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Empress Wu Zetian
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Wu Zetian was born on February 17, 624 in Lizhou, China. She grew up in a wealthy aristocratic family and her father was a high ranking minister in the government. Unlike many girls of her time, Wu was given a good education. She was taught to read, write, and to play music. Wu was an intelligent and ambitious girl who learned all she could about politics and how the government worked.
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When Wu was fourteen she moved into the imperial palace to serve the Emperor Taizong. She continued her education at the palace until the emperor died in 649. As was the custom, when the emperor died she was sent to a convent to become a nun for the rest of her life. Wu had other plans, however. She became romantic with the new emperor, Emperor Gaozong, and soon found herself back at the imperial palace as consort (like a second wife) to the empero
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Becoming Empress Back at the palace, Wu began to gain influence over the emperor. She became one of his favorite wives. The emperor's main wife, Empress Wang, became jealous and the two women became bitter rivals. When Wu's daughter died, she hatched a plan against the Empress. She told the emperor that Empress Wang had killed her daughter out of jealousy. The emperor believed her and had Empress Wang arrested. He then promoted Wu to Empress
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n 683, Emperor Gaozong died and Wu's son became emperor. Wu became regent (like a temporary ruler) while her son was still young. Although she didn't yet have the title of emperor, she had all the power. In 690, Wu had her son step down as emperor. She then declared a new dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty, and officially took the title of emperor. She was the first and only woman to become emperor of China. Secret Police It was difficult for a woman to maintain power in Ancient China. Wu managed this by using secret police to spy on people. She developed a large system of spies who helped determine who was loyal and who wasn't. Wu rewarded those who were found loyal, but had her enemies put to death.
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Another reason that Wu was able to keep power was because she was a very good emperor. She made intelligent decisions that helped China to prosper. She surrounded herself with competent and talented people by promoting people based on their abilities rather than by their family history. During her reign, Empress Wu expanded the borders of China by conquering new lands in Korea and Central Asia. She also helped to improve the lives of the peasants by lowering taxes, building new public works, and improving farming techniques
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Empress Wu died in 705. Her son, Emperor Zhongzong, took over as emperor and reestablished the Tang Dynasty
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East Asia is home to long rivers, high plateaus, dry deserts, and rugged mountains. East Asia is similar to South Asia because rugged mountains and hazardous deserts create a deadly barrier to foreigners. For thousands of years, East Asian people were isolated from the rest of the world—this allowed them to develop their culture in a very unique way. Mountains dominate East Asia’s western landscape. The Himalaya Mountains are the southern border between China and India. The Plateau of Tibet is on the Chinese side of the Himalaya Mountains. Like the Himalaya Mountains, the Plateau of Tibet was also formed by the slow crash of the Indian subcontinent into Asia. Another Mountain range in western China is the Tian Shan. The name Tian Shan means “heavenly mountains”.
The Shang Dynasty (1600 BCE-1046 BCE) was originally a clanliving along the Yellow River during the Xia Dynasty. A clan is group of very close families that are often viewed as one big family. The Shang conquered Xia land and gained control of Chinese civilization. The Shang Dynasty lasted over 600 years and was led by 30 different emperors. The Shang were the oldest Chinese civilization to leave behind written records, called oracle bones—turtle shells, cattle shoulders or other bones on which were written important clues to Chinese history. Oracle bones were often used to determine what the gods/nature wanted. If the kingdom needed to know something such as 'will the king have a son' or 'should we go to war', it would be carved into bone or shell. They would then heat the bone until it cracked. The crack lines would reveal the wishes of the gods--this process of learning what the gods want is called divination. During the Shang Dynasty people worshipped many gods. Ancestor worship was very important since they believed their family members became god-like in the after life. Shang government invented new ways to make bronze crafts. Thousands of bronze artifacts have been found including some that weigh nearly 2000 pounds. Its important to understand that other smaller cultures existed in the same time as the Shang in different parts of China, but the Shang left written records and seem to be the most advanced. Eventually, the Shang were defeated by the Zhou clan.
The Zhou Dynasty (1046 BCE-256 BCE) lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history. The Zhou time period is divided into parts called the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou because there was a brief disruption in their control of the government. The Zhou battled with invading armies from the north (Mongolians), so they built large mounds of dirt and rock as barriers that would slow down the enemy--this was not the Great Wall yet, but the idea came before the wall. The crossbow was another invention of this time--it was extremely effective and feared by enemies. During the Zhou, the use of iron was introduced to China, which begins the Iron Agein China. Iron tipped weapons were much stronger, and the iron plow helped to increase food production.
During the Zhou Dynasty Taoism (also spelled Daoism) and Confucianismdeveloped—the two most important Chinese philosophies. The great Chinese philosopher Confucius developed a way of life called Confucianism. Confucianism says that all people can be taught and improved if they do the right things. People should focus on doing the right thing for others, make family the most important, and respect elders of society. Confucianism is still important today, but it did not become widely followed in China until the Han
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From 221 BCE to 206 BCE the Qin Dynasty (pronounced "chin") gained control of civilized China. The Qin didn’t last very long, but made an important impact on China’s future. The Qin expanded their territory and created China’s first empire. The brutal leader Qin Shi Huang declared himself the first true emperor of China. This dynasty designed standard currency (money), standard wheel axle size (to make roads all one size), and standard laws that applied to the entire empire. Standardize means to make the same. The Qin also standardized the different systems of writing into one system called small seal script that much of China still uses today. Qin Shi Huang enforced a philosophy called Legalism that focuses on people following laws and taking instructions from the government. However, many followers of Confucianism were more loyal to their family and other Confucian traditions. To silence their protests, the emperor banished or put to death many Confucian teachers and burned their Confucian books. At one point Qin Shi Huang killed 460 Confucian teachers by burying them alive!
The Han Dynasty began in 206 BCE and lasted 400 years until 220 CE and is considered to be one of the greatest periods in the entire history of China. LIke the Zhou Dynasty, the Han Dynasty is divided into Western Han and Eastern Han because of a short disruption when someone tried to replace the Han family--they were unsuccessful. Han culture defines Chinese culture today. In fact, most Chinese citizens today claim "Han" as their ethnic background. The government made Confucianism the official belief system of the empire. The empire grew greatly during this time, conquering land in modern Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, and even into Central Asia. The empire had grown so much the emperor needed a larger government to rule it. He started a system of examinations (tests) to find qualified people to do civil (government) jobs such as tax collecting. This system called Imperial Examinations. In fact, most nations use a similar system to find qualified people in a fair way.
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Ancient China also boasts the longest lasting empire in history. It began with the Qin dynasty and the first emperor Qin who united all of China under one rule in 221 BC. Emperors would continue to rule over China for more than 2000 years
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The great enemy of the Chinese was the Mongols who lived to the north. They even built a wall thousands of miles long to try and keep the Mongols from invading. The Mongols did conquer China for a time, however, and established their own dynasty called the Yuan Dynasty.
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The Last Emperor of China, Puyi, became ruler when he was only 3 years old.
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The Chinese have used chopsticks to eat with for over 4,000 years
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silk was discovered in the emperor's garden in 2700 BC by Hsi-Ling-Shi, the wife of Emperor Huang-Ti.
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| Chinese Word | Pronunciation | Meaning | Original Word | Pronunciation | Original Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 剎那 | chànà | moment | क्षण | kṣaṇa | moment |
| 蘋果 | píngguǒ | apple | बिम्बा | bimbā | apple |
| 涅槃 | nièpán | nirvana | निर्वाण | nirvānā | nirvana |
| 舍利子 | shèlìzi | relic | शरीर | śarīra | body |
| 曇花 | tánhuā | epiphyllum | उदुम्बर | udumbara | cluster fig tree |
| 須彌山 | xūmíshān | Mt. Sumeru | सुमेरु | sumeru | Mt. Sumeru |
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