originated from the division of Jingzhou between the three powers, since each controlled three commanderies, making nine in total. In 219, Sun Quans general Lü Meng attacked and seized Liu Beis lands in Jingzhou and this triggered the subsequent Battle of Xiaoting of 221–222, which concluded with Liu Bei being defeated by Sun Quans general Lu Xun. Since then, the state of Shu had never laid claims on Jingzhou, Jingzhou was divided between the states of Wu and Wei, during the Three Kingdoms period, Jingzhou was split between the states of Wei and Wu. In the Western Jin dynasty, Jingzhous capital was designated in Xiangyang, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, China was further divided into many administrative divisions so the land area in each division was reduced. The Liu Song dynasty established Jingzhous capital in Xiangyang, the Southern Qi dynasty changed Jingzhous capital to Nan commandery and made Xiangyang the capital of another province, Yongzhou. In 497, the Northern Wei dynasty set up a division called Jingzhou in Rang. The capital was moved to Shanbei
Jing Province
–
Map of Chinese provinces in the prelude of
Three Kingdoms period. (In the late Eastern Han dynasty, 189 CE).
29.
Cao Cao
–
Cao Cao, courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese warlord and the penultimate Chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty who rose to great power in the final years of the dynasty. As one of the figures of the Three Kingdoms period. During the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty, Cao Cao was able to secure the most populated and prosperous cities of the central plains and northern China. Cao had much success as the Han chancellor, but his handling of the Han emperor Liu Xie was heavily criticized and resulted in a continued, opposition directly gathered around warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan, whom Cao was unable to quell. Cao was also skilled in poetry and martial arts and wrote many war journals, Cao Cao was born in Qiao in 155. His father Cao Song was a son of Cao Teng. Some historical records, including the Biography of Cao Man, claim that Cao Songs original family name was Xiahou, Cao was known for his craftiness as an adolescent. According to the Biography of Cao Man, Cao Caos uncle complained to Cao Song about Cao Caos indulgence in hunting, in retaliation, Cao Cao feigned a fit before his uncle, who immediately rushed to inform Cao Song. When Cao Song went to see his son, Cao Cao behaved normally, when asked, Cao Cao replied, I have never had a fit, but I lost the love of my uncle, and therefore he deceived you. Afterwards, Cao Song ceased to believe his brother regarding Cao Cao, at that time, there was a man named Xu Shao who lived in Runan and was famous for his ability to evaluate a persons potentials and talents. Cao Cao paid him a visit in hopes of receiving an evaluation that would help him politically. At first, Xu Shao refused to make a statement, however, under persistent questioning, he said, You would be a capable minister in peaceful times. There are two versions of this comment in other unofficial historical records. At the age of 20, Cao Cao was appointed captain of Luoyang. Upon taking up the post, he placed rows of multicolored stakes outside his office and ordered his deputies to flog those who violated the law, regardless of their status. An uncle of Jian Shuo, one of the most powerful and this prompted Jian Shuo and other higher authorities to ostensibly promote Cao Cao to the post of governor of Dunqiu County while actually moving him out of the imperial capital. Cao Cao remained in position for little more than a year. Around 180, Cao Cao returned to court as a Consultant, when the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184, Cao Cao was recalled to Luoyang and appointed Captain of the Cavalry and sent to Yingchuan in Yu Province to suppress the rebels
Cao Cao
–
A
Ming dynasty block print portrait of Cao Cao from
Sancai Tuhui.
Cao Cao
–
Statue of Cao Cao in Wuhan, Hubei Province
Cao Cao
–
Traditional site of the
Red Cliffs, north of Wulin,
Hubei.
Cao Cao
–
A mask of Cao Cao in
Chinese opera.
30.
Battle of Fancheng
–
The Battle of Fancheng was fought between the warlords Liu Bei and Cao Cao in 219 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. It was named after Fancheng, an ancient fortress situated in present-day Fancheng District, Xiangyang, in October 218, Cao Caos general Hou Yin and his deputy Wei Kai of Wan rose in rebellion with several thousand troops, and they requested help from Guan Yu. It would take four months for Cao Ren to finally crush the rebellion by killing both Hou Yin and Wei Kai, but Guan Yu did not respond to the rebels throughout the duration. After taking Hanzhong by defeating Cao Cao in May 219, Liu Bei further expanded his gains in June 219 by sending Meng Da and Liu Feng to take Fangling and Shangyong. Realizing the imminent attacks of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, Cao Cao planned to launch a strike on Jing Province. The worn-out troops were not ready for another campaign, in July,219, Sun Quan mobilized his forces in preparation to attack Hefei, and Cao Caos forces were redeployed to the region to the south of the Huai River to fend off the possible invasion. Seizing the opportunity, Guan Yu decided to launch an offensive of his own against Cao Cao, mi Fang, Administrator of Nan Commandery was ordered to stay behind to guard Jiangling city of Nan Commandery, while general Shi Ren was ordered to stay behind to guard Gongan. Liu Beis main force in the region was led by Guan Yu himself to attack Cao Caos strongholds in the north, the campaigns objective was not clearly stated, but Guan Yu led his army along the Han River northward until he laid siege to Fancheng. From the advance route and the fact that Guan chose to concentrate his forces on Fancheng. Initially, the cities being attacked were not heavily guarded, as Cao Ren at Fancheng, therefore, Cao Cao ordered Yu Jin to aid Cao Ren. After pitching camp on a lower ground about 4 km north to Fancheng, eager to prove his loyalty as he was suspected by others, general Pang De voluteered to lead a detachment to engage Guan Yu, successfully forcing the latter to retreat several times. On one occasion, Pang De shot an arrow that became embedded in Guan Yus helm, since then Pang De was widely known and feared among the enemy as General White Horse, from the white steed he rode into battle. Although Guan Yu could not surpass Pang De in battle, he held firm control over the water routes around the area. A few setbacks were far enough to discourage Guan Yu. In August, heavy rain caused the Han River to flood, forces under the command of Yu Jin and Pang De were completely annihilated by the natural disaster, suffering at least 40,000 fatalities, and another 30,000 were captured by Guan Yus navy. Pang De and Yu Jin were both captured, Yu begged for his life and surrendered, while Pang refused to surrender and was executed, Cao Ren, with several thousand of his surviving troops were forced on the defensive by staying behind the safety of the walls. At the time, Xu Huang, who was stationed in Wancheng with his force purely consisting of new recruits, was able to set up defensive fortifications instead of venturing out to relieve Cao Ren. Sensing the tides changing, the Inspector of Jing Province, Hu Xiu, the rebel leaders of Liang, Xia, and Luhun also officially accepted Guan Yus command
Battle of Fancheng
–
Illustration of
Pang De in a scene during the Battle of Fancheng from a
Qing dynasty edition of
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Battle of Fancheng
–
A scene from the Battle of Fancheng, 17th century woodblock print
Battle of Fancheng
–
Depiction of Guan Yu attacking soldiers on boats in a river.
Battle of Fancheng
–
Guan Yu captures
Pang De, as depicted in a
Ming dynasty painting by Shang Xi, c. 1430.
31.
Sun Quan
–
Sun Quan, courtesy name Zhongmou, formally known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. He inherited control of the regime established by his elder brother, Sun Ce. He declared formal independence and ruled from 222 to 229 as the King of Wu, Sun Quan was born in Xiapi while his father Sun Jian served there. When Sun Ce was assassinated by the retainers of Xu Gong in 200, the 18-year-old Sun Quan inherited the lands southeast of the Yangtze River from his brother. His administration proved to be stable in those early years as Sun Jian and Sun Ces most senior officers, such as Zhou Yu, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong. Thus throughout the 200s, Sun Quan, under the tutelage of his able advisers, in early 207, his forces finally won complete victory over Huang Zu, a military leader under Liu Biao, who dominated the middle Yangtze. In winter of year, the northern warlord Cao Cao led an army of some 830,000 to conquer the south to complete the reunification of China. Two distinct factions emerged at his court on how to handle the situation, one, led by Zhang Zhao, urged surrender whilst the other, led by Zhou Yu and Lu Su, opposed capitulation. Eventually, Sun Quan decided to oppose Cao Cao in the middle Yangtze with his superior riverine forces, allied with Liu Bei and employing the combined strategies of Zhou Yu and Huang Gai, they defeated Cao Cao decisively at the Battle of Red Cliffs. In 220, Cao Pi, Cao Caos son and successor, seized the throne and proclaimed himself to be the Emperor of China and it was not until the year 229 that he formally declared himself emperor. Because of his skill in gathering important, honourable men to his cause and this primary strength served him well in gaining the support of the common people and surrounding himself with capable generals. After the death of his crown prince, Sun Deng. When Sun He succeeded Sun Deng as the new prince, he was supported by Lu Xun and Zhuge Ke, while his rival Sun Ba was supported by Quan Cong and Bu Zhi. Over a prolonged power struggle, numerous officials were executed. Sun Quan died in 252 at the age of 70 and he enjoyed the longest reign among all the founders of the Three Kingdoms and was succeeded by his son, Sun Liang. Sun Quan was born in 182, while his father Sun Jian was still a general of the Han dynasty, after his fathers death in 191, he became the charge of his brother Sun Ce. As he grew up, he served his brother during the conquests of the south of the Yangtze River. He was made a county magistrate in 196, at the age of 14, the Records of the Three Kingdoms mentioned that Sun Jian was a descendant of Sun Wu, a militarist in the Spring and Autumn Period and the author of The Art of War
Sun Quan
–
Portrait of Sun Quan by
Yan Liben.
Sun Quan
–
Statue of Sun Quan.
Sun Quan
–
Sun Quan
32.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
–
The story – part historical, part legend, and part mythical – romanticises and dramatises the lives of feudal lords and their retainers, who tried to replace the dwindling Han dynasty or restore it. The novel deals with the plots, personal and military battles, intrigues, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is acclaimed as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it has a total of 800,000 words and nearly a thousand dramatic characters in 120 chapters. The novel is among the most beloved works of literature in East Asia and it is arguably the most widely read historical novel in late imperial and modern China. Myths from the Three Kingdoms era existed as oral traditions before written compilations, with their focus on the history of Han Chinese, the stories grew in popularity during the reign of the Mongol emperors of the Yuan dynasty. During the succeeding Ming dynasty an interest in plays and novels resulted in further expansions, the earliest written work to combine these stories was a pinghua, Sanguozhi Pinghua, published sometime between 1321 and 1323. This version combined themes of legend, magic, and morality to appeal to the common people, elements of reincarnation and karma were woven into this version of the story. It was first printed in 1522 as Sanguozhi Tongsu Yanyi in an edition which bore a perhaps spurious preface date 1494, the text may well have circulated before either date in handwritten manuscripts. The novel also includes material from Tang dynasty poetic works, Yuan dynasty operas and his own interpretation of elements such as virtue. The author combined this knowledge with a gift for storytelling to create a rich tapestry of personalities. Several versions of the expanded Sanguozhi are extant today, luo Guanzhongs version in 24 volumes, known as the Sanguozhi Tongsu Yanyi, is now held in the Shanghai Library in China, Tenri Central Library in Japan, and several other major libraries. Various 10-volume, 12-volume and 20-volume recensions of Luos text, made between 1522 and 1690, are held at libraries around the world. However, the standard text familiar to readers is a recension by Mao Lun. Scholars have long debated whether the Maos viewpoint was anti-Qing or pro-Qing, the famous opening lines of the novel, The empire, long divided, must unite, long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been, long understood to be Luos introduction, none of the earlier editions contained this phrase. In addition, Mao also added Yang Shens The Immortals by the River as the introductory poem. One of the greatest achievements of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the complexity of its stories. The novel contains numerous secondary stories, the following consists of a summary of the central plot and some well-known highlights in the story. In the final years of the Eastern Han dynasty, treacherous eunuchs and villainous officials deceived the emperor, the government gradually became extremely corrupt on all levels, leading to widespread deterioration of the Han Empire
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
–
An illustration from a
Ming dynasty printed edition of the novel from 1591, collection of the
Peking University.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
–
Three Heroes of Three Kingdoms, silk painting by Sekkan Sakurai (1715–1790), depicting Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
–
Liu Bei recruiting Zhuge Liang, from Visiting the Thatched Hut Three Times, a
Ming dynasty painting by
Dai Jin (1388-1462).
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
–
Traditional site of the Red Cliffs.
33.
Sui dynasty
–
The Sui Dynasty was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China of pivotal significance. It was succeeded by the Tang dynasty, which inherited its foundation. Founded by Emperor Wen of Sui, the Sui dynasty capital was Changan and they also spread and encouraged Buddhism throughout the empire. By the middle of the dynasty, the unified empire entered a golden age of prosperity with vast agricultural surplus that supported rapid population growth. A lasting legacy of the Sui dynasty was the Grand Canal, the dynasty, which lasted only thirty-seven years, was undermined by ambitious wars and construction projects, which overstretched its resources. Particularly, under Emperor Yang, heavy taxation and compulsory labor duties would eventually induce widespread revolts, the dynasty is often compared to the earlier Qin dynasty for unifying China after prolonged division. Wide-ranging reforms and construction projects were undertaken to consolidate the newly unified state, after crushing an army in the eastern provinces, Yang Jian usurped the throne to become Emperor Wen of Sui. In a bloody purge, he had fifty-nine princes of the Zhou royal family eliminated, Emperor Wen abolished the anti-Han policies of Zhou and reclaimed his Han surname of Yang. In his campaign for southern conquest, Emperor Wen assembled thousands of boats to confront the forces of the Chen dynasty on the Yangtze River. The largest of ships were very tall, having five layered decks. They were outfitted with six 50-foot-long booms that were used to swing and damage enemy ships, besides employing Xianbei and other Chinese ethnic groups for the fight against Chen, Emperor Wen also employed the service of people from southeastern Sichuan, which Sui had recently conquered. In 588, the Sui had amassed 518,000 troops along the bank of the Yangtze River. The Chen dynasty could not withstand such an assault, by 589, Sui troops entered Jiankang and the last emperor of Chen surrendered. Although Emperor Wen was famous for bankrupting the treasury with warfare and construction projects. He established granaries as sources of food and as a means to market prices from the taxation of crops. The large agricultural surplus supported rapid growth of population to historical peak, the state capital of Changan, while situated in a military-secured heartland of Guanzhong, was remote from the economic centers to the east and south of the empire. Emperor Wen initiated the construction of the Grand Canal, with completion of the first route that directly linked Changan to the Yellow River, Later Emperor Yang would enormously enlarge the scale of the Grand Canal construction. Externally, the emerging nomadic Turkic Khaganate in the north posed a threat to the newly founded dynasty
Sui dynasty
–
History of China
Sui dynasty
–
Sui dynasty circa 609 AD
Sui dynasty
–
Sui dynasty
Bodhisattva, sandstone, Tianlongshan Grottoes,
Shanxi, 6th century.
Sui dynasty
–
A Sui dynasty pilgrim flask made of
stoneware.
34.
Divus
–
The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans and this legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on later juridical and religious vocabulary in Europe, particularly of the Western Church. For theonyms, or the names and epithets of gods, see List of Roman deities, for public religious holidays, see Roman festivals. For temples see the List of Ancient Roman temples, individual landmarks of religious topography in ancient Rome are not included in this list, see Roman temple. The verb abominari was a term of augury for an action that rejects or averts an unfavourable omen indicated by a signum, the noun is abominatio, from which English abomination derives. At the taking of formally solicited auspices, the observer was required to acknowledge any potentially bad sign occurring within the templum he was observing, regardless of the interpretation. He might, however, take actions in order to ignore the signa, including avoiding the sight of them. The latter tactic required promptness, wit and skill based on discipline, thus the omen had no validity apart from the observation of it. The aedes was the place of a god. It was thus a structure that housed the image, distinguished from the templum or sacred district. Aedes is one of several Latin words that can be translated as shrine or temple, for instance, the Temple of Vesta, as it is called in English, was in Latin an aedes. See also the diminutive aedicula, a small shrine, in his work On Architecture, Vitruvius always uses the word templum in the technical sense of a space defined through augury, with aedes the usual word for the building itself. The design of an aedes, he writes, should be appropriate to the characteristics of the deity. Thus in theory, though not always in practice, architectural aesthetics had a theological dimension, the word aedilis, a public official, is related by etymology, among the duties of the aediles was the overseeing of public works, including the building and maintenance of temples. The temple of Flora, for instance, was built in 241 BC by two aediles acting on Sibylline oracles, the plebeian aediles had their headquarters at the aedes of Ceres. In religious usage, ager was terrestrial space defined for the purposes of augury in relation to auspicia, there were five kinds of ager, Romanus, Gabinus, peregrinus, hosticus and incertus. The ager Romanus originally included the space outside the pomerium. According to Varro, the ager Gabinus pertained to the circumstances of the oppidum of Gabii
Divus
–
Marcus Aurelius (
head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Divus
–
Ruins of the
aedes of Vesta
Divus
–
Altar (ara) from
Roman Spain
Divus
–
Augustus, capite velato
35.
Chinese folk religion
–
Worship is devoted to a multiplicity of gods and immortals, who can be deities of phenomena, of human behaviour, or progenitors of lineages. Stories regarding some of these gods are collected into the body of Chinese mythology, Chinese religions have a variety of sources, local forms, founder backgrounds, and ritual and philosophical traditions. Ling, numen or sacred, is the medium of the two states and the order of creation. After the fall of the empire in 1911, governments and elites opposed or attempted to eradicate religion in order to promote modern values. These conceptions of religion began to change in Taiwan in the late 20th century. Many scholars now view folk religion in a positive light, in recent times Chinese folk religions are experiencing a revival in both mainland China and Taiwan. In Chinese academic literature and common usage folk religion refers to specific organised folk religious sects, the Qing dynasty scholars Yao Wendong and Chen Jialin used the term shenjiao not referring to Shinto as a definite religious system, but to local shin beliefs in Japan. Other definitions that have used are folk cults, spontaneous religion, lived religion, local religion. Shendao is an already used in the Yijing referring to the divine order of nature. Around the time of the spread of Buddhism in the Han period, ge Hong used it in his Baopuzi as a synonym for Taoism. The term was adopted in Japan in the 6th century as Shindo, later Shinto. In the 14th century, the Hongwu Emperor used the term Shendao clearly identifying the indigenous cults, de Groot calls Chinese Universism the ancient metaphysical view that serves as the basis of all classical Chinese thought. In Universism, the three components of integrated universe — understood epistemologically, heaven, earth and man, and understood ontologically, Taiji, yin, contemporary Chinese scholars have identified what they find to be the essential features of the folk religion of China. According to Chen Xiaoyi 陳曉毅 local indigenous religion is the factor for a harmonious religious ecology. Professor Han Bingfang 韓秉芳 has called for a rectification of distorted names, distorted names are superstitious activities or feudal superstition, that were derogatorily applied to the indigenous religion by leftist policies. Christian missionaries also used the label feudal superstition in order to undermine their religious competitor, Han calls for the acknowledgment of folk religion for what it really is, the core and soul of popular culture. According to Chen Jinguo 陳進國, folk religion is an element of Chinese cultural. Chinese religious practices are diverse, varying from province to province and even from one village to another, for religious behaviour is bound to local communities, kinship, in each setting, institution and ritual behaviour assumes highly organised forms
Chinese folk religion
–
Temple of Xuanyuan in
Huangling,
Yan'an,
Shaanxi, dedicated to the worship of
Huangdi, the "Yellow Emperor".
Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion
–
The Temple of the
Town God of Wenao,
Magong,
Taiwan.
Chinese folk religion
–
Temple of
Hebo, the god of the
Yellow River, a prominent form of the Heshen (River God), in
Hequ,
Xinzhou,
Shanxi.
36.
Confucianism
–
Confucianism, also known as Ruism, is described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or simply a way of life. In the Han dynasty, Confucian approaches edged out the proto-Taoist Huang-Lao, the disintegration of the Han political order in the second century CE opened the way for the doctrines of Buddhism and Neo-Taoism, which offered spiritual explanations lacking in Confucianism. A Confucian revival began during the Tang dynasty of 618-907, in the late Tang, Confucianism developed in response to Buddhism and Taoism and was reformulated as Neo-Confucianism. This reinvigorated form was adopted as the basis of the imperial exams, the abolition of the examination system in 1905 marked the end of official Confucianism. The New Culture intellectuals of the twentieth century blamed Confucianism for Chinas weaknesses. In the late twentieth century Confucian work ethic has been credited with the rise of the East Asian economy, with particular emphasis on the importance of the family and social harmony, rather than on an otherworldly source of spiritual values, the core of Confucianism is humanistic. While Tiān has some characteristics that overlap the category of deity, it is primarily an impersonal absolute principle, Confucianism focuses on the practical order that is given by a this-worldly awareness of the Tiān. Confucian thought focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, Some of the basic Confucian ethical concepts and practices include rén, yì, and lǐ, and zhì. Rén is the essence of the human being which manifests as compassion and it is the virtue-form of Heaven. Yì is the upholding of righteousness and the disposition to do good. Lǐ is a system of norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act in everyday life according to the law of Heaven. Zhì is the ability to see what is right and fair, or the converse, Confucianism holds one in contempt, either passively or actively, for failure to uphold the cardinal moral values of rén and yì. In the 20th century Confucianisms influence diminished greatly, in the last decades there have been talks of a Confucian Revival in the academic and the scholarly community and there has been a grassroots proliferation of various types of Confucian churches. In late 2015 many Confucian personalities formally established a national Holy Confucian Church in China to unify the many Confucian congregations, strictly speaking, there is no term in Chinese which directly corresponds to Confucianism. In the Chinese language, the character rú 儒 meaning scholar or learned man is used both in the past and the present to refer to things related to Confucianism. The character rú in ancient China has diverse meanings, Some examples include, weak, soft, to tame, to comfort and to educate or to refine. Rújiā contains the character jiā, which means family. Rújiào and Kǒngjiào contain the Chinese character jiào, the teaching or transmission, used in such terms as education
Confucianism
–
Temple of Confucius of
Jiangyin,
Wuxi,
Jiangsu. This is a wénmiào (文庙), that is to say a temple where
Confucius is worshipped as Wéndì (文帝), "God of Culture".
Confucianism
–
Gates of the wenmiao of
Datong,
Shanxi.
Confucianism
–
Confucius, circa 1770.
Confucianism
–
Confucius and disciples, statues of the
Ashikaga Gakko, a Confucian school and oldest academy of
Japan.
37.
Taoism
–
Taoism, also known as Daoism, is a religious or philosophical tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao. The Tao is an idea in most Chinese philosophical schools, in Taoism, however. Taoism differs from Confucianism by not emphasizing rigid rituals and social order, the Tao Te Ching, a compact book containing teachings attributed to Laozi, is widely considered the keystone work of the Taoist tradition, together with the later writings of Zhuangzi. By the Han dynasty, the sources of Taoism had coalesced into a coherent tradition of religious organizations. In earlier ancient China, Taoists were thought of as hermits or recluses who did not participate in political life, Zhuangzi was the best known of these, and it is significant that he lived in the south, where he was part of local Chinese shamanic traditions. Women shamans played an important role in this tradition, which was strong in the southern state of Chu. Early Taoist movements developed their own institution in contrast to shamanism, shamans revealed basic texts of Taoism from early times down to at least the 20th century. Institutional orders of Taoism evolved in various strains that in recent times are conventionally grouped into two main branches, Quanzhen Taoism and Zhengyi Taoism. After Laozi and Zhuangzi, the literature of Taoism grew steadily and was compiled in form of a canon—the Daozang—which was published at the behest of the emperor, throughout Chinese history, Taoism was nominated several times as a state religion. After the 17th century, however, it fell from favor, Chinese alchemy, Chinese astrology, Chan Buddhism, several martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, feng shui, and many styles of qigong have been intertwined with Taoism throughout history. Beyond China, Taoism also had influence on surrounding societies in Asia, Taoism also has a presence in Hong Kong, Macau, and in Southeast Asia. English speakers continue to debate the preferred romanization of the words Daoism and Taoism, the root Chinese word 道 way, path is romanized tao in the older Wade–Giles system and dào in the modern Pinyin system. In linguistic terminology, English Taoism/Daoism is formed from the Chinese loanword tao/dao 道 way, route, principle and the native suffix -ism. The debate over Taoism vs. Daoism involves sinology, phonemes, loanwords, Daoism is pronounced /ˈdaʊ. ɪzəm/, but English speakers disagree whether Taoism should be /ˈdaʊ. ɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊ. ɪzəm/. In theory, both Wade–Giles tao and Pinyin dao are articulated identically, as are Taoism and Daoism, an investment book titled The Tao Jones Averages illustrates this /daʊ/ pronunciations widespread familiarity. In speech, Tao and Taoism are often pronounced /ˈtaʊ/ and ˈtaʊ. ɪzəm/, lexicography shows American and British English differences in pronouncing Taoism. Taoist philosophy or Taology, or the mystical aspect — The philosophical doctrines based on the texts of the I Ching, the Tao Te Ching and these texts were linked together as Taoist philosophy during the early Han Dynasty, but notably not before. It is unlikely that Zhuangzi was familiar with the text of the Daodejing, however, the discussed distinction is rejected by the majority of Western and Japanese scholars
Taoism
–
Taoist rite at the Qingyanggong (Green Goat Temple) in
Chengdu
Taoism
–
Gates of the Chunyang
gong in
Datong,
Shanxi. It's a temple dedicated to
Lü Dongbin.
Taoism
–
A
daoshi (Taoist priest) in
Macau.
Taoism
–
Jintai
guan (金台观) in
Baoji,
Shaanxi.
38.
Chinese Buddhism
–
Chinese Buddhism has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, medicine, and material culture. Chinese Buddhism is also marked by the interaction between Indian religions, Nepalese religion Chinese religion, and Taoism, various legends tell of the presence of Buddhism in Chinese soil in very ancient times. Nonetheless, the consensus is that Buddhism first came to China in the first century CE during the Han dynasty. Generations of scholars have debated whether Buddhist missionaries first reached Han China via the maritime or overland routes of the Silk Road, after entering into China, Buddhism blended with early Daoism and Chinese traditional esoteric arts and its iconography received blind worship. A number of accounts in historical Chinese literature have led to the popularity of certain legends regarding the introduction of Buddhism into China. According to the most popular one, Emperor Ming of Han precipitated the introduction of Buddhist teachings into China, the next day he asked his officials, What god is this. The emperor then sent an envoy to Tianzhu to inquire about the teachings of the Buddha, Buddhist scriptures were said to have been returned to China on the backs of white horses, after which White Horse Temple was named. Two Indian monks also returned with them, named Dharmaratna and Kaśyapa Mātaṅga, however, neither the Shiji nor Book of Han histories of Emperor Wu mentions a golden Buddhist statue. The first documented translation of Buddhist scriptures from various Indian languages into Chinese occurs in 148 CE with the arrival of the Parthian prince-turned-monk An Shigao, an Shigao translated Buddhist texts on basic doctrines, meditation, and abhidharma. An Xuan, a Parthian layman who worked alongside An Shigao, Mahāyāna Buddhism was first widely propagated in China by the Kushan monk Lokakṣema, who came from the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Gandhāra. Lokakṣema translated important Mahāyāna sūtras such as the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, as well as rare, early Mahāyāna sūtras on topics such as samādhi and these translations from Lokakṣema continue to give insight into the early period of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Harrison points to the enthusiasm in the Lokakṣema sūtra corpus for the ascetic practices, for dwelling in the forest. The Dharmaguptakas made more efforts than any other sect to spread Buddhism outside India, to such as Afghanistan, Central Asia, and China. Therefore, most countries which adopted Buddhism from China, also adopted the Dharmaguptaka vinaya and ordination lineage for bhikṣus, warder, in some ways in those East Asian countries, the Dharmaguptaka sect can be considered to have survived to the present. They appear to have carried out a vast circling movement along the routes from Aparānta north-west into Iran. The Mahīśāsakas and Kāśyapīyas appear to have followed them across Asia into China, for the earlier period of Chinese Buddhism it was the Dharmaguptakas who constituted the main and most influential school, and even later their Vinaya remained the basis of the discipline there. Initially, Buddhism in China faced a number of difficulties in becoming established, the concept of monasticism and the aversion to social affairs seemed to contradict the long-established norms and standards established in Chinese society. Gentry Buddhism was a medium of introduction for the beginning of Buddhism in China, it gained imperial, by the early 5th century Buddhism was established in south China
Chinese Buddhism
–
Buddhist monks at Jintai Temple in
Zhuhai,
Guangdong,
China
Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism
–
Jiangnan funerary jar, ca. 250-300 CE, decorated with a row of Buddhas seated on lotus thrones.
Chinese Buddhism
–
White Horse Temple, traditionally held to be at the origin of Chinese Buddhism.
39.
Records of the Three Kingdoms
–
The Records of the Three Kingdoms is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. It is widely regarded as the official and authoritative text for that period. Written by Chen Shou in the century, the work combines the smaller histories of the rival states of Cao Wei, Shu Han. The Records of the Three Kingdoms provided the basis for the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century and it contains 65 volumes and about 360,000 Chinese characters which are broken into three books. The Book of Wei contains 30 volumes, the Book of Shu 15 volumes, each volume is organised in the form of one or more biographies. The amount of space a biography takes up is dictated by the importance of the figure, the original author was Chen Shou, who was born in present-day Nanchong, Sichuan, in the state of Shu. After the fall of Shu in 263, he became a historian under the government of the Jin dynasty. After the fall of Wu in 280, his work received the acclaim of the senior minister Zhang Hua. Prior to the Jin dynasty, both the states of Wei and Wu already had their histories, such as the Book of Wei by Wang Chen, the Weilüe by Yu Huan. Chen Shou created the Records of the Three Kingdoms with these works as a foundation. The Records of the Three Kingdoms used the year 220 AD — which marked the end of the Han dynasty — as the year in which the state of Wei was established. The Records of the Three Kingdoms referred the rulers of Wei as Emperors, the romantic and historical traditions for the Three Kingdoms period have been so confused over the centuries that the Records of the Three Kingdoms is often regarded as an invaluable resource. Although it contains errors, it is more historically accurate than the embellishments of writers in later periods. In its nature, the work is indeed a chronicle, much like those of early Medieval Europe written much later, the text is bland and little more than a collection of historical facts. A rough translation of an extract from Guan Yus biography is as follows, In the 24th year, the Former Lord became the King of Hanzhong. In the same year, Yu led his men to attack Cao Ren at Fan, Lord Cao sent Yu Jin to aid Ren. In autumn, great rains caused the Han River to flood, Jin, from this, we can establish reasonably accurately the flow of events and how history unfolded but almost nothing about society or elements of institutions or policies. The amount of creative imagination used in ancient Chinese historical narratives — of fictionalising — is impossible to estimate precisely
Records of the Three Kingdoms
–
A fragment of the biography of
Bu Zhi from the Records of the Three Kingdoms, part of the
Dunhuang manuscripts
40.
Ruan Ji
–
Ruan Ji was a poet and musician who lived in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He was one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, the guqin melody, Jiukuang is believed to have been composed by him. Ruan Jis father was Ruan Yu, one of the famed Seven Scholars of Jianan who were promoted by the Cao clan in the Jianan poetry era. The Ruan family were loyal to the Cao Wei, as opposed to the Sima family, however their moral convictions and it is fair to say that Ruan Ji was born into peril, his time period being the Period of Disunity. Ruan Ji was poetically part of both the poetry of the Jianan period and the beginning of the Six Dynasties poetry developments. He would embrace the side of what the times offered him, and even managed to avoid many political dangers, turmoils. The safety of Ruan Ji during his life seems to have been underwritten by his willingness to be labeled a drunk, born just before the end of the Han Dynasty, the Ruan family fortune rose with the rise of Cao Cao and the rest of the Cao family. Furthermore, during the time of Ruan Ji, there was ongoing peril from the military struggles with the kingdom of Shu Han, together with other impending military. The life and creative work of Ruan Ji took place within a crucial and dramatic period in China history, however this was followed by the so-called Period of Disunity. Ruan Ji witnessed bloody wars, struggles for power in the court of Wei, despite the dim times, this was a period of great achievements in spiritual culture. Heroes of the day became irreproachable virtuous men, who relinquished politics and preferred a life in the countryside or the life of a hermit to the glamour. These so-called sublime men brought into being ideas of protest against an iniquitous reign, hidden by exterior unconcern, the life of court officials was considered “the life of dust and dirt”, while the real dirt of peasant labour was a symbol of purity. Here they enjoyed practicing their works, and enjoying the simple, rustic life, Ruan Ji is usually mentioned first among the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. The other sages were Xi Kang his lover, Shan Tao, Liu Ling, Ruan Xian, Xiang Xiu, the wine goblet, which became a symbol of being accustomed to “contemplating many wonders” pertaining to Daoism, united them even more than any principles. Ruan Ji talked in his works about “remote” things but about the “Bamboo Groove” he remained silent, although the group became the focus of his searches for free. Ruan Ji was one of kind of people, who themselves made their life a masterpiece. Ruan Ji honoured the ancient Daoist sage Zhuangzi, the “History of Jin dynasty” describes Ruan Jis appearance and personality, ”Jis appearance was uncommon, stubborn and self-willed, tempered, proud and independent. He read a lot, especially liking Laozi and Zhuangzi and he drank a lot, he possessed the skill of transcendental whistling and loved to play on the Qin
Ruan Ji
–
Ruan Ji
Ruan Ji
–
Memorial tombstone of Ruan Ji's life in Nanjing
Ruan Ji
Ruan Ji
41.
Chi (unit)
–
The chi is a traditional Chinese unit of length. It first appeared during Chinas Shang dynasty approximately 3000 years ago and has since adopted by other East Asian cultures such as Japan, Korea. In its ancient and modern forms, the chi is divided into 10 smaller units known as cun and 10 chi together form one zhang, in the Peoples Republic of China chi has been defined since 1984 as exactly 1/3 of a meter, i. e. 33 1⁄3 cm. However, in the Hong Kong SAR the corresponding unit, pronounced chek in Cantonese, is defined as exactly 0.371475 m, the two units are sometimes referred to in English as Chinese foot and Hong Kong foot. In Taiwan, chi is the same as the Japanese shaku, even earlier, during the Warring States era, the value of chi was essentially the same. It is thought that the ancient Chinese astronomers also used chi as an angular unit, in the 19th century, the value of chi, depending on the part of the country and the application, varied between 31 and 36 cm. In Guangzhou, however, the chi used for local trade varied from 14.625 to 14.81 inches – i. e. very close to the modern chek. The value fixed by a Sino-British treaty for the purposes of customs duties in Hong Kong was 14.1 inches, due to its long history and its widespread usage, chi has also seen metaphorical usages in the Chinese language. For example, chi cun, a made up of the units chi and cun, refers to the dimensions of an object. In informal use, it is sometimes used to refer to the US or imperial foot
Chi (unit)
–
Wooden ruler of the western Han dynasty, unearthed at Jinguan Pass Site in Jinta County
Chi (unit)
–
A section of an old Hong Kong ruler, showing the last (10th) cun of a chi. One can see that the chi in that jurisdiction was exactly equal to 14 and 5/8 of an inch. A metric ruler is shown next to it for comparison
42.
Jujube
–
Ziziphus jujuba, commonly called jujube, red date, Chinese date, Korean date, or Indian date is a species of Ziziphus in the buckthorn family. It is used primarily as a tree that also bears fruit. It is a deciduous tree or shrub reaching a height of 5–12 metres. The leaves are shiny-green, ovate-acute, 2–7 centimetres long and 1–3 centimetres wide, the flowers are small,5 mm wide, with five inconspicuous yellowish-green petals. There is a hard seed similar to an olive pit. This plant has been introduced in Madagascar and grows as a species in the western part of the island. This plant is known as the hinap or finab in the part of Bulgaria where it grows wild but is also a garden shrub. The fruit is picked in the autumn, the trees grow wild in the eastern Caribbean, and are reported to exist in Jamaica and Trinidad as well. In Antigua and Barbuda, the fruit is called dumps or dums and it is also known as pomme surete on the French islands of the Caribbean. This fruit, more known as Indian jujube elsewhere, is different from the jujube fruit that is cultivated in various parts of southern California. The species has a curious history, due to a combination of botanical naming regulations. It was first described scientifically by Carl Linnaeus as Rhamnus zizyphus, for the species name he used a different name, as tautonyms are not permitted in botanical naming. This combination was made by Hermann Karsten in 1882, in 2006, a proposal was made to suppress the name Ziziphus zizyphus in favor of Ziziphus jujuba, and this proposal was accepted in 2011. Ziziphus jujuba is thus the correct name for this species. Jujube fruit is known by a variety of names, in Zimbabwe, it is known as masawu. Jujube was domesticated in south Asia by 9000 BCE, over 400 cultivars have been selected. The tree tolerates a range of temperatures and rainfall, though it requires hot summers. Unlike most of the species in the genus, it tolerates fairly cold winters
Jujube
–
Ziziphus jujuba
Jujube
–
Fresh jujube fruit
Jujube
–
Jujube fruit naturally turns red upon drying.
Jujube
–
Ziziphus zizyphus -
MHNT
43.
Silkworm
–
The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of the domesticated silk moth, Bombyx mori. It is an important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworms preferred food is white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species, domestic silk moths are closely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silk moths are different from their cousins, they are not as commercially viable in the production of silk. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silkmoth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, the domesticated silkworm derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock. Silkworms were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic age, before then, the tools to manufacture quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed, mulberry silkworms can be categorized into three different but connected groups or types. The major groups of silkworms fall under the univoltine and bivoltine categories, the univoltine breed is generally linked with the geographical area within greater Europe. The eggs of this type hibernate during winter due to the cold climate, the second type is called bivoltine and is normally found in China, Japan, and Korea. The breeding process of this takes place twice annually, a feat made possible through the slightly warmer climates. The polyvoltine type of mulberry silkworm can only be found in the tropics, the eggs are laid by female moths and hatch within nine to 12 days, so the resulting type can have up to eight separate life cycles throughout the year. Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously and they have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous since they can eat other species of Morus, as well as some other Moraceae and they are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt, after molting, the instar phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs. After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, the larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, to prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel, often, the silkworm itself is eaten. As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larvae, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare, mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy not to hurt any living thing
Silkworm
–
Bombyx mori
Silkworm
Silkworm
–
Adult silkworm moth
Silkworm
–
Wild silkmoth
Bombyx mandarina
44.
Guan dao
–
A guandao is a type of Chinese pole weapon that is used in some forms of Chinese martial arts. In Chinese, it is called a yanyuedao, the name under which it always appears in texts from the Song to Qing dynasties such as the Wujing Zongyao and Huangchao Liqi Tushi. It is comparable to a European fauchard or glaive and consists of a blade with a spike at the back. In addition there are often irregular serrations that lead the back edge of the blade to the spike. The blade is mounted atop a 1.5 m to 1.8 m long wooden or metal pole with a pointed metal counter weight used to balance the heavy blade and for striking on the opposite end. On modern versions, a red sash or tassel is attached at the joint of the pole, however, apart from the elephant guandao none of these variations seem to have historical ground. It has also called a big knife by some western sources. According to legend, the guandao was invented by the famous general Guan Yu during the early 3rd century AD, hence the name. It is said that he specified its form and size to be made by a smithy, Guan Yus guandao was called Green Dragon Crescent Blade which weighed 82 Chinese jin. The guandao, therefore, possibly did not even exist during Guan Yus era, the heaviest known testing guandao, which resides in a museum at Shanhaiguan, weighs 83 kilograms. The weapon was widely adopted by martial artists for the purposes of training and for demonstrating their strength. Where it was used, it was used by infantry. In the Qing Dynasty, it was used by the all Han Green Standard Army, the greatly reduced weight and length reflects its nature as a more practical form for martial artists. The guandao is used frequently in the part of contemporary Wushu derived from the Shaolin or Wudangquan form of martial arts in modern times. According to contemporary Wushu practice, its purpose is more to disarm an opponent, to that end, a large veil cloth is attached to the end to dissuade and confuse opponents. However, there is no evidence of this being a depiction of the weapons historical usage. Tassels and cloths are attached to weapons such as jian, dao, meteor hammer. Forms utilizing the weapon in all traditional styles of Chinese martial arts, emphasize strong slashing movements
Guan dao
–
Guandao
45.
Green Dragon Crescent Blade
–
The Green Dragon Crescent Blade was a legendary weapon wielded by Guan Yu in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It is a guandao, a type of traditional Chinese weapon, in the novel by Luo Guanzhong, the blade was forged by a local blacksmith using steel sponsored by Zhang Shiping, a merchant sympathetic to Liu Beis cause. When Guan Yu met his end at the hands of Lü Meng in 219, later, when Guan Yus son Guan Xing soon sought revenge on Pan Zhang, Pan Zhang was startled by a vision of Guan Yus spirit and was killed by Guan Xing. Guan Xing took back the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and thus the blade was passed down from father to son and it is highly questionable whether Guan Yu actually wielded the Green Dragon or whether it was merely part of the myths surrounding him. Valid historical texts from his time made no mention of him or anyone wielding a similar weapon. Because the guandao was known not to be used until the Song Dynasty. The guandao may not have been widely used because it was both difficult to wield and heavy. However, this may be due to the legend of the surrounding the blade, whereas in reality. According to Chapter 1 of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, during the Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms periods, one catty was approximately 220 grams, so 82 catties would have been approximately 18.04 kilograms. A weapon weighing about 100 pounds, purported to be the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, is on display at the Purple Cloud Temple in China today, legend says that Guan Yu invented the guandao. He had it forged after he met Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, the story of the blade was that there was a blacksmith forging the blade when suddenly a green dragon passed by. The dragon was cut up and the became part of the pieces therefore making the dao a magical weapon
Green Dragon Crescent Blade
–
A depiction of the Green Dragon Crescent Blade in Xiezhou Guandi Temple,
Yuncheng
46.
Catty
–
The catty or kati, symbol 斤, is a traditional Chinese unit of mass used across East and Southeast Asia, notably for weighing food and other groceries in some wet markets, street markets, and shops. Related units include the picul, equal to 100 catties, and the tael, a stone is a former unit used in Hong Kong equal to 120 catties and a gwan is 30 catties. Catty or kati is still used in South East Asia as a unit of measurement in some contexts especially by the significant Overseas Chinese populations of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The catty is traditionally equivalent to around 1⅓ pound avoirdupois, formalised as 604.78982 grams in Hong Kong,604.79 grams in Malaysia and 604.8 grams in Singapore, in some countries, the weight has been rounded to 600 grams. Chinese units of measurement Taiwanese units of measurement Japanese units of measurement Caddy Tea caddy
Catty
–
Fruits sold in catties (斤) in a market in
Sanchong,
New Taipei, Taiwan.
Catty
–
Tea priced by the catty in
Dadaocheng,
Taipei,
Taiwan.
47.
Zuo zhuan
–
It comprises thirty chapters covering a period from 722 to 468 BC, and focuses mainly on political, diplomatic, and military affairs from that era. The Zuo zhuan was, for centuries, the primary text through which the Chinese gained an understanding of their ancient history. The Zuo zhuan is the source of more Chinese sayings and idioms than any other classical work, notwithstanding its prominent position throughout Chinese history as the paragon of Classical Chinese prose, little is known of the Zuo zhuans creation and early history. Its earliest known mention appears in Sima Qians Records of the Grand Historian, the first of Chinas twenty-four dynastic histories, which was completed about 94 BC. Other than his mention in the Analects, nothing is concretely known of Zuo Qiumings life or identity. This traditional assumption that the titles Master Zuo refers to the Zuo Qiuming of the Analects is not based on any specific evidence, in 1792, the scholar Yao Nai wrote, The text did not come from one person. There were repeated accretions and additions, with those of Wu Qi, in the early 1930s, the French Sinologist Henri Maspero performed a detailed textual study of the issue, concluding the Han dynasty forgery theory to be untenable. While Lius hypothesis that the Zuo zhuan was not originally an Annals commentary has been generally accepted, four of the fragments date to the Six Dynasties period, while the other two date to the early Tang dynasty. The oldest known complete Zuo zhuan manuscript is the ancient manuscript scroll preserved at the Kanazawa Bunko Museum in Yokohama, the Zuo zhuan recounts the major political, military, and social events of the Spring and Autumn period, and is famous for its dramatic power and realistic details. The Zuo zhuan originally contained only its content, without any content from or references to the Spring. In the 3rd century AD, the Chinese scholar Du Yu intercalated the Annals into the Zuo zhuan and its overarching theme is that haughty, evil, and stupid individuals generally bring disaster upon themselves, while those who are good, wise, and humble are usually justly rewarded. The Confucian principle of ritual propriety or ceremony is seen as governing all actions, including war, however, the observance of li is never shown as guaranteeing victory, and the Zuo zhuan includes many examples of the good and innocent suffering senseless violence. Much of the Zuo zhuans status as a literary masterpiece stems from its realistic portrayal of a turbulent era marked by violence, political strife, intrigues. The narratives of the Zuo zhuan are highly didactic in nature, several of the Zuo zhuans most famous sections are those dealing with critical historical battles, such as the Battle of Chengpu and the Battle of Bi. The Battle of Chengpu, the first of the Zuo zhuans great battles, on one side were the troops of the powerful State of Chu, from what was then far southern China, led by the Chu prime minister Cheng Dechen. They were opposed by the armies of the State of Jin, led by Chonger, Duke of Jin, one of the most prominent, Chu suffered a disastrous defeat in the battle itself, and it resulted in Chonger being named Hegemon of the various states. Several of the most notable passages in the Zuo zhuan describe succession crises, the best known of these stories is that of Duke Zhuang of Zheng, who ruled the State of Zheng from 743 to 701 BC. Duke Zhuang was born in a manner that startled his mother, a number of Zuo zhuan anecdotes end with brief moral comments or verdicts that are attributed to either Confucius or an unnamed junzi
Zuo zhuan
–
Zuo zhuan title page, Ming dynasty print (16th century)
48.
Hebei
–
Hebei is a province of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is 冀, named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei, the name Hebei literally means north of the river, referring to its location entirely to the north of the Huang He 黄河. Hebei was formed in 1928 after the government dissolved the province of Chihli. Beijing and Tianjin Municipalities, which each other, were carved out of Hebei. The province borders Liaoning to the northeast, Inner Mongolia to the north, Shanxi to the west, Henan to the south, Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea is to the east. A common alternate name for Hebei is Yānzhào, after the state of Yan, plains in Hebei were the home of Peking man, a group of Homo erectus that lived in the area around 200,000 to 700,000 years ago. Neolithic findings at the prehistoric Beifudi site date back to 7000 and 8000 BC, during the Spring and Autumn period, Hebei was under the rule of the states of Yan in the north and Jin in the south. Also during this period, a people known as Dí invaded the plains of northern China. During the Warring States period, Jin was partitioned, and much of its territory within Hebei went to Zhao, the Qin Dynasty unified China in 221 BC. The Han Dynasty ruled the area under two provinces, Youzhou Province in the north and Jizhou Province in the south, Hebei then came under the rule of the Kingdom of Wei, established by the descendants of Cao Cao. After the invasions of nomadic peoples at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the chaos of the Sixteen Kingdoms. Hebei, firmly in North China and right at the frontier, changed hands many times, being controlled at various points in history by the Later Zhao, Former Yan, Former Qin. The Northern Wei reunified northern China in 440, but split in half in 534, with Hebei coming under the eastern half, the Sui Dynasty again unified China in 589. During the Tang Dynasty, the area was formally designated Hebei for the first time, during the earlier part of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Hebei was fragmented among several regimes, though it was eventually unified by Li Cunxu, who established the Later Tang. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of hot contention between Song China and the Liao Dynasty. The Southern Song Dynasty that came after abandoned all of North China, including Hebei, the Mongol Yuan Dynasty divided China into provinces but did not establish Hebei as a province. Rather, the area was administrated by the Secretariat at capital Dadu. When the Manchu Qing Dynasty came to power in 1644, they abolished the southern counterpart, during the Qing Dynasty, the northern borders of Zhili extended deep into what is now Inner Mongolia, and overlapped in jurisdiction with the leagues of Inner Mongolia
Hebei
–
1500-year-old iron lion in
Cangzhou
Hebei
–
Map showing the location of Hebei Province
Hebei
–
The
Putuo Zongcheng Temple of
Chengde, Hebei, built in 1771 during the reign of the
Qianlong Emperor.
Hebei
–
Saihanba National Park in Inner Mongolian plateau grassland border, north Chengde, Hebei
49.
Yellow Turban Rebellion
–
The Yellow Turban Rebellion, also translated as the Yellow Scarves Rebellion, was a peasant revolt in China against the Han dynasty. The uprising broke out in the year 184 during the reign of Emperor Ling and it took 21 years until the uprising was suppressed in the year 205. The revolt was used as the opening event in Luo Guanzhongs historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The situation was aggravated by smaller floods along the lower course of the Yellow River. The peasants were further oppressed by high taxes imposed in order to fund the construction of fortifications along the Silk Road, in this situation, landowners, landless peasants, and unemployed former-soldiers formed armed bands, and eventually private armies, setting the stage for armed conflict. At the same time, the Han central government was weakening internally, Ten of the most powerful eunuchs formed a group known as the Ten Attendants, and Emperor Ling referred to one of them as his foster father. The government was regarded as corrupt and incapable and the famines. Because of its plan for a new beginning, the Taoist sect of Zhang Jue was to prove to be the Han dynastys most dangerous enemy, in preparation for his revolt, Zhang Jue sent disciples out to gain support and organize followers throughout north China. They were helped by local political discontent, and by droughts, the rebels even had allies in the imperial court, and they were able to make their preparations while government officials were either ignorant of their intentions or intimidated by their power. The rebellion was led by Zhang Jue and his two younger brothers Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, who were born in Julu, the brothers had founded a Taoist religious sect in present-day Shandong. They were healers, usually accepting patients pro bono who could not afford to pay them, Zhang Jue was said to be a sorcerer and styled himself as the Great Teacher. When the year is jiǎzǐ, there will be prosperity under heaven, since all the three brothers were healers, they spread it easily by telling their patients to spread it amongst the peasants. Zhang Jue used a form of Taoism to cure the sick by confession of sins, the characters jiazi became a symbol of the coming change and later, when the followers of Zhang Jue went to battle they wore a yellow cloth bound about their heads as a badge. From this there came the term Yellow Turbans, nearly all of the religious practices of the sect were communal activities. Regardless, it is likely that any discrepancies found within the Way were suppressed by later Taoist sects. The rebels were concentrated in three areas. The group led by Zhang Jue and his two brothers gained their support from the region just north of the Yellow River, near Zhang Jues home territory of Julu and his base in Wei Commandery. A second major rising took place in Guangyang and Zhuo commanderies in You Province, the third center of rebellion was in the three commanderies of Yingchuan, Runan and Nanyang
Yellow Turban Rebellion
–
A
Qing dynasty illustration of the novel
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, showing
Liu Bei,
Zhang Fei, and
Guan Yu fighting Yellow Turban rebels
Yellow Turban Rebellion
–
Guan Yu slays Guan Hai in this illustration.
Yellow Turban Rebellion
–
History
50.
Zhang Fei
–
Zhang Fei, courtesy name Yide, was a military general who served under the warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period. Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, who were among the earliest to join Liu Bei, shared a relationship with their lord. Zhang Fei fought in battles for Liu Bei, including the Red Cliffs campaign, Liu Beis takeover of Yi Province. He was assassinated by his subordinates in 221 after serving for only a few months in the state of Shu Han, which was founded by Liu Bei earlier that year. Zhang Fei is one of the characters in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the novel, Zhang Fei became sworn brothers with Liu Bei and Guan Yu in the fictional Oath of the Peach Garden at the start of the novel, Zhang Fei was from Zhuo Commandery, which is in present-day Zhuozhou, Hebei. In the 180s, towards the end of the Han dynasty, he, as Guan Yu was many years older than Zhang Fei, Zhang regarded him as an elder brother. When Liu Bei was later appointed as the Chancellor of Pingyuan by the Han imperial court, Zhang Fei, the three of them shared a brotherly-like relationship, to the point of sharing the same room. Zhang Fei and Guan Yu also stood guard beside Liu Bei when he sat down at meetings and they followed him on his exploits and protected him from danger. In 194, Liu Bei succeeded Tao Qian as the Governor of Xu Province. The following year, he led his forces to Shiting, Huaiyin, to counter an invading army sent by Yuan Shu, while leaving Zhang Fei behind to defend Xiapi, Zhang Fei wanted to kill Cao Bao, a former officer under Tao Qian, for reasons unknown. Cao Bao fled back to his own camp and set up defences while sending a messenger to request aid from Lü Bu, Lü Bu led his forces to attack Xiapi and succeeded in defeating and driving away Zhang Fei. Liu Bei returned to Xu Province, which was now under Lü Bus control, tensions between Liu Bei and Lü Bu increased until the point of conflict. Liu Bei sought help from Cao Cao, a warlord who controlled the Han central government, Cao Cao and Liu Bei combined forces and defeated Lü Bu at the Battle of Xiapi in 198, after which they returned to the imperial capital Xu together. In Xu, Zhang Fei was appointed as a General of the Household, in 199, Liu Bei found an opportunity to leave Xu, under the pretext of leading troops to attack Yuan Shu. He travelled to Xu Province, killed Che Zhou, the governor appointed by Cao Cao. The following year, Cao Cao launched a campaign to take back Xu Province, Liu Bei fled to northern China, where he took refuge under Cao Caos rival, Yuan Shao. Liu Bei later left Yuan Shao by pretending to help Yuan recruit the rebels in Runan and he eventually found shelter under Liu Biao, the Governor of Jing Province
Zhang Fei
–
A
Qing dynasty illustration of Zhang Fei
Zhang Fei
–
An illustration of Zhang Fei's assassination at the
Long Corridor of the
Summer Palace, Beijing.
Zhang Fei
–
Statues of the three sworn brothers. From left to right: Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei.
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