Xiongnu

The ancient Chinese period of the barbarian states was witness to the rise and fall of approximately 41 separate states and, along with them, the powerful strategists playing the game of power. In a gallery full of pictures, Shi Le is the Mona Lisa. In the short period of 59 years, in which he lived, Shi Le managed to salvage and drastically transform the social and physical boundaries of all Northern China evident even hitherto. In 330 AD, Shi Le assumed the title of “emperor”, after…

The Mongol Empire (1200 – 1400 CE) was arguably the largest land empire of the time. To date, it is the second largest empire in landmass ever, second only to the British Empire. At its height, it had covered an area of over 33 million km3; it is estimated to have had a population of over 100 million people. The expansive empire was birthed through the leadership of Genghis Khan in 1206 [also referred to as Chinggis Khan]. It stretched from China to the east to as far as current day Iraq to the…

After the Han dynasty collapsed China became so easy for the barbarian attacks. And Xiongnu had been driven away. He left only more tribes far behind. The news about the collapse of the Han dynasty traveled far. The harsh rule of a couple warlords, known as the Three kingdoms, they tried to keep it calm. And they wanted to attack each other more than to protecting themselves. But in Medieval Europe, they had consequences for Chinese territorial security. The barbarians got too tired of…

China and Rome both structure their societies very similarly through their military, social structure, and religions. And while these civilizations were great, when their empires fell, their falls were from the same source of problems. These civilizations also had differences through how they first started expanding, how the people they conquered assimilated, what their empire were influenced by, and what happened to China and Rome after their falls. A major similarity between China and Rome…

The screen painting, Women in a palace is a 286 x 752 cm screen painting during the period of Qing dynasty. This screen painting displays the tragic events that would be foul Wang Zhaojun. Since she would be delivered to Xiongnu a barbarian chieftain by Emperor Yuan to calm him down. The weird thing is that she is not drawn in the painting, but a horse standing under a willow tree represents her departure from her safe haven. The thing that surprises me the most was the screens condition. Its…

was sent to command a host of 300,000” (1 Shiji) to drive out the Inner Mongolians from Chinese territory. Afterward, the individual, smaller walls of states from the Warring States period were unified into a single Wall, erected to prevent ‘The Xiongnu [who] were […] great warriors and horsemen […and] often invaded China.’ (2 Great Wall of China, Cynthia Kennedy Henzel).…

The Great Wall is considered China’s greatest and best known monument as well as one of its most powerful symbols. The wall was made entirely by hand and was built to protect the Chinese from intruders. Known in Chinese as the “Long Wall,” it has captivated the imagination of both Chinese and non-Chinese for centuries. Although the wall has been around for over 2,000 years and parts of the wall are decaying and crumbling, it remains a popular attraction today and is considered one of the Seven…

Between 200 BCE and 200 CE the Roman republic used advanced military strategy, weapons and training to conquer the known world, roughly five thousand miles away the Han Dynasty conquered and controlled most of China using their advancements of military strategy, weapons and training. By the time 200 BCE rolled around for the Roman empire they were at their pinnacle. Having already conquered all of Italy, surrounding island, and parts of Spain, they were becoming the strongest military power…

protect the empire that Qin Shi Huangdi thought would last forever, he decided to commission the building and expansion of the former walls that were built originally between the warring states. He felt that it was necessary to have this wall as the Xiongnu people (also known as the Hun people) from what is now inner Mongolia were seen as rebels and merciless (DuTemple, 21). In order for the great wall to be built Qin Shi Huangdi ignored the class system and everyone from slaves to higher…

The mighty Han Dynasty was built on the solid foundations of the Qin dynasty. After the demise of the Qin emperor, Shi Huangdi, a peasant warrior named Liu Bang united the warring kingdoms and formed the new Han kingdom. It was the fastest dynastic change in Chinese history. This was mostly due to the fact that Shi Huangdi left an excellent governmental infrastructure such as the coinage system, roads, canals, laws etc. The change happened so rapid and seamlessly was also because of Liu Bang.…