China?s civilization is very ancient. Its earliest history is tells of legendary emperors who ruled over China from the beginning of the world and taught the people agriculture, arts, crafts and the manners of civilization. (Fitzgerald 14) The religion of the earliest Chinese people involved the worship of the forces of nature, especially the powers of the Earth and the Sky. Fitzgerald 35) Ancestor worship was also a very important part of their religion. The people felt that, by making sacrifices and worshipping their a

After the fall of the T?ang dynasty, the Chinese government was in turmoil for about fifty years. Finally, in 960, the Sung dynasty came to power. The Chinese people were now very aware that they shared a common cultural and racial identity and were glad to be reunited under a central government and have peace in the country. The biggest threat to the peace were the nomadic invaders who lived to the north. Their raids ruined the north west of China and destroyed the overland trade route to the west. By the end of the twelfth century, the invaders had conquered and settled in northern China and were being assimilated by the Chinese people. Finally, in 1206, a new leader, Genghis Khan, became the Great Khan of the Mongol tribes. A conqueror and a destroyer, he and his warriors overran and destroyed much of the civilization and many of the people of western Asia and northwest China. The center and south of China were spared from destruction but were forced to pay huge tributes to the Mongols. Kublai Khan died in 1227, but the conquest of China continued. In 1279, a new Mongol dynasty, the Yuan dynasty, was on the throne in China. The rulers turned out to be brutal, corrupt and weak. In 1368 a rebellion led by the founder of the Ming dynasty drove the Mongols out of China. (Fitzgerald 423-438)

3. Cleary, Thomas F. the Essential Confucius: The Heart of Confucius? Teachings in Authentic I Ching Order. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.

As Buddhism increased in popularity, the Buddhist monasteries became wealthy and powerful forces in the country. In the late 16th century, Nobunaga, one of the early Japanese warlords, attacked the Buddhist monasteries and destroyed Buddhism as a political force, though not as a religion. He also allowed Christian missionaries to come into the country beginning about 1548, and many Japanese were converted to Christianity.

The wisdom of Confucius and of the Confucian philosophers and scholars was of enormous benefit to China and to the entire eastern world that was influenced by the Chinese government. The Confucian philosophy of government helped to create a strong central government for China, with an educated body of government officials to help control and run the government. Confucianism was important both in helping the Chinese maintain a strong and stable central government and in creating a homogeneous civilization throughout the empire. The success of Confucianism can be measured in the long, peaceful and advanced civilization that resulted from it. It can also be measured in the fact that Japan was able to set up a strong central government based on the Confucian system of government of China, and, because of its central government, was able to become strong. The drawback of Confucianism is one of the things that made it so strong - the insistence on respect for all traditional learning. In China, scholars learned only the classical literature. New scientific thought was not accepted. But in Japan, where the rulers realized the importance of the scientific lessons of the west, the country was able to become a world power.

9. Wu, John C. H. ?Chinese Legal and Political Philosophy.? The Chinese Mind: Essentials of Chinese Philosophy and Culture. Charles A. Moore, ed. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1967. 213 - 237.

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