Quick Book Review - Dynasties of China by Bamber Gascoigne
In short, this book was a wonderful introduction or refresher into Chinese history.
As someone who has read a little about Chinese history in the past, I find the subject matter rather fascinating. Especially as we are currently going through a we bit of a "China scare" at the moment.
The book covers all the way from the earliest dynasties (the Shang in BC 1600) all the way through to the Qing whose rule ended in 1912. Apart from overlooking the period between the Han and Tang that is known as the Period of Disunion.
This is a shame as the 'Dark Ages' was an interesting period in Europe history. One can only presume that it would interesting to review such a period in Chinese history as well.
The book's only downfall is the pace it covers each period, given it covers 3,000 years you can forgive the author.
The author also throughout the books drops in some lovey historical anecdotes about different parts of life at the time, both in the imperial palace and in everyday life. From Enuchs to mechanical clocks, from smallpox vaccines to harem management.
Early Chinese and human sacrifice
During the Shang dynasty and even later into Chinese history most buildings had human sacrifices in the foundations.
The bigger the building the grander the sacrifice. These sacrifices could range from a small child for a small house to an entire squadron of soldiers for a royal household building.
The thinking was that the spirits would protect the house afterwards (Not sure if I would as a spirit but that's me.)
Rebellions are justified (if successful)
Chinese Emperors throughout history have ruled via a 'mandate from heaven'. A bit like a Spirit World election night. If the dynasty lost the mandate then a rebellion was considered justified and acceptable and the new dynasty would be formed.
Keeping the spirits happy became an obsession for almost all the dynasties that included a wide range of rites, sacrifices and rituals to be performed. The emperor becomes the chief spirit pleaser.
However, well or badly these were performed it always came to an end with a scoundrel who the spirits disliked.
History is written by the Winning scholars
When every dynasty fell, the new dynasty would commission the Chinese scholar-officials to write the official history of the last Dynasty.
Generally, they would end up writing a very cyclical history (as was tradition) that justified the rebellion and change of dynasty.
Eunuchs and Scholar Officials hate-hate relationships.
Within the Imperial court, a constant and almost unending battle played out throughout successive dynasties. The hate-hate relationship between Scholar-Officials and Eunuchs.
Scholar-Officials ran the imperial civil service. Eunuchs looked after the harem, the emperor and the royal family. This gave them unrivalled access almost from birth.
This created a tension that sometimes even turned violent. One dynasty even went so far as to write in bronze "Do Not Trust Eunuchs" at the start of his dynasty. Sadly, it was not listened to for long.
The last Emperor left the stage only in 1912
It's almost unbelievable but the last emperor of China only stood aside in 1912.
And even then he referred to the Mandate of Heaven had been lost.
The book was full of loads of great learning points that I could spend all day talking about.
However, in the interests of brevity, I will outline a few quick-fire facts before departing.
- Arab sailors raided Chinese coastal shores before Europeans did.
- Slaves existed at various times during Chinese history.
- All imperial officials had to take examinations before being admitted into Imperial service.
- Ancestral worship was a key plank in Confucius's ideology throughout Chinese history.
- Both the Yang and Qing dynasties started out as barbarian interlopers.
- There have been many "great walls" throughout Chinese history.
- Beijing has not always been the capital city of China and it has moved many times.
- Legalism and Confucianism formed the two main ideologies of China throughout this period.
- During the Qing dynasty, a rebellion was started and led by a man who referred to himself as Jesus.
If you come across the book it is well worth the read.
You can purchase the book on Amazon