Zheng He

Boy, what a lifetime it’s been. I, Zheng He, have done more in my life then 10 normal people. It all began in 1371, when I was born. I was castrated at 10 years old to serve in the emperor’s palace. He befriended prince Zhu di, and was a great warrior. In 1405, he embarked on his first great voyage with a fleet of hundreds of ships and thousands of men to scour the world. A total of 7 expeditions were sent out with the intent of showing the power of the Chinese. On the third expedition, the flotilla defeated the king of Sinhalese. The last expedition was undertaken in 1730. That’s where I am, on the way home. There is a storm on the horizon and I must be off to tend to the ships.

Zheng He died on the way back from his last expedition, and the fleet was destroyed when It got back by the emperor, and no one is sure why.

"voyages of Zheng He." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. <http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/>

Sung Dynasty

I’m Chang Khan, royal historian for the Mongolian Empire. I help our generals out by telling them the history of lands we are going to conquer, which can sometimes help a battle plan. Today I was asked to shed some light on the Sung Dynasty. Started in 960 by General Zhao Kuangyin when he usurped the emperor of the zhou dynasty, the Sung Dynasty had large social, economical, and cultural effects on the world. From the dangerous presence of us, the Mongolians, Zhao, or as he renamed himself, Taizu, created a large national army to defend his new dynasty, which began to use gunpowder in Ernest. His capitol fell to the Jurchens in 1125, but a southern Song dynasty was set up. This southern dynasty made numerous advancements to the era, through art, literature, and numerous inventions such as the southern compass and wood block printing. Because of this form of inexpensive literature, a new middle class showed up. Now it is the year 1279, and we are going to easily take over the remnants of this dynasty.
"Song dynasty." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. <http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/>

Tang Dynasty

Hey guys, Wu Hou here. I lay on my deathbed. It is the year 705 AD, and as I wait for death’s claws to grip me into the next life, I lay back and think about all that has happened in my kingdom. It all started around the year 618. Gao Zu ruled the budding dynasty at first, but abdicated the throne so his son, Li Shimin could rule. Under his guidance, the Tang people took over Tibet, and tried to take Korea, but couldn’t. Gao Zu also helped his people by lowering taxes and trying to set himself as a role model to his citizens. After he died, Gao Zong came into power in 649. Gao Zong took one of Li Shimin’s beautiful concubines. That lady was me, Wu Hou. I always tried to rule the people through my husband, and when he died in 683, and grabbed power and became the empress. I managed to finally take Korea, which Gao Zu could never do. And now, as I lie on my deathbed, I can see this once great dynasty is headed downhill. I need some rest.

This is a descendent of Wu Hou editing this post. I felt like my Great great something grandma would want this to be finished. Because no one could hold a flame to her leadership skills, the dynasty fell in 907. Good bye.

"Tang dynasty." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. <http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/>

Mongols take over China

Hello, its Chong Gei with what might be my last post ever. The Mongols are coming. Its taken them almost 6 decades, but they have overrun almost all of china. My little corner is the last piece of freedom. You see, back in 1209, Genghis Khan declared war on Western Xia. He defeated them fairly quickly, and in 1211, declared war on the Jin Empire. He was very skilled in battlefield combat, but severely lacked when it came to taking cities. With the help of Muslim and Chinese Engineers, he built the Muslim Phao, a trebuchet with a range of 300 meters. With these, he easily could destroy enemy fortifications. It actually took the Mongol Empire until 1234 to take the Jin capitol, but that is because the capitol was moved right before the Mongols took it. This was then followed by the Tangut Xi Xia Dynasty, then the Yunnan dynasty, and finally, Song China in 1276. I am part of that dynasty. What I am telling you is happening right now. I can see them coming. It will be a long day.

"Mongol Invasion of China." Web. 20 Oct. 2010. http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Mongol_invasion_of_China.

 

Han Dynasty

Hey followers, its Liu Bang. It’s been a pretty sweet few years, hasn’t it? Back in 206 B.C. I stomped those stupid Qin dynasty people. Look at me now! I’m king of a nation! We got rid of that awful legalist way of doing things too, and brought in Confucianism. Then we had a huge party and created our new capital Ch'ang-an. Under my rule, the Silk Road began too. My dynasty’s going to last for probably a few hundred years. I predict around 184 AD from another peasant uprising. Whatever, that’s not for a while. I got to go, so see you guys later.
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/early_imperial_china/han.html

Buddhism comes to China

Hey bloggers, its Kumarajiva here. Another beautiful day in this 400 A.D. Anyways, today I translated yet another Buddhist text into Chinese. It’s been interesting seeing the effect Buddhism has had on China. To think, just 200 years ago Buddhism was a minority in China. An up and coming minority. Many people here in China liked the simplicity of the religion, and how it lacked real organization. I have theories of how Buddhism is going to evolve. Monasteries are going to begin to pop up, and millions will be Buddhist. It is going to split into two groups. 1 group will dwell on the unknown and mystical aspects of it, and the other group will be simple farmers and such who will worship in their own simple ways. Eventually, though, people will again become corrupt, and monasteries will no longer be spiritual. Well, I have to get back to work spreading Buddhism around to the ignorant, and helping people see the way.
"Siddhartha Gautama." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. <http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/>

The Great Wall of China

Hello, I am Chin Wan, an engineer for the great country Zhong guo (China). We have almost completed one of the most ambitious projects in the known world. After years of work, we have created a barrier between us civilized people and the barbarians to the north. It actually began a long time ago, when several independent dynasties built several smaller walls, which were eventually connected into one wall over 3,100 miles around 214 B.C.E. It took us over 300,000 slaves to do this. Watchtowers were also built 2 bow shots away from each other along the wall. Finally, it is almost done. It will last thousands of years, and show the greatness of China to the entire world.
"Great Wall of China." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. <http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/>

 

Confucius

Hey guys, another update from Confucius here. After all these years, I finally found out why my dad used to do so many things for me. Apparently, I was destined to be either a great king, or a great spiritual leader. My dad must have wanted the former. Well, after seeing the old man, the sick person, the dead person, and the monk, I decided to go the way of the spiritual leader. I escaped from my dad, and learned how to be at peace. I even went a period of time off of 6 grains of rice a day. Just recently, though, I finally decided to attain nirvana. I sat under that tree for just the longest of time. I had to go the bathroom soooo badly. Then that evil Mara kept trying to keep me from Nirvana by sending 3 ladies to seduce me. Then she tried to kill me with rocks and lava and the like, but I turned them all into flowers. Finally, she challenged me, saying I couldn’t do it. Ah, but I did. It was sweet. Well, I got to hit the road again, and keep teaching people the way of…hmm haven’t come up with a name yet. I’ll just name it after myself.
"Confucius." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/

Unification of China

Hey, Shi Huangdi here, and im pumped! I just took over all of china! You know how big that is? A lot bigger than your little hut! I saw all these poor, stupid warring states, and I thought, these guys need some direction. So to help them, I killed most of them and left the rest of them miserable and crippled from taxes. Then I took away all their former nobles power, and split the empire up into 36 sections. For some reason, most people don’t like me. All I did was make millions of them work on various structures I didn’t need. So what of most of them died, I still managed to build a wall that stretched over 5000 miles! People just don’t understand genius, though. I solved this by burning pretty much every book that didn’t have any real use, so people didn’t get any bad ideas. I made sure that when I die, I’ll be surrounded by a HUGE tomb, and a few thousand terra cotta soldiers. Well, back to the book burning, gtg.

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/early_imperial_china/qin.html

Lao Zi and Taoism

Hey bloggers, its Lao Zi here, just updating you on my day so far. Nothing new yet except for, ya know, discovering a new religon, no biggie. Had this awesome idea for a new book, which should provide good reading material for all the soldiers, seeing as its the era of warring states. All these mystics claim we're in something called 400 B.C. and someone importants gonna go down in 400 years. Its all really confusing and i dont believe a word of it. anyways, i think im onto something big here. My book's called Tao-te ching, and im trying to teach people about ying and yang, and harmony and all this good stuff. Its gonna talk about harmony in nature too, and my whole religon is literally going to mean "the way". its going to be awesome, at least until 500 A.D. when Buddhism takes over. well peace out i got work to do!
"Taoism." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/

Welcome!

Hey guys, this is my first post on this blog, and i hope it works out. When im doing a blog i will be acting as various people from the time im talking about. Welcome to the History of China!