Chapter 33 Creation Origin and Postscript

The long history and culture are the eternal pride of the Chinese nation, and understanding the colorful history and culture is the inner emotion of every Chinese descendant.I have been interested in history since I was a child, and I have been thinking about writing a set of historical books from a non-academic perspective for a long time.Han, Tang, Song, and Ming are the four most prominent dynasties in Chinese history, and the Qing Dynasty after Ming can basically represent the entire process of Chinese history.Han, Tang, Song, and Ming, as the regimes governed by the Han people independently, can completely represent the peak state of Chinese history, politics, economy, and culture.

The Han Dynasty was the first foundation created by commoners in history. It established the main culture of Chinese feudal society, that is, the cultural system under the influence of Confucianism, which had a profound impact on the subsequent two thousand years of Chinese history.The prestige of the Han Dynasty began to rise during this dynasty, and even the country name of the Han Dynasty has continued to be a synonym for the Chinese until now. The Tang Dynasty was founded by the nobles of Longxi with ethnic minority blood. With a confident and open attitude, it achieved the glory of the pinnacle of feudal history. It once became the most powerful empire in the world at that time. Brilliant achievement.

The Song Dynasty was founded by military generals, but emphasized civility over military affairs. It made brilliant achievements in culture and economy, and became the era with the most developed economy and the most prosperous business in China's feudal dynasties.Such a glorious dynasty, but successively lost successively in the wars with Liao, Jin, Xixia, and Mongolia.At the end of the Song Dynasty, foreign aggression was the strongest, and it was always under the threat of foreigners. The Ming Dynasty was sandwiched between the Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, and between two non-Central Plains ethnic regimes, which itself had an eye-catching aspect.However, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was the most humble of all emperors. Although he started in grassland, he was familiar with politics and created the most authoritarian centralization in history. Followed by the Qing Dynasty, it has been effective for six hundred years.The most peculiar thing is that the vast majority of the sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty died before the age of forty, and most of them were licentious and funny, which was beyond the reach of all dynasties.

This book is a historical essay about the early Tang Dynasty. It selects 755 A.D., the turning point of the Tang Dynasty from its peak to its decline, and tells the story of the Tang Dynasty from the founding of the country to the rule of Zhenguan, and then to the prosperity of Kaiyuan, and reached the peak of the Chinese feudal dynasty. In its heyday, a great social turmoil rarely seen in history suddenly occurred—the Anshi Rebellion. As a result, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and it never recovered. This book is published simultaneously with the previously published "880 Years: Full of Golden Armor in the City" (Middle and Late Tang Dynasty), "1644: The Rise and Change of Chinese Dynasties" (Late Ming Dynasty), and "Song History Suspects: 960 to 1279" published simultaneously. "Two Years of Allusions to the Song Dynasty" (Song Dynasty), and the forthcoming Han Dynasty, Zhongming, etc., together constitute the "History Series of Han, Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties" jointly planned and conceived by Wenmaidang and me.

Under this general framework, I try to show the magnificence of the Han, Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties with a broader perspective. There are not only wonderful stories, but also the author's thinking about history and analysis of human nature. In the "History Series of Han, Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties", the perspectives of the main line are different, but I have been focusing on two points: one is the impact of human nature on history, and the other is the role of political and economic systems in the historical environment, why they exist, and why will crash. I am very grateful to my friends and readers for their long-term encouragement and help, which has enabled me, a history lover, to persevere on the difficult road of writing, and please continue to support me.

Wu Wei November 2006 in Beijing