![]() The Han put down the Red Eyebrow rebellion, then faced the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion before being taken down by the Yellow Turbans. The uprising which spawned the split also inspired one of the four classics of Chinese literature, the story of 108 outlaws fighting the Song "To Render Justice for Heaven and Save the People."Ĭhina's emperors were beset by religious and ethnic independence movements simmering for centuries before boiling over, often contributing greatly - and colorfully - to the fall of a dynasty. Six rebellions occurred in the Song's first 80 years, the country split in two by 1127, and was overwhelmed by internal unrest for decades on end before finally succumbing to the Mongols. According to Business Insider, without even counting events of the 20th century, four of the 10 bloodiest wars in human history were Chinese civil wars.Īccording to Ancient History Encyclopedia, the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE) is known by historians as economically prosperous and culturally dynamic but not exactly politically stable. Before unification, and during the many periods afterwards when China was splintered into competing kingdoms, the country was embroiled in some of the bloodiest internecine warfare in the world. Of course, invasions don't necessarily come from outside. The last Chinese Imperial Dynasty, the Qing, ended in no small part due to over a century of aggression and meddling by other imperial powers known in China today as the " Century of humiliation." The Chinese empire they established, the Yuan dynasty, lasted over 200 years. Exactly how many Chinese were killed during the creation of the greater Mongolian Empire is impossible to know but suffice to say that, according to Stanford University climate researcher Julia Pongratz, so many Asians died that the Mongol invasion altered global carbon dioxide levels. ![]() It took Genghis Khan and his grandson Kublai 60 years to complete their Mongol invasion and takeover of China. And, according to Ancient Origins, as a job well-done, they could also be forced to join their emperor when he died. ![]() As part of the royal household concubines were often subject to purges as well and could be killed by competing sons or warlords. Of course, concubines belonged to the emperor - who could kill them anytime he wanted. The South China Morning Post says while there was a hierarchy among the emperor's women, and opportunity for advancement, harems were often filled with jealously and rivalry - frequently leading to the women attacking, poisoning, and murdering each other. For over fifteen hundred years, women and girls were kidnapped from or given away by their families and made to live with the emperor, hopefully providing him with sons. Starting around age five or six, girls broke their arches and toes so that their heels and soles touched the shorter the foot, the more desirable the woman - 3 inches was perfection.Īs early as the Jin dynasty (266-420 CE) concubines were conscripts as well, chosen according to the particular criteria of that dynasty or emperor. His ineptness was so profound that his childhood name is now a modern idiom for moron.įor almost a millennium Chinese upper class women, including most concubines, practiced a peculiarly painful beauty regimen known as foot binding, per Smithsonian. He eventually surrendered his empire peacefully to the rival Wei kingdom and retired comfortably in their capital city. Son of a respected warlord and under the tutelage of Zhuge Liang, one of the era's greatest generals, Owlcation reports that Liu Shan nonetheless guided his empire into dissolution. Liu Shan was the second and last emperor of the Shu Han dynasty (221-263 CE), starting his reign at age 17 with every advantage. Cruel, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son. He was deposed and killed in just two years for wanton idiocy and needless cruelty. Apparently sensitive about his disability, and too dumb to know better, he forbade the words like "missing" or "without," killing anyone who said them in his presence. Although already blind in one eye when he took the throne of one of these kingdoms, Fu Sheng worked hard to earn the title of "one-eyed tyrant," according to the World of Chinese. As the Jin dynasty collapsed (266-420 CE) in the fourth and fifth centuries China fragmented into multiple competing kingdoms.
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