China

I. Introduction and overview
China is a country that has a rich cultural history and large population. The earliest recorded human settlements were discovered in the Huang He basin and date from about 5000 B.C. During the Shang dynasty (1500–1000 B.C.), the ideographic writing system developed, allowing the emerging feudal states of the era to achieve an advanced stage of civilization, moreadvanced and sophisticated that any society found at the time in Europe, the Middle East, or the Americas. Moreover, it was following this initial flourishing of civilization, in a period known as the Chou dynasty (1122–249 B.C.), that Lao-tse, Confucius, Mo Ti, and Mencius laid the foundation of Chinese philosophical thought. The feudal states, often at war with one another, were first united underEmperor Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, it was during his reign (246–210 B.C. ) that the work on the Great Wall of China begun, to protect the sates against invasion from the west. Although the Great Wall symbolized China's desire to protect itself from the outside world, under the Han dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 220), the civilization conducted extensive commercial trading with the West. Additionally, in theT'ang dynasty (618–907) painting, sculpture, and poetry flourished, as well woodblock printing, which enabled the mass production of books, made its earliest known appearance. During The Mings ruling in china, last of the native rulers (1368–1644), the Mongol or Yuan, dynasty (1271–1368) was overthrown as The Mings were overthrown in 1644 by invaders from the north.
China remained largely isolatedfrom the rest of the world's civilizations, closely restricting foreign activities. By the end of the 18th century only Canton (location of modern-day Hong Kong) and the Portuguese port of Macao were open to European merchants. Later with the first Anglo-Chinese War in 1839–1842, a long period of instability and concessions to Western colonial powers began. Following the war, several ports wereopened up for trading, and Hong Kong was ceded to Britain. Furthermore, treaties signed after further hostilities weakened Chinese sovereignty and gave foreigners immunity from Chinese jurisdiction. European powers took advantage of the disastrous Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 to gain further trading concessions from China, along with the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Continuously, thedeath of Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi in 1908 and the accession of the infant emperor Hsüan T'ung (Pu-Yi) were followed by a nationwide rebellion led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who overthrew the Manchus and became the first president of the Provisional Chinese Republic in 1911. Dr. Sun resigned in favor of Yuan Shih-k'ai, who suppressed the Republicans in a bid to consolidate his power. Yuan's death in June1916 was followed by years of civil war between rival militarists and Dr. Sun's Republicans. Nationalist forces, led by General Chiang Kai-shek and with the advice of Communist experts, soon occupied most of China, setting up the Kuomintang regime in 1928. On Sept. 18, 1931, Japan launched an invasion of Manchuria, capturing the province. Tokyo set up a puppet state dubbed Manchukuo and installedthe last Manchu emperor, Henry Pu-Yi (Hsüan T'ung), as its nominal leader. Japanese troops moved to seize China's northern provinces in July 1937 but were resisted by Chiang, who had been able to use the Japanese invasion to unite most of China. Within two years, however, Japan had seized most of the nation's eastern ports and railways. The Kuomintang government retreated first to Hankow and thento Chungking, while the Japanese set up a puppet government at Nanking, headed by Wang Jingwei.
Moreover, Japan's surrender to the Western Allies in 1945 touched off civil war between the Kuomintang forces under Chiang and Communists led by Mao Zedong, who had been battling since the 1930s for control of China. Despite U.S. aid, the Kuomintang ruling was overcome by the Soviet-supported...