The following is excerpted from SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity. China will be covered in Parts 30A and 30B:
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Peace with the People’s Republic of China?
Dated stone tools indicate that China was inhabited by Homo erectus 1.36 million years ago. The use of fire might have been discovered here 1.27 million years ago. The story of Peking Man is an adventure that started in 1921 when Swedish archeologist Johann Gunnar Andersson and Austrian paleontologist Otto Zdansky found two teeth of an early man. American geologist William Grabau gave the teeth a name, Peking Man, although the scientific term was Homo erectus pekinensis, certainly not Homo sapiens. Later, in 1927, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, a systematic excavation was initiated at Zhoukoudian (now a World Heritage Site), located about 50 km southwest of Peking, now Beijing. In 1929 an almost complete skull was found. French paleontologist Father Teilhard de Chardin participated in the analysis.
This unearthing went on into 1966 when Peking Man consisted of portions of at least 6 different skulls, and assorted other parts, although there is some intrigue dealing with the Japanese invasion of China and the possibility of the fossils being smuggled to the U.S. The early fossils remain missing today. Peking Man (more accurately, men and women) lived from about 500,000 years to 240,000 years ago. Thus, they lived in the same cave for more than a quarter million years, an incredible stability, for our species just appeared 100,000 years ago.
The history of China has been recorded over five millennia:
o It was only a couple of centuries before Jesus, though, that the country became unified, when Qin Shi Huang formed the first dynasty. While this reign only lasted for 12 years, the most famous of the Great Walls of China gained more prominence (actually, the building, in fits, began in the 5th century BC).
o The following Han Dynasty governed for 400 years, from two centuries before to two centuries after Jesus. The Silk Road to the West was established.
o Four centuries of disorder followed when in 589 the Sui Dynasty united the country, but was superseded by the Tang Dynasty in 618, ruling for almost three centuries until chaos took over for half a century.
o Then, the Song Dynasty, maintained control for three centuries, a time when science flourished and gunpowder was invented, about 1040.
o The Mongol Empire began to form around Genghis Khan from 1206, and his grandson, Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty later in that century. The capital moved from Xian to Beijing, but in this interval the Chinese population dropped from 100 million to 60 million.
o These barbarians were then replaced by the Ming Dynasty in 1368 under Zhu Yuanzhang, a peasant. China during this period ruled the oceans with Zhang He, Forbidden City reached its grandeur and the Great Wall of China, a project that took 1000 years, was completed.
o Finally, after nearly three centuries of control, the Manchus invaded from the North, and the Quin Dynasty endured from 1644 to 1912 various internal wars and external influences. The Last Emperor, Henry Puyi was born in 1906, was not quite 3 when he was named emperor by Dowager Empress Cixi, but just at the age of 6 abdicated, officially ending the rule of the Dynasties. Puyi was restored as Emperor in 1917, but was almost instantly deposed, finally becoming Emperor of Manchukuo as a Japanese puppet, then at the end, a Chinese pawn of Chairman Mao.
There, in less than a page, is the entire history of China.
Dated stone tools indicate that China was inhabited by Homo erectus 1.36 million years ago. The use of fire might have been discovered here 1.27 million years ago. The story of Peking Man is an adventure that started in 1921 when Swedish archeologist Johann Gunnar Andersson and Austrian paleontologist Otto Zdansky found two teeth of an early man. American geologist William Grabau gave the teeth a name, Peking Man, although the scientific term was Homo erectus pekinensis, certainly not Homo sapiens. Later, in 1927, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, a systematic excavation was initiated at Zhoukoudian (now a World Heritage Site), located about 50 km southwest of Peking, now Beijing. In 1929 an almost complete skull was found. French paleontologist Father Teilhard de Chardin participated in the analysis.
This unearthing went on into 1966 when Peking Man consisted of portions of at least 6 different skulls, and assorted other parts, although there is some intrigue dealing with the Japanese invasion of China and the possibility of the fossils being smuggled to the U.S. The early fossils remain missing today. Peking Man (more accurately, men and women) lived from about 500,000 years to 240,000 years ago. Thus, they lived in the same cave for more than a quarter million years, an incredible stability, for our species just appeared 100,000 years ago.
The history of China has been recorded over five millennia:
o It was only a couple of centuries before Jesus, though, that the country became unified, when Qin Shi Huang formed the first dynasty. While this reign only lasted for 12 years, the most famous of the Great Walls of China gained more prominence (actually, the building, in fits, began in the 5th century BC).
o The following Han Dynasty governed for 400 years, from two centuries before to two centuries after Jesus. The Silk Road to the West was established.
o Four centuries of disorder followed when in 589 the Sui Dynasty united the country, but was superseded by the Tang Dynasty in 618, ruling for almost three centuries until chaos took over for half a century.
o Then, the Song Dynasty, maintained control for three centuries, a time when science flourished and gunpowder was invented, about 1040.
o The Mongol Empire began to form around Genghis Khan from 1206, and his grandson, Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty later in that century. The capital moved from Xian to Beijing, but in this interval the Chinese population dropped from 100 million to 60 million.
o These barbarians were then replaced by the Ming Dynasty in 1368 under Zhu Yuanzhang, a peasant. China during this period ruled the oceans with Zhang He, Forbidden City reached its grandeur and the Great Wall of China, a project that took 1000 years, was completed.
o Finally, after nearly three centuries of control, the Manchus invaded from the North, and the Quin Dynasty endured from 1644 to 1912 various internal wars and external influences. The Last Emperor, Henry Puyi was born in 1906, was not quite 3 when he was named emperor by Dowager Empress Cixi, but just at the age of 6 abdicated, officially ending the rule of the Dynasties. Puyi was restored as Emperor in 1917, but was almost instantly deposed, finally becoming Emperor of Manchukuo as a Japanese puppet, then at the end, a Chinese pawn of Chairman Mao.
There, in less than a page, is the entire history of China.
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The Dow Jones Industrials experienced a rare recent threepeat, jumping 340 to 7170. World markets also all increased. Crude oil shot up $4.16/barrel to $46.77, while gold rose $16/toz to $925. The DOW start point for tomorrow is currently down, but the futures for S&P and NASDAQ are up, if you're wondering what is to come on Friday. At mid-day on Friday, March 12 in the Orient, the Nikkei is experiencing a huge day, and at this point is up what the DOW was for all of Thursday. The interesting thing about this Japanese market is that it has generally mimicked the Dow Jones Industrials, with very similar values, now just above 7500. Could the DJI tomorrow.... Well, the similarity is generally Japan following the USA.
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