China

From Heterodontosaurus Balls

China (中國), literally known as the Middle Kingdom, is a country and civilization located in East Asia. This civilization is built on the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, and is traditionally considered to have around 5000 years of uninterrupted history, making him the longest continuous civilization.

The Chinese culture is a profound culture, built on the ideas of virtue and karma[3]. Traditionally and generally, China is a Confucian country, with the Chinese Calendar (農曆) as his calendar system and the Five Lunas (五倫) as his moral code.

歷史 (History)

王朝前 (Pre-Dynastic)

In ancient China, before all the dynasties, there were three rivaling tribes. One is led by the Yellow Empror (also known as Huangdi), one is led by Shennong (also known as the Yan Emperor), and one is led by Chiyou.

Shennong and his tribe focused on agriculture, medicine, and herbalism. During times where people died quickly from disease and bad food, he taught his people how to farm, domesticate animals, and even taste hundreds of herbs to discover their effects, leading his tribe to thrive more than the others. Shennong had clashes with Chiyou, and was defeated and had to retreat, running into the Yellow Emperor who then fought and also defeated Shennong.

Chiyou's clan were a violent clan. They made the best of weapons and are a confederation of many tribes that like to war. And with the growing threat of him, Yellow Emperor decided to merge Shennong's tribe to his, creating the Yan-Huang Alliance. This alliance, with the power of the Huang and the life quality of the Yan, was very strong. So, they went to war with Chiyou at the Battle of Zhuolu circa 2500 BC. Beasts and birds fought alongside both sides. In the end, Yan-Huang was victorious, and Chiyou was beheaded.

After Chiyou’s defeat, the Yellow Emperor unified the tribes and laid the foundation of Chinese civilization. He is often regarded as the ancestor of the Han Chinese and the first great ruler of China. The Yellow Emperor then stepped down later on to pass his rule to a capable and virtuous man, thus starting the abdication system. There were five emperors who succeeded Yellow Emperor, all had their rule granted to them for their virtue, and they were known as the Five Emperors (五帝):

  • Shaohao (2597-2514 BC)
  • Zhuanxu (2514 BC-2436 BC)
  • Ku (2436 BC-2366 BC)
  • Yao (2366 BC-2256 BC)
  • Shun (2256 BC-2206 BC)

In the reign of emperor Yao, there was a great flood. The Chinese people suffered. A man named Gun (鯀) was appointed to the task of controlling the flood. Gun used dykes, made from the self-renewing soil (息壤) he stole from the gods, to try to stop the flooding. It worked well at first, but the dykes rose too high and collapsed, killing many people. Gun was executed by Yao's successor Shun for his failures, either that, or he committed suicide by jumping into the abyss. Before he died, he told his son Yu the Great to finish the job. Yu did an excellent job, and he founded the Xia Dynasty, the first Chinese dynasty.

上古王朝 (Ancient Dynastic)

After the Xia Dynasty was founded in 2205 BC and Yu grew old, he wanted to pick a virtuous successor like the ones before him. But his candidate died before Yu, and when Yu died the people wanted Yu's son Qi to be ruler and pressured him to do so. So, China's long dynastic rule began. The last king of Xia, Jie, was immoral so the heavens sent Shang to depose the now-corrupt Xia in 1776 BC. This was the beginning of the "Mandate of Heaven" idea, where if a dynasty was too corrupt, it is in Heaven's right to let people depose of it.

The Shangball was expert at bronze making, and their civilization thrived. But their virtue fell short after 30 kings and 600 years of ruling. So the Zhou came and deposed him in 1122 BC. Zhou made a feudal system, but the central authority lost power in 770 BC and China became Agar.io and many many little states are battling each other. Many philosophies were born in this era, known as the Hundred Schools of Thought, and figures like Confucius and Lao-Tzu had huge impact on the Chinese nation. By 475 BC, only 7 major states were left, and the Qin state under Qin Shi Huang came victorious and united China by destroying the 6 other states in 221 BC.

早期帝國 (Early Imperial)

Ancient China experienced many dynastic changes, alternating between periods of unification and division. Examples of unification include Qin, Han, Western Jin, Sui, Tang, Northern Song (partial unification), Yuan, Ming, Qing, etc. Examples of division include the Spring and Autumn and Warring States, the Three Kingdoms, Five Barbarians, Northern-Southern Dynasties, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Song-Liao-Jin-Yuan period, and so on.

The Qin Dynasty unified China, and also unified a lot of systems, such as the currency and measurement systems. Qin also ordered the creation of the Great Wall of China, by connecting and building on the smaller separated walls that were built before to keep the barbarians out. Qin was also a tyrant, working the Chinese people to death on the Great Wall, burning books and burying scholars of dissenting philosophies alive. Qin Shi Huang died by drinking a potion of immortality (liquid mercury) in 210 BC, and the Qin dynasty collapsed soon afterwords in 206 BC. After this, China broke into Eighteen Kingdoms, and the fengjian (feudal) states of Chu and Han battled for supremacy. The Han won and united China in 206 BC, and China experienced a golden age.

The Han broke up into the infamous Three Kingdoms ( Cao Wei, Shu Han, Eastern Wu) in 220, and united once more under the incompetent Jin Dynasty in 280. In 304, many barbarians invaded the north and set up many states, known as the Sixteen Kingdoms. The Jin dynasty fell in 420 and was replaced by a series of succeeding dynasties in the south. The barbarians in the north got unified by Northern Wei in 439 and when Wei fell in 535 the north was replaced by a series of several coexisting different barbarian dynasties. This period was known as the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

The Northern dynasties are:

The Southern dynasties are:

中期帝國 (Middle Imperial)

The Sui Dynasty was founded in 581, and after eliminating Chen in 589, China was unified again, brining an end to the 270 years of division. Although Sui wasn't nearly as great as the previous unified dynasties, he still managed to build achievements such as grand canals. The Sui collapsed in 618 and the Tang succeeded, building a great empire and another golden age. Arts and military thrived in the Tang, building protectorates in lands so far away that it made direct contact with the Arabic empire. The capital of Chang'an was flourishing.

The decline of the Tang dynasty began when a general named An Lushan formed the Yan Dynasty and rebelled in 755, causing massive destruction. This rebellion was put to an end in 763. In 907, the Tang collapsed in turmoil.

文化 (Culture)

Traditional Chinese culture has undergone thousands of years of historical development, which is the result of long-term mutual exchanges, borrowing and integration of ancient cultures of various regions and ethnic groups. During this process, China has formed a pluralistic and integrated Chinese cultural pattern. The Han culture, as its main body, had a profound influence on Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia, forming the Sinosphere.

領土 (Territory)

Ancient China did not have the concept of 'country'. While hegemons frequently battled over territory, national borders were rarely permanently defined. Instead, these lords believed in a basic principle: All lands were under the watch of Heaven, and belonged to no earthly king.

But dynasties united China as effectively as a country. The emperor, known as the Son of Heaven, granted titles to rulers of surrounding territories. By accepting the titles, they became officials of the established dynasty, and were expected to pay tribute to the emperor. Dynasties thus united multiple regions and ethnic groups under a single administration.

地理 (Geography)

WIP

動物 (Animals)

China is infamous for his Giant Pandas, which are bears with black and white fur that only eat bamboo. China is iconic for his Red Pandas, Oriental Storks, Giant Salamanders, and Golden-Nosed Snub Monkeys.

瑣事 (Trivia)

  • 250 (二百五) is a swear word in Chinese.

關係 (Relationships)

朋友 (Friends)

  • 印度 - Never really had contact with him, but havings deep philosophies and good medicine. Shame that our modern versions really hate each other's guts.
  • 美國 - Perhaps the only western country I like. He helped me build modern railways, opposed the rest of the Eight-Nation Alliance wanting to carve me up, and helped fight Empire of Japan. But like the above, our modern versions are at each other's throats.

如何畫 (How to draw)

"China" (中國) in traditional format

China has a drawing rating of intermediate.

  1. Draw a ball.
  2. Fill it with yellow.
  3. Inside the ball, write 中 in darker yellow, below it write 國 also in darker yellow.
  4. Add Chinese eyes and you're done!
  5. Add a rice hat (optional)
Color Name HEX
Yellow #FFD100
Darker Yellow #FFB800

筆錄 (Notes)

  1. ↑ This is a KFC juice that is located only in China
  2. ↑ It's common superstition in China to avoid the number 4, since the Chinese for 4, which is 四 (sí), sounds a lot like the Chinese for death (sǐ, 死)
  3. ↑ While the term karma is from Hindu culture, the idea itself exists in most civilizations and describes the concept of "good deeds get good rewards, bad deeds get bad rewards".

導航 (Navigation)

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