Celestial Empire Analysis

The History of the Celestial Empire

1.1. Overview

The history of China is vast. Its empire stretching across 2 millennia, while its culture stretches a

further 5 millenia. Without a doubt, it is safe to say that China is one of the longest living

civilisation-states in all of human history. Most of us, however, are living in shades of ignorance

as we continue to ignore the unprecedented accomplishments made by China, shadowed by

stereotypes and prejudices. Many might think that China is “rising” to superpower, however this

is a gross understatement, as described by the Chinese people, it is instead returning to its natural

order. This is because, for the much of the past 2 thousand years, China has been the de-facto

superpower of the
Prior to the inception of the Han Chinese culture, people in that region were nomads until a

group of people known as “Huaxia” ( to signify a grand or illustrious civilisation ) became aware

of the necessity of a civilised culture for the betterment of living and started a reform. This

concept quickly transformed the people in that region, marking the birth of the Chinese culture.

As the culture spread, so did the empire. Many innovations were made during the Ancient

Chinese era, so much so that it was far ahead of any other civilisation at the time.

1.3. Influence

As a superpower of the ancient ages, it wasn’t for a doubt that other civilised states looked up to

China. At the heights of its global presence, China had established a tributary system which was

system that was to have foreign states to recognize the Chinese cultural superiority and the

Chinese emperor along with paying a tributary to the empire in-order to gain access to Chinese

trades. Participating countries included the Malayan Kingdoms( Kedah Kingdom, Kelantan,

Malacca Sultanate), Korea, Ryukyu Kingdom(Japan), Netherlands, England, Siam(Thailand)
Countries in this region were heavily influenced by the Chinese state, at which they had

undergone an extensive adoption of the Chinese culture, which is known as Sinification.

1.3.1 Korea

Korea’s ancient kingdom was conquered in the Han Dynasty and so began the first-wave

of Sinification. Through this was where Buddhism was introduced along with the

emulation of Chinese-writing into the Korean language. Confucian classics were also

offered in universities which essentially implanted the “heart” of Chinese culture into the

Korean’s. Following the Tang dynasty, military were removed from Korean in favor of

having Korea as a vessel-state (in the tributary system) to reduce administrative burden.

At the same time period, Chinese-culture was further brought in by the Korean leaders to

emulate Tang China’s progress vis-a- vis to their impressed outlook of Tang China’s

economic success.

1.3.2 Vietnam

During the Han Dynasty, Vietnam was invaded by force. It was the goal of the Han

empire to have the Viets to assimilate into the Chinese culture in order to expand it’s

empire. However, unlike the Koreans, the Viets however, did not willingly