Modern Chin The Republic Of China - 2233 Words

Modern China seems to us as a monolithic state. We simplify the different peoples and languages to one. The reality is more complicated though several provinces have semi-autonomous status and cities like Hong Kong and Macao have freedoms the rest of China does not. Recently Taiwan elected a pro independence party. Even though Taiwan is not part of the people s republic of China it has always maintained that it intended to be part of a democracy China. That is now put in doubt add to this some provinces wish to leave China and form their own countries. China is hardly breaking apart but it might help us to look at a different China than today s. After the fall of the mighty Han dynasty China entered an era of disunification. This time†¦show more content†¦The time frame is also easy to mark start and end with the rise and fall of the dynasty. Yet in the time following the Han and until the Sui there were only one dynasty that ruled all of China the Jin and it lasted only til l the death of its ruler. This has lead to the time period being given different names and boundaries. Some of the names used are the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Six Kingdom period. The former refers to the fact that this period saw China broken into a clear north and south division while the latter refers to the fact that this time period saw Six Dynasties controlling the southern part of the country. Others will divide the time period into three separate eras, these being the Three State or Kingdom Period, the Western Jin, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The first refers to the three kingdoms that formed after the fall of the Han also called the three kingdom period. The western Jin was the name of the brief uniting dynasty the eastern Jin lasted longer in the south but China was no longer unified. This Northern and Southern Dynasties refers strictly to time after the fall of the Jin until the rise of the Sui. I will use the term northern and southern dynastie s for the larger time period as I feel it would be improper for us to use the term Six Kingdom Period to refer to the north which ultimately reunified China. The physical boundaries of China changed rapidly during the northern and southern