It was during the Zhou Dynasty that the origins of native Chinese philosophy also developed. Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC) founder of Confucianism, was a Chinese philosopher who made a great impact on later generations of Chinese, and on the curriculum of the Chinese educational system for much of the following 2000 years.

During the Han Dynasty (206 BC- 221 AD), boys were thought ready at age seven to start learning basic skills in reading, writing and calculation.

In 124 BC, the Emperor Wudi established the Imperial Academy, the curriculum of which was the Five Classics of Confucius. By the end of the Han Dynasty (220 AD) the Academy enrolled more than 30,000 students, boys between the ages of fourteen and seventeen years. However education through this period was a luxury.

Later, during the Ch’in dynasty (246-207 BC), a hierarchy of officials was set up to provide central control over the outlying areas of the empire. To enter this hierarchy, both literacy and knowledge of the increasing body of philosophy was required: “….the content of the educational process was designed not to engender functionally specific skills but rather to produce morally enlightened and cultivated generalists”. The Nine rank system was a civil service nomination system during the Three Kingdoms (220-280 AD) and the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589 AD) in China. Theoretically, local government authorities were given the task of selecting talented candidates, then categorizing them into nine grades depending on their abilities. In practice, however, only the rich and powerful would be selected. The Nine Rank System was eventually superseded by the Imperial examination system for the civil service in the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD)

The earliest artwork work from the area made use of rocks and stones because the medium of expression. This was the time when the Chinese had not but learnt easy methods to work with metal. After a while nevertheless the Chinese learnt how to make use of bronze and that era is named the Bronze Age. This period was followed by the Stone Age after which the Neolithic Stone Age.

The country of China has been ruled by many various dynasties throughout the course of time. The T’ang Dynasty, the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty all made their own contributions to ancient Chinese art. Every dynasty had its own distinct fashion which stored on evolving with the passage of time.

Three major religions have had a profound affect on Chinese language art by way of out the course of history. Confucianism was the first religion to inspire ancient Chinese language art. This was adopted up by Taoism and then came Buddhism which most likely had the biggest affect on the art of the region.

The Chinese have additionally been known to posses a deep love for nature and therefore we discover that nature has been a giant supply of inspiration for the artists of the nation from the very beginnings of Chinese civilization. The Chinese artists were notably fond of portray landscapes. There’s a big collection of landscape paintings and drawings utilizing completely different methods from historical instances in China. Flowers were another main theme from nature and the Chinese language artists had been also fond of taking birds as a theme in their art work.

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The reason behind the infatuation of the Chinese language with nature was an influence of the religions that have been prevalent within the country. All of the three religions encouraged growing a love for nature and had many ideas that revolved round changing into one with nature.

The gathering of historic Chinese language art work features a wide variety of different artwork forms. Some of these had been already prevalent in different nations whereas there are a variety of art forms that the Chinese language are credited for developing. Portray, calligraphy, sculpture, pottery, folk arts, paper cuts and steel arts are amongst the varied artwork forms that were practiced in China.

One of the unique art forms that developed in China through the first century was the artwork form generally known as papercuts. Since the Chinese were the ones that invented paper they had been the first to develop an artwork kind utilizing the new discovered material. This growth occurred in the course of the rule of the Tang dynasty. The papercut art work would be used to decorate the properties of individuals and some ladies would even use them of their hair. That is simply one of many examples of the various historical artwork varieties that were developed in China.

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Evolution of “power, authority, and governance” and of “religion and politics” from origins to Han Dynasty.

No god – no morals

Shang Dynasty: (1600-1050, roughly)

King is also High Priest, only ONE priest connected to Shang god, and Military Chief (picture a Chinese Pope who is also a Chinese Sargon)

Oracle Bones and sacrifices to Ancestors’s spirits > Ancestors live with “Supreme God” Di, makes connections to ancestors so they can talk to Di

Religion and Family, closest thing in Chinese History

If ancestors happy,  good report to Di. Di give life good for the living.

If ancestors mad, bad report to Di. Di give floods, famines and wars.

Overthrown, roast people for sexual reasons

Zhou Dynasty: (1050-200 BCE) Government and Religion

Zhou overthrow Shang

Believed in Tian

Tian is Nature (universe), moral 

Tian enforces the mandate of heaven. (Heaven approves of goodness)( Has laws, if king breaks he goes down)

Tian cares for morality not individual

Dead is people without bodies, around us

Zhou excuse overthrowing and killing the chinese pope, Mandate of Heave choses rulers that take care of all (hates tyrants)

Politics: ruler has to be like a father 

Religion: ruler has to be like a good son

Human-like god

Still sacrifice to ancestors

No gods

Mycenae, remembered most because of the Trojan War

Zhou Government: Feudalism

Zhou king gets more areas

Give control of ares to family members and lords

Fief- places where Vessels, rulers below king, control

200 years of Civil War: Warring States Period

The Qin learned from the nomads the successful military employment of cavalry. They also developed a martial society under the leadership of Shang Yang, who took away the traditional power of the nobility and replaced it with a ruling class based on battle victories. All the adult males were required to enlist in the military and could only move up in status by displaying bravery in combat. Any member of a ruling family who engaged in petty feuds or did not perform well in battle would be punished. With an increasingly powerful military, the Qin also worked diplomatically to keep the other states in conflict with one another so they could not be united in opposition. In 278 B.C. the Qin attacked and seized the capital of their neighbors, the Zhou. The Zhou leader fell to Qin aggression in 256 B.C, and the last of the five opposing states fell in 222. The next year, China was declared united under one lord, who took the title Qin Shihuang-di, or the First Emperor of Qin.

(Great Wall of China)

Qin Shihuang instituted a centralized bureaucracy, removing the aristocracies from the conquered states. He brought their leaders to his capital and granted them a life of opulence—not out of benevolence, but to keep them under his watchful eye. He appointed governors to the provinces he had created in his newly unified state. These governors had the duty of enforcing the law and mobilizing the local population for military service. Qin Shihuang ordered a census so monumental that it rivaled the Domesday Book of William the Conqueror in England. He also began the construction of a large series of internal improvements, and prescribed standards for construction, language, and coinage. His government was founded on the Chinese philosophy of legalism, which penalized lawbreakers but also rewarded those who assisted in law keeping. Easily, the most famous of the Qin projects was the construction of the Great Wall to defend the Chinese from northern nomadic tribes. Qin Shihuang’s military might took his armies as far south as the Red River valley in modern Vietnam and on to the Korean peninsula. Campaigning and the building of grand palaces reflected his power but cost a significant amount of wealth, which came from increasingly burdensome taxation. His burial in 210 B.C. also became famous; he was interred amidst thousands of terracotta soldiers and horses.

Qin Shihuang’s sons proved weak and tyrannical, and soon provoked a peasant revolt. Being aware that defeat in enemy hands would be rewarded with execution, many Qin generals decided to change sides, thus strengthening the opposition. Finally, in 206 B.C., a peasant rebel leader named Liu Bang captured the Qin capital at Xianyang, and the Qin dynasty fell, leaving an empire that Liu Bang, who established the Han dynasty, would expand upon.

More Chinese history articles:

• China’s Eternal Army of Qin Shihuangdi
• The Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
• The Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD)
• The Tang Dynasty (618-906)  
• The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

1. Dulo Dynasty (2137 BC – 753 AD)

The dynasty that ruled the longest in history is the Dulo Clan or the House of Dulo of Bulgaria. It ruled for 2,890 years. The Dulo Clan or the House of Dulo was the name of the ruling dynasty of the early Bulgars. It was the clan of Kubrat, founder of the Onogur state of Bulgars and Avars, also known as the Old Great Bulgaria. His sons later founded Danube Bulgaria.

2. Imperial House of Japan (660 BCE to the present)

The Imperial House of Japan is the longest-surviving dynasty that ruled in the world. It is also referred to as the Imperial Family and has been continuously reigning for 2,669 years already. It is also known as the Yamato Dynasty or the Chrysanthemum Throne. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the emperor is the symbol of the state and unity of the people. Although he is not technically head of state, he is frequently treated as one. Other members of the imperial family perform ceremonial and social duties, but have no role in the affairs of government. This monarchy is the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world still in existence. The imperial house recognizes 125 legitimate monarchs since the accession of Emperor Jimmu (traditionally dated to February 11, 660 BC). It’s present or reigning emperor is Akihito.

3. Hong Bang Dynasty (2897 BCE – 258 BCE)

 The Hong Bang Dynasty of Vietnam (supposedly) reigned for 2,639 years from 2897 up to 258 BC. This dynasty is also called the Lạc Dynasty. The founder of this dynasty is said to have been Hung Vuong. There are many legends surrounding it, but little verifiable historical information is known about this dynasty.

4. Gojoseon Dynasty (2333 BCE – 108 BCE)

According to legend, Gojoseon dynasty ruled for 2,225 years. It was an ancient kingdom in Korea and is regarded as the first proper of nation of the people of Korea. According to some records of Korean medieval-era, Gojoseon is said to have been founded in 2333 BC by the legendary Dangun. Archaeological evidence of Gojoseon is found in the transition from the Jeilmun pottery to the Mumun pottery around 1500 BCE, when groups of semi-sedentary small-scale agriculturalists occupied most of the Korean peninsula. Local bronze production began around the 8th century BC. Modern historians generally believe it developed into a powerful federation or kingdom between 7th and 4th centuries BCE.

5. Champa Dynasty (192-1832)

Another dynasty from Vietnam that reign one of the longest in history is Champa Dynasty. It has a total of 1,740 year as a ruling clan. The name of the kingdom which is Champa was an Indianized kingdom of Malayo_Polynesian origin and controlled what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through to 1832. It has the oldest known written Malay language from the 4th century AD, predating Sumatran texts by 300 years. [Coedes, 1939] Champa was preceded in the region by a kingdom called Lin-yi or Lam Ap (in existence since 192 A.D.), but the historical relationship between Lin-yi and Champa is not clear. Champa reached its apogee in the 9th and 10th centuries A.D. Thereafter began a gradual decline under pressure from the Dai Vet which was then Northern Vietnam. In 1471, Viet troops sacked the northern Cham capital of Vijaya, and in 1697 the southern principality of Panduranga became a vassal of the Vietnamese emperor. In 1832, the Vietnamese emperor Minh Mang annexed the remaining Cham territories.

6. Belle Dynasty or Balliol Dynasty (960-to the present)

The second longest dynasty in existence and continuously reigning for 1,049 years already is the Belle Dynasty of Flanders, Belgium. It is also known as Balliol Dynasty. It can be traced back to the Treaty of Verdun signed in Thionville in 843 CE.

7. Bagratid Dynasty (813-1810)

This dynasty had ruled Georgia for 997 years. It is also called the Bagrationi Dynasty. Their ascendancy lasted from the early Middle Ages until the early 19th century. In modern usage, this royal line is frequently referred to as the Georgian Bagratids, a Hellenized form of their dynastic name.

The origin of the Bagrationi dynasty is disputed, as well as the time when they first appeared on Georgian soil. Traditional Georgian history writing begins the Bagrationi chronology in the 6th century and relates the family to earlier dynasties.

8. Shilla Dynasty (57 BCE-935)

The Shilla Dynasty reigned for 992 years. Shilla was one of the Three Kingdoms on the now-Korean peninsula, and the longest sustaining dynasty in Asian history. It was founded by King Park Hyeokgeose and is regarded to be the originator of the Korean family name Park; the dynasty was to see the Kyungju Kim clan hold rule for most of its 992-year history. What began as chiefdom in the Samhan confederacies, once allied with China, Shilla eventually conquered the other two kingdoms, Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668. Thereafter, Unified Shilla or Later Shilla, as it is often referred to, occupied most of the Korean peninsula, while the northern part re-emerged as Balhae, a successor-state of Goguryeo. After nearly 1000 years of rule, Shilla fragmented into the brief Later Three Kingdoms, handing over power to its successor dynasty Goryeo in 935.

9. Tu’i Tonga Dynasty (900-1865)

This dynasty in Tonga reigned for more than 900 years. It is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the 10th century with the mythical Aho ‘eitu; withdrew from political power in the 15th century by yielding to the Tu’i Ha atakalaua; and died out with Laufilitonga in 1865. Today its descendants still live forth in the chiefly line of Kalaniuvalu. Tradition names 39 holders of the title, but there is an alternative list with 48 names. It ruled for 965 years all in all.

10. Zhou Dynasty (1046 BCE -256 BCE)

The Zhou Dynasty of China had ruled for 790 years from 1046 BCE up to 256 BCE. The Zhou Dynasty was preceded by the Shang Dynasty and followed by the Qin Dynasty. The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese History. During the Zhou, the use of iron was introduced to China, while this period of Chinese history produced what many consider the zenith of Chinese bronze-ware making. Three of the greatest Chinese philosophers, Confucius, Laozi and Mencius, who made the greatest impact on later generations of Chinese, lived during this period.

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