Western Jin Dynasty

Western Jin Dynasty started from 265 AD and ended in 316 AD, including five monarchs. Although the Western Jin unified the whole nation, it was still an unstable and decayed dynasty with little social development.

Political History

In late time of the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280), Sima Yi grasped the real power of Kingdom of Wei. After he died, his two sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao successfully took power. Sima Zhao was more ambitious and was always plotting to replace Kingdom of Wei with Jin. As his power grew strong, he proclaimed himself to be 'King of Jin' and his son Sima Yan to be the prince. After Sima Zhao died, Sima Yan soon took the place of Cao Huan, the last emperor of Wei, changed the state title into Jin and reclaimed himself Emperor Wu - thus establishing the Western Jin.

Political Situation in the Early Period

After the founding of Jin Dynasty, the last kingdom of the Three Kingdoms Period - Kingdom of Wu still existed. In 280, the Jin army attacked the capital of Wu which made the emperor of Wu surrender. Since then, the Jin Dynasty unified the whole nation. Meanwhile, Sima Yan honored a list of his meritorious relatives to be kings.

However, the unified situation did not last long. During the reign of the second monarch Emperor Hui, the political power fell into the Empress Jia because of Emperor Hui's incapability. Resenting the ruling of Empress Jia, those honored kings all plotted to kill her and monopolize the Royal power. Therefore, the so-called 'Rebellion of the Eight Kings' started.

In the following years, battles took place constantly between those kings. In 306 when one of the kings poisoned Emperor Hui, Emperor Huai was arranged to succeed thus the rebellion ended. The rebellion could be seen as a catalyst which worsened the originally feeble regime of Jin.

Decline and Ruin

In late years of the Western Jin, not only did domestic people roused to revolt against the tyranny, but also the exotic ethnic groups such as Huns and Xianbei were covetous of the Jin Court.

In 308, Da Chanyu (the monarch) of Huns, Liu Yuan began to carry out his plan to ruin the Jin Court. He sent his army into Jin's capital Luoyang and captured Emperor Huai. Soon officials of Jin Court hurriedly enthroned a new monarch - Emperor Min in Chang'an (currently Xian). However, Chang'an City was encircled by the Hun troops in 316. Immediately after this, Emperor Min surrendered, putting Western Jin to an end.

Jin Dynasty

The Jin Dynasty consists of two dynasties, the Western Jin (265 -316) and the Eastern Jin (317 - 420). The Western Jin was founded by Sima Yan with Luoyang as its capital city while the Eastern Jin was founded by Sima Rui with Jiankang (currently Nanjing) as its capital.

In 265, as a chancellor of the Kingdom of Wei, Sima Yan forced the last emperor of Wei, Cao Huan, to turn over his throne. Soon after Sima Yan acceded to the throne, proclaimed himself Emperor Wu in Luoyang and established the Jin Dynasty. In 280, Sima Yan sent his troops to attack the Kingdom of Wu and eventually defeated the last kingdom of the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280). The dynasty had unified the whole nation.

However, the state of unification did not last long. With the increase of the military strength, some nomadic ethnic groups on the frontier began to wage war to contest the central plains with the Jin Court. After a period of fighting, these groups set up a series of regimes in northern areas, called 'sixteen kingdoms'.

On the positive side, the process of Han-Chinese assimilation with other minority groups was greatly progressed. Meanwhile, the propagation of Buddhism in southern and northern areas became more and more popular. In addition, technological progress in medicine, astronomy and drafting technique was also notable during that time.

Kingdom of Wu - Three Kingdoms

Kingdom of Wu (229 - 280) is also named Sun Wu because the monarchs of the kingdom are mainly from the Sun family. The kingdom was consecutively ruled by four emperors and lasted for 52 years. Although it was not the strongest one among the three kingdoms (Wei, Shu and Wu) during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280), it has the longest history as well as the mightiest naval army.

Establishment

The kingdom was originally organized by Sun Jian and formally established by Sun Quan. During the rebellion of Dong Zhuo, an influential minister in the late years of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 - 220) after which it came into Three Kingdom Period, Sun Jian joined the allied forces against Dong Zhuo. The military area of his troop was mainly to the south of Huaihe River. After Sun Jian died, his son Sun Ce began to lead the army and gradually expanded his military area to the east of Yangtze River. In 196, Sun Ce made an alliance with Cao Cao, the founder of Kingdom of Wei, and was conferred ‘Wu Hou (vassal)’ later by Cao. In 200 when Sun Ce died, his younger brother Sun Quan took over and took charge of the throne with the assistance of Zhou Yu, a famous military counselor serving Wu in the early years. After Sun Quan’s army captured Jingzhou and defeated the army of Shu State in the Battle of Yiling, he proclaimed himself emperor in 229. Since then, this kingdom was officially established.

Development

Under the rule of Sun Quan, the economy of the regions in the east of Yangtze River made notable progress. With the development of the economy, the number of counties and towns increased. Due to the convenient river transportation in the east of Yangtze River, the shipbuilding industry and salt industry of Wu were prosperous. During that period, the ships were improved to hold about 1,000 people.

Sun Quan laid great emphasis on the development of agriculture by appointing the farming officials and carrying out the Tuntian System (A farming system that farmers and soldiers till the field for military use or tax provision). Textile industry developed well as the residents from the north area brought advanced handicraft skills and sufficient labor force.

Depending on the advantage of navigation, Kingdom of Wu established close trade routes with some overseas countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia. Meanwhile, both economical development and international exchanges also promoted the cultural development of the South Yangtze River regions which provided a good environment for the emergence of a group of well-known scholars, such as Yu Fan, Lu Ji, Wei Zhao and others.

Additionally, due to the advantageous location, Wu’s army was good at water battles. As a result, several naval army bases were established during that time. Shipyards were constructed as well. Meanwhile, the kingdom had an army of minority nations, such as Shanyue Army, Yi Army, and Man Army etc.  

Decline

After Sun Quan died in 252, the Kingdom of Wu fell into decline day by day. The Jin Army massively attacked Wu Army in 274 upon Lu Kang’s death (Lu Kang, the military counselor in the late years of Wu). In 280 when Jin Army captured the capital city - Jianye (currently Nanjing), the last emperor surrendered, ending the glorious reign of the Kingdom of Wu.

Kingdom of Shu - Three Kingdoms

With only two emperors Liu Bei and his son Liu Chan, the reign of Kingdom of Shu was much shorter than that of the Kingdom of Wei. As for the national strength, Kingdom of Shu was the weakest of the three kingdoms.

In 188, a member of the imperial clan of Han Dynasty (206 BC-220), Liu Yan, was appointed the chief executive of Yizhou (which includes present-day Sichuan Province, Chongqing City, southern Shaanxi Province and northwest Yunnan Province). After Liu Yan died, his son Liu Zhang succeeded.

In 212, Liu Zhang invited Liu Bei and his court to Yizhou, persuading him to attack Hanzhong. In 215, Liu Bei occupied Yizhou and then captured Hanzhong, after which he proclaimed himself as 'King of Hanzhong'. In the same year, Jingzhou was captured and Guan Yu was killed by Sun Quan's army. The following year, hoping to recapture Jingzhou, Liu Bei fought with the Wu army in the Battle of Yiling. Unfortunately, he did not achieve his goal and soon died of illness. Following Liu Bei's death, his son Liu Chan succeeded.

During the reign of Liu Chan, the Chengxiang (ancient trm for secretary of state) of Shu Kingdom - Zhuge Liang (titled Wuhou or Marquis Wu) played an indispensable role in governing the country. He assisted under the circumstances that Liu Chan was very young and the Kingdom of Shu was in great difficulties. He ruled the country by law and established a system of strict discipline to manage the army. During this period, the agriculture and handicraft industry recovered and became well developed. Another contribution by Zhuge Liang was his eagerness to develop the regions inhabited by the Yi people, thus enhancing the unity of different ethnic groups.

As a loyal chancellor, Zhuge Liang never gave up the chance to realize Liu Bei's ambition - to restore the Han Dynasty and regain the former capital. He led Shu's army to attack Wei many times. However, during the last northern expedition, Zhuge Liang died of illness on the march.

After 258, political power fell into the hands of eunuchs and the government became corrupt. In 263, Kingdom of Shu was completely overpowered by the Wei army.

Liu Bei - Emperor of Shu Kingdom

Liu Bei, better known as Xuan De, was born in Zhuo County in Hebei Province. His ancestor was Liu Sheng, son of Emperor Jing in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD).Judging by his position in the family hierarchy, he was the last emperor of Eastern Han (25 - 220) - Emperor Xian's uncle. He founded the Kingdom of Shu and was regarded as a great statesman and strategist in the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280).

Liu Bei lost his father while he was still young. After that, he existed by selling straw sandals and weaving straw mats with his mother. At the age of 15, he went out to pursue his studies. In 188 after the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, he, along with his two sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, began to organize his own troops to fight against the insurrectionists.

After the battle, Liu formally set up his military group and was soon appointed as a county governor. Later, he was successively promoted to chief executive of Xuzhou, Zhendong General, and chief executive of Yuzhou. However, because it was weaker militarily than other groups and without a stable military base, Liu Bei's group sought support temporarily under the domain of big warlords such as Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and Liu Biao.

In 207, after paying three visits to the thatched cottage of the great sage, Zhuge Liang, Liu received advice crucial to his subsequent role in political and military affairs. With Zhuge Liang as his military counselor, Liu Bei followed his strategic guidance to capture Jingzhou, with support from The Kingdom of Wu, by attacking Cao Cao's troops and to driving into Sichuan Province.

In 221, Liu Bei reclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, establishing the Kingdom of Shu. As one of three kingdoms, The Kingdom of Shu covered the area of Sichuan Province, Yunnan Province, the northern part of Guizhou Province and the southern part of Shaanxi Province.

As an emperor, Liu Bei loved his people and treasured talented people very much. As an individual, he was fair and sincere, humane and righteous. The main features of his political characters embodied Chinese traditional political thoughts, especially Confucianism. Because of this, he always received courteous reception and deep respect wherever he arrived.

In 223, Liu Bei launched a battle against The Kingdom of Wu to avenge the death of his sworn brother Guan Yu. Unfortunately, he was defeated and had to draw back into the domain of Shu. In April of the same year, he died in Baidi City (currently Fengjie in Chongqing). On his death bed, he entrusted his son Liu Shan to Zhuge Liang.

Kingdom of Wei - Three Kingdoms

As the most powerful kingdom of the Three Kingdoms Period, Kingdom of Wei was successively reined by six emperors including Cao Cao who was proclaimed as Wei Dynasty Tai Tsu after his death.

Cao Cao paid close attention to the application of talented people and economic development during his reign. In the beginning, he tried to recruit as many talented people as possible and made many reformations to discard the old political patterns of the Eastern Han (25-220). As a result, the monopolization of eunuchs was swept away and personages from different social status participated in the Court of Wei.

In order to have a continuous supply of soldiers, a special system called Shijia (family of warriors) System was founded by Cao Cao. Men in those families had to join the army or to do the corvee labor from generation to generation. In this way, the military force of Wei was guaranteed.

Economically, Cao Cao benefited a lot from the Tun Tian (farming done by soldiers) System. Since the productivity of soldiers was greater, the demand for combat food was well met in a short period of time. Besides, Hu Tiao (Tax Modification) System was also carried out, which to some extent added a burden to landlords while lightening the burden on farmers. Under all these policies, the social order of Wei became extremely harmonious.

In addition, remarkable accomplishments were achieved in literature, philosophy and technique. Numerous predominant poets emerged from the Kingdom of Wei, including  Cao Cao and his two sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi as well as the seven leading writers during the Jian An Period. The noted Yuefu Poem-Peacock Flies to Southeast was also written in the Jian An Period. Metaphysics represented by He Yan and Wang Bi also came into being. In medicine, the commonly known 'Miracle Doctor', Zhang Zhongjing wrote the book Theory of Exogenous Febrile Disease which established the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine.

In the late Wei Dynasty, power struggles between the imperial clan of Cao Cao and the military official Sima Yi appeared within the Court. Finally, Sima Yi made contributions to the war and defeated Kingdom of Shu in 263. Two years later, a new dynasty - Jin Dynasty (265-420) was founded by the son of Sima Yi.

Cao Cao - Emperor of Wei Kingdom

Cao Cao, with his more common name being Mengde, was born in Qiao County of Peiguo (currently Anhui Province). He was born into an eminent eunuch family, with his father Cao Teng, being one of the ten 'Chang Shi' (eunuch) of Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Being a master of both the pen and the sword, Cao Cao was considered an excellent strategist, politician and poet of late Eastern Han.

In 174 when Cao Cao was 20 years old, he was elected as a local official of Luoyang. In this position, he carried out his duties and the law strictly, without fearing the power of royal relatives and minions which contributed his later promotion. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke up, he was appointed by the Han Court to suppress the insurgents which, because of his achievements in the suppression, lead to a further promotion.

In 190, he joined the military alliance fighting against Dong Zhuo (a treacherous court official of Eastern Han), and started to build up his own armed forces which were named the 'Qingzhou Army'. In 196, Cao Cao led his troops into the capital city Luoyang and forced the Emperor Xian of Han to carry out his commands in order to control the political situation. In 201, his troop defeated Yuan Shao's (leader of a rebel force against Eastern Han court) in the Battle of Guandu. From that time on, Cao Cao gradually unified northern China. However, his political aim of unify the whole of China was never achieved. In the Battle of Red Cliffs, which had the aim of capturing the southern area, he suffered a disastrous defeat in fighting with the allied forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan.

As a politician, Cao Cao paid great attention to the development of an agricultural economy by setting up the Tun Tian (farming done by soldiers) System to promote productivity and meet the demands of the army's food supplies. Meanwhile, he also set up Zu Tiao (Tax Modification) System to ease the tax burden on farmers' while at the same time punishing the big landlords. All these efforts had consolidated a strong economic foundation for his military group. In dealing with human resources, Cao Cao focused close attention on recruiting talented people to strengthen the power of his group and was also considered an impartial dispenser of rewards and punishments.

Known as an illustrious poet, Cao Cao wrote a list of poetry anthologies, such as Haolixing, Duangexing, Guancanghai (The Sea) and Guisuishou (Though the Tortoise Lives Long). His poems were deeply influenced by Yuefu Poem pattern while being more creative in content. Therefore, his poems, as well as those of his two talented poet sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, began a new style of Jian An literature.

Cao Cao died of a head disease on March 15th, 220 and was posthumously titled Emperor Wu of Wei after his son Cao Pi succeeded him to the throne.

Three Kingdoms Period

Just as the name implies, there were three regimes during the Three Kingdoms Period, Wei, Shu and Wu, originated in 220 AD when Wei replaced the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD-220 AD) and ended in 280 AD when the Wu was defeated by the Court of Jin. It is considered to be a special historical period full of power struggles and sophisticated military strategies.

Political History

In 189 when Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han dynasty died, a young emperor - Emperor Shao was put on the throne. Resenting the manipulation of eunuchs, two generals Yuan Shao and He Jin plotted to murder them. During the chaos caused by the fighting between the eunuchs and generals, Dong Zhuo, a treacherous court official of the Eastern Han drove his army into Luoyang. With full political power in his hand, Dong Zhuo dethroned Emperor Shao and put Emperor Xian on the throne. All Dong's deeds aroused strong protest from the courtiers and many local officials. As the political situation became acute, a large-scale civil war finally broke out.

After Dong Zhuo invaded Luoyang, Cao Cao fled to Chenliu (currently southeast of Kaifeng in Henan Province) and began to assemble military forces to revolt. In 193, Dong was killed in a mutiny but the melee remained. This period of unrest continued until 196, Balkanized areas were formed among which the most two powerful ones were those of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

In 196, Cao Cao held Emperor Xian under duress and took this advantage to strengthen his military power. In 201, with comparatively weaker strength, Cao Cao defeated Yuan  Shao in the Battle of Guandu after which he gradually unified the northern area of China. In 209, Cao Cao drove his troops to the southern area and captured Jingzhou. But when he wanted to expand his power further to the south, he was defeated by the allied forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan in the Battle of Red Cliff and thus he withdrew his army back to the central plains of China.

In 220 when Cao Cao died, his eldest son Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor, with Wei as his National Title and Luoyang as his capital city. In 221, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor, with Shu his national title and Chengdu the capital city. And in 229, Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor in Wuchang (currently Wuhan), and later moved the capital to Jiankang (currently Nanjing), with the national title Wu. Since then, the so-called Three Kingdoms' Tripartite Confrontation was formed. On the whole, Wei occupied the north, Shu occupied the southwest and Wu occupied the southeast.

Upon the founding of the three kingdoms, rulers of each kingdom all committed to improve the way of ruling and develop their national economy. In the Kingdom of Wei, Cao Cao made many reforms to discard old policies inform previous dynasties. The Tun Tian  (farming done by soldiers) System was also carried out, which greatly promoted the national productivity. In the Kingdom of Shu, Zhuge Liang set up strict social order and tried to govern the kingdom by law. With his assistance, Shu's agriculture and handicraft industry developed rapidly. Additionally, Shu formed a friendly relationship with ethnic minorities in southwestern areas. In the Kingdom of Wu, the shipbuilding industry was much more prosperous. As for the national strength, Wei ranked first, Wu second and Shu third.

Throughout the Three Kingdoms Period, battles between the three countries were countless. Among those, battles between Shu and Wu fighting for Jingzhou, Shu and Wei fighting for Hanzhong as well as Wei defeating Shu were all illustrious ones in Chinese history.

Finally, the end of the Three Kingdoms Period started from the Sima Yan (son of Sima Yi and chancellor of Wei)'s usurpation of Wei and the establishment of the Jin Dynasty (265 - 420). In 282 when the Jin army conquered the last kingdom - Wu's capital, the Three Kingdoms Period was ended.

History of Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese is the official language of Mainland China and Taiwan, and it's one of the official languages of Singapore and the United Nations. It is the most widely-spoken language in the world.

DIALECTS

Mandarin Chinese is sometimes referred to as a “dialect,” but the distinction between dialects and languages is not always clear. There are many different versions of Chinese spoken throughout China, and these are usually classified as dialects.

There are other Chinese dialects, such as Cantonese which is spoken in Hong Kong, that are very distinct from Mandarin. However, many of these dialects use Chinese characters for their written form, so that Mandarin speakers and Cantonese speakers(for example) can understand each other through writing, even though the spoken languages are mutually unintelligible.

LANGUAGE FAMILY AND GROUPS

Mandarin is part of the Chinese family of languages, which in turn is part of the Sino-Tibetan language group. All Chinese languages are tonal, which means that the way words are pronounced varies their meanings. Mandarin has four tones. Other Chinese languages have up to 10 distinct tones.

The word “Mandarin” actually has two meanings when referring to language. It can be used to refer to a particular group of languages, or more commonly, as the Beijing dialect that is the standard language of Mainland China.

The Mandarin group of languages includes standard Mandarin (the official language of Mainland China), as well as Jin (or Jin-yu), a language spoken in the central-north region of China and Inner Mongolia.

LOCAL NAMES FOR MANDARIN CHINESE

The name “Mandarin” was first used by the Portuguese to refer to the magistrates of the Imperial Chinese Court and the language they spoke.

Mandarin is the term used through much of the Western world, but the Chinese themselves refer to the language as 普通话 (pǔ tōng huà), 国语 (guó yǔ), or 華语 (huá yǔ).

普通话 (pǔ tōng huà) literally means “common language” and is the term used in Mainland China. Taiwan uses 国语 (guó yǔ) which translates to "national language," and Singapore and Malaysia refer to it as 華语 (huá yǔ) which means Chinese language.

HOW MANDARIN BECAME CHINA'S OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Due to its immense geographic size, China has always been a land of many languages and dialects. Mandarin emerged as the language of the ruling class during the latter part of the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644).

The capital of China switched from Nanjing to Beijing in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty and remained in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912). Since Mandarin is based on the Beijing dialect, it naturally became the official language of the court.

Nonetheless, the large influx of officials from various parts of China meant that many dialects continued to be spoken at the Chinese court. It was not until 1909 that Mandarin became the national language of China, 国语 ( guó yǔ).

When the Qing Dynasty fell in 1912, the Republic of China maintained Mandarin as the official language.

It was renamed 普通话 (pǔ tōng huà) in 1955, but Taiwan continues to use the name 国语 (guó yǔ).

WRITTEN CHINESE

As one of the Chinese languages, Mandarin uses Chinese characters for its writing system. Chinese characters have a history dating back more than two thousand years. The early forms of Chinese characters were pictographs (graphic representations of real objects), but characters became more stylized and came to represent ideas as well as objects.

Each Chinese character represents a syllable of the spoken language. Characters represent words, but not every character is used independently.

The Chinese writing system is very complex and the most difficult part of learning Mandarin. There are thousands of characters, and they must be memorized and practiced to master the written language.

In an attempt to improve literacy, the Chinese government began simplifying characters in the 1950s.

These simplified characters are used in Mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia, while Taiwan and Hong Kong still use the traditional characters.

ROMANIZATION

Students of Mandarin outside of Chinese-speaking countries often use Romanization in place of Chinese characters when first learning the language. Romanization uses the Western (Roman) alphabet to represent the sounds of spoken Mandarin, so it is a bridge between learning the spoken language and beginning the study of Chinese characters.

There are many systems of Romanization, but the most popular for teaching materials (and the system used on this website) is Pinyin.