Buwei Yang Chao (née Yang Buwei ; simplified Chinese : 杨步伟 ; traditional Chinese : 楊步偉 ; pinyin : Yáng Bùwěi ; 1889–1981) was a Chinese-American physician and writer. She was one of the first women to practice Western medicine in China. She was married to linguist Yuen Ren Chao .
112-557: Yang was born in Nanjing into the Yang family, but was raised by her aunt and uncle. At a very young age, she was sent to a school in Nanjing . The entry exam of the school required her to write about the benefits of educating girls. She responded: "Women are the mothers of all citizens". Later she went to an all-girls Roman Catholic school in Shanghai , and later went to Japan to attend
224-770: A 1671 account by a French missionary. The commoners and officials in Beijing and Nanjing were waiting to support whichever side won. An official from Qing Beijing sent letters to family and another official in Nanjing, telling them all communication and news from Nanjing to Beijing had been cut off, that the Qing were considering abandoning Beijing and moving their capital far away to a remote location for safety since Koxinga's iron troops were rumored to be invincible. Koxinga's forces intercepted these letters and after reading them Koxinga may have started to regret his deliberate delays allowing
336-770: A Direct-administered Municipality from 1949 to 1952 following the establishment of the People's Republic of China. It has many important heritage sites, including the Presidential Palace , Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum . Nanjing is famous for human historical landscapes, mountains and waters such as Fuzimiao , Ming Palace , Chaotian Palace , Porcelain Tower , Drum Tower , Stone City , City Wall , Qinhuai River , Xuanwu Lake and Purple Mountain . Key cultural facilities include Nanjing Library , Nanjing Museum and Jiangsu Art Museum. The city has
448-889: A Japanese-collaborationist government known as the " Nanjing Regime " or "Reorganized National Government of China" led by Wang Jingwei was established in Nanjing as a rival to Chiang Kai-shek 's government in Chongqing. In 1946, after the Surrender of Japan , the KMT relocated its central government back to Nanjing. In April 1949, Communist forces crossed the Yangtze River and the Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) captured Nanjing. The KMT government retreated to Canton ( Guangzhou ) until October 15, Chongqing until November 25, and then Chengdu before retreating to
560-539: A calculated political move to obtain or enhance their legitimacy, even if such claims were unfounded. The agnatic relations of the following groups of Chinese dynasties are typically recognized by historians: The Central Plain is a vast area on the lower reaches of the Yellow River which formed the cradle of Chinese civilization. "Central Plain dynasties" ( 中原王朝 ; Zhōngyuán wángcháo ) refer to dynasties of China that had their capital cities situated within
672-662: A decisive, single grand showdown as his father successfully did against the Dutch at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay , throwing away the surprise and initiative which led to its failure. Koxinga's attack on Qing held Nanjing which would interrupt the supply route of the Grand Canal leading to possible starvation in Beijing caused such fear that the Manchus (Tartares) considered returning to Manchuria (Tartary) and abandoning China according to
784-645: A form of respect, even if the official dynastic name did not include it. For instance, The Chronicles of Japan referred to the Tang dynasty as " Dai Tō " ( 大唐 ; "Great Tang") despite its dynastic name being simply "Tang". While all dynasties of China sought to associate their respective realm with Zhōngguó ( 中國 ; "Central State"; usually translated as "Middle Kingdom" or "China" in English texts) and various other names of China , none of these regimes officially used such names as their dynastic title. Although
896-579: A history 2595 years long. In 541, Wu built Laizhu Town in Gaochun—because of its strong city, it was also called Gucheng. Fuchai , King of the State of Wu , founded a fort named Yecheng in today's Nanjing area in 495 BC. Wu was conquered by the State of Yue in 473 BC, and the city was rebuilt at the mouth of the Qinhuai River in the following year. Later it was called Yuecheng ( 越城 ) on
1008-434: A large section of the city for the bannermen 's cantonment, and occupied the former imperial Ming Palace , but otherwise the city was spared the mass murders and destruction that befell Yangzhou . Despite capturing many counties in his initial attack due to surprise and having the initiative, Koxinga announced the final battle in Nanjing in 1659 ahead of time giving plenty of time for the Qing to prepare because he wanted
1120-654: A legitimate regime. Ergo, historians usually consider the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor on 12 February 1912 as the end of the Chinese dynastic system. Dynastic rule in China lasted almost four millennia. China was politically divided during multiple periods in its history, with different regions ruled by different dynasties. These dynasties effectively functioned as separate states with their own court and political institutions. Political division existed during
1232-462: A new Ming Palace complex, and government halls. It took 200,000 laborers 21 years to finish the wall, which was intended to defend the city and its surrounding region from coastal pirates. The present-day City Wall of Nanjing was mainly built during that time and today it remains in good condition and has been well preserved. It is among the longest surviving city walls in China. The Jianwen Emperor ruled from Yingtian from 1398 to 1402. It
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#17327932016411344-590: A number of other names, and some historical names are now used as names of districts of the city. The city was known as Yuecheng and Jinling or "Ginling" ( 金陵 ) from the Warring States Era. Jianye ( 建业 ; Chien-yeh ), which means 'build an empire', was officially designated for the city during the Eastern Wu dynasty . The city first became a Chinese national capital as early as the Jin dynasty and
1456-640: A state of limbo during fragmented periods and was restored after political unification was achieved. From this perspective, the Song dynasty possessed legitimacy by virtue of its ability to end the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period despite not having succeeded the orthodoxy from the Later Zhou . Similarly, Ouyang considered the concept of orthodoxy to be in oblivion during the Three Kingdoms,
1568-460: A third book: How to Order and Eat in Chinese to Get the Best Meal in a Chinese Restaurant (1974). Nanjing Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu province in eastern China . The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of 6,600 km (2,500 sq mi), and as of 2021 a population of 9,423,400. Situated in
1680-459: Is a collective term for six Chinese dynasties mentioned above which all maintained national capitals at Jiankang. The six dynasties were: Eastern Wu (222–280), Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420) and four southern dynasties (420–589). At the end of the Eastern Han dynasty , the warlord Sun Quan , who ruled Jiangdong , moved his ruling office to Moling in 211 AD. The following year, he built
1792-561: Is a concept with geographical, political, and cultural connotations. The adoption of guóhào , as well as the importance assigned to it, had promulgated within the Sinosphere . Notably, rulers of Vietnam and Korea also declared guóhào for their respective realm. In Chinese historiography, historians generally do not refer to dynasties directly by their official name. Instead, historiographical names, which were most commonly derived from their official name, are used. For instance,
1904-451: Is a convenient and conventional method of periodization . Accordingly, a dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which a family reigned, as well as to describe events, trends, personalities, artistic compositions, and artifacts of that period. For example, porcelain made during the Ming dynasty may be referred to as "Ming porcelain". The longest-reigning orthodox dynasty of China was
2016-510: Is a prominent feature of Chinese history. Some scholars have attempted to explain this phenomenon by attributing the success and failure of dynasties to the morality of the rulers, while others have focused on the tangible aspects of monarchical rule. This method of explanation has come to be known as the dynastic cycle . Cases of dynastic transition ( 改朝換代 ; gǎi cháo huàn dài ) in the history of China occurred primarily through two ways: military conquest and usurpation. The supersession of
2128-492: Is also one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in the People's Republic of China's administrative structure , enjoying jurisdictional and economic autonomy only slightly less than that of a province . It has also been awarded the title of 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honor of China, Special UN Habitat Scroll of Honor Award and National Civilized City. Nanjing is also considered a Beta (global second-tier) city classification, together with Chongqing , Hangzhou and Tianjin by
2240-651: Is believed that Nanjing was the largest city in the world from 1358 to 1425 with a population of 487,000 in 1400. Having usurped power from his nephew and uncertain of the loyalty of the region's officials, the Yongle Emperor relocated the capital in 1421 to Beijing, where he had long served as the regional governor as the Prince of Yan . Because the new status of Yingtian was included in the Hongwu Emperor's " ancestral injunctions " for his dynasty, however,
2352-763: Is now Qixia . In the Jiangning district, ruins of primitive villages from the Neolithic Age were discovered. About 4000 years ago, dense Bronze Age primitive settlements appeared in the Qinhuai River Basin, labeled as the Hushu culture. The earliest cities in Nanjing were formed around these settlements. Due to the volume of archeological finds in the area related to the Taowu and Hushu cultures, many historians, anthropologists, and archeologists frequent
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#17327932016412464-684: The Chinese Civil War . The city also served as the seat of the rebel Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1853–64) and the Japanese puppet regime of Wang Jingwei (1940–45) during the Second Sino-Japanese War . It suffered many notable devastating atrocities in both conflicts, most notably the Nanjing Massacre from late 1937 to early 1938. Nanjing became the capital city of Jiangsu province in 1952, after serving as
2576-744: The Eastern Jin and each of the Southern dynasties ( Liu Song , Southern Qi , Liang and Chen ), which successively ruled southern China from 317 to 589; the Southern Tang (937–75), one of the Ten Kingdoms ; the Ming dynasty when, for the first time, all of China was ruled from the city (1368–1421); and the Republic of China under the nationalist Kuomintang (1927–37, 1946–49) before its flight to Taiwan by Chiang Kai-Shek during
2688-543: The First Opium War , was signed in the city harbor on Royal Navy warships. As the capital of the brief-lived rebel Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the mid-19th century, Nanjing was known as Tianjing ( 天京 ; 'Heavenly Capital" or "Capital of Heaven'). The rebellion destroyed most of the former Ming imperial buildings in the city, including the Porcelain Tower , considered up to that time as one of
2800-576: The Globalization and World Cities Research Network , and ranked as one of the world's top 100 cities in the Global Financial Centres Index . As of 2021, Nanjing has 68 institutions of higher learning, including 13 double-first-class universities , ten 111-plan universities, eight 211 universities , and 97 academies. Nanjing University , which has a long history, is among the world's top 20 universities ranked by
2912-579: The History of Liao and the History of Jin compiled by the Yuan historian Toqto'a revealed that the official dynastic name of some earlier dynasties such as the Liao and the Jin also contained the character " dà ". It was also common for officials, subjects, or tributary states of a particular dynasty to include the term " dà " (or an equivalent term in other languages) when referring to this dynasty as
3024-759: The International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal after the atomic bombings, was between 300,000 and 350,000. The city itself was also severely damaged during the massacre. The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall was built in 1985 to commemorate this event. A few days before the fall of the city, the National Government of China was relocated to the southwestern city Chongqing and resumed Chinese resistance. In 1940,
3136-604: The Korean Peninsula , Afghanistan , and Siberia . Territorially, the largest orthodox Chinese dynasty was either the Yuan dynasty or the Qing dynasty , depending on the historical source. This discrepancy can be mainly attributed to the ambiguous northern border of the Yuan realm: whereas some sources describe the Yuan border as located to the immediate north of the northern shore of Lake Baikal , others posit that
3248-647: The Liao dynasty by the Jin dynasty was achieved following a series of successful military campaigns, as was the later unification of China proper under the Yuan dynasty ; on the other hand, the transition from the Eastern Han to the Cao Wei , as well as from the Southern Qi to the Liang dynasty , were cases of usurpation. Oftentimes, usurpers would seek to portray their predecessors as having relinquished
3360-584: The Ming–Qing transition , most notably the Shun and the Xi dynasties proclaimed by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong respectively. This change of ruling houses was a convoluted and prolonged affair, and the Qing took almost two decades to extend their rule over the entirety of China proper. Similarly, during the earlier Sui–Tang transition , numerous regimes established by rebel forces vied for control and legitimacy as
3472-583: The National Protection War , resulting in the premature collapse of the regime 101 days later. The Manchu Restoration (AD 1917) was an unsuccessful attempt at reviving the Qing dynasty, lasting merely 11 days. Similarly, the Manchukuo (AD 1932–1945; monarchy since AD 1934), a puppet state of the Empire of Japan during World War II with limited diplomatic recognition, is not regarded as
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3584-612: The Nature Index . Nanjing, one of the nation's most important cities for over a thousand years, is recognized as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China . It has been one of the world's largest cities , enjoying peace and prosperity despite various wars and disasters. Nanjing served as the capital of Eastern Wu (229–280), one of the three major states in the Three Kingdoms period;
3696-454: The Nature Index . The ratio of college students to the total population ranks No.1 among large cities nationwide. Nanjing has the fifth-largest scientific research output of any city in the world. As of 2024, it has been ranked as the world's second most prolific scientific research center in earth and environmental sciences and the world's third most prolific scientific research center in chemistry and physical sciences , according to
3808-592: The Northern Zhou is also sometimes referred to as the "Northern Zhou dynasty". Often, scholars would refer to a specific Chinese dynasty by attaching the word "China" after the dynastic name. For instance, "Tang China" refers to the Chinese state under the rule of the Tang dynasty and the corresponding historical era. While the earliest orthodox Chinese dynasties were established along the Yellow River and
3920-524: The Northern and Southern dynasties period. After the Eastern Jin fell in 420, it continued to serve as the capital for the Southern dynasties of Liu Song , Southern Qi , Liang and Chen . During this time, Jiankang was the international hub of East Asia. Based on historical documents, the city had 280,000 registered households. Assuming an average Nanjing household consisted of about 5.1 people,
4032-589: The Qianlong Emperor , Jiangnan was fully divided into the present provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu . Separately, however, these provinces were reunited under the supervision of a new Viceroy of Liangjiang after 1723, whose seat was based in Jiangning. It was the site of a Qing Army garrison. It had been visited by the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors a number of times on their tours of the southern provinces. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking , which put an end to
4144-452: The Qing dynasty explicitly identified their state with and employed " Zhōngguó "—and its Manchu equivalent " Dulimbai Gurun " ( ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳ ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ )—in official capacity in numerous international treaties beginning with the Treaty of Nerchinsk dated AD 1689, its dynastic name had remained the "Great Qing". " Zhōngguó ", which has become nearly synonymous with "China" in modern times,
4256-826: The Qing dynasty succeeded the Ming dynasty in possessing the Mandate of Heaven . However, the Qing dynasty was officially proclaimed in AD 1636 by the Emperor Taizong of Qing through renaming the Later Jin established in AD 1616, while the Ming imperial family would rule the Southern Ming until AD 1662. The Ming loyalist Kingdom of Tungning based in Taiwan continued to oppose the Qing until AD 1683. Meanwhile, other factions also fought for control over China during
4368-567: The Republic of China on Taiwan . Dynastic rule in China collapsed in AD 1912 when the Republic of China superseded the Qing dynasty following the success of the Xinhai Revolution. While there were attempts after the Xinhai Revolution to reinstate dynastic rule in China, they were unsuccessful at consolidating their rule and gaining political legitimacy. During the Xinhai Revolution, there were numerous proposals advocating for
4480-468: The Republic of China (1912–49) , jing ( 京 ; 'capital') was adopted as the abbreviation of Nanjing. Archaeological discovery shows that the so-called " Nanjing Man " lived more than 500,000 years ago. Zun , a kind of wine vessel, were found to exist in Beiyinyangying culture of Nanjing about 5000 years ago. About 7000 years ago, there was an agricultural civilization in the area that
4592-525: The Sen Ren Hospital , specialising in gynecology. She was amongst the first female doctors practicing Western-style medicine in China. In 1920, she met and subsequently married the linguist Y.R. Chao on June 1, 1921. The witnesses were Hu Shih and one other friend. Hu's account of this simple ceremony in the next day's newspapers described the couple as a model of modern marriage for China's New Culture generation. The Chaos had four daughters;
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4704-413: The Shang dynasty , before its conquest of the Shang which led to the establishment of the Zhou dynasty , is referred to as the Predynastic Zhou or Proto-Zhou. Similarly, the state of Qin that existed during the Zhou dynasty before its wars of unification and the establishment of the Qin dynasty in 221 BC is also referred to as the Predynastic Qin or Proto-Qin. The rise and fall of dynasties
4816-414: The Stone City at the site of Jinling Yi, and renamed Moling to Jianye. Jianye later became the capital of the Eastern Wu dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, after Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor in 229, opening Nanjing's history as a state capital. By the time Wu was conquered by the Western Jin dynasty in 280, Jianye and its neighboring areas had been well cultivated, developing into one of
4928-574: The Sui dynasty is known as such because its formal name was "Sui". Likewise, the Jin dynasty was officially the "Great Jin". When more than one dynasty shared the same Chinese character(s) as their formal name, as was common in Chinese history, prefixes are retroactively applied to dynastic names by historians in order to distinguish between these similarly-named regimes. Frequently used prefixes include: A dynasty could be referred to by more than one retroactive name in Chinese historiography, albeit some are more widely used than others. For instance,
5040-459: The Three Kingdoms , the Sixteen Kingdoms , the Northern and Southern dynasties , and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods, among others. Relations between Chinese dynasties during periods of division often revolved around political legitimacy , which was derived from the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven . Dynasties ruled by ethnic Han would proclaim rival dynasties founded by other ethnicities as illegitimate, usually justified based on
5152-451: The Tokyo Women's Medical College . Yang moved to Tokyo for studies in medicine. She later claimed that she only became interested in cooking after finding Japanese food to be inedible. She was also annoyed by what she perceived as the arrogance of the Japanese, stating that they made her studies difficult in Tokyo. In 1919, she returned home at the request of her father, who died before she could see him. She and Li Guanzhong established
5264-407: The Western Han is also known as the "Former Han", and the Yang Wu is also called the "Southern Wu". Scholars usually make a historiographical distinction for dynasties whose rule were interrupted. For example, the Song dynasty is divided into the Northern Song and the Southern Song , with the Jingkang Incident as the dividing line; the original "Song" founded by the Emperor Taizu of Song
5376-498: The Yangtze in China proper, numerous Chinese dynasties later expanded beyond the region to encompass other territorial domains. At various points in time, Chinese dynasties exercised control over China proper (including Hainan , Macau , and Hong Kong ), Taiwan , Manchuria (both Inner Manchuria and Outer Manchuria ), Sakhalin , Mongolia (both Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia ), Vietnam , Tibet , Xinjiang , as well as parts of Central Asia ,
5488-428: The Yangtze River Delta region, Nanjing has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture , having served as the capital of various Chinese dynasties , kingdoms and republican governments dating from the 3rd century to 1949, and has thus long been a major center of culture, education, research, politics, economy, transport networks and tourism, being the home to one of the world's largest inland ports . The city
5600-402: The Zhou dynasty , ruling for a total length of about 790 years, albeit it is divided into the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou in Chinese historiography. The largest orthodox Chinese dynasty in terms of territorial size was either the Yuan dynasty or the Qing dynasty , depending on the historical source. The term " Tiāncháo " ( 天朝 ; "Celestial Dynasty" or "Heavenly Dynasty")
5712-430: The island of Taiwan on December 10 where Taipei was proclaimed the temporary capital of the Republic of China. By late 1949, the PLA was pursuing remnants of KMT forces southwards in southern China, and only Tibet and Hainan Island were left. Dynasties in Chinese history For most of its history, China was organized into various dynastic states under the rule of hereditary monarchs . Beginning with
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#17327932016415824-437: The Central Plain. This term could refer to dynasties of both Han and non-Han ethnic origins. "Unified dynasties" ( 大一統王朝 ; dàyītǒng wángcháo ) refer to dynasties of China, regardless of their ethnic origin, that achieved the unification of China proper. "China proper" is a region generally regarded as the traditional heartland of the Han people, and is not equivalent to the term "China". Imperial dynasties that had attained
5936-413: The Drum Tower Hospital and the boys' school would be expanded by later missionaries to become the University of Nanking and Medical School. The old mission property became the No. 13 Middle School, the oldest continually-used school grounds in the city. The Xinhai Revolution led to the founding of the Republic of China in January 1912 with Sun Yat-sen as the first provisional president and Nanjing
6048-407: The Manchus in late May 1645, the Hongguang Emperor fled Nanjing, and the imperial Ming Palace was looted by local residents. On June 6, Dodo's troops approached Nanjing, and the commander of the city's garrison, Zhao the Earl of Xincheng, promptly surrendered the city to them. The Manchus soon ordered all male residents of the city to shave their heads in the Manchu queue way . They requisitioned
6160-403: The Nanjing area. Hushu culture developed into Wu culture under the influence of the Shang and Zhou, who encroached from Central Plains. From the traditions, Taibo of Zhou came to Jiangnan and established the state of Wu during the 12th century BC. In 571 BC, the State of Chu established Tangyi in Liuhe. This is the oldest extant administrative establishment in Nanjing; as of 2024 it has
6272-810: The People's Republic of China based in Beijing and the Republic of China based in Taipei . Both regimes formally adhere to the One-China principle and claim to be the sole legitimate representative of the whole of China. There were several groups of Chinese dynasties that were ruled by families with patrilineal relations , yet due to various reasons these regimes are considered to be separate dynasties and given distinct retroactive names for historiographical purpose. Such conditions as differences in their official dynastic title and fundamental changes having occurred to their rule would necessitate nomenclatural distinction in academia, despite these ruling clans having shared common ancestral origins. Additionally, numerous other dynasties claimed descent from earlier dynasties as
6384-513: The Qing to prepare for a final massive battle instead of swiftly attacking Nanjing. Koxinga's Ming loyalists fought against a majority Han Chinese Bannermen Qing army when attacking Nanjing. The siege lasted almost three weeks. Koxinga's forces were unable to maintain a complete encirclement, which enabled the city to obtain supplies and even reinforcements—though cavalry attacks by the city's forces were successful even before reinforcements arrived. Koxinga's forces were defeated and "slipped back" to
6496-431: The Sixteen Kingdoms, and the Northern and Southern dynasties periods. Traditionally, as most Chinese historiographical sources uphold the idea of unilineal dynastic succession, only one dynasty could be considered orthodox at any given time. Most historical sources consider the legitimate line of succession to be as follows: These historical legitimacy disputes are similar to the modern competing claims of legitimacy by
6608-405: The Sui launched a decade-long military campaign to reunify China proper. Frequently, remnants and descendants of previous dynasties were either purged or granted noble titles in accordance with the " two crownings, three respects " system. The latter served as a means for the reigning dynasty to claim legitimate succession from earlier dynasties. For example, the Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei
6720-405: The Terrace empty, and the river flows on. Flourishing flowers of Wu Palace are buried beneath dark trails; Caps and gowns of Jin times all lie in ancient mounds. The Three-peaked Mountain lies half visible under the blue sky, The two-forked stream is separated by the White-Egret Isle in the middle. Clouds always block the sun, Chang'an cannot be seen and I grieve. — About
6832-490: The Yongle Emperor was obliged to preserve its special status, at least in name. The "northern capital" came to be known as Beijing and the 'southern capital' as Nanjing ( 南京 ). Both controlled territories "directly administered" by the emperor and his staff, Beizhili in the north and Nanzhili in the south. The Hongxi Emperor wanted to restore Nanjing as the sole imperial capital and undertook preparations to do so. On February 24, 1425, he appointed Admiral Zheng He as
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#17327932016416944-467: The Yuan dynasty reached as far north as the Arctic coast, with its western boundary with the Golden Horde in Siberia delimited by the Ob and the Irtysh . In contrast, the borders of the Qing dynasty were demarcated and reinforced through a series of international treaties, and thus were more well-defined. Apart from exerting direct control over the Chinese realm, various dynasties of China also maintained hegemony over other states and tribes through
7056-487: The book by saying "I didn't write the book": Together with her husband, Buwei Yang Chao coined the terms " pot sticker " and " stir fry " for her Chinese recipe book, terms which are now widely accepted. Jason Epstein of The New York Times , who later met the couple as publisher of a reprint of the book, claims that as the author could not speak or write much English, it must have been her husband who wrote in her name. However, Yuen Ren told an interviewer that Rulan did
7168-408: The capital of the Republic of China, and this became internationally recognized once KMT forces took Beijing in 1928. The following decade is known as the Nanjing decade . During this decade, Nanjing was of symbolic and strategic importance. The Ming dynasty had made Nanjing a capital, the republic had been established there in 1912, and Sun Yat-sen 's provisional government had been there. Sun's body
7280-401: The city or from superstitious fear of its geomantic properties . A monument to the huge human cost of some of the gigantic construction projects of the early Ming dynasty is the Yangshan Quarry (located some 15–20 km (9–12 mi) east of the walled city and Ming Xiaoling mausoleum), where a gigantic stele , cut on the orders of the Yongle Emperor, lies abandoned. As the center of
7392-509: The city had more than 1.4 million residents. A number of sculptural ensembles of that era, erected at the tombs of royals and other dignitaries, have survived (in various degrees of preservation) in Nanjing's northeastern and eastern suburbs, primarily in Qixia and Jiangning District . Possibly the best preserved of them is the ensemble of the Tomb of Xiao Xiu (475–518), a brother of Emperor Wu of Liang . The phoenix birds once frolicked on Phoenix Terrace, The birds are gone,
7504-444: The commercial, cultural and political centers of China. Not long after the unification of China, the Western Jin collapsed under the weight of civil wars by eight princes and rebellions from the so-called " Five Barbarians " in the north. Jianye, renamed to Jiankang in 313 to avoid Emperor Min of Jin's taboo name , was safely isolated from the chaos and became a popular refuge for the northern nobles and wealthy families. In 318,
7616-583: The concept of Hua–Yi distinction . On the other hand, many dynasties of non-Han origin saw themselves as the legitimate dynasty of China and often sought to portray themselves as the true inheritor of Chinese culture and history. Traditionally, only regimes deemed as "legitimate" or "orthodox" ( 正統 ; zhèngtǒng ) are termed cháo ( 朝 ; "dynasty"); "illegitimate" or "unorthodox" regimes are referred to as guó ( 國 ; usually translated as either "state" or "kingdom" ), even if these regimes were dynastic in nature. Such legitimacy disputes existed during
7728-412: The contemporaneous Liao dynasty while the Western Xia exercised partial control over Hetao ; the Northern Song, in this sense, did not truly achieve the unification of China proper. According to the historian and sinologist Karl August Wittfogel , dynasties of China founded by non-Han peoples that ruled parts or all of China proper could be classified into two types, depending on the means by which
7840-475: The defender of Nanjing and ordered him to continue his command over the Ming treasure fleet for the city's defense. Zheng He governed the city with three eunuchs for internal matters and two military noblemen for external matters, awaiting the Hongxi Emperor's return along with the military establishment from the north. The emperor died on May 29, 1425, before this could have taken place. The succeeding Xuande Emperor preferred to remain in Beijing, leaving it
7952-447: The eldest, Rulan Chao ( 趙如蘭 ), helped with the writing of her book of recipes. Their third daughter is children's book author and mathematician Lensey Namioka . Buwei Yang Chao wrote three books, two of which were notable: How to Cook and Eat in Chinese and An Autobiography of a Chinese Woman . How to Cook and Eat in Chinese was written when Buwei and Yuen Ren lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts during World War II. Yuen Ren
8064-573: The empire, early-Ming Nanjing had worldwide connections. It was home of the admiral Zheng He , who went to sail the Pacific and Indian Oceans , and it was visited by foreign dignitaries, such as a king from Borneo ( 渤泥 ; Bóní ), who died during his visit to China in 1408. The Tomb of the King of Boni , with a spirit way and a tortoise stele , was discovered in Yuhuatai District (south of
8176-524: The establishment of dynastic rule by Yu the Great c. 2070 BC , and ending with the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor in AD 1912, Chinese historiography came to organize itself around the succession of monarchical dynasties. Besides those established by the dominant Han ethnic group or its spiritual Huaxia predecessors, dynasties throughout Chinese history were also founded by non-Han peoples. Dividing Chinese history into dynastic epochs
8288-552: The first two were interrupted by the Later Qin , while the continuity of the latter was broken by the Wu Zhou . In Chinese sources, the term "dynasty" ( 朝 ; cháo ) is usually omitted when referencing dynasties that have prefixes in their historiographical names. Such a practice is sometimes adopted in English usage, even though the inclusion of the word "dynasty" is also widely seen in English scholarly writings. For example,
8400-903: The following dynasties to have unified China proper: the Qin dynasty , the Western Han , the Xin dynasty , the Eastern Han , the Western Jin , the Sui dynasty , the Tang dynasty , the Wu Zhou , the Northern Song , the Yuan dynasty , the Ming dynasty , and the Qing dynasty . The status of the Northern Song as a unified dynasty is disputed among historians as the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun were partially administered by
8512-451: The following periods: Traditionally, periods of disunity often resulted in heated debates among officials and historians over which prior dynasties could and should be considered orthodox, given that it was politically imperative for a dynasty to present itself as being linked in an unbroken lineage of moral and political authority back to ancient times. However, the Northern Song statesman Ouyang Xiu propounded that such orthodoxy existed in
8624-458: The former opulent capital Jinling (present-day Nanjing) in the poem Climbing Phoenix Terrace at Jinling by Li Bai of the Tang dynasty The period of division ended when the Sui dynasty reunified China and almost destroyed the entire city, turning it into a small town. The city was razed after the Sui took it over. It was renamed Shengzhou ( 昇州 ) in the Tang dynasty and resuscitated during
8736-694: The history of the preceding dynasty, culminating in the Twenty-Four Histories . This tradition was maintained even after the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty in favor of the Republic of China . However, the attempt by the Republicans to draft the history of the Qing was disrupted by the Chinese Civil War , which resulted in the political division of China into the People's Republic of China on mainland China and
8848-500: The identities of the ruling ethnicities. For example, the Liao dynasty and the Yuan dynasty , ruled by the Khitan and Mongol peoples respectively, are considered conquest dynasties of China. These terms remain sources of controversy among scholars who believe that Chinese history should be analyzed and understood from a multiethnic and multicultural perspective. It was customary for Chinese monarchs to adopt an official name for
8960-534: The late Tang. It was chosen as the capital and called Jinling ( 金陵 ) during the Southern Tang (937–976), which succeeded the state of Yang Wu . It was renamed Jiangning ( 江寧 , "Pacified Area of the Yangtze ") in the Northern Song and renamed Jiankang in the Southern Song . Jiankang's textile industry burgeoned and thrived during the Song despite the constant threat of foreign invasions from
9072-464: The most modern cities in China. In 1937, the Empire of Japan started a full-scale invasion of China after invading Manchuria in 1931, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War (often considered a theater of World War II ). Their troops occupied Nanjing in December and carried out the systematic and brutal Nanjing Massacre (the "Rape of Nanjing"). The total death toll, including estimates made by
9184-637: The north by the Jurchen -led Jin dynasty . The court of Da Chu , a short-lived puppet state established by the Jurchens, and the court of Song were once in the city. The Southern Song were eventually destroyed by the Mongols ; during their rule as the Yuan dynasty , the city's status as a hub of the textile industry was further consolidated. According to Odoric of Pordenone , Chilenfu (Nanjing) had 360 stone bridges, which were finer than anywhere else in
9296-503: The outskirts of the present-day Zhonghua Gate , which was the beginning of the construction of the main city of Nanjing. In 333 BC, Chu defeated Yue and built Jinling Yi ( 金陵邑 ) on in the western part of Nanjing. It was the earliest administrative construction in the main city of Nanjing. The name of Jinling comes from this. In 210 BC, the First Emperor of Qin visited the east and changed Jinling City to Moling ( 秣陵 ). The area
9408-609: The power of the ruling Sui dynasty weakened. Autonomous regimes that existed during this period of upheaval included, but not limited to, Wei ( 魏 ; by Li Mi ), Qin ( 秦 ; by Xue Ju ), Qi ( 齊 ; by Gao Tancheng), Xu ( 許 ; by Yuwen Huaji ), Liang ( 梁 ; by Shen Faxing ), Liang ( 梁 ; by Liang Shidu ), Xia ( 夏 ; by Dou Jiande ), Zheng ( 鄭 ; by Wang Shichong ), Chu ( 楚 ; by Zhu Can ), Chu ( 楚 ; by Lin Shihong ), Wu ( 吳 ; by Li Zitong ), Yan ( 燕 ; by Gao Kaidao ), and Song ( 宋 ; by Fu Gongshi ). The Tang dynasty that superseded
9520-493: The primary and de facto capital and Nanjing as permanent secondary or reserve capital. Owing to the continuing importance of the ancestral injunctions , however, Nanjing was designated in official documents as the actual capital and Beijing as a temporary capital from 1425 to 1441. In 1441, the Yingzong Emperor ordered the "provisional" ( 行在 ) prefix removed from Beijing's government seals and further ordered that
9632-459: The realm, even though in practice their actual power was dependent on numerous factors. By tradition, the Chinese throne was inherited exclusively by members of the male line, but there were numerous cases whereby the consort kins came to possess de facto power at the expense of the monarchs. This concept, known as jiā tiānxià ( 家天下 ; "All under Heaven belongs to the ruling family"),
9744-403: The realm, known as the guóhào ( 國號 ; "name of the state"), upon the establishment of a dynasty. During the rule of a dynasty, its guóhào functioned as the formal name of the state, both internally and for diplomatic purposes. The formal name of Chinese dynasties was usually derived from one of the following sources: There were instances whereby the official name was changed during
9856-412: The reign of a dynasty. For example, the dynasty known retroactively as Southern Han initially used the name "Yue", only to be renamed to "Han" subsequently. The official title of several dynasties bore the character " dà " ( 大 ; "great"). In Yongzhuang Xiaopin by the Ming historian Zhu Guozhen , it was claimed that the first dynasty to do so was the Yuan dynasty. However, several sources like
9968-735: The replacement of the Manchu -led Qing dynasty by a new dynasty of Han ethnicity. Kong Lingyi ( 孔令貽 ), the Duke of Yansheng and a 76th-generation descendant of Confucius , was identified as a potential candidate for Chinese emperorship by Liang Qichao . Meanwhile, gentry in Anhui and Hebei supported a restoration of the Ming dynasty under Zhu Yuxun ( 朱煜勳 ), the Marquis of Extended Grace . Both suggestions were ultimately rejected. The Empire of China (AD 1915–1916) proclaimed by Yuan Shikai sparked
10080-893: The ruling ethnic groups had entered China proper. "Infiltration dynasties" or "dynasties of infiltration" ( 滲透王朝 ; shèntòu wángcháo ) refer to Chinese dynasties founded by non-Han ethnicities that tended towards accepting Han culture and assimilating into the Han-dominant society. For instance, the Han-Zhao and the Northern Wei , established by the Xiongnu and Xianbei ethnicities respectively, are considered infiltration dynasties of China. "Conquest dynasties" or "dynasties of conquest" ( 征服王朝 ; zhēngfú wángcháo ) refer to dynasties of China established by non-Han peoples that tended towards resisting Han culture and preserving
10192-540: The ruling prince in Jiankang, Sima Rui proclaimed himself the new emperor and reestablished the dynasty as the Eastern Jin dynasty . This marked the first time a Chinese dynastic capital was moved from the north to southern China , as the north came under the rule of the Sixteen Kingdoms . Jiankang was the centre of administration in the south for more than two and a half centuries, even as China entered
10304-540: The ships which had brought them. Under the Qing dynasty from 1645 to 1911, Nanjing returned to its previous name Jiangning . At first, it continued to administer the territory of Nanzhili under the name Jiangnan ("Area South of the Yangtze") but this administration was soon broken up into "Right" and "Left" governments based in Suzhou and Jiangning respectively. After a series of reorganizations, at some point under
10416-455: The southern imperial administration would henceforth be required to prefix "Nanjing" to their own seals to distinguish them. Besides the city wall, other Ming-era structures in the city included the famous Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum and Porcelain Tower , although the latter was destroyed by the Taipings in the 19th century either to prevent a hostile faction from using it to observe and shell
10528-411: The spelling as "Nanjing". During the Qing dynasty , the city was called Jiangning ( 江寧 ; Kiang-ning ), whose first character jiang ( Chinese : 江 ; pinyin : jiāng ; lit. 'river', i.e. the Yangtze ) is the former part of the name Jiangsu and second character ning ( 寧 , simplified form 宁 ; 'peace') is the shortened name of Nanjing. When it was the capital of
10640-403: The throne willingly—akin to the abdication system of throne succession—as a means to legitimize their rule. One might incorrectly infer from viewing historical timelines that transitions between dynasties occurred abruptly and roughly. Rather, new dynasties were often established before the complete overthrow of an existing regime. For example, AD 1644 is frequently cited as the year in which
10752-460: The translation: "She would complain sometimes, 'Daddy, you have so many footnotes. Somebody will think that you translated the book,' not that she was the translator." Her second book, An Autobiography of a Chinese Woman: Put Into English By Her Husband Yuenren Chao , recounted the eventful life she led prior to her meeting her future husband and their travels together. Both books were first published by The John Day Company , New York. She also wrote
10864-670: The unification of China proper may be known as the "Chinese Empire" or the "Empire of China" ( 中華帝國 ; Zhōnghuá Dìguó ). The concept of "great unity" or "grand unification" ( 大一統 ; dàyītǒng ) was first mentioned in the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals that was supposedly authored by the Qi scholar Gongyang Gao. Other prominent figures like Confucius and Mencius also elaborated on this concept in their respective works. Historians typically consider
10976-600: The walled city) in 1958, and has been restored. Over two centuries after the removal of the capital to Beijing, Nanjing was destined to become the capital of a Ming emperor one more time. After the fall of Beijing to Li Zicheng 's rebel forces and then to the Manchu -led Qing dynasty in the spring of 1644, the Ming prince Zhu Yousong was enthroned in Nanjing in June 1644 as the Hongguang Emperor. His short reign
11088-557: The wonders of the world. Both the Qing viceroy and the Taiping king resided in buildings that would later be known as the Presidential Palace . When Qing forces led by Zeng Guofan retook the city in 1864, a massive slaughter occurred in the city with over 100,000 estimated to have committed suicide or fought to the death. Since the Taiping Rebellion began, Qing forces allowed no rebels speaking its dialect to surrender. This
11200-519: The world. It was well populated and had a large craft industry. After Zhu Yuanzhang (known from his era as the Hongwu Emperor ) overthrew the Yuan and established the Ming dynasty , he renamed the city Yingtian ( 應天 ) , rebuilt it, and made it the dynastic capital in 1368, overseeing the surrounding areas under a special administration. The Hongwu Emperor constructed a 48 km (30 mi) long city wall around Yingtian , as well as
11312-652: Was accorded the title "Prince of Zhongshan" by the Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi following the latter's deposition of the former. Similarly, Chai Yong, a nephew of the Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou , was conferred the title "Duke of Chongyi" by the Emperor Renzong of Song ; other descendants of the Later Zhou ruling house came to inherit the noble title thereafter. According to Chinese historiographical tradition, each new dynasty would compose
11424-719: Was brought and placed in a grand mausoleum to cement Chiang's legitimacy. Chiang was born in the neighboring province of Zhejiang and the general area had strong popular support for him. In 1927, the Nationalist government proposed a comprehensive planning proposal, the Capital Plan ( 首都計劃 ), to reconstruct the war-torn city of Nanjing into a modern capital. It was a decade of extraordinary growth with an enormous amount of construction. A lot of government buildings, residential houses, and modern public infrastructures were built. During this boom, Nanjing reputedly became one of
11536-556: Was conducting language training for the US Army and Buwei would prepare meals for the instructors using local ingredients. With the help of her daughter Rulan, she prepared over two hundred and thirty recipes. Some came from her travels with her husband as he collected dialect data from across China and often they lived with the subjects of Yuen Ren's language research. Though the recipes from those days were not written down, she often recreated them from her memory of their taste. Buwei opens
11648-464: Was described by later historians as the first reign of the so-called Southern Ming dynasty . Zhu Yousong, however, fared a lot worse than his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang three centuries earlier. Beset by factional conflicts, his regime could not offer effective resistance to Qing forces, when the Qing army, led by the Manchu prince Dodo approached Jiangnan the next spring. Days after Yangzhou fell to
11760-457: Was extended to refer to the regime of the incumbent ruler. Terms commonly used when discussing historical Chinese dynasties include: As the founder of China's first orthodox dynasty, the Xia dynasty , Yu the Great is conventionally regarded as the inaugurator of dynastic rule in China. In the Chinese dynastic system, sovereign rulers theoretically possessed absolute power and private ownership of
11872-549: Was frequently employed as a self-reference by Chinese dynasties. As a form of respect and subordination, Chinese tributary states referred to these dynasties as " Tiāncháo Shàngguó " ( 天朝上國 ; "Celestial Dynasty of the Exalted State") or " Tiāncháo Dàguó " ( 天朝大國 ; "Celestial Dynasty of the Great State"). The Chinese character 朝 ( cháo ) originally meant "morning" or "today". Subsequently, its scope
11984-410: Was in contrast to the pre-Xia notion of gōng tiānxià ( 公天下 ; "All under Heaven belongs to the public") whereby leadership succession was non-hereditary and based on the abdication system . There may also be a predynastic period before a regime managed to overthrow the existing dynasty which led to the official establishment of the new dynasty. For example, the state of Zhou that existed during
12096-542: Was one of two historically significant instances of systematic civilian massacres in Nanjing, the other one was the Houjing Disturbance of the 6th century. The New York Methodist Mission Society's superintendent Virgil Hart arrived in Nanjing in 1881. After some time, he succeeded in buying land near the city's Southern Gate and Confucian Temple to build the city's first Methodist church, Western hospital and boys' school. The hospital would later be unified with
12208-404: Was renamed Jiankang . Nanjing is also called Jincheng ( 金城 , Golden City), derived from Jinling City. The name Nanjing , which means "southern capital", was officially designated for the city during the Ming dynasty , about six hundred years later. In English, the spelling Nanking was traditional until pinyin , developed in the 1950s and internationally adopted in the 1980s, standardized
12320-541: Was selected as its new capital. However, the Qing Empire controlled large regions to the north, so the revolutionaries asked Yuan Shikai to replace Sun as president in exchange for the abdication of Puyi , the last emperor. Yuan demanded the capital be moved to Beijing (closer to his power base). In 1927, the Kuomintang (KMT; Nationalist Party) under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek again established Nanjing as
12432-532: Was successively part of Kuaiji , Zhang and Danyang prefectures in Qin and Han dynasty, and part of Yangzhou region which was established as the nation's 13 supervisory and administrative regions in the 5th year of Yuanfeng in Han dynasty (106 BC). Nanjing was later the capital city of Danyang Prefecture, and had been the capital city of Yangzhou for about 400 years from late Han to early Tang . Six Dynasties
12544-594: Was therefore differentiated from the "Song" restored under the Emperor Gaozong of Song . In such cases, the regime had collapsed, only to be re-established; a nomenclatural distinction between the original regime and the new regime is thus necessary for historiographical purpose. Major exceptions to this historiographical practice include the Western Qin , the Southern Liang , and the Tang dynasty ;
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