Recently, China has been on the forefront of the public eye. It was recently given normal trade status by the U.S. Congress. The country's embassy was destroyed during the Kosovo action. Additionally, it continues to try to lure Taiwan back into the country, sometimes with olive branches, but more often with threats. Moreover, many observers believe that China will become the next superpower in the near future. Thus it is crucial to understand the mind frame of its people and government.

Much of China is mountainous. The country is divided into three sections by the Huang, Yangtze, and Xi Rivers. Though the rivers often flood, their valleys are home to much of the Chinese population. To the north, China is bordered by the Gobi Desert, a traditional invasion route into the area. To the south, it is bordered by the foreboding Himalayan Mountains. This geography has ensured that Chinese culture developed for thousands of years with minimal interference from outside sources.

The first dynasty to rule China was the Xia dynasty from 2000-1500 BCE. Little is known about this era of Chinese history, except that this dynasty was overthrown in 1500 BCE by Tang, a noble who founded the Shang Dynasty. Though Chinese culture developed quickly during this era, the Shang rulers became weak.

In 1100 BCE, a nobleman named Wu led a rebellion and founded the Zhou Dynasty, claiming a Mandate from Heaven. The Zhou Dynasty was the longest ruling dynasty in China. During this period a feudal system developed whereby friends of the court were given lands. Over time though, these nobles became stronger than the king himself. By 771 BCE, A group of noblemen attacked the king and dealt him a severe loss. After this action, the Zhou Dynasty had little real power, and different factions of noblemen fought among themselves. Despite the confusing political situation, new roads were built, the crossbow created, flood control systems begun, and the iron plow was developed - an advancement that allowed the country to become the most populated in the world at the time.

By 220 BCE, a nobleman named Qin succeeded in uniting most of northern China under his control. He overthrew the Zhou rulers, and set up a new system with a stronger central government. He was ruthless, but also built more roads and standardized a weight system for his empire. He also began construction on the Great Wall. Yet he also burned many books, and imposed heavy taxes. Though Qin, whose name was later given to the nation of China (Qin is pronounced Ching), his people grew to hate him. After Qin's death, a military official, Lui Bang deposed Qin's successor and began the Han Dynasty.

The Han Dynasty governed China for over 400 years, until 220 CE. It kept many of the power structures the Qin Dynasty had set up, and produced an empire that rivaled the contemporary Roman Empire. The Dynasty reached its zenith under Emperor Wudi, who sent out armies which conquered Korea, Manchuria, Indo-China, and Northern India. Wudi also expanded the Silk Road to the Middle East and Europe.

This period of Chinese history is referred to as the Pax Sinica, or the Chinese Peace. Agriculture developed to sustain the growing population, and technology thrived as well. Europe would not achieve complete technological parity with the Chinese until the 14th Century. Additionally, a professional civil service was created, whose members later became known as mandarins. After Wudi reign ended, the Han Dynasty became progressively weaker vis-à-vis the strength of the local nobles. By 220 CE, the Han Dynasty collapsed into several factions that fought each other for over 300 years to gain hegemony.

In 589 CE, a northern nobleman named Yang Jian was finally able to unite China and start the Sui Dynasty. Yang devoted many resources to internal improvements, including rebuilding the Great Wall, and constructing a canal to link Northern and Southern China. His extensive use of forced labor, though, made him very unpopular with the peasantry.

In 618, rocked by uprisings, Li Yaun, another noble, deposed the Sui Dynasty and replaced it with the Tang Dynasty. Li was able to resurrect a form of strong central government and expand his empire. He reinstituted the civil service. Li also improved the transportation system in the country, resulting in improved trade. It was at this time that the Chinese began making a type of pottery called "china".

In 755, a governor named An Lushan led a rebellion against the emperor. Though it was crushed after ten years, much of the authority of the central government had also been destroyed. This, combined with the loss of the Silk road trade, created an atmosphere where the country gradually turned inward.

By 907, the Tang Dynasty had been replaced by the Song Dynasty. This dynasty protected its Northern border by paying tribute to the Mongols there. Despite these payments, the capital, Kaifeng was captured. The Song moved their court to Hangzhou, in the South. This Dynasty resurrected Confucianism, and strengthened the power of the mandarin class who would eventually become the bureaucratic class that actually ruled China due to their monolopy on reading and writing Madarin Chinese. The economy also grew during this time, and gunpowder was used extensively by Song armies.

Over time China's enemies were able to replicate the formula for gunpowder and used it against the Chinese. By 1240 the Mongols were able to completely capture Northern China. By 1280, under the leadership of Kublai Kahn, they had destroyed the Song Dynasty and replaced it with the Yuan Dynasty. Kahn, the grandson of Genghis Kahn, made his court in Daidu - modern Beijing. He was the first foreigner to rule China, and it was his court that Marco Polo described to the Europeans.

Though the Mongols brought peace, safety and prosperity, after Kublai Kahn died in 1294, rebellions started to occur against the Mongol rulers. By 1370, the Yuan Dynasty was overthrown by a Buddhist monk.

Taking the name Hong Wu, the monk established the Ming Dynasty. It brought peace, but also harsh laws. To encourage the repopulation of Northern China, the government provided free supplies. This policy proved a great success. The Ming emperors sent fleets of exploration that explored much of Southeast Asia. By the 1400s though the explorations were stopped, foreign trade discouraged, and the construction of seagoing vessels prohibited. In 1421, the Chinese government, previously located in Nanjing moved back to Beijing, into the recently constructed Forbidden City. In 1514, the first Europeans arrived in China to open new trade routes for the Chinese goods and spices that were in high demand in Europe at the time. Though the Chinese initially refuse to deal with the foreigners, by 1560, the Portuguese had set up a base in Macao.

Isolated from their people, later Ming emperors were often hedonists, and without strong leadership the empire began to decay. By 1650 Manchus, northern invaders, succeeded in taking over China. They added Mongolia, Tibet, Manchuria and Taiwan to Ming territory. The Manchus set up the Qing Dynasty. Instead of trying to preserve their culture like the Mongols, the Manchus largely assimilated into Chinese culture.

In the 18th Century, the Qing regime began to become corrupted and the 1850 Taiping Rebellion left much of Southern China in ruins. The Qing Dynasty also faced many threats from the Europeans. Many European merchants had become heavily involved in illegal opium trading. When the Qing rulers tried to stop the smuggling, fighting broke out between the Chinese and the British. The British troops, with their superior technology, quickly defeated the Chinese and forced them to sign treaties which gave the British generous trade terms and generally undermined Chinese government authority. Soon after other European countries were able to force the Chinese to sign similar treaties with themselves. The carving up of China into spheres of influence had begun to be stopped by American "Open Door" Policy.

In 1894, the Japanese defeated the Chinese in the Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese annexed Korea and Taiwan.

To evict the foreigners, the Dowager Empress of China (the mother of the Emperor) encouraged a revolt against foreigners called the Boxer rebellion. It failed and the Empress fled. Though some attempts to modernize were finally carried out, they came too late. In 1905, the United League, led by Sun Yat-sen, which sought to create a modern republic similar to the United States started to attack government troops. In 1908 the Empress died and the new Chinese leader was a two year-old prince. In 1911, the Prince's troops overthrew him and Sun became the first President of the Republic of China.

In 1912, Gen. Yuan Shikai led a successful coup against Sun. Yuan turned the Chinese government to a dictatorship. Sun formed the Kuomintang, or Nationalist, party, but could not oust Yuan.

In 1916, Yuan died, and China became divided into factions led by different warlords. In 1928, the Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was finally successful in uniting the territories held by the warlords. A new government was set up in Nanjing by Chiang. The Kuomintang's government was not democratic and paid very little attention to the peasants. Furthermore, it was always faced with threats to its authority from various warlords and foriegn powers. Despite these problems, the party was able to build more roads, railroads and schools.

The peasants, ignored by Chiang, turned to the Communist party. The Communists had earlier failed to take control of the Kuomintang away from Chiang and in retribution, Chiang had had 6,000 of the Communists killed in 1927. In response to the killings, Chinese communists gathered in Southern China under Mao Zedong. By overthrowing local landlords and improving the life of many peasants, the Communists gained a large following. This worried Chiang who spent most of the 1930s trying to eliminate the Communists. In 1934, facing annihilation, the Chinese Communists made the "Long March" into Northern China, over 90% of the Marchers died from starvation, the cold, or in battles along the way.

While this struggle was going on, the Japanese took control of Manchuria, a large section of Northern China. They set up a puppet regime there, then turned south in1937. The Japanese army viciously rampaged down the coast of China, taking Shanghai and Nanjing. Chiang retreated to the Western mountains. An uneasy truce between the Kuomintang and the Communists was maintained throughout World War II as both factions attempted to drive the Japanese out of their country.

In 1947, Chiang attacked the Communists in Manchuria, hoping to deal them a knock out blow. After initial successes though, the Nationalists were sent reeling. By 1949, Chiang and his followers had retreated to Taiwan. The mainland was Mao's.

Mao set to work building a Communist society with aid from the Soviet Union, and through "Five-Year Plans". He intended to replace Chinese culture with Communist doctrine. By 1959, it was clear that this "Great Leap Forward" was failing. Industrial and agricultural output were falling; collectivization was not working. By 1959, too, it was clear that Sino-Soviet relations were deteriorating. Mao felt that Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the U.S.S.R., was being too soft with the West. The West was very slow to recognize and exploit this split, but the U.S.S.R. withdrew many essential advisors and funding.

To destroy dissention, Mao began the Cultural Revolution in the early 1960s. Professionals were sent to the fields while the working class was put into leadership positions. Bands of young Chinese, known as the Red Guards, served to root out "unpatriotic" behavior. Education was disrupted as teachers were arrested. As the Red Guard began to threaten Mao, Mao restrained them. However, the Cultural Revolution had seriously damaged the Chinese economy and the society as a whole.

In the 1970s, more moderate leaders came to power as Mao aged. They tried to develop ties with the West to gain Western technology necessary to turn China into a powerful nation. In 1969, a border war erupted between China and the Soviets. This prompted President Nixon to extend recognition to China. Though this gave the Americans an advantage over the Russians during the Cold War, Nixon also agreed to the "one-China" policy, withdrawing recognition of Taiwan, which we had vigorously supported up until that time. Taiwan continued to assert that it was its own nation - though it has not formally declared independence. Furthermore, Taiwan has gradually become a democracy, and the U.S. Congress has vowed to protect it in case of war.

In 1976, Mao died. He was replaced by one of the moderates, Deng Xiaoping. He began the "Four Modernizations", which covered agriculture, industry, national defense and technology. Though this program proved a success, the moderates could not effectively limit the corruption that was seeping into the government. This corruption angered many Chinese. These emotions finally culminated in a rally in Tiananmen Square, where thousands of people, mostly students, demanded more freedom and a democratic government. They got neither.

Instead, the moderates imposed martial law and sent the army in to kill or arrest the protestors. This led to a crack down all over China on many free speech issues. However, through the 1990s, China has gradually adopted more free market mechanisms. Though it has tried to improve relations with the West, its poor human rights record, as well as its insistence on reasserting control over Taiwan continue to plague relations with Western nations.

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