Читать книгу Asia Past and Present - Peter P. Wan - Страница 62

For close to four out of the next six centuries, Han Chinese would be under non‐Han rule: The Yuan Dynasty was Mongol, the Qing Dynasty was Manchu, and only the Ming Dynasty that came between was Han Chinese. Historically China’s troubles with non‐Han neighbors go back to at least 770 BCE, when the Zhou Dynasty moved its capital east to Luoyang, away from invading barbarians. The Han Dynasty also suffered the same humiliation, also relocating its capital eastward away from marauders. The Han Dynasty collapsed in large measure because it failed to deal with the northern frontier, and for the next 350 years China experienced invasions from the north. The reunification of the country by the Sui and Tang Dynasties required a strong military, but renegade generals became a domestic problem. To rein in the military meant sacrificing some of the nation’s ability to keep the northern frontier peoples in check. Accordingly, when the Song Dynasty came to power it never took control of the numerous frontier tribes. Eventually the Song retreated south and one of those tribes, the Mongols, swept the Song away.