CHINA HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL

                                    A Very Long History

    

     China is an awesome country with a 5000-year history--a big country, unpredictable and full of contrasts. China’s 4 million square miles ranks it the third largest country in the world in size after Russia and Canada. The bridging of many centuries has produced a unique and colorful collage of diverse people, different generations, and contrasting levels of technology. Often referred to as communism with a capitalist face, it is a country going through many changes and social growing pains. The ‘new China’ is emerging through a synthesis of the old and new.

    Today China is home to more than a billion people, roughly 22% of the world’s population. They call themselves Han, and they make up 92% of the population. The official language is Mandarin, although Cantonese, Yue, Wu, Haka, Xiang, GanMinbei, and Minnan are also spoken. Today China is considered to be a developing nation, and a poor country in terms of per capita income and quality of life.We are talking people here. City populations are in the millions---everywhere! Most cities are chaotic, congested, and polluted. The people were interesting, and generally friendly, but most often quite naïve about the outside world. Eighty percent of the 50 million visitors a year to China are overseas Chinese returning to visit relatives.

    The Himalayas on the China-India border are the world’s highest mountains. More than two-thirds of China’s land area is mountainous or desert, only ten percent of the land is arable! Since it is an agricultural society that might tell you where populations live. China shares its borders with 16 countries. Korea is on the northeast, Mongolia and Siberia on the north, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal on the west, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam on the south. China’s 14,500 kilometers of coastline make it the worlds longest.

Ancient History:

Archeological records show a highly developed civilization in the area known as China dating back to 4000 BC suggesting that Chinese people have shared a common culture longer than any other people on earth.

China’s first dynasty, the Shang, is believed to have been established in 1800 BC. At that time the country was split into feudal states, although the King was recognized for his ritual role. The Shang kings called themselves Sons of Heaven.

Power was dispersed among feudal lords, and warring between feudal states was common. The peasants owned the land on which they farmed but owed military service to the nobles. As in all agricultural societies, the family was the dominant social unit.

Around 400 BC a new class of learned men began to form and gave rise to what is referred to as the Classic Age of Chinese thought. Confucius, the most famous of these men, asserted that social harmony depends on each individual understanding and acting in accordance with his ‘station in life’. Confucius’ teachings had great influence on China’s development over the next 2000 years. The strict ethical system, more than anything else, provided the basis for the long-standing unity of the Chinese people and the relative stability of the dynastic system of government for centuries.

About the same time Taoism promoted the concepts of inner peace and harmony with nature. Practitioners sought mystical knowledge through meditation, and Taoism was embraced my millions of Chinese.

Around the first century BC, Buddhism, which originated in India, found its way to China. Confucianism and Taoism were pretty much ethical guides while Buddhism was the proper religion. To the Buddhist follower life goes on in a series of reincarnations.

The first empire was established in 221 BC. Called Ch’in, it differed from past dynasties in that one emperor ruled over a unified China. The first emperor, Shih Huang Ti, centralized political power and standardized language, laws, weights, measures, and coinage. During the few years of his dynasty he suppressed learning and tried to destroy most religious texts.

The Han rose to power in 202 BC, and the next four centuries were a time of great historical significance. The Han instituted the ‘Mandarin Bureaucracy’, a merit system by which local officials were selected based on knowledge of the Confucian classics. China’s first university was founded, and a new emphasis on learning and education gave rise to an age of great scientific discovery and artistic accomplishment. The people remained mainly agricultural, and Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism remained the prevailing philosophical and ethical guides.Although specific imperial dynasties came in and out of power, the structure of the imperial dynastic system, with administrative divisions and central bureaucracies, remained in tact until the early 20^th century.

GROS MORNE NATIONAL PARK

A Huge  Park

To get to Gros Morne Nnational Park we traveled through dense pine and spruce forest for miles and miles with lots of water, lakes, streams and rivers along the way. I had wanted to visit this park for a long time but it is nor easy to get there, so I was happy to finally have found a way without having to rent a car and make the long drive to the west part of the province.

Originally the forest came to the road edge, but because moose were such a problem, the forest was cut back ten meters on each side of the highway. Driving at night is not recommended as roads are winding, do not have shoulders, are unlighted, and most often do not have outside lines and faint middle lane lines. Plentiful moose add to the driving hazard.

Gros Morne National Park, Canada’s largest National Park, was established in 1973 and given a UNESCO designation in 1987. The terrain is varied and extensive. Geologists from all over the world visit to study different geological forces. It is an area of great beauty with a rich variety of scenery, wildlife and recreational areas. The vast park encompasses western highlands, coastal lowlands, mountains, fjords, valleys, deep glacial lakes, coastal bogs, towering wave carved cliffs, waterfalls, marine inlets, sea stacks, sandy beaches, tundra-like plateaus, grasslands and the spectacular Tablelands and the wondrous Arches. Natural forces of glaciers and shifting continental plates have shaped and formed a landscape creating mountains ten times older than the Canadian Rockies. Colorful fishing villages dot the landscape. There are spectacular views from all over the park.

During our 2-3 day stay in the park area I had a chance to hike several paths along the water’s edge to view the rocky coastline. We visited Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse. The 115 ft high white, conical cast iron tower was automated in 1969. The lighthouse marking the approach to Rocky Harbor and the entrance to Bonne Bay since 1897 is maintained by the Canadian Coast Guard.

The lighthouse houses a small but nice museum. The seasonal fishing for salmon and cod by Europeans in the 1800s led to the growth of communities. The rapid changes of the 20th century have shifted lifestyles away from the sea and lessened dependence on its resources.

Broom Point juts raggedly into the Gulf of St. Lawrence like a worn version of its namesake. The marine mammals, birds and fish of the cold Gulf waters have attracted people to the area for 2300 years.

Joining us a Parks Canada guide told us, “The three Mudge brothers and their families fished from this site from 1941-1975. The family sold the property to the park and have helped to restore the buildings and return the inside of the home with its original furnishings.”

In the shed close to the water’s edge he explained the dory and demonstrated how a lobster trap works. There were no roads into this area until the 1940s, so everything had to be brought in by boat. The brothers fished for cod, lobster and salmon. The cod was cut, salted, and dried on the rocks. Every night, and when rain threatened, the cod had to be stacked in piles and then sheltered. If cod was dried on racks then the racks can be picked up and stacked, but there is no sand so the Mudge brothers just used the clean rocks for drying.

It was hard to imagine moving hundreds of pounds of fish frequently. The whole family was involved in the process. The salmon was canned on the premises and the guide demonstrated how that was done including the hand crimping of the can lids after three hours of boiling. It was another labor intensive job!

After the road arrived in 1959 people could come and pick up the fish so it could be processed elsewhere.

The wind was rather chilly so it was nice to get out of the cold wind into the small warm house when the guide invited us to enter. A fire was burning in the cast iron wood stove. The guide continued, “Ten people lived in this house every year from April to September.” The old iron beds didn’t look very comfortable but I bet they wee so tired they slept well anyway! The guide continued saying, “In the winter the brothers worked as lumberjacks.”

On a clear sunny one we took the BonTour ferry from Norris Point across Bonne Bay to Woody Point. Spots of snow were visible on the Tablelands. As we drove to the ferry I noted the small town had a hospital and three doctors.

The ferry captain said over the loud speaker, “The mountains in Gros Morne are only 7000-7500 feet tall. Gros Morne itself is only 830 meters (932 feet). Note that the mountains do not have peaks but are rounded. Only young mountains have pointed peaks.

“Bonne Bay is 750-800 feet deep and nearly that much more glacier silt sits on the bottom. Many war ships came into the bay During WW II. Ten-mile Pond is only seven miles long but is so named because it was ten miles from the trapper’s home. Pretty logical a long time ago, if you think about it. The mountains here average 40 feet of snow a year and the lower land half that much.”

Bald eagles were flying overhead. Snow crab buoys bobbed in the harbor. Apparently kayaking is a popular sport and several kayakers were paddling around in the water enjoying the nice day.

At the new Discovery Center our Park Canada guide was waiting us. The street level of the center has a museum with informative displays. The upper deck had a wonderful terrace for whale watching. The guide took us on a loop trail where we started out on what was an old partially paved narrow road. The six foot wide road soon narrowed and then turned into a Parks Canada foot path. Stopping often she pointed out and identified some small plant. The last plant was the pitcher plant that eats bugs. It was a pretty plant and one I’d love to try to grow. At the barren Tablelands she explained how they came to be, adding, “The Tablelands plateau has some of the oldest rocks in the world, a real geological rarity.” It was a most enjoyable visit with delightful sunny weather.