ABSTRACT
China represents one of the earliest origins of world civilization. The culture is known by various expressions, including “Huaxia” and “Shenzhou,” which refer in particular to a “cultural space.” Cultural sources of what we think of today as China stretch back in an unbroken lineage for over 5,000 years. They manifest the glories and also the vicissitudes of an ancient land. In about the second century BCE, China became a unified and centralized imperial state, composed of many ethnic groups and enjoying a wealth of diverse cultures. By about the first century AD, China had grown into one of the most developed countries in the world at that time. In the thirteenth century, China reached its apogee in terms of being one of the most prosperous cultures and flourishing trade centers in the world. At the end of the fifteenth century, emerging European powers began to expand eastward, whereas China was on the decline. The Opium War that broke out in 1840 marked the beginning of China’s forced decline into semi-colonial status, as it came under the domination of Western capitalist countries. The 1911 revolution put an end to more than 2,000 years of what had been feudal rule governed by an imperial system. It established the political structure of a republic, but the country continued to suffer from both civil war and war against foreign powers. The founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 was symbolic of the fact that the Chinese people had finally overthrown a long rule that included imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic-capitalism. Over one hundred years of struggle had resulted in the victory of a “new democratic revolution” and the start of an entirely new era. The drive to “reform and open up” China, which began in 1978, has achieved notable success in this ancient nation. In a mere thirty years, a weak and impoverished country on the brink of collapse has become the fourth largest economy in the world. The needs of the Chinese people, in terms of well-being and ongoing economic growth, have been satisfied to an unprecedented degree. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is being realized.
