How Information Works

I wonder if a good way to illustrate how my theory of information works, as described in the compound posting on this blog "The Theory Of Complexity", is just to use a few examples that everyone will be able to relate to.

There is information in everything. This theory is not the same thing as the cosmology theory, "The Theory Of Stationary Space", or the theory of how information flows through the universe, from the lowest to the highest levels, "The Flow Of Information Through The Universe". The primary points of this theory are as follows:

1) Energy and information are really the same thing because we cannot add information to anything without applying energy to it, and we cannot apply energy to anything without adding information to it. Another way we see that energy and information is really the same thing is how we can make our lives physically easier, meaning less expenditure of energy, by way of technology, but only at the expense of making life more complex. We can never, on a large scale, make life both physically easier and also less complex. This shows that energy and information (complexity) is interchangeable, meaning that they must be different forms of the same thing.

2) The complexity of a number is equal to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio. Whole numbers are all equal in complexity because 48 and 2 are really 48 / 1 and 2 / 1, the denominators are both 1.

3) Surface area is information. A sphere has the lowest surface area per volume of any three-dimensional geometric form, this means that it is the lowest information state. It is also the lowest energy state, which is why planets and stars tend to form spheres. But this should not be surprising, because energy and information is really the same thing.

Here are ten examples, that will be familiar to just about everyone, which show how this theory of information works.

1) GEARS

Distance is information because it has the potential to hold information. If you define a line and then put a marker somewhere on that line, then that is information based on the pattern that I refer to as "The One And The Many". The longer the line is, the more potential places on that line the marker could have been placed. Since the position of the marker on the line is information, the longer the line the more information there is.

We can apply this concept of distance being information to a set of two interconnected gears. Suppose that we draw a line across both gears at the point where the two intersect. Then we begin turning a handle on one of the gears so that both gears turn. There is information in how long we have to turn the gears before they get back to the starting point, with the mark that was originally drawn across the two gears lining up again.

This arrangement of gears illustrates my concept of the complexity of a number, which is the same as the information within it, being equal to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio. The angular distance, which is information, that the gears have to turn before they get back to the original line-up depends on the value of the denominator in the ratio of the two gears, reduced to it's lowest form.

If the two gears are identical, with the same number of teeth, this will be the lowest information state because the two will pass the original line-up on every turn.

If one gear has twice as many teeth as the other then this will be the next lowest information state, with a ratio of 1 / 2. The larger gear will have to turn once and the smaller one twice to reach the original line-up.

If the two gears have a tooth ratio of 7 / 15, that will give us the 15th lowest information state, which we could just call a value of 15. The smaller gear will have to turn 15 times to reach the starting point again, while the larger one will have to turn 7 times.

But if we use a ratio of 9 / 15, that will be a lower information state due to divisibility. 9 and 15 can both be divided by 3 so that the ratio of the gears is really 3 / 5, for a value of 5.

2) THE CIRCLE

A circle, in two dimensions, or a sphere, in three dimensions, is defined as a polygon with an infinite number of sides. Since my definition of the complexity of a number is the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or a ratio. That would make it seem as if the circle was of infinite complexity, since it has an infinite number of sides.

But this is a reflection of the two-dimensional circle, compared with a one-dimensional line. If we wanted to get perfectly accurate, there would indeed be an infinite number of different diameters by which a line could cross a circle. This is reflected in the value of pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter.

Pi can indeed be taken to an infinite number of decimal places. Computers have calculated it into millions of digits. I can remember it to 3.1415927.

But if a circle has an infinite number of infinitesimal sides, how do we express that as a ratio, since my information theory defines the complexity of a number as the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or a ratio?

There is one simple way to express infinity, and it is as a ratio. Just have a denominator of zero and a whole number, 1 will do just fine, as the numerator. Infinity then is simply 1 / 0, since an infinite number of zeroes can fit into 1.

But since the complexity of a number is equal to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio, and infinity is expressed as 1 / 0, that means that infinity must have a complexity of zero.

Indeed it does, simply because it is a descriptive term that doesn't really mean anything. If someone asks how high numbers go, and we answer to infinity, that is not really giving a definitive answer.

But what that means is that a circle, once it has been defined as a circle, and it's diameter or circumference is not relevant, actually has zero complexity or zero information. The reason that a sphere is the default gravitational state of matter in the universe is that it is the lowest energy state of all geometric forms. Since energy and information is really the same thing, that must mean that it has the lowest information state.

Of all geometric forms the circle, in two dimensions, or the sphere, in three dimensions, does have the lowest surface area per are or volume. Surface area is information because it has the potential to hold information. If it holds no information then that information is simply zero.

Given that the circle or sphere exists, from that point a smooth sphere or a perfect circle can be said to have zero information because it does have the potential to hold information. Information and complexity are the same thing, complexity is the volume of information. This shows my concept that the complexity of a number is equivalent to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio. A circle is defined as a polygon with an infinite number of sides and infinity is defined as 1 / 0.

3) HOT AND COLD

The temperature of two objects in contact tends to even itself out, seeking one consistent value. If a hot object and a cold object are brought together, the hot object will become colder and the cold one hotter, until they reach the same temperature. In terms of energy, heat energy flows from the hot to the cold object until an equilibrium is reached.

Having the two objects at different temperatures is a higher information state than having them at one temperature. That is simply because two pieces of information contain more information than one piece. Since the universe seeks the lowest energy state, and we know that energy and information is really the same thing, heat energy will flow from the hotter to the colder object until they reach the same temperature.

Even though the overall energy state of the two objects remains the same presuming, of course, that the energy lost to the air by the hot object was exactly equal to the energy absorbed by the cold object from the air, the information state does not. One value is less than two so the universe seeks not only the lowest energy state, but also the even distribution of that energy.

4) EQUILIBRIUM

We know that the universe seeks the lowest energy state, because there is not enough energy to go around for all that could happen to happen. But if energy and information are really the same thing then it should also seek the lowest information state.

This is why the universe seeks to come to an equilibrium, because it is a lower information state than a disequilibrium. The complexity of a number is defined as the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio. An equilibrium would be represented by a ratio of 1 / 1. A disequilibrium would be represented by a value of 1 / (something other than 1).

Thus the universe prefers an equilibrium because it is the lowest information state that can be reached. A star is such an equilibrium between the outward pressure of the energy released by nuclear fusion and the inward pull of gravity.

5) A SHARP KNIFE AND A DULL KNIFE

It takes less energy to cut something with a sharp knife than it does with a dull knife. But a sharp knife is a higher state of information than a dull knife. Remember my concept that the complexity of a number is not the value of a whole number but the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio. A higher whole number does not have a higher complexity than a lower one simply because the denominator of any whole number is really 1. The number 45 is actually 45 / 1.

On a sharp knife, the edge of the blade may be only 1 / 500 the overall width of the blade. On a dull knife, the edge of the blade may be 1 / 100 the overall width of the blade. This means that a sharp knife actually holds more information than a dull knife because there is more possibilities of where the edge of the blade could possibly have been located.

When we cut something, the edge of the blade of the sharp knife likewise represents a higher ratio to the scale of the object or material being cut than the edge of the blade of the dull knife.

This higher ratio of the sharp knife is complexity, and thus information, because complexity is the volume of information. My information theory has energy and information really being the same thing. Since the sharp knife starts out with more information than the dull knife, and that energy and information is really the same thing, that is why it takes less energy to cut something with a sharp knife than it does with a dull knife.

6) COMMUNICATION

One thing that is special about humans, and other species that have the ability to communicate, is that, with energy and information really being the same thing, we can communicate the information in something with far less energy than that which is equal to the mass-energy equivalence and other energy within the object.

In the universe of inanimate matter, there is no such thing as communicating information. Everything that exists is information, but the only place that information is located is in the object itself. The information in a planet, for example, is equal to the energy in the planet, both the mass-energy equivalence of the planet, as well as any other inherent energy such as gravitational kinetic energy.

But humans can describe the planet, or any other object, with far less energy than what is in the object itself. This is done by such means as words, illustrations or, photographs.

Part of the reason that we can do this is that we can generalize and see patterns in the object that is the subject of the communication. We do not need to describe every atom in the object, only what material it is made of. All of the information about the object does not have to be conveyed, only that which is relevant and necessary.

The universe of inanimate matter has no ability to do any of this. Energy is really the same thing as information but the only source of that is the energy in the object itself. There is no way to separate the energy from the information in the object.

But humans are far more complex than the inanimate matter in the universe that they inhabit. Humans are made of the same kind of matter, but with far more information per energy than inanimate matter. This extra information exists in the extremely complex organization of matter in the human body and brain.

The result is similar in nature to the example of the sharp knife requiring less energy to make a cut than with the dull knife. Since humans contain far more information per energy than inanimate matter to begin with, we can describe the universe around us with a far higher rate of information per energy, that is a reflection of our own higher complexity.

The factor that makes the difference is how much more complex human beings are, relative to an equivalent mass of inanimate matter. Remembering that information and energy is really the same thing, it is not actually that humans need much less energy to communicate an equivalent amount of information then inanimate matter, it is just that the information, which is really the same thing as energy, is within us already.

Since a human being is so much more complex, containing more information, than an equivalent amount of inanimate matter, the human being is like a sharp knife while the inanimate matter is like a dull knife. Since we already contain more information, we have to expend less information to convey information to another human being than inanimate matter does.

But this can only be done by way of codes that we use, such as language or mathematics, which inanimate matter cannot use. With inanimate matter, the only information about something is the thing itself. Humans have to be able to use codes to convey information to each other, with far less energy than with inanimate matter, because of the higher complexity of humans. The missing energy, of which information is the same thing, is already present in humans, just as the higher information of the sharp knife is already present in the higher denominator of it's ratio.

It doesn't really take less energy for humans to convey information by language than by inanimate matter. It is just that energy is really the same thing as information and the higher level of information is already present in humans.

But if we use physical strength to move inanimate matter then we are not making use of this higher complexity and must "play by the same rules" as inanimate matter.

7) FUEL

Hydrocarbon fuels consist of long chains of molecules primarily hydrogen and carbon, hence the name. Each molecule is a system of atoms. What I mean by that is each atom in the molecule has an electrical relationship with each other atom. These interrelationships between atoms in the same molecule are information.

When hydrocarbon fuel undergoes combustion, the long molecules are broken apart by heat into many smaller molecules. Since the atoms in each molecule have an electrical relationship with one another that is information, that must mean that there is less information in the many small molecules that are the products of the combustion than there were in the original large molecules.

There are the same number of atoms in the product molecules after the combustion as there were in the original larger molecules, but fewer total electrical interrelationships between atoms in the same molecule.

Suppose that there is a molecule with 8 atoms, with each atom having an electrical interrelationship with every other atom in the molecule. This means a total of 56 interrelationships.

Now suppose that we split the molecule in half, so that we get two molecules with four atoms each. Even though we still have the same number of atoms as before we now have only 24 interrelationships, 12 in each molecule.

These interrelationships between atoms in a molecule are information. When a large molecule is split, the information cannot just be lost. Remember that information is really the same thing as energy, because we cannot apply energy to anything without adding information to it and cannot add information to anything without applying energy to it.

So the information of the interrelationships between atoms in the molecule are released as energy, and that is why we burn fuels for energy.

8) STATES OF MATTER

Hydrocarbon fuels consist of polymers, which are large molecules composed of long chains of atoms. There is energy in these molecular bonds and that energy is released when the molecule is broken apart by heat.

But that brings us to a question. Water also consists of long chains of molecules. Each water molecule is individual, consisting of one hydrogen atom and two hydrogen atoms. But the way the hydrogen atoms bond to the much-larger oxygen atom leaves the water molecule with a polarity. This means that one side of the molecule is more negatively-charged and the other side more positively-charged.

The result is that many water molecules line up, negative to positive, in what is known as hydrogen bonding. The result of this is liquid water. Individual water molecules will form a gas, water vapor.

This is what causes weather. Water is actually lighter than air, by molecule. But when many water molecules join together by hydrogen bonding the result is liquid water which, at sea level, is 800 times as heavy as air. This makes it so that water evaporates as vapor but falls as rain after the molecules have bonded together on condensation nuclei in clouds.

These differences are known as states of matter. Ordinary matter has three possible states: solid, liquid and, gas. The difference is in heat. Molecules move around faster when there is more heat. That makes it more difficult for them to bond together by hydrogen bonding and the heat can break existing hydrogen bonds. if the temperature gets cold enough, cross-link bonding can form between atoms in adjacent lines of water molecules. That turns water into it's solid form, which is ice.

But why is there such a difference between the polymers of hydrocarbon fuels and the long lines of water molecules in liquid or solid form? Both require heat to break the bonds but the water molecules, unlike the fuels, do not release any energy when the bonds are broken. That is why we cannot use water for fuel.

The answer lies in how information works. Even though the water molecules held in a line by hydrogen bonding have an electrical interrelationship between them, there is no information because the molecules are identical. The water molecules are identical and repetitive so that the only information is that of their position.

Remember that my theory of how information works stipulates that repetition is not complexity, meaning that it is not information. The complexity of a number is the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a ratio or fraction. Since the water molecules are identical, no matter how many are in a line the denominator is always 1.

But that is not the case with the polymers of the hydrocarbons that are used for fuels. There is information because these are genuine molecules with an interrelationship between the electrons of adjacent atoms, which is not the case with the simple hydrogen bonding of water molecules.

Since energy and information is really the same thing, when the bonds between atoms in these hydrocarbon molecules is broken by the heat in an engine that information is released as energy.

9) DISTANCE

A simple way to see how distance is information is by surface area. We know that information and energy is really the same thing, because we cannot apply energy to anything without adding information to it, and cannot add information to anything without applying energy to it.

We also know that a sphere is the default gravitational form of matter in the universe because it has the lowest energy state, and the universe always seeks the lowest energy state. With the lowest energy state, the sphere is also characterized as having the lowest surface area per volume of all geometric forms.

That means that surface area is equivalent to energy, or information. We add information to something by applying energy to it, and the only way to add information to a smooth sphere is to increase it's surface area. Since increased surface area means that the average distance between all points on that surface is greater, that must mean that since distance is related to surface area then distance is also information.

This makes sense because the distance between two points is information. Anything involving information is defined by what it is not, but potentially could have been. The further apart two points actually are, the more distances in between there are at which they could have been, but aren't.

But repetition is not complexity. Remember that the complexity of a number, meaning the information in it, is equal to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a ratio or fraction. That means that distance across space, where there is no gravitational field, is repetitive.

That is why we have Newton's Law that an object in motion will remain in motion until stopped by an outside force. We only need to fire the engine of a spacecraft to get it moving toward it's target and it will keep going  in that direction after the engine is shut off. That is because the empty space across which it is moving is repetitive, equivalent to a fraction with a denominator of 1.

But if there is a gravitational field, or if the spacecraft runs into an asteroid, then that is information and the original energy applied to the spacecraft will no longer suffice to keep it moving in exactly the same direction.

This shows how dimensions are information. The initial thrust got the spacecraft moving, and it continued moving across empty space, but only in a straight line, which is one-dimensional. When we add a gravitational field, or another object, to the situation, we are adding information.  That information will affect the spacecraft, to change or stop it's course, unless further information, from an additional engine thrust which is energy and thus information, is added to it.

10) FALLING

A falling object is seeking a lower-energy state, which the universe always does. But energy and information is really the same thing so if the falling object is seeking a lower-energy state, we should also be able to see how it is seeking a lower-information state.

Remember the element of the information theory that the complexity of a number, which is the information in it, is not equal to the value of the number itself but to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a ratio or fraction. 24 is no more complex than 3 because 24 is really 24 / 1 and 3 is really 3 / 1.

Suppose that we have an object of a certain dimension. It doesn't matter if we use the entire object or a part of the object as it's dimension. Let's just describe the object's width or height as 1.

Now suppose that we place the object unsupported at a height twenty times it's width or height. The dimension of the object will be 1 / 20 it's altitude above the ground. Remembering that the complexity of a number is the value of the denominator when it is expressed as a ratio, and that the universe always seeks the lowest energy state which is the same as the lowest information state, the object and the earth seek to lower the 20 of the denominator to the lowest possible value.

The only way to do that is to lower the altitude of the object, in other words for the object to fall. When the height of the object as the numerator of the ratio and the altitude of the top of the object above the ground is 1 / 1 that is both the lowest achievable information state for a solid object, and it also means that the object is on the ground.

The Story Of China

By going over the history of China, we can see how it got to where it is today. After each section there are "Observations", so that we can see how history repeats itself. Credit to Wikipedia for dates and fact-checking.

PRE-IMPERIAL CHINA

The mythical beginning of China was the Xia Dynasty, founded about 2000 B.C. It is referred to in very early writings but direct evidence of it has not been found.

This was followed by the Shang (or Yin) Dynasty, founded about 1600 B.C. Their capital was Yinxu, at the present city of Anyang, but left in ruins after the Zhou, the following dynasty, victory over the Shang Dynasty. This capital was rediscovered in 1899, and is open to the public.

The Zhou Dynasty, established in 1046 B.C. by King Wu, was the longest-reigning dynasty in China's history.

The Spring and Autumn Period, within the Zhou Dynasty, is named for a work of literature called The Spring and Autumn Annals. The Zhou Dynasty was forced by the Qin, the following dynasty, to move their capital eastward to the city of Luoyang, which they founded. The first part of the Zhou Dynasty, with the capital near Xian, Xianyang, was known as the Western Zhou 1046-771 BC.

The Eastern Zhou Dynasty, with the capital at Luoyang, was a period of instability that saw hundreds of defacto states emerge but that were eventually consolidated into a seven principal states. These fought in what is known as the Warring States Period. It was during this time that the philosophy and religion of Confucianism and Taoism began, which are so important to China. The Warring States Period was the final part of the Zhou Dynasty.

The Spring and Autumn Period, nearly 300 years long, together with the Warring States Period comprise the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, after the capital had been moved to Luoyang. The Eastern Zhou Dynasty lasted 515 years, The Zhou Dynasty lasted 790 years altogether. The Spring and Autumn Period saw many nobles becoming increasingly independent of the dynasty's declining power. The breakup of one of the new states, Jin, is considered as beginning of Warring States Period.

Qin was the eventual winner of the Seven Warring States. It was to the west of China and became the following dynasty.

The Xia, Shang and, Zhou Dynasties could be called Pre-Imperial China. Imperial China followed this era.

OBSERVATIONS

Notice how the Zhou Dynasty moved eastward, after a defeat by the Qin. This is to be a recurring theme with later dynasties, starting in the west but later moving east after suffering a defeat. Most recently, this pattern was repeated by the Nationalists, or the Koumintang, leaving the mainland and moving east to Taiwan after the loss of the Civil War in 1949.

Notice also how the fragmentation in the latter part of the Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Period and then the Warring States Period repeated itself in the Twentieth Century as the "Warlord Era" after the revolution in 1911 that ended Imperial China and began the modern republic.

The philosophy of Chairman Mao very much resembles the governing principles of Confucius.

Much later, Japan also had a "Warring States Period" that was named for the Chinese era by that name.

IMPERIAL CHINA

Early Imperial China was the Qin, Han and, Jin Dynasties.
Middle Imperial China was the Sui, Tang and, Song Dynasties.
Late Imperial China was the Yuan, Ming and, Qing Dynasties.

EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA

The Qin Dynasty lasted only from 221-207 B.C. but had what it took in governing skills to unify China after the Warring States Period. It arose 35 years after the Zhou Dynasty had collapsed. Their capital of Xianyang is now within the city of Xian. The first confirmed emperor to rule all of China was Qin Shi Huang. He is the one who was buried with the famous Terra Cotta Army that was discovered at Xian.

The Han Dynasty was a golden age that was the peak of early Chinese civilization. It was founded by a peasant named Liu Bang and was led by the famous Emperor Wu. The philosophy of Confucius became a vital part of Chinese society during the Han Dynasty. The Silk Road began which led westward from the city of Xian, which was built near Xianyang. The majority ethnic group of China today are called Han Chinese.

The glory of the Han Dynasty was interrupted, at the time of Jesus, by Wang Mang. He ruled what is called the Xin Dynasty for 14 years, 9-23 A.D., before being overthrown in Xian and killed. This interregnum separated the Western Han Dynasty from the Eastern Han Dynasty. Other than this interruption, the Han Dynasty lasted from 202 B.C. to 220 A.D.

The Eastern Han Dynasty, like the Eastern Zhou Dynasty before them, had it's capital at Luoyang and is known for first making paper. It produced an all-around scientific genius named Zhang Heng. The breakup of the Han Dynasty began with the peasant Yellow Turban Rebellion. This formed the "Three Kingdoms" of Wei, Shu and, Wu.

The Jin Dynasty, lasting from about 265 to 420, reunited China but then saw fragmentation of the country and conquest of Xian and Luoyang by non-Han peoples. This resulted in the "Sixteen Kingdoms of Five Barbarians" and brought about the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which moved capital to Nanjing. This Jin Dynasty was actually the Early Jin Dynasty because there was also a Later Jin Dynasty.

This was followed by the "Northern and Southern Dynasties", where northern and southern China were ruled separately. This era lasted until the year 589. A great scientific genius of this time was Zu Chongzhi. But there was eventual assimilation of the non-Han peoples into the Han Chinese.

OBSERVATIONS

During China's Cultural Revolution, during the 1960s, the rural roots of China were emphasized. Those who had grown up in the modern cities had a lot to learn from the farms. Notice how this is a reflection of the Han Dynasty, which is considered as a great golden age, being started by a peasant named Liu Bang. The end of the Han Dynasty was actually also brought about by a peasant rebellion.

Notice again this pattern of a dynasty starting in the west but moving it's center eastward after some setback or interruption. This happened to both the Han and the Jin Dynasties, as it would to the Nationalists (Koumintang) after the Civil War of 1949.

We can see that China is a vast country that is definitely not easy to govern. When a dynasty breaks up, it can result in fragmentation until the next dynasty reunites the country. This is what the Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China, accomplished. Maybe this is why China's government makes sure to maintain control in regions like Tibet and Xinjiang. The period when China's north and south were governed separately explains China's emphasis today on the speaking of Mandarin Chinese to keep Cantonese speakers in the south as part of the country.

MIDDLE IMPERIAL CHINA

The Sui Dynasty didn't last long, from 581-618, but was very important in that it reunified the country and was the beginning of Middle Imperial China. The Sui Dynasty had the necessary governing skills to run the country. Their time saw the beginning of imperial exams and the Grand Canal to link north and south.

The Tang Dynasty was a great golden age. The capital was back at Xian which was the largest city in the world. The Japanese capitals of first Nara and then Kyoto were both modeled on Xian. Taizong was a famous Tang emperor, known for his logical thinking instead of superstition. The Tang Dynasty introduced gunpowder. Buddhism came to China in 1st Century but Tang Dynasty tried to suppress it.

Empress Wu, the only female emperor, briefly restored the Zhou Dynasty and the An Lushan Rebellion, in 755, began a chaotic period that ended the Tang Dynasty, ushering in the brief Yan Dynasty. "The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" was a chaotic period, from 907 to 960, that saw the Shatuo Turks rule over the Han Chinese and Vietnam become an independent country.

The Song Dynasty, beginning in 960 with it's capital at Kaifeng, reunited most of China but there was the Liao Dynasty ruling in the far north. This was a high point of Chinese civilization, with paper money and printing with blocks of wood, but it ended with the conquest of China by the Mongols. There was also the Jin Dynasty, or Jurchen, from northeastern China, from where the Manchus would later come from to rule China.

The Song Dynasty is divided chronologically into the Northern Song and Southern Song. The Northern Song Dynasty had capital at Kaifeng but moved south after conquest by the Jin Dynasty to new capital on the other side of the Yangtze River at Hangzhou. This was actually the Later Jin Dynasty because there had been an Early Jin Dynasty. The Later Jin Dynasty lasted from 1115 to 1234.

OBSERVATIONS

Some people claim that the Chinese Government is somewhat hostile toward Christianity. But Buddhism was once a foreign religion that had been brought to China, it actually originated in India. One consequence of the Silk Road was that it was a way for foreign religions to enter China, and Buddhism wasn't always welcome either. The Tang Dynasty tried to suppress it. But today it is difficult to imagine China without Buddhism. Confucianism and Taoism are native to China. These are considered as China's "Three Teachings".

The long-reigning Joseon Dynasty, of neighboring Korea, revered Confucius even more than his native China did, and it also tried to suppress Buddhism.

LATE IMPERIAL CHINA

The Yuan Dynasty began in 1271 with Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, as emperor of China. Two of the three dynasties of Late Imperial China have been conquest dynasties. Non-Han conquerors before had not ruled all of China. Kublai Khan conquered the Jin and Southern Song Dynasties.Beijing was established as the Yuan Dynasty capital. The Grand Canal, linking Hangzhou in the south to Beijing in the north, was restored. Marco Polo visited from Europe and this was the only time that a single nation had controlled the entire Silk Road, which ran to the west from Xian. Hangzhou became very important as a port city. The paper money, with printing, of the Song Dynasty would bring the downfall of the Yuan by hyperinflation. The bubonic plague, which so devastated Europe, also came at this time. The Mongols were never completely enculturated as Chinese.

The Ming Dynasty began in 1368. The Mongols retreated northward to form the Northern Yuan Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty capitals were Beijing and Nanjing. The Ming Dynasty were great wall builders and the present city wall of the very old city of Xian was actually built by the Ming Dynasty. There was strong central government in China during their time. The Ming Great Wall was built, which is much of what we see of the Great Wall today.

The emphasis in economics during the Ming Dynasty was agriculture, not handicrafts. There was a lot of interaction with Japan and the Fourth Chinese Domination of Vietnam, lasting 20 years. In 1598, the Ming Dynasty got Japanese forces to leave Korea, restoring the Joseon Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty sent the Zheng He sea expeditions to Africa. It was the Ming Dynasty that built the famous Forbidden City of Beijing that we see today.

Ming Dynasty control declined in Manchuria, China's northeast region. Manchu tribes broke away and proclaimed the Later Jin Dynasty, named for the earlier Jin, which brought to an end the Mongol Northern Yuan Dynasty. This Later Jin Dynasty would become known as the Qing Dynasty. They were called Manchus after Manchuria and would rule China from 1644-1911.

The Manchu were also known as Jurchens. This would be the second conquest dynasty, after the Yuan, to rule all of China. The Jurchen people had established the earlier Jin Dynasty. In 1635 name was changed from Jurchen to Manchu. "Jin" means gold. Nurhaci was first Qing Dynasty emperor.

The Shun Dynasty was a brief one-year period of rule between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, led by Li Zicheng in 1644. It was formed back in the original capital of imperial China, Xian. It had started as a peasant rebellion against the Ming Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty, the Manchus, captured Beijing in 1644. A Ming general had appealed to the Manchus for help against the uprising that brought the Shun Dynasty, but then they went on to conquer China and rule as the Qing Dynasty. The Qing conquest of the Ming would last most of the Seventeenth Century, 1618-1683, and would be very bloody, especially at a place called Yangzhou where the Qing were enraged at the loss of many of their soldiers due to cannon fire.

The Ming Dynasty continued on for a time in southern China, known as the Southern Ming Dynasty and ruled from Nanjing. The Ming Dynasty was eventually limited to the Kingdom of Tungning, on Taiwan, with hope to recapture the mainland. The Qing Dynasty evacuated the coast of the mainland opposite Taiwan.

The elite military force of the Qing Dynasty was called the Eight Banners, the rest was the Green Standard Army. Russia was a rising power too and the Qing Dynasty had border clashes with them. The unsuccessful "Revolt of the Three Feudatories" was three southern provinces revolting against the Qing Dynasty rule. The revolt was suppressed by Kangxi Emperor, one of the greatest of Chinese emperors.

The Manchus did adopt Confucianism but in 1645 forced the Han Chinese to wear the Queue hairstyle. The late Eighteenth Century was the height of the Qing Dynasty.

But the Qing Dynasty was weakened by internal revolts, particularly the Taiping Rebellion by Hong Xiuquan, who claimed to be the younger brother of Christ, 1851-64. It began in the south of China, with Nanjing as it's eventual capital. It was the worst conflict in the world before the World Wars.

Dowager Cixi was the mother of the ninth Qing emperor, and she held effective power for decades. Upon her son's death, she broke succession rules to install her nephew as emperor. The Self-Strengthening Movement and the Hundred Days Reform were late Nineteenth-Century efforts at reform and modernization by the Qing Dynasty.

OBSERVATIONS

Notice how the Ming Dynasty economic emphasis on agriculture, rather than on industry, is reflected in the emphasis of the 1960s Cultural Revolution on what city people could learn by going to work on farms.

The Ming Dynasty would eventually retreat to Taiwan. This was repeated in 1949 when the Nationalists (Koumintang) also withdrew to Taiwan after defeat in the Civil War.

The Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols, conquered the Song Dynasty. But the Song Dynasty had widely used paper money. China also had printing with blocks. This combination of easily printing money proved damaging to the Yuan Dynasty, as their economy suffered from hyperinflation.

The Ming Dynasty naval missions of Admiral Zheng He to Africa set the precedent of China's widespread business across Africa today.

The revolt in southern China against the Qing Dynasty helps explain why the Chinese Government today, with the northern city of Beijing as capital, wants to emphasize speaking Mandarin Chinese over the Cantonese that is spoken in the south.

Some consider it unfortunate that the Chinese Government today has some hostility to Christianity. As we have seen, Buddhism was also once a foreign religion that was not always welcome either. But we have to understand the Taiping Rebellion of 1851-64. It was led by Hong Xiuquan, who claimed to be "a younger brother of Christ". The goal was to set up the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The rebellion ruled much of southern China and was possibly the deadliest conflict the world has ever seen, with the exception of the world wars. The rebellion was ultimately defeated but it is interesting that when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, and Imperial China ended, the first president of the republic, Sun Yat Sen, was a Christian and a southerner.

The Qing Dynasty, or Manchus, was part of an imperial era of dynasties that lasted into the Twentieth Century. There was the Romanov Dynasty in Russia, the Ottomans in Turkey, the Qajar Dynasty in Iran, the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan, the Kaisers in Germany, the Joseon Dynasty in Korea and, the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam.

THE MODERN REPUBLIC OF CHINA

The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 began with the Wuchang Uprising. Wuchang is part of the city of Wuhan. Old stories of Qing Dynasty brutalities during the conquest of the Ming Dynasty were brought up to inspire anti-Qing feelings. A provisional government was formed in Nanjing that ended two thousand years of imperial rule. But this brought the "Warlord Era" when the country almost fragmented. This fragmentation was a repeat of the much-earlier endings of the Zhou and Han Dynasties..

Sun Yat Sen wanted to modernize China, and realized that the Qing Dynasty must be overthrown in order to accomplish that. He made unsuccessful attempts at overthrow, and spent much time in exile. Sun Yat Sen was a Christian and was in the U.S. when the Xinhai Revolution succeeded in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and ending Imperial China, and he went home.

At first there were two governments, based in Canton in the south and Beijing in the north. But Sun Yat Sen's forces triumphed and a new capital was established in Nanjing. Sun Yat Sen remains popular today both on mainland China and in Taiwan.

Sun Yat Sen died of cancer in 1925. His very popular mausoleum is in Nanjing, which was his capital. Sun Yat Sen is today honored and admired across the world, and is considered as the founder of modern China.

Chiang Kai Shek was his protege that led the Northern Expedition to defeat the warlords. Chiang Kai Shek was also a post-humous brother-in-law of Sun Yat Sen. Chiang Kai Shek ruled 1928-1975 and brought the body of Sun Yat Sen to the mausoleum in his capital of Nanjing. His government was split into left and right. The Left Koumintang capital was in Wuhan, the right Koumintang capital in Nanjing. Like Sun Yat Sen, Chiang Kai Shek was not in China when the Xinhai Revolution began.

There were a number of Long Marches by the Communists, after initially being unable to take power, not just one. The destination of the Long Marches was Shanxi province. In Civil War, the Nationalists (Koumintang) generally controlled the cities but not the countryside. The Communists, led by Chairman Mao, triumphed in the Civil War of 1949 and the Nationalists retreated to Taiwan. There is no sign of the two being reunited. But the world now generally recognizes the mainland, the People's Republic of China, as the "real" China.

Chairman Mao died in 1976 and Deng Xiaoping, although not Mao's chosen successor, took power. China was officially Communist but the government of Deng Xiaoping undertook far-reaching reforms, beginning in 1978. The majority of industry remained owned by the state, but there would be a chance for private business and foreign investment and ownership would be permitted in certain "Special Economic Zones". From there, the economy has gradually been liberalized in stages. The goal is to avoid the dogmatism of the west and achieve the best mix of a centrally-controlled economy and a market economy. In some areas, the free market may work best, but in others it may not. The result has been remarkable prosperity, although the liberalizing reforms are not universally popular, and some have been scaled back.

Two of the best-known Special Economic Zones, familiar to westerners, have been the new city of Shenzhen, just opposite Hong Kong, and the new financial district of Shanghai, Lujiazui.

OBSERVATIONS

The life story of Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh, as a world traveler and leader, is quite similar to that of Sun Yat Sen.

Vietnam, a neighboring Communist country began it's own roughly similar economic liberalizing reforms in 1986.