• CliffordBigRedDog [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Explanation:

    Xia: Traditionally the earliest dynasty attested in the histories but not really supported by archeological findings, so likely to be legendary

    Shang: First Dynasty supported by archeological findings, many of which is in the form of Oracle bones, proto-chinese characters carved onto animal bones

    Zhou: the second part of the zhou is characterized by a collapse in central authority but also the development of much of Chinese Philosophy, Confucianism, Legalism and Taoism all had their beginnings there

    Warring States: States warred, and eliminated each other

    Qin; First Imperial dynasty over a unified China that was able to do so with the adoption of Legalism which entailed harsh laws and punishment

    Han: First “real” dynasty, the Qin lasted like only 30 years, Standardized Chinese Characters and Expanded China

    Three Kingdoms: fun novel

    Jin: the Jin were associated with a collapse in central authority (get used to this), in this period non-Chinese “Barbarians” were able to migrate and invade into China Proper

    16 Kingdoms: Shit gets further fucked

    Tang: Idk about this actually, alcohol was around for way longer than the Tang, Maybe its because the Tang are the stereotypical “Fun” Dynasty with more liberal cultural values in comparison to what came before and after

    Song: Paper currency invented

    Yuan: I for one welcome out new mongol overlords

    Ming: Sea Ban, isolationism

    Qing: Last dynasty, fucked up and got all eaten up by the euros and japanese

    Taiping: “Jesus Christ is my bro, bro”

  • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I’m not going to take this Tang slander sitting down (also where’s the Sui???). In many ways it was China’s golden age: best poetry perhaps in world history, incredible multiculturalism with the empire extending all the way to Central Asia, the introduction of Buddhism to China, the legendary An Lushan rebellion and subsequent Uyghur hegemony, the destruction of the Great Families which laid the foundation for the more bureaucratic and ostensibly meritocratic Song, the introduction and spread of tea across China, the beginnings of settling the South and the introduction of modern rice varietals from Vietnam, the codification of the traditional Chinese instrument menagerie by importing instruments and musical styles from Central Asia… I really don’t even know why the Tang dynasty panel is about alcohol at all. Alcohol didn’t have some sort of outsized role in the Tang compared to other dynasties. Is it because during the Tang the most popular alcoholic drink in China, baijiu, was created?

    • emelia [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      I think it is obvious I don’t know anything about China. Stuff I found out after skimming the Wikipedia articles:
      image of chinese dynasty timelines
      The current dynasties aren’t listed (they probably can’t be called that) and are apparently:

      • Republic of China (see response)
      • People’s Republic of China

      Mao:

      Finally, on 1 October 1949, Communists led by Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China.

      Deng:

      was a Chinese politician who served as the paramount leader of the People’s Republic of China from December 1978 to November 1989.

        • CloutAtlas [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          The ROC was the legitimate government of China for a few decades there. They were so unpopular they lost a civil war with the communists despite initially outnumbering the communists.

          I think it was over 2 million on the ROC side (+western support) and 1.2 million on the communist side.

          They lost all territory that’s not the island of Taiwan, due to the CPC not having a proper navy. They still claim to be the legitimate government of mainland China, it’s not a breakaway state. They literally never surrendered.