StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

China history questions - Coursework Example

Cite this document
Summary
1. China has had a remarkably stable history, with large governments which were usually only interrupted by brief periods between them. This is in stark contrast with the European mould where the fall of an empire, the Roman Empire for example, would be permanent…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92.8% of users find it useful
China history questions
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "China history questions"

Download file to see previous pages

This means that it was relatively easy to form an empire in China, and once form such empires only suffered from rare international interference until the modern era. Beyond this, however, there are also aspects of Chinese society that led to this longstanding imperial nature. One is a unified language: China was a highly literate society from its earliest days, and more or less the same language (or mutually intelligible dialects) have been spoken uniformly across that range ever since. Beyond that, Chinese philosophy has tended to be relatively patriarchal, glorifying those who are in power as deserving to be so (either through the meritocracy of the government tests or divine right of the supreme ruler) and thus societies within China were relatively unlikely to rebel against their overlords.

Despite all of this, however, governments did occasionally fall. One of the most famous cases occurred at the close of the first Empire, when Qin died on a trip to the distant parts of his empire, and his subordinates conspired to place a pliable son on the throne. In this case, it can largely be argued that the disintegration was caused by overwhelming importance of the personality of the emperor in this early state, and the volatility caused by a popular emperor dying and his son having foolish policies.

One case of the overthrow of China’s power through invasion occurred via the Mongol invasions of the middle ages. Here, the steppes that had formerly posed as a protection from China against invading people actually became the source an invasion. The country quickly formed back into its imperial habits, however, with a Mongol ruler simply replacing the Chinese ruler. This quick reconstruction as a consequence of the strength of the bureaucracy and the relative flexibility of the Mongols, who tended to adapt easily to new systems of control.

One case where the empire almost fell but remained together was the Rebellion of the Seven states. In this case the Seven pseudo independent states under the Han dynasty rebelled against further centralization of government – but a military conflict allowed the Han to retain control, indicating the power of the centralized imperial army that the dynasty had been able to develop. 2. Though China imagined itself to be an unlimited realm, it was in point of fact quite constrained. The ideological underpinnings of this perception of the centrality of China were somewhat well supported: as far as China knew it was by far the largest and most powerful empire in the world (and for most of this existence it was probably true).

Furthermore, Chinese culture was put on a pedastul above all others, which were considered barbarous. Despite China’s imagination, however, it was not an unlimited realm. In physical terms, China was in fact quite limited: as discussed in the previous chapter, China actually had significant barriers to entry on almost all sides of it. Yet for all this, China did engage in international relations, most prominently with other countries in south-east Asia, but also with much more distant peoples.

China did have some trade across the Himalayas with India, who in turn traded with Arabs who in turn traded with Europeans. Thus, China did have contact with the realms outside of itself, albeit

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“China history questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/history/1399952-china-questions
(China History Questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 Words)
https://studentshare.org/history/1399952-china-questions.
“China History Questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/history/1399952-china-questions.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF China history questions

An Evaluation on One-Child Policy of China

Thus, the four – two – one model will become history and the number of children will be significantly bigger.... The paper "An Evaluation on One-Child Policy of china" states that the elimination of the One-Child Policy is likely to change the structure of a family.... Another point that should be mentioned is that thanks to the One-Child Policy china were able to cope with national poverty rather effectively.... Indeed, in 1980 which might be seen as the first year of this policy the population of china was only 980 million people; however, in 2014 it was as large as 1,350 million people ("Population", 2015)....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Peoples Republic of China

The modern history of Tibet dates back to the early 1600s.... The paper "People's Republic of china" presents that media in china is dominated by several state-run papers like china Daily.... hellip; Thus it has been found, that in both the issues discussed here, china has a different stand, against what is highlighted by media elsewhere.... These two issues have been discussed on how the state-run media portrays these issues in china....
10 Pages (2500 words) Case Study

Fossil Prehistory Chart

The author concludes that the universal evolutionary theories of biology are possibly the most potent instruments to find out the reason for human existence, and we should take note that the primates, the fossils, and ourselves, furnish the information to verify these theoretical perspectives … The crucial objective of the scientific study is to answer imposing questions, to look for more and more potent and convincing theories, and to understand the universe and life....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Paper

Political Development in Modern China

nbsp;… China is a country which has experienced an extensive history of imperialistic rule.... hina is a country which has experienced an extensive history of imperialistic rule.... From its earliest Xia Dynasty to its rule under the different emperors like Qin Shihuang, Hanwadi, Li Shimin, Kangxi from the Qin, Han, Tang, to the Quing dynasties respectively, China has been ruled for over 5000 years under imperialistic governance (history of China “About”)....
15 Pages (3750 words) Research Paper

When China Rules the World

In this book through extensive investigation, Jacques provides us with provocative answers to the questions raised about Chinas position in the world.... The End of the Western World is short and describes the history of US hegemony and the success of the West.... The book then gives an account of Chinas history from the Opium Wars, the rise of Asia and the differences between the growth pattern of the Western World and Asia.... One, how China will try to shape the world in its own image, two, how the Chinese have a rich and long history of their own, and third, the tributary system China followed....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Chinese Navy Expansion and the US Hegemony in Asia

Several secondary questions are posed to be able to answer this question.... The next questions are; has China stated hegemonic intentions implicitly or explicitly and does China's actions post-1978 suggest hegemonic tendencies?... These two questions will provide a China-centric insight of the analysis while grounding it to reality at the same time.... Tertiary questions related to the investigation of China's intentions are whether or not there are historical precedents for a hegemonic China and if so, what are the tendencies of a hegemonic China like?...
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Proposal

Changing Patterns of Interdependence between China and the USA

This work "Changing Patterns of Interdependence between china and the USA" focuses on economic empowerment technology and social-political factors of globalization.... hellip; One of the major challenges that politicians have been forced to contend with in the understanding of the new international environment is the rise of china and similar developing nations.... The question of china's place in the world has been recurring over the years, however, its rise today poses a serious question for the traditional balance of power and status quo in which western powers have been the main drivers of social political and economic influence in the world....
6 Pages (1500 words) Coursework

The Impact of One-child Policy on Generation Born in the 1980s in China

It has also resulted in a young generation rather unique in China's history, namely, the generation born in the 1980s that is also the first generation referred to as a group.... "The Impact of One-child Policy on Generation Born in the 1980s in china" paper explores the reality behind this change in ideologies and values held by the current families in china.... The research intends to explore the impact of china's one-child policy on Chinese family structures today....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Proposal
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us