There is a saying that someone who visits China for a week will go home and write a book about it, someone who spends a month there will write no more than an article, and someone who remains for a year or more will be unable to write anything.


In 3,000 years of recorded history, the Yellow River has flooded along its lower reaches more than 1,500 times.


The Yangtze River is the world’s 3rd longest, almost 4,000 miles from its source to the sea. It is also the 3rd largest river in volume of flow. It is a major waterway for shipping, large enough for ocean-going vessels to sail several hundred miles upstream. It and its tributaries form a network of waterways allowing easy communication between most of the provinces of central and south China, from Sichuan eastwards to the coast.


Although Confucius did not advocate government by the people, he stated clearly that it should be for the people.

There is little in Confucius’ teachings of a religious character. He certainly maintained that it was essential to perform all the traditional rites and sacrifices, and seems to have believed that his teachings accorded with the “Decree of heaven”, yet said it was wise to “keep one’s distance from the gods and spirits.” On being asked by one disciple how to serve the spirits of the dead and the gods he retorted: “You are not able even to serve man. How can you serve the spirits?” When the disciple went on to ask about death, his reply was in similar vein: “You do not understand even life. How can you understand death?”

The fundamental concept of Confucius’ philosophy was benevolence: “Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.” When this principle was adopted by the government of a state, then the whole population would be benefited and, influenced by the example of their leaders, would likewise behave correctly. In such a state, life for all would be comfortable, the people would be easily governed, and would be ready to fight courageously against attack from other states. The problem was that conforming to the strict moral code which Confucius advocated was far from easy. His teachings were not readily embraced by the opportunist and often self-seeking society of his day, and although he travelled to several major states in an attempt to win over their rulers he was never given high office.


This seems a thoroughly impractical theory, but Mo Zi was a highly practical man. His goal was to establish peace, order and prosperity, and he saw his ideas as providing the best means to do so. His “universal love” was not conceived as emotional (Mo Zi in fact disapproved of emotion) but as purely mental, and he felt that it was by no means impossible to persuade people that it was in their own and everyone’s interests to put his principles into practice. He advanced many arguments to prove his “universal love” to be a good policy. All disorder stemmed from selfishness, he said. If universal love prevailed, there would be no disorder.

Unlike Confucius and his followers, Mo Zi had strong religious beliefs and considered that Heaven and the spirits played an active part in regulating the act of living people. He related many stories of spirits avenging wrongs or rewarding virtue, and said that Heaven sent down retribution for improper acts. “Even in deep gorges and great forests, where there is no man, one may not act improperly. There are ghosts and spirits who will see.” He clearly believed that his teachings accorded with the will of Heaven.


Zhuang Zi replied that when she first died, he had of course been very upset. Then he had thought that at first there is no life, nor even any form of essence. Life evolves from emptiness. “Now another change has brought death, just as the seasons follow one another. She has lain down and gone to sleep in the Great Chamber, and if I should follow making a terrible noise of wailing, then this would seem not to conform with fate. Therefore I stop.”

“Heaven and earth cannot terrify one who is intelligent in nature, strange phenomenon cannot delude one who has judgment through experience.


Many primitive religious rituals were therefore carefully preserved by the Confucian official class, and continued to be relieved in at least by the mass of common people.

But it was the Daoist religion that obsorbed the greater part of the original primitive religious practices of China. It was, in fact, largely because of this process of absorption that Daoism changed from its early, philosophical form to its later, theistic and superstitious form.


Only in 694 did the Tang government cease to treat Buddhism as a foreign religion.

The isolation of Buddhism is well exemplified by the fact that it had to create its own sacred mountains in China. The two native creeds both took over primitive cults, and shared the sacred peaks of the five directions, east, south, west, north and center.


The founder of the Sui dynasty fixed his capital at the traditional site of Chang’an. This must have seemed an obvious choice, for Chang’an had been the preferred capital city ever since the founding of the Zhou dynasty, some 16 centuries previously. The use of Luoyang further east during the latter halves of both the Zhou and Han dynasties had been forced by dynastic weaknesses. In all, Chang’an had been the capital of almost a dozen dynasties by the time the Sui dynasty established itself there. In the days when the plains of northern China had been the main economic and cultural centre of China, the siting of its political centre in this region had been entirely natural. Many changes had occurred since the fall of the Han, however, and the maintenance of the capital at Chang’an was to cause constant problems during the next few centuries, until it finally had to be abandoned.

The main problem was that of supplying the large population of the political and administrative centre of the Chinese empire with sufficient food, fuel and other commodities. The emperor and his court, and the many officials of the central administration, necessarily expected to be able to maintain a lavish standard of living. The immediate area of the capital was unable to supply all that was necessary, so that much had to be brought in from considerable distance. The lower Yangtze valley had by this time become the most productive region of China, but moving large quantities of grain and other commodities from there northwards was difficult.


North of the Huai River problems were particularly severe, as the Yellow River was only navigable in rather short stretches.


One of the first acts of the founder of the Song dynasty was to induce his generals to leave their posts in return for lavish pensions. The power of China’s neighbours caused a terrible dilemma for anyone who wished to exert supreme authority over all China, for to repulse raids from outside large standing armies had to be maintained near the frontiers, but the generals appointed to head these armies could easily become powerful enough to throw off central control. Thus it was necessarily either to risk invasion by reducing military strength, or to risk revolt by powerful Chinese generals. Having himself been placed on the throne by his army, the first Song emperor was only too aware of this problem. Whereas the Tang emperors had in general tried to maintain military strength, and had suffered loss of authority as a result, the Song dynasty usually chose to accept military weakness in order to reduce the risk of overthrow by their own subordinates. Barbarians could, after all, always be bought off, and under the Song they commonly were.


This disaster led to a reappraisal of policy, and the Grand Canal was repaired and extended, linking Hangzhou directly with Beijing, a distance of 1,100 miles.


The Mongol conquest was a turning point in Chinese history. There had been a more or less continuous development of Chinese civilization up to the Song dynasty, and there is no doubt that many of the achievements of the Chinese, particularly in science and technology, reached a high point under the Song. The Mongols caused a distinct shift of direction, destroying a great deal and bringing little to compensate. Chinese culture was by no means annihilated, but it became more introverted. The earlier Mongol emperors had withdrawn all imperial patronage from Chinese cultural activities, leaving the Chinese literati to paint and write mainly for private enjoyment only. Non-traditional forms such as the novel and drama increased greatly in importance. The Mongols also left a legacy of a more strongly centralized and autocratic system of government, restrictive of individuality and innovation. As a result, Chinese culture lost much of its vitality and vigour. The shock to Chinese pride of being subjected to foreign rule also greatly increased Chinese suspicion of outside influences.


States contacted during these voyages were expected to accept Chinese suzerainty, and the King of Sri Lanka and two Sumatran chieftains who defied Ming power were forcibly taken to China to make their submission.

In connection with these voyages Annam was conquered in 1407 and made a province of the Chinese empire. It did not remain so for long, for by 1428 Chinese armies had been driven out. This reverse greatly diminished Ming prestige in south-east Asia and further afield, and many of the countries which had acknowledged Chinese superiority no longer did so. The long ocean voyages became much less profitable, and the last took place in 1431-3. They then ceased as suddenly as they had begun, though no doubt less ambitious private trading ventures were still undertaken. After this time the Ming made no further attempts at foreign expansion.


Unlike the Mongol conquerors four centuries previously, the Manchus had been partly sinicized for a long period, and adopted Chinese government practices even before their conquest of China Proper.

In 1653 Abahai changed the name of his people form Jurched to Manchu, and shortly afterwards dropped the old dynastic name of Jin in favour of a new one, Qing. Probably the reason for these changes was a desire to throw off the associations of the old names, which were reminders of past defeats and subjugation both by the Mongols and later by the Ming. The dynastic name of Jin was particularly unfortunate as it means “gold”, while Ming means “bright” and the character shows the sun and moon together in combination. As fire can melt metal, and Ming could be associated with fire, the name Jin was inauspicious. Qing, on the other hand, is written with an element which means “water”; clearly water can overcome fire, and thus it was no doubt hoped that the Qing would conquer the Ming.


Below the Secretariat and Council were the six boards, which fulfilled the functions of ministries, being responsible for Civil Office, Revenue, Rites, War, Punishments and Public Works.


It should be noted that legal affairs in China were not handled in the European manner: civil matters were normally settled outside the courtroom, resort to legal process being had only in exceptional circumstances. Arrested criminals were considered guilty unless they could prove innocence. The courts were intended to be terrifying places, which good citizens would avoid at almost any cost, and to this end punishments were harsh. However, it is probably true that until the 19th century there were not more severe than in most European countries at the same period.


The Qing dynasty after the death of the Qianlong Emperor was in fact a spent force. Even during the later years of this great ruler the empire was already showing signs of decline. After the Qianlong emperor, the Qing produced no more “sufficient” rulers.


Chiang Kai-shek felt justified in temporizing in face of the Japanese because of his conviction that sooner or later the USA would enter the war and that American might would destroy the Japanese. China had much sympathy in the US at this time, and the Americans did what they could to support Chiang’s forces.


The present government in China, in again enforcing Chinese rule in Tibet, has thus continued a policy first embarked upon in 1905. The Chinese would consider it a serious affront to their prestige to give up their claim to what they consider to have been an integral part of China prior to 1911. The loss of Outer Mongolia was a serious enough blow to their dignity. The Tibetans found themselves in a hopeless position in 1951 in the face of the advancing Chinese troops and quickly came to terms. It must be said that their situation was partly of their won making, for had they sought to modernize and develop relations with the outside world during the period of independence after 1911 they might have been able to offer serious resistance to the Chinese and gain foreign support. As it was they had little choice but to submit.