The Chinese Kingdoms After the Han
What Do the Names of the Later Imperial Dynasties in China Reveal?
Oct 6, 2009
After the celebrated Han, most of the later Chinese Dynasties, such as the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, are quite outstanding. Each of these not only lasted for more than 300 years, ruling an extensive territory, but also made significant advances in differing areas of knowledge.
Please see the illustration for the Chinese characters for the five dynasties’ names and other key Chinese words appearing in this article.
China Town Came From Tang Dynasty
Following the appointment of the Duke of Tang, by the last emperor of the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) came into being. The Chinese character for “tang” portrays a hand using a pestle and a mortar under a roof, thus implying “productivity”.
Coincidentally, the Tang Dynasty truly was a productive era. Various technologies, such as hydraulic engineering, many new agricultural skills, the three colored glazing of porcelain, and the innovation of book printing were developed. The transport system both on land and by water, including the Great Canal, was greatly improved. Others, including medicine and architecture, also made rapid progress.
Other than “Han people”, the Chinese see themselves as “Tang people”. For example, in the Chinese language, the English term “China Town” is actually “Tang Ren Jie” (Tang people’s street) and “Chinese robe” is “Tang shan” (Tang style garment). The Chinese are very proud of the numerous achievements during the Tang Dynasty.
The Well-Known Song Dynasty
Whilst serving in the region of “Song” (an ancient Chinese state, located in Henan Province), a general increased his military power and hence political power, thereby establishing himself as the founder of the Song Dynasty. The Chinese character “song” depicts a strong wooden post supporting a large tall roof. Interestingly, among all the other innovations, urban development went swiftly ahead and thus many cities were significantly expanded throughout Song Dynasty (960-1280 A.D.).
This period marked some of the most noteworthy technological improvements in Chinese history. For instance, the introduction of the windmill helped enormously in metallurgy and civil engineering. Also, upgrading the then already existing woodblock printing machinery, by the usage of movable type, mass education and literature were made more widely available.
The Mongol Regime in China
Between the Song and the Ming, there were two short-lived Dynasties, Jin and Yuan. Jin (1115-1234 A.D.) was a Jurchen regime and Yuan (1280-1368 A.D.) was a Mongol government. The Chinese character for “Jin” is “gold”, although in Jurchen language it is “pressing the tiger out”, the name of the major river, reputedly a source of gold in their region.
The Chinese character for “yuan” is an image of a person – emphasis on the head – thus giving the meaning “chief”. According to the official history of the Yuan Dynasty, the dynastic name was derived from the Chinese ancient classic, “The Book of Changes” (or, “I-Ching”).
In “I-Ching”, the opening words of the Tuan commentary, on the meaning of the Qian diagram, say: “How great is the principal diagram Qian!” The Chinese Mongol government indeed commanded the strongest military force in the world at that time.
Although the head of a person has an important role it nevertheless occupies a comparatively small part of the body. In the same way the Yuan Dynasty, lasting less than 100 years, similarly played only a small part compared with the span of Chinese history.
Eventually, after numerous uprisings, the Dynasty was overthrown by a united effort led by a peasant who became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. And, the Chinese currency unit “yuan”, although the same character as the Yuan Dynasty, has in fact no link with the dynasty, it is simply because a head always appears on the currency.
The Bright Ming Dynasty
The peasant founder of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) increased his power and influence through being one of the leaders of a religious group, “White Lotus Sect”. In order to promote the idea of countering the darkness of the Yuan regime, the main decree of the “White Lotus Sect” was that “dark will be over and soon the light will come”.
Consequently, when the new government was formed, the word “bright”, i.e. “ming” in Chinese, was chosen to be the name of the Dynasty. The Chinese character for “ming” is a combination of the two characters “sun” and “moon”.
Clearly the Chinese Last Empire was Clear
The last dynasty in Chinese imperial history was a Jurchen (Manchurian) government, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 A.D.).
When another ethnic group, the Khitan, occupied part of China between 907AD and 1125AD, (during the Song Dynasty), the Jurchen were heavily oppressed by them. The name of the Khitan regime was “liao” which means “iron” in their language, although in Chinese it means “distant”, “faraway” or “spacious”.
The early Jurchen leaders compared their power to “gold” (i.e. Jin) implying, in so doing, that they were more powerful than iron. Later, they used “qing”, another word with a similar sound, to replace their old name “Jin”.
The Chinese character for “qing” is a combination of “water” and “green”, meaning “clarity”. It was said that the reason for the Jurchen to change their name from “gold” to “clarity” was to avoid any possible conflict between the Khitan and the Jurchen.
In the area of Chinese Arts or antiques, the Tang three-color potteries, the Song celadon or white ceramics, the Yuan paintings executed by literati scholars, the large-scale landscapes from the Ming Dynasty, or the many gardens in Suzhou and Hangzhou created during the Qing Dynasty are all widely appreciated and frequently praised.
Knowing the meaning of the dynasty names will greatly increase your enjoyment when you visit China or an exhibition of Chinese art.
Read more:
An Efficient Way to Learn the Chinese Language
Chinese Dynasty Names From Han to Sui
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