Chinese History

Effective family history research requires some understanding of the historical events that may have affected your family and the records. Learning about wars, governments, laws, migrations, and religious trends may help you understand political boundaries, family movements, and settlement patterns. These events may have led to the creation of records such as land or military documents that mention your family.

You will better understand the lives of your ancestors if you use histories to learn about the events in which they may have participated. For example, by using a history you might learn about the events that occurred in the year your great-grandparents were married.

Brief History of China
Not much is known about the first Chinese dynasty - Xia. Until fairly recently, most historians thought it was a myth. But archeological records have proven its existence. What little is known indicates that the Xia had descended from a wide-spread Yellow River valley Neolithic culture known as the Longshan culture. They were famous for their black-lacquered pottery. Even though no known examples of Xia-era writing survive, they almost certainly had a writing system that was a precursor of the Shang dynasty's "oracle bones."

The second Chinese dynasty is the Shang dynasty. They were the most advanced bronze-working civilization in the world, and they provide the earliest and most complete record of Chinese writing.

The Shang were quite possibly the most blood-thirsty pre-modern civilization and were fond of human sacrifice. The dynasty had an unusual system of succession. Instead of a patrilineal system where power was passed from father to son, the kingship passed from elder brother to younger brother. When there were no more brothers, then the succession went to the oldest maternal nephew.

The Western Zhou dynasty succeeded the Shang. They used a father-to-son succession system and did not continue human sacrifice. The Zhou did not rule all of what was then China, which was made up of a number of quasi-independent principalities at that time. The Zhou were the most powerful principality and were located in the middle of the principalities. This gave rise to the term "The Middle Kingdom," which the Chinese call their country. The Zhou were able to maintain peace and stability through their method of rule. In 771 BC, the capital was sacked by barbarians from the west.

After the capital was sacked, the Zhou moved east and effectively divided the dynasty into eastern and western periods.

China Timeline
The Chinese do not appear to have a world view for the idea of independent, equal nations. There is the rest of the world, and then there is China. It is not that they reject the idea of a community of nations; it is that they cannot conceive of it.

Online Histories

 * "History of China," English wiki entry
 * "中国历史," Chinese wiki entry
 * History of China website
 * "中國歷史年表," an interactive timeline
 * An Outline History of China, a Google eBook, published in 1917
 * 最新中國歷史敎科書, a Google eBook, published in 1905
 * 普通教科東國歷史, a Google ebook, published in 1899
 * A History of China, from the Earliest Days Down to the Present, a Google eBook, published in 1897
 * The General History of China, a Google eBook, published in 1751

Brief History of Hong Kong
Hong Kong (香港; "Fragrant Harbour") is an autonomous region on the southern coast of China and is geographically bounded by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea.

What is now known as Hong Kong was incorporated into China during the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), and the area was firmly consolidated as part of China under Nanyue (203 BC – 111 BC.) Archaeological evidence suggests that the population started increasing during Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220) and has continued to date.

Its harbor, Victoria harbor, is one of the best natural harbors in the world, and was particularly suited to the trading requirements of wind driven vessels.

Following what became known as the Opium Wars, Hong Kong Island and the outlying islands, as well as the Kowloon Peninsula as far north as Boundary Street, were ceded in perpetuity to Great Britain. Later the New Territories from Boundary Street to the Mainland Border were leased to great Britain on a 100 year lease.

Hong Kong's population is 93.6% ethnic Chinese and 6.4% from other groups. These other groups include Indians, and a large group of expatriate Westerners. Hong Kong's Cantonese-speaking majority originated primarily from the neighboring Guangdong province, from which many Mainland Chinese fled to escape wars and communist rule in mainland China from the 1930s to 1960s. At that time, after the cessation of hostilities from WWII, the border between the New Territories and Mainland China was famously porous. Millions fled to Hong Kong for freedom.

As a result of ongoing negotiations between, and the 1984 agreement between China and Britain, Hong Kong was handed over to the People's Republic of China and became China's first Special Administrative Region on 1 July 1997 under the principle of "one country, two systems". However the actual implementation of this principle has been fraught with problems, with the two sides having differing opinions as to what is meant by democratic freedom.

The roots of Hong Kong’s legal system can be traced back to the English legal system and it has evolved over the years. Hong Kong's sources of law are derived from the residual British system, augmented by legislation, subsidiary legislation (e.g. Rules and Regulations etc) and judge-made law.

Hong Kong is one of the major business and banking centers of the world, and acts as a financial bridge between Mainland China and the West. As such, it is also one of the 5 top trans-shipping ports in the world.

Links to Web Resources

 * Britannica Hong Kong History
 * [ht1997tp://www.infoplease.com/country/hong-kong.html Hong Kong Maps, History, Geography, Government, Culture, etc.]
 * Culture of Hong Kong

Brief History of Taiwan
Taiwan was historically called Formosa until recent times.

The island of Taiwan (formerly known as "Formosa") was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines until the Dutch and Spanish settlement during the Age of Discovery in the 17th century, when Han Chinese began immigrating to the island.

The Qing dynasty of China later defeated all the local kingdoms and annexed Taiwan. By the time Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895, the majority of Taiwan's inhabitants were Han Chinese either by ancestry or by assimilation.

After Japan's surrender in 1945, the Republic of China (ROC) assumed its control of Taiwan.

Following the defeat of the nationalists on the mainland, the ROC relocated its government to Taiwan, and its jurisdiction became limited to Taiwan and its surrounding islands.

Taiwna - Economy
Prior to WWII, Taiwan had a largely agrarian economy. However the war caused major damage to all areas of the country, as far as its ability to sustain itself.

By 1945, hyperinflation was in progress in mainland China and Taiwan as a result of the war with Japan. To isolate Taiwan from it, the Nationalist government created a new currency area for the island, and began a price stabilization program. These efforts significantly slowed inflation.

In 1950, with the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States began an aid program which resulted in fully stabilized prices by 1952.[180] Economic development was encouraged by American economic aid and programs such as the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, which turned the agricultural sector into the basis for later growth. Under the combined stimulus of the land reform and the agricultural development programs, agricultural production increased at an average annual rate of 4 per cent from 1952 to 1959, which was greater than the population growth.

In 1962, Taiwan had a (nominal) per-capita gross national product (GNP) of $170, placing its economy on a par with those of Zaire and Congo.

Today Taiwan has a dynamic, capitalist, export-driven economy with gradually decreasing state involvement in investment and foreign trade. In keeping with this trend, some large government-owned banks and industrial firms are being privatized.

Taiwan has had a real growth in GDP of about 8% per year over the last 25 years, making it a truly economic miracle and an example of what a democratic, capital driven economy can achieve.