Taiwan Today

It takes a lot of kings and queens and emperors and empresses to fill 5,000 years of dynastic, history. China has the world's longest list of hereditary rulers. As with other countries, some were good and some were bad; many were competent and others should have been born to some other calling. Beginnings are veiled in legends about the culture heroes—the creator, P'an-ku, followed by three series of brothers: the twelve Celestial Sovereigns, eleven Terrestrial Sovereigns and Nine Human Sovereigns. As the historical period begins to dawn, the Five Ti appear, including Huang Ti (the Yellow Emperor), who was supposed to have reigned for a hundred years beginning in 2697 B.C. Huang Ti is pictured on the cover. Also among the Ti were the model rulers Yao (left) and Shun. Emperor Yao also ruled for 100 years, it is said, and loved the people as his own children. He was credited with perfecting the calendar from his astronomical observations, thus enabling farmers to sow their crops in the proper season. Yao introduced a new political ideal by choosing the unrelated but virtuous Shun to be his successor in place of his less worthy son. Shun subsequently selected his minister Yu as a successor. Nearly 1,500 years later, Confucius looked back to the period of the Sage Kings for examples of wise and magnanimous rulers and perfect government. He urged the kings and princes of his own time to model themselves on such ancestors but he did not have notable success.

Huang Ti was the first emperor, Yao the second and Shun (far left) the third. Emperor Shun was the last of the pre-historical rulers and reputedly a model of filial piety. His mother died young and his father favored a half-brother. Shun remained devoted to both. This was instrumental in his selection as Yao's successor. During his own time on the throne, Shun decreed faithful observance of the five virtues of familial relationship: righteous father, kindly mother, friendly elder brother, respectful younger brother and filial son. When his minister and engineer, Yu, controlled devastating floods, Emperor Shun knew he had found China's next ruler. Shun abdicated in Yu's favor, and the new emperor established the first Chinese dynasty of historical record. The Hsia ruled from 2205 to 1766 R.C. and Yu (top left) has gone down in history as China's first engineer of genius. His June 6 birth date is still observed as Engineers' Day. The last emperor of Hsia was a despot. Prince T'ang (far bottom left), whose own realm was tiny, led a revolt which established the Shang (or Yin) dynasty (1766-1122 R.C.). Ruling in the principality of Chou as Shang drew to a close was the good King Wen (bottom left). He couldn't bring himself to revolt against a bad emperor but his son, King Wu, did and the Chou dynasty was born. Wu's brother was famed Duke of Chou.

King Wu (far left), first of the Chou rulers, had a reign of only seven years but with the help of the Duke of Chou was able to consolidate the dynasty. Kao Tsu (top left) was the "High Progenitor" and the first commoner to gain the emperor's throne. As a peasant named Liu Pang, he built an army, struggled against remnants of Ch'in and defeated a rival general who was descended from aristocrats of Ch'u. Thus was born the Han dynasty in 206 B.C. In 8 A.D., Wang Mang usurped the Han throne but his Hsin (New) dynasty lasted only 17 years. Liu Hsiu of the Han royal family saved the country from chaos and became Emperor Kuang Wu (bottom left) of the Later Han, which lasted until 220 A.D.

Succeeding Later Han was the Three Kingdoms period of Wei, Shu and Wu. Wei conquered Shu and in 265 General Ssu-ma (far top left) usurped the throne, founded the Tsin dynasty and took the name Wu Ti (Martial Emperor). He defeat­ed Wu in 280 and fried to restore the imperial system. Tsin lasted until 420 but unity ended with the Revolt of the Eight Kings just after Wu's death. Another unifier was Emperor Wen Ti (bottom left), who brought together the north and south as the Sui dynasty. He was a gen­eral and, although claiming to be Chinese, may have been of barbarian descent. Wen Ti's reign began in 581 and he was succeeded by his son, Yang Ti, in 604. Sui survived only until 618 but marked the beginning of a second great imperial period. A Sui official, Li Yuan, and his son, Li Shih-min, captured the capital of Ch'ang-an and the Tang dynasty came into being. The son, Emperor Tai Tsung (top left), ruled from 626 to 649. This was a period of construction and expansion. Tang was 10 last until 907.

The only Chinese empress ever to rule as an emperor was Wu Tse T'ien (far top left), who started her career as a concu­bine of Emperor T'ai Tsung. She was made empress by Kao Tsung, the third emperor of Tang, ruled through puppets after his death and finally assumed the title of emperor under the dynastic name of Chou. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms succeeded Tang in 907. In 960 a general restored unity and established the Sung dynasty, which was to last until 1279. He became Emperor Sung T'ai Tsu (top left). A Mongol warrior named Temujin subjugated other northern tribes early in the 13th century and gained empire and fame as Genghis Khan (bottom left). Mongols got to the Adriatic in 1341; only a Khan's death saved Western Europe. "Golden hordes" later took over all of China.

Kublai Khan (far top left), the grandson of Genghis Khan, completed the conquest of China with the subjugation of Southern Sung. The Yuan ("First Beginning") dynasty controlled a greater expanse of territory than any other empire in history. Armadas were sent against Japan and Java during the 1260-1294 reign of Kublai. Mongol posses­sion of all Central Asia led to increased con­tacts and trade with Europe. One of the travel­ers to Yuan China was Marco Polo, who wrote of the wonders of a Middle Kingdom which was more advanced than the Europe of that time. Mongol princes increasingly fought each other after the death of Kublai's grandson Temur in 1307. Many rebel leaders emerged as the Mongols weakened and flood and famine beset the land. The chief of these turned out to be Chu Yuan-chang (far bottom left), like Liu Pang, the founder of Han, a humble commoner. His forces captured Peking in 1368 and he proclaimed himself emperor of the Ming ("Brilliant") dynasty that would last nearly 300 years. Hsuan Tsung (bottom left) was Ming emperor from 1465 to 1488. Ming was one of the world's longest periods of stable, orderly rule.

A series of inept rulers spurred the deterioration of Ming in the early 17th century. Rebel leaders took over large areas of the country and the gates were wide open for another foreign invasion, this time of the Manchus. Peking fell in 1644 but it was not until K'ang Hsi (far top left), who ruled from 1661 to 1722, that the Ch'ing dy­nasty put down the last resistance. In his 61-year reign, trator and notable lawgiver and scholar. He had extensive K'ang Hsi proved himself a bold warrior, frugal adminis-dealings with Europeans, especially the Jesuits and Russians. Emperor Ch'ien Lung (far bottom left) carried out the "Ten Great Campaigns" around China's periphery in the last half of the 18th century. These were costly and paved the way for extensive corruption at the Ch'ing court. Kwang Hsu (bottom left) ascended the throne in 1875 but was a puppet of his aunt, the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi (top left) until 1889. He tried to save Ch'ing in his "hundred days of reform" in 1898 but Tzu Hsi forced his abdication.