Tibet
in Chinese history
In 1271, Kublai, a grandson of Genghis Khan,
conquered the Central Plain, founded the
Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), and made Dadu
(today's Beijing) the capital. Kublai wrote
finis to the centuries-long situation in
which many independent regimes existed side
by side, and formed a united country that
brought Xinjiang, Tibet and Yunnan under
its sway. During the Song-Yuan period, the
"four great inventions" in science
and technology of the Chinese people in
ancient times-papermaking, printing, the
compass and unpowder-were further developed,
and introduced to foreign countries, making
great contributions to world civilization.
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming
Dynasty (1368-1644) in Nanjing, reigning
as Emperor Taizu. When his son and successor
Zhu Di (r. 1360-1424) ascended the throne,
in 1360, he built and expanded the palaces,
temples, city walls and moat in Beijing
on a large scale. In 1421, he officially
moved the capital to Beijing. During his
reign, he dispatched a eunuch named Zheng
He to lead a fleet of many ships to make
seven far-ranging voyages. Passing the Southeast
Asian countries, the Indian Ocean, Persian
Gulf and Maldives Islands, Zheng He explored
as far as Somalia and Kenya on the eastern
coast of Africa. These were the largest-scale
and longest voyages in the world before
the age of Columbus
The Manchus of northeast China established
the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in 1644, under
the leadership of Nurhachi. Kangxi (r. 1661-1722)
was the most famous emperor of the Qing
Dynasty. He brought Taiwan under Qing rule,
and resisted invasions by tsarist Russia.
To reinforce the administration of Tibet,
he also formulated the rules and regulations
on the confirmation of the Tibetan local
leaders by the Central Government. He effectively
administered over 11 million sq km of Chinese
territory.
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