3. Why did China remain a “closed” country for so long and how did its “opening” happen? Since the establishment of the Manchu Qin dynasty in China, a policy of isolating the country began to be pursued. Contacts between the Chinese and foreigners were considered dangerous by the authorities. But huge

13. Why England and not China, India or Japan? The people of this island of Japan are good-natured, courteous beyond measure, and valiant in war; They administer justice strictly without any partiality towards those who break the law. The Japanese are governed in the most enlightened manner.

Why China was called "China" and "The Celestial Empire".

When we have time to think, we begin to look for answers to seemingly simple questions. For example, why was China called “China” and not something else? A fifth of our entire planet lives in this densely populated state. As to why this country is named this way, there are several very interesting theories, each of which may well turn out to be true.

Historical theory

Previously, modern China was divided into two parts: northern and southern. In its northern part there was a state founded by the Kitami tribes, and it was called “Liao”. The southern part at that time belonged to the Mongols. Where the indigenous Liao tribes came from is not known for certain to this day. If you believe some sources, then they also owe their origin to the Mongols. But there is other information that they originated from the Tungus-Manchu tribes. Subsequently, residents of nearby states began to call the northern territories “China.” In principle, this theory could be the answer to the question of why China was called "China". But how did this name come to us in Slavic speech? After all, the name of this country sounded completely differently in different dialects: Catai, Hetai, Khitan and China.

Etymological theory

In English, the name "China" appeared in the twelfth century and was written like this: "Cathay" (now it is written differently - "China"). There is an interesting argument that China began to be called “China” after the Qin dynasty arose. And this word entered the Russian dictionary in the fifteenth century in the form it has now.

But it is worth recalling that only a small part of its territory was called “China,” and the name came to us after the Qin dynasty collapsed. In fact, not even all Chinese know why China was called "China". This means that we can confidently say that there is no specific meaning in this word; this sometimes occurs in the history of titles and names.

Why is China called "The Celestial Empire"

The country with the largest population in the world actually goes by several names. The Chinese themselves call their country “The Celestial Empire,” while citizens of other countries call it “China” or “China.” If we consider the word “Celestial Empire” itself, then in Chinese it consists of two hieroglyphs - “Tian” and “Xia”. The first in translation means “day”, “sky”, and the second is translated as “foot”, “bottom”. So something similar to “Celestial Empire” comes out. The Chinese have long worshiped the sky and firmly believe that only their country is protected by it. And other people do not have heaven.

China also has another name - “Zhong Guo” - “the path of the earth”. This philosophy is quite understandable, because no one really invaded China or sought to conquer it. Therefore, it is understandable why the Chinese consider their country to be the middle of the world. And so, while we are wondering why China was called “China,” the inhabitants of this country are rapidly developing and occupying niches in international trade markets. So maybe they are actually the main inhabitants of the Earth, despite the fact that civilization has reached them, infecting them with opium and the communist system?

The Celestial Empire - this is what poets call China, the Middle Kingdom - this is what China was called in ancient times, the country of socialism under construction - this country was called in the 70s of the last century, the country of great prospects and hardworking people - this is what China is called now!

First of all, this is due to the ancient religion, in which Heaven was considered the highest deity. In Beijing there is an ancient temple of heaven, where the emperor consulted Heaven only in extremely difficult state situations. It was a gorgeous ceremony - it lasted two weeks, with the participation of many priests, officials and troops, more than 100 thousand people, not counting horses and war elephants.
Well, the entire huge country, led by Heaven, was naturally called the Celestial Empire.
The greatest power in Asia has changed many names over its long history. The Chinese usually called their cultural universe Tianxia - the Celestial Empire, sometimes Syhai - “(countries between) the four seas.” The state was named after the reigning dynasty, the name of which was chosen after some ancient kingdom chosen as a model (Tang - in honor of the inheritance of the mythical wise ruler Yao, Song - in honor of one of the most cultural kingdoms), or with a special meaning: Yuan - Main, Min - Light, Qing - Pure. If we were talking about China as a country, in contrast to all other countries and regardless of who reigns, then they said: Zhongguo - Middle Country, Zhonghua - Middle Blooming, Huaxia - Blooming Xia (one of the oldest dynasties). The Chinese call themselves Zhongguoren - people of the Middle State, or Hanren - Han people, after the most famous dynasty of antiquity.

The Celestial Empire (Chinese 天下, Pal. tianxia) is a Chinese term that was used to designate the territory over which the power of the Chinese emperor extended.

Since the time of Dong Zhongshu, the emperor was considered in Confucian ideology as the representative of heaven on Earth. According to the Confucian worldview, the entire celestial world was considered the territory under his control. The main sanctuary of the imperial capital was called the Temple of Heaven.

Similar ideas about the local monarch as the ruler of "all that is under heaven" existed in Japan, as well as during some periods of history in Korea and Vietnam, since the proximity of strong Chinese states made it possible to control these countries sporadically, asserting at least the symbolic supremacy of the Chinese emperors .

" direction. Accordingly, the exact translation is "Central Country" or "Central State".

The term " zhongguo" is not used consistently in Chinese history. It had varied cultural and political connotations depending on the era.

The name China is used for China in Central Europe, particularly in Portuguese, Spanish, English, German and Romanian. In Polish we use Chiny. The name Kina is used predominantly in Northern Europe, particularly in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and in the Serbo-Croatian language. In Greece the name is used Κίνα .

Story

China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. It stands on a par with the civilizations of the Sumerians of the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indians of the Indus and the Egyptians of the Nile. The peculiarity of Chinese civilization is that it developed in isolation from other civilizational centers. Her achievement was, first of all, the logographic writing system that is used today in East Asian countries.

Prehistoric period

Archaeological finds show that ancient people of the species Homo erectus inhabited the territory of modern China between 2.24 million - 250 thousand years ago. In the Zhoukoudian area near Beijing, the remains of the so-called Sinanthropus were found, which date back to 550-300 thousand years ago. Sinanthropus knew how to make simple stone tools and make fire.

Approximately 70,000 years ago, new modern humans Homo sapiens populated the Chinese Plain, displacing Sinanthropus and their descendants. The earliest osteological evidence of the existence of modern people in China (human remains from the Liujiang site) dates back to the 67th millennium BC. e.

Chinese statehood has a very long history. Legends, the origin of which historians date back to the third millennium BC, brought to us the names of the first three rulers and five emperors of China.

According to modern historiography, the first dynasty of China was the Xia. Some Chinese scientists believe that evidence of its existence comes from excavations of urban settlements and graves near Erlitou in Henan Province. This archaeological culture dates from 2070 to 1600 BC. e. Workshops for the production of bronze vessels, ceramics, and stamps with simple hieroglyphs were found in the settlements. Most Western scholars deny the existence of this dynasty.

Ancient states in China

The first historically reliable dynasty is considered to be the Shang Dynasty (another name for Yin), which controlled the territories of the Yellow River plain in Eastern China between the 18th and 12th centuries BC. e. It was destroyed by one of the Western vassal families, who founded the Zhou dynasty, which ruled from the 12th to the 5th century BC. e. The central power of the new dynasty weakened due to the increasing political and economic power of appanage rulers, who created in the middle of the 8th century BC. e. a number of formally independent states. From the 5th to the 2nd centuries BC. e. these states constantly fought among themselves, but in 221 BC. e. were united by Qin Shi Huang Di into a single empire. The new Qin dynasty lasted several decades, but it was the one that shaped China as an imperial entity.

The period of dominance of the Han Dynasty lasted from 206 BC. e. to 220 years. During this period, the formation of the Chinese as a single ethnic community began.

Medieval states in China

After the disintegration of China in the 3rd-6th centuries due to attacks by nomads from the north, the empire was unified by the Sui dynasty in 580. 7th-14th centuries, the reign of the Tang and Song dynasties, are considered the “golden age” of China. It was during this period that most scientific discoveries and cultural achievements occurred. In 1271, the Mongol ruler Kublai Kublai declared the beginning of a new Yuan dynasty. In 1368, as a result of the anti-Mongol rebellion, a new ethnically Chinese Ming dynasty began, which ruled China until 1644.

Qing Empire

The last imperial dynasty of China was the Qing dynasty, which was started by the Manchu conquerors of China. It was overthrown by revolution in 1911.

Like most Chinese regimes, Qing rule was authoritarian. Harsh methods were often used to ensure stability of power. During the reign of the Manchu Qing dynasty, ethnic Han Chinese were forced to wear long braids like the Manchus as a sign of loyalty to the new dynasty.

In the 18th century, technologically powerful China pursued an active policy of conquering the peoples of Central Asia, whom the Chinese had long considered “barbarians.” However, in the 19th century, he himself became a victim of the “barbarians of the West” - the colonial policies of Western Europe and the United States. The most destructive role for the civilization of China was played by the Opium Wars, as a result of which by 1860 China finally became economically dependent on Great Britain and France.

Republican China

On January 1, 1912, with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China (another name for the Republic of China) was created. Sun Yat-sen, leader of the National Party Kuomintang, was proclaimed the first president. He was soon removed from this position by the former Qing general Yuan Shikai, who proclaimed himself the new emperor, but his empire died with him.

After Yuan Shikai, China found itself de facto fragmented into a number of provincial governments, although de jure the international community recognized only the Beijing government as central. In 1927, the Kuomintang party under the command of Chiang Kai-shek was able to unify the country. The capital was moved to the city of Nanjing. Since the nationalists seized power and created a one-party government, a powerful opposition emerged in the country - the communists. The struggle between government troops and the Red partisans continued, which weakened China and slowed down democratic reforms.

The Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 briefly united nationalists and communists against a common enemy. But after the surrender of Japan in 1945, the state treasury of the Republic was empty. This caused mutual accusations between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party, which led to civil war. The Communist victory forced the government of the Republic of China to move to the island of Taiwan, where it still exists today.

"Two Chinas"

With victory in the civil war, the Chinese Communist Party declared itself the successor to the Republic of China and founded a new state, the People's Republic of China (PRC), on October 1, 1949.

In 1997, the PRC regained the territory of Hong Kong from Great Britain and in 1999 the territory of Macau from Portugal.

Modernity

Although the government of the Republic of China has not renounced its claims to China, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia, it increasingly identifies itself as the government of the island of Taiwan. The political circles of the Republic of China are in a constant dialectical struggle regarding the issue of declaring the independence of the island. The PRC considers Taiwan an integral part of its state, and therefore is constantly trying to oust representatives of the Republic of China from various international organizations, increasing its isolation.

Today, 23 states, including the Vatican, continue to recognize the Republic of China as official China. In contrast, most governments around the world view the PRC as the legitimate representative of China.

Territory

Historical divisions of China

The highest level administrative units in China varied depending on the ruling dynasty or government. These units include, first of all, territories and provinces. Among the lower level units there were prefectures, subprefectures, departments, commands, counties and districts. Modern administrative units include cities at the subprefecture level, cities at the district level, populated areas and urban communities.

Most Chinese dynasties located their residence in the heart of China, its ethnically Chinese part - the Yellow River Valley. These dynasties expanded their possessions into the foreign territories of Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Xinjiang, Tibet, Vietnam and Korea. Although the last Manchu Qing dynasty, to which the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China consider themselves heirs, included most of the above-mentioned lands in China, China itself has certain ancient borders - the Great Wall of China in the north, the Tibetan Plateau in the west and the jungles of Indochina in the south.

In the east, along the coast of the Yellow and East China Seas, there are alluvial plains that are densely populated. To the north, on the edge of the Inner Mongolia plateau, grassy steppe can be seen. The south of China is covered with hills and low mountains. The Yellow River and Yangtze deltas are located in the central-eastern part. Most of the arable land is located along these rivers. The southern province of Yunnan is part of the so-called "Greater Mekong" subregion, which includes Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

In western China, there is a large alluvial plain in the north, and a limestone plateau covered with medium-sized hills in the south. This part of China is home to the Himalayas, with the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest. The northwest is covered by deserts such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert, which are constantly expanding. For thousands of years, the mountains of Yunnan have served as a natural border that separates China from Burma, Laos and Vietnam.

China's climate is varied. The northern zone, which includes Beijing, is characterized by very cold winters. The central zone, which includes Shanghai, is temperate. The southern zone, which includes Guangzhou, has a subtropical climate.

Due to frequent droughts and poor management, dust or sand storms often occur in the spring. The wind carries the dust eastward, as far as Taiwan and Japan. Storms sometimes reach the West Coast of the United States. Water, soil erosion and pollution in China are growing from domestic Chinese problems to international ones.

Society

Demography

The population of China (PRC and Republic of China) is 1390 million people in 2012. This is one fifth of the total population of the Earth. Although there are more than 100 ethnic groups living in the PRC, the communist government recognizes only 56. The largest ethnic group in China are Han Chinese(actually Chinese) - 91.9%. It is heterogeneous and is divided into a number of ethnographic groups, most of which are former self-sufficient ethnic groups assimilated by the Han Chinese.

"Conversational Chinese" or " baihua" is the written standard for Putonghua, which has been used officially since the 20th century. Before this, the standard written language was classical Chinese. wenyan", modeled on medieval Latin. This language is still compulsory for study in higher education.

Chinese languages ​​are based on hieroglyphic writing, while the Zhuang, Tibetan, Uyghur and Mongolian languages ​​have their own alphabets.

Religion

Thanks to the Cultural Revolution, 62% of the Chinese population (797.7 million people) call themselves atheists. However, for a significant group of mainland Chinese, religion plays a very important role, especially Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism (more recently Catholicism - more than 50 million).

The PRC is an atheistic secular state, but it allows the following of religious practices that are recognized by the government. That is, there is an opportunity to exercise, albeit limited, the right to freedom of conscience. Taoism and Buddhism, along with the moralistic Confucian code, have been the main religious teachings of China for 2 millennia, so even the communist government cannot neglect this tradition.

In mid-February 2006, a group of human rights experts from the United Kingdom, the Jubilee Campaign, published a 140-page material consisting of secret documents illegally transferred by employees of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security to the Committee to Investigate Religious Persecution. Previously, evidence of the sadistic persecution of believers in the PRC leaked through information barriers quite often, but the document mentioned is the first time when stunned researchers had official documents at their disposal, from which it became possible to judge the scope of the anti-religious activities of the neo-Maoists, their methodology and plans.

According to these documents, the Chinese government is engaged in a systematic study of “cults” that could become “a creeping threat to our safety and security.” They mean all religious organizations that are not registered by public security authorities, except for the fourteen that are registered and, according to the party leadership, “peaceful and safe.” In addition to local cults, the “creeping threat” included communities of Catholics and Protestants who decided not to join “patriotic” religious organizations controlled by the atheistic government, illegal Buddhist and other religious groups. For this kind of “threat to the national security of the PRC,” believers - Christians, Muslims and others - risk being imprisoned for life or executed.

Culture

Calligraphy Mifu ( Song Dynasty)

The events of the 19th-20th centuries forced the Chinese to think about the need to abandon or preserve their own civilizational model. Westerners promised China a “bright future” subject to total Westernization and used Japan as an example. The policy of introducing democracy into traditional Chinese society has failed - partly due to the authoritarian "tradition" of governance, and partly due to internal and external wars.

Chinese society preserved medieval traditions until the beginning of the so-called " cultural revolution" Its goal was to reform the Chinese village, promote new communist values, and create a new advanced Chinese culture, “not limited by Confucian dogmas.” As a result of the “revolution,” many cultural figures were repressed, and most traditions were eliminated as “regressive practices” or “feudal relics.” The hieroglyphic writing was reformed, which made the texts of works written by their predecessors inaccessible to future generations. However, since the 1980s, the “cultural revolution” was stopped, and the communist government set a course for the formation of a “patriotic nation”, beginning the restoration of traditions.

In Taiwan, such cultural reforms were not carried out, respecting the traditions of writing and officialdom. A significant part of the budget of the Republic of China was spent on training specialists in the field of culture.

Writing system

Chinese characters have over 50 thousand characters. It changed and had different writing styles. The first signs appear on divination bones in the 2nd millennium BC. e. Calligraphy, the ability to beautifully write hieroglyphs, is considered the pinnacle of art in China. Most of the sacred texts of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are handwritten.

Printing has developed since the Song Dynasty. The academies of scholars who published and rewrote the classics were traditionally sponsored by the state. Members of the imperial family often took part in scientific councils.

Exams

One of the main features of traditional Chinese culture was government examinations. They contributed to the cultivation of an educated elite, since a candidate who was well versed in the classical texts, regardless of social background, was able to occupy the rank of official. The latter had a high socio-economic status. People of humanitarian pursuits - writers, philosophers, scientists - were “first-class” people in China. The state fully supported them.

The science

China's technological discoveries were as follows: