Archive for category Person in History
Qin Shi Huang
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Notable Figures on July 13, 2010
Qin Shi Huang, (259BC ~ 210BC)，named Ying Zheng, was the first emperor of a unified China in Chinese history.
In 246 BC, at the age of 13, Ying Zheng ascended the throne of the State of Qin. During the period of 230BC to 221BC, Qin conquered all the other six states and unified the entire China. The Qin Dynasty (221BC ~ 206BC) was born, and had been the first centralized feudal monarchy country. Ying Zheng proclaimed himself Qin Shi Huang, which means the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty.
Qin Shi Huang is one of the greatest rulers in Chinese history. After the unification, he standardized the written script, the currency, weights and establishing a unified system of measures and weights. He also carried out a series of major economic and political reforms, such as building a massive national road system.
He did a lot to consolidate the regime and keep the stability of the society. He ordered to continue rebuilding the Great Wall to ward off invasion from the ethnic minority. In order to prohibit all heterodox thinking, he even gave the orders of the burning of booking and burying of scholars from the states other than the State of Qin.
Since the Qin Dynasty was built, Qin Shi Huang had been dreamed to be the emperor even after his death. So, the famous life-sized Terracotta Army had been built to guard his tomb. It is also known as the biggest military museums under the ground.
Shangguan Wan’er – First Female Premier in Chinese History
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Notable Figures on June 1, 2010
Shangguan Wan’er was one of the most famous female in ancient China. She was the granddaughter of Shangguan Yi, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty and the premier to Emperor Gaozong of Tang. She was also a writer, poet, and female politician of the Tang Dynasty, as well as an imperial concubine of Emperor Zhongzong.
She became the personal secretary of Wu Zetian, the first and the only female monarch in Chinese history, when she was 14. Later, she became the de facto Premier of the female monarch. For several decades, the destiny of the Tang Empire was in the hands of the two extraordinary women.
However, failed in the politics struggle, in 710 AD., she was killed by Li Longji, a grandson of Wu Zetian, in a palace coup. Her colorful life came to a tragic end at the age of 46.
Nevertheless, no one would deny her talents and after her death, Li ordered her poems to be compiled into a 20-volume anthology after her death.
Chen Yuanyuan
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Chinese Beauties on October 6, 2009
Chen Yuanyuan (1624–1681) was one of the most famous beauties in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. Originally, she was a famous courtesan. Then she was purchased by Tian Wan, the 60-year-old father of one of the emperor’s concubines. However, Wu Sangui, a famous general of the Ming imperial court, fell in love with her and married her later.
At that time, Wu was fighting with the Qing armies at Shanhai Fortress to prevent them from going inside China. However, Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, was fell to a rebel army led by Li Zicheng and Chen was brought to the palace as a gift to Li. Legend said that in order to rescue Chen, Wu opened the gate of Shanhai Fortress and led the Qing armies to the capital. At that time, Wu was regarded as the traitor due to his betrayal of the Ming Dynasty, while Chen was always compared to Helen of Troy.
In her late years Chen became a Taoist nun and spent the rest of her life in Yunnan province.
Wu Zetian- the Only Female Emperor in Chinese History
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Notable Figures on July 23, 2009
She was the concubine of two Emperors; she was the mother of the next two successive Emperors; she was once a nun. However, she was also the only female emperor in Chinese history. Her name was Wu Zetian, also known as Tian Hou or Empress Consort Wu in China.
She was born in 625 in a noble family. At the age of 14, she was selected as a concubine of Emperor Taizong. She didn’t become a favorite of the Emperor. However, she managed to catch the eye of Prince Li Zhi who later became Emperor Gaozong. After Taizong’s death, she was expected to spend the rest of life as a nun as other childless concubines. However, the new Emperor Gaozong soon had her back to the palace.
She was quite successful in the struggle in the palace and became the Empress of Gaozong. After Emperor Gaozong’s death, she grabbed the power from his son, the new Emperor Ruizong, and in 690, she had the Emperor yield the throne to her and established Zhou Dynasty.
As an emperor, she was quite successful. The measures she took greatly improved agriculture production. A large number of talented people, regardless of their family status, had been appointed as officials. However, she was also condemned for her bad behaviors, such as killing her sons and baby daughters to achieve political aims.
Dragon Lady-Empress Dowager Cixi
Posted by ancient chinese culture in Chinese Beauties on June 27, 2009
Empress Dowager Cixi, also known as the West Dowager Empress in China, is one of the most powerful women in Chinese history. Actually, she was the de facto ruler of Qing Dynasty for nearly half a century, from 1861 to her death in 1908.
Empress Dowager Cixi – Bio
In 1835, Cixi, surnamed Yehe Nala, was born in an ordinary official family.
In 1851, she was selected as one of the Xianfeng Emperor’s concubines and later was promoted to “Gui Ren”, the concubine of the fifth rank.
In 1856, after her son, as the only male heir of the Xianfeng Emperor, reached his first birthday, she obtained an elevation to “Noble Imperial Consort Yi”, the rank second only to the Empress.
In 1861, Emperor Xianfeng died and Cixi’s son became the new Emperor as Emperor Tongzhi. Cixi was honored as Holy Mother Empress Dowager and began her “rule behind the curtain”.
In 1862, she was crowned Empress Dowager Cixi by Emperor Tongzhi.
In 1874, Emperor Tongzhi died. Cixi’s nephew was selected to be the heir – Emperor Guangxu. She continued her ruling behind the curtain.
In 1889, Cixi retired to a summer home Peking and left the government up to the Emperor.
In 1898, Cixi returned to the throne and reinstated her power over the Emperor to stop the new Emperor’s reform.
On November 15th of 1908, Empress Dowager Cixi died.
In the Qing Dynasty and even Chinese history, Cixi is among one of the most influential people. She had great political ability and quite good at strategies.
However, she was considered as the main cause of the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the villain who should be responsible for the fall of China to foreign powers.
If you want to know more about her, I suggest you to watch a film named The Burning Of Imperial Palace.
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