The Major Dynasties of China: Part 1

Despite its long history, the Great Wall of China as it is exists today was constructed mainly during the mighty Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Like the Mongols, the early Ming rulers had little interest in building border fortifications, and wall building was limited before the late 15th century.

The history of China is generally presented according to the dynasty to which the period’s ancient rulers belonged. From its inauguration in c. 2070 BC to the abdication of its last emperor in 1912, China was ruled by a series of 13 successive dynasties.

• Shang Dynasty (c.1600-1050 BC)
• Zhou Dynasty (1050-256 BC)
• Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220)
• Sui Dynasty (581-617)/Tang Dynasty (618-907)
• Song Dynasty (960-1276)
• On the Web:
• The second of these two articles on Chinese dynasties may be found here.

Generally speaking, China is a safe country to travel around, and most people you meet are friendly, honest, and trustworthy. However, China is far from immune to crime, the weather can affect travel plans, there are some health risks that may be new to you, and accidents do happen.

It is believed to be a borrowing from Middle Persian, and some have traced it further back to Sanskrit. It is also thought that the ultimate source of the name China is the Chinese word “Qin” (Chinese: 秦), the name of the dynasty that unified China but also existed as a state for many centuries prior.

Etymology. The name for Japan in Japanese is written using the kanji 日本 and pronounced Nippon or Nihon. Before it was adopted in the early 8th century, the country was known in China as Wa (倭) and in Japan by the endonym Yamato.

Economists at Tohoku University established a countdown to national extinction, which estimates that Japan will have only one remaining child in 4205. These predictions prompted a pledge by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe to halt population decline at 100 million.

It is well-known that Marco Polo introduced Japan to the Western World, and he called Japan “Zipangu”. He wrote that in Japan there was gold everywhere, but he actually never traveled there. He went only to the southern part China. In Japanese, “Nippon” is written as 日本.

Rìběn

The Japanese endonym Wa 倭 “Japan” derives from the Chinese exonym Wō 倭 “Japan, Japanese”, a graphic pejorative Chinese character that had some offensive connotation, possibly “submissive, docile, obedient”, “bowing; bent over”, or “short person; dwarf” in modern times.

Goals for reconstruction were democratic self-government, economic stability, and peaceful Japanese co-existence with the community of nations. The United States allowed Japan to keep its emperor — Hirohito — after the war. However, Hirohito had to renounce his divinity and publicly support Japan’s new constitution.

Why Japan is called the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ Some records say that the Japanese envoy to China requested to change the name because he disliked it; other records say that the Chinese Empress Wu Zetian ordered Japan to change its name. Either way, Wakoku became Nihon (sometimes pronounced ‘Nippon’).

The Japanese word for America is represented by kanji characters 米国 meaning “rice country”. This is pronounced “beikoku” in Japanese.

Gaijin