Kojiki

Kojiki or Furukotofumi (古事記) is the oldest known historical book about the ancient history of Japan. Literally, it means "record of ancient things". According to the preface, the book was presented by O no Yasumaro based on the story memorized by Hieda no Are in 712 under the order of the Imperial Court. Nihonshoki followed the book. Kojiki does not recount official history like the Nihonshoki. Except for the Kojiki, no other book has claimed that it had been organized following an official order. This had led some people to claim that Kojiki was forged much later from the Nihonshoki but this claim has little support. The name Kojiki is likely to be just a name pointing to old books. Kojiki begins with the very beginning of the world as it was constructed by the kami (deities) Izanagi and Izanami and ends with the era of Empress Suiko. It contains various myths and legends of Japan. It also contains various songs. While historical records and myths are written in unique Chinese, songs are written with Chinese characters used only to convey sounds of songs. This special use of Chinese characters is called Manyogana and knowledge of this is critical to understanding these songs. These songs are in the dialect of the Yamato area from about 7th century to 8th century CE and is called Joudai Nihongo (lit. "the upper age's Japanese"). Kojiki is divided into three parts, Kamitsumaki (lit. upper roll), Nakatsumaki (lit. middle roll), and Shimotsumaki (lit. lower roll). The Kamitsumaki includes the preface and is focused on the deities that made Japan and the births of various deities. The Nakatsumaki begins with the story of Emperor Jimmu, the first Emperor, and his conquest of Japan, and ends with the 15th Emperor, Emperor Ōjin. Many of the stories it includes are mythological, and the allegedly historical information in them is highly suspect. For unknown reasons, the 2nd to 9th Emperors are listed but their achievements are largely missing. The Shimotsumaki includes reference to the 16th to 33rd Emperors, and, unlike previous volumes, has very limited interaction with deities that had been so prominent in the first and second volumes. The 24th to 33rd Emperors are largely missing as well. In the Edo period, Motoori Norinaga studied Kojiki and published a book, Kojiki-den (Kojiki Commentary). Also, it was first claimed in the same era that Kojiki may have been forged later than it was supposed to have been written. A well-regarded English translation of Kojiki was written by Donald L. Philippi from Columbia University Press, October 1982 (ISBN 0-86008-320-9

History of Japan

The history of Japan probably started around 100,000 BCE, date when the earliest stone tool implements have been found. Following the last ice-age, the rich ecosystem of the archipelago apparently fostered human development rather earlier than in other geographical areas, yielding the earliest polished stone tools, and to this date, the earliest known pottery in the world. The history of Japan is then punctuated by an alternance of long periods of isolation and periods of radical, often revolutionary, influences from the rest of the world.

Japanese Pre-History

pottery.]] pottery.]]

Paleolithic

Main article: Japanese Paleolithic The Japanese Paleolithic covers a period from around 500,000 BCE, when the earliest stone tool implements have been found, to around 12,000 BCE, at the end of the last ice age, which corresponds to the beginning of the Mesolithic Jomon Period. The Japanese paleolithic is characterized by the apparition of the earliest polished stone tools in the world, around 30,000 BCE.
Jomon Period
Main article: Jomon The Jomon period (Japanese: 縄文時代 Jōmon-jidai) lasted from about 10,000 BC to 300 BC. Stable living patterns gave rise by around 10,000 BC to a Mesolithic or, as some scholars argue, Neolithic culture. Possibly distant ancestors of the Ainu aboriginal people of modern Japan, members of the heterogeneous Jomon culture (c. 10,000-300 BC) left the clearest archaeological record. According to archeological evidence, the Jomon people created the earliest known pottery in the world, dated to the 11th millennium BC. The Jomon people were making clay figures and vessels decorated with patterns made by impressing the wet clay with braided or unbraided cord and sticks with a growing sophistication.
Yayoi Period
Main article: Yayoi Yayoi (弥生時代) is an era in that is believed to have lasted from about 900 BC to AD 250. It is named after the section of Tokyo where archaeological investigations uncovered its first recognized traces. The Yayoi period is marked either by the start of the practice of growing rice in a paddy field or a new Yayoi style earthenware.
Ancient/Classical Japan
Tokyo
Kofun era, Also known as the Yamato Period
Main article: Yamato period
- First Part: Kofun era
- Second Part: Asuka At about AD 405, the Japanese court officially adopted the Chinese writing system introduced via Korea. During the sixth century, Buddhism was introduced to Japan through Korea. Interactions with China during the Tang Dynasty increased dramatically. These events revolutionized Japanese culture and marked the beginning of a long period of Chinese cultural influence. By the Nara period, from the establishment of the first fixed capital at Nara (later moved to Kyoto) in 710 until 1867, the emperors of the Yamato dynasty were the nominal rulers, but actual power was usually held at times by powerful court nobles, at times by regents, and at times by shoguns (military governors). According to Shoku Nihongi (続日本紀), Emperor Kammu's mother Takano-no-Niigasa (高野新笠) was a descendent of King Muryeong of Baekje.
Nara Period
King Muryeong of Baekje, 752 CE.]] Main article: Nara Period In 710, Empress Gemmei moved the capital to Nara. The city was modeled on the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, Chang'an (now Xi'an). During the Nara Period, political developments were quite low, since members of the imperial family struggled for power with the Buddhist clergy as well as the regents, the Fujiwara clan. Japan did enjoy friendly relations with the Korean peninsula as well as formal relationships with Tang China. In 784, the capital was moved to Nagaoka (to escape the Buddhist priests) and later to Kyoto in 794.
Heian Period
Main article: Heian Period The Heian period (平安時代) is the last division of the classical Japanese history that runs from 794 to 1185. The Heian period is considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court and noted for its art and especially in poetry and literature. The name heian is a word that means "peace" in Japanese.
Feudal Japan
The "feudal" period of Japanese history, dominated by the powerful regional families (daimyo) and the military rule of warlords, stretched from the twelfth through the nineteenth centuries. This time is usually divided into periods following the reigning family of the shogun:
Kamakura Period
Main article: Kamakura Period The Kamakura period 1185 to 1333 is a period that marks the governance of the Kamakura Shogunate; officially established in 1192 by the first Kamakura shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo. Minamoto no Yoritomo.]] The most traumatic event of the period was the Mongol Invasions of Japan between 1272 and 1281, in which massive Mongol forces with superior naval and weapon technology brought a real threat to the Japanese island. Although repelled, the invasion attempt has many internal repercussions, leading to the extinction of the Kamakura shogunate. The Kamakura period ended in 1333 with the destruction of the shogunate and the short reestablishment of imperial rule under the Emperor Go-Daigo by Ashikaga Takauji, Nitta Yoshisada, and Kusunoki Masashige. The Kamakura period is also said to be the beginning of the "Japanese Middle Ages", which also includes the Muromachi period and lasted until the Meiji Restoration.
Muromachi Period
Main article: Muromachi Period The Muromachi period (Japanese: 室町時代, Muromachi-jidai) is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi shogunate, also known as the Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1336 by the first Muromachi shogun Ashikaga Takauji. The period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki was driven out of the capital in Kyōto by Oda Nobunaga. The early years of 1336 to 1392 of the Muromachi period is also known as the Nanboku-chō or Northern and Southern Court period. The later years of 1467 to the end of the Muromachi period is also known as the Sengoku period, the "Warring States period", a time of intense internal warfare. The first contacts with the West started at the end of the period, with the arrival of Portuguese "Nanban" traders.
Contact with the West
Main article: Nanban trade period Nanban trade period, Japan.]] The first contact with the West occurred about 1542, when a Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, landed in Japan. Firearms introduced by Portuguese would bring the major innovation to Sengoku period culminating in the Battle of Nagashino where reportedly 3,000 arquebuses (the actual number is believed to be around 2,000) cut down charging ranks of samurai. During the next century, traders from Portugal, the Netherlands, England, and Spain arrived, as did Jesuit, Dominican, and Franciscan missionaries. During the early part of the 17th century, Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate suspected that the traders and missionaries were actually forerunners of a military conquest by European powers. This caused the shogunate to place foreigners under progressively tighter restrictions. An English mariner named William Adams had journeyed with a Dutch fleet and been shipwrecked in Japan in 1600. He had managed to impress Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu with his seafaring knowledge and was made an honorary Samurai and granted a large estate. When English traders from the East India Company made landfall in 1613 they were able to obtain Adams' assistance, as a favourite of the Shogun, in establishing a factory - a house or place for mercantile factors or agents. In 1615, Japan also sent embassies to the Americas and Europe, headed by the samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga, although these efforts were defeated by the deteriorating relationship between Japan and Catholic countries. See also:Christianity in Japan
Azuchi-Momoyama Period
Main article: Azuchi-Momoyama Period The Azuchi-Momoyama period (Japanese: 安土桃山時代, Azuchi-Momoyama-jidai) runs from approximately 1568 to 1600. The period marks the governance of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the capital of Kyōto. The name Azuchi-Momoyama comes from the names of their respective castles, Azuchi castle and Momoyama castle. See Also: Sengoku Period
Edo Period
Main article: Edo Period. Edo Period Edo Period, during the Edo period.]] During the Edo Period, the administration of the country was shared by over two hundred daimyo. The Tokugawa clan, leader of the victorious eastern army in the Battle of Sekigahara, was the most powerful of them, and for fifteen generations monopolized the title of Sei-i Taishōgun (often shortened to shōgun). With their headquarters at Edo (present-day Tokyo), the Tokugawa commanded the allegiance of the other daimyo, who in turn ruled their domains with a rather high degree of autonomy. The shogunate carried out a number of significant policies. They monopolized foreign policy, and expelled traders, missionaries, and others from foreign countries, with the exception of the Netherlands and China. They placed the samurai class above the commoners: the agriculturists, artisans, and merchants. They enacted sumptuary laws limiting hair style, dress, and accessories. They organized commoners into groups of five, and held all responsible for the acts of each individual. To prevent daimyo from rebelling, the shoguns required them to maintain lavish residences in Edo; carry out expensive processions to and from their domains; contribute to the upkeep of shrines, temples, and roads; and seek permission before repairing their castles. Many artistic developments took place during the Edo Period. Most significant among them were the ukiyo-e form of wood-block print, and the kabuki and bunraku theaters. Also, many of the most famous works for the koto and shakuhachi date from this time period. Throughout the Edo Period, the development of commerce, the rise of the cities, and the pressure from foreign countries changed the environment in which the shoguns and daimyo ruled. In 1868, following the Boshin War, the shogunate collapsed, and a new government coalesced around the Emperor.
Seclusion
Main article:Sakoku Sakoku.]] Ultimately, Japan forced all foreigners to leave and barred all relations with the outside world except for commercial contacts with Dutch and Chinese merchants restricted to the manmade island of Dejima in Nagasaki Bay and several small trading outposts outside the country. However, during this period of isolation (sakoku, 鎖国) Japan was much less cut off from the rest of the world than is commonly assumed, and some acquisition of western knowledge occurred under the Rangaku system. Russian encroachments from the north led the shogunate to extend direct rule to Hokkaido and Sakhalin in 1807 but the policy of exclusion continued.
End of seclusion
Main article: Late Tokugawa shogunate Late Tokugawa shogunate This policy of isolation lasted for more than 200 years, until, on July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy with four warships: the Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga, and Susquehanna, steamed into the bay at Edo (Tokyo) and displayed the threatening power of his ships' cannon. He demanded that Japan open to trade with the West. These ships became known as the kurofune, the Black Ships. The following year, at the Convention of Kanagawa (March 31, 1854), Perry returned with seven ships and forced the Shogun to sign the "Treaty of Peace and Amity," establishing formal diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States. Within five years Japan had signed similar treaties with other western countries. The Harris Treaty was signed with the United States on July 29, 1858. These treaties were widely regarded by Japanese intellectuals as unequal, having been forced on Japan through gunboat diplomacy, and as a sign of the West's desire to incorporate Japan into the imperialism that had been taking hold of the continent. Among other measures, they gave the Western nations unequivocal control of tariffs on imports and the right of extraterritoriality to all their visiting nationals. They would remain a sticking point in Japan's relations with the West up to the turn of the century.
Meiji Restoration
extraterritoriality]] Main article: Meiji Restoration Renewed contact with the West precipitated profound alteration of Japanese society. After the Boshin War of 1868, the shogun was forced to resign, and the emperor was restored to power. The subsequent "Meiji Restoration" initiated many reforms. The feudal system was abolished, and numerous Western institutions were adopted, including a Western legal system and a quasi-parliamentary constitutional government outlined in the Meiji Constitution. While many aspects of the Meiji Restoration were adopted directly from Western institutions, others, such as the dissolution of the feudal system and removal of the shogunate, were processes that had begun long before the arrival of Perry. Russian pressure from the north appeared again after Muraviev had gained Outer Manchuria at Aigun (1858) and Peking (1860). This led to heavy Russian pressure on Sakhalin which the Japanese eventually yielded in exchange for the Kuril islands (1875). The Ryukyu Islands were similarly secured in 1879, establishing the borders within which Japan would "enter the World". In 1898, the last of the "unequal treaties" with Western powers was removed, signalling Japan's new status among the nations of the world. In a few decades, by reforming and "modernizing" social, educational, economic, military, political and industrial systems, the Emperor Meiji's "controlled revolution" had transformed a feudal and isolated state into a world power.
Wars with China and Russia
Japanese intellectuals of the late-Meiji period espoused the concept of a "line of advantage," an idea that would help to justify Japanese foreign policy at the turn of the century. According to this principle, embodied in the slogan fukoku kyōhei (富国強兵), Japan would be vulnerable to aggressive Western imperialism unless it extended a line of advantage beyond its borders which would help to repel foreign incursions and strengthen the Japanese economy. Emphasis was especially placed on Japan's "preeminent interests" in the Korean Peninsula, once famously described as a "dagger pointed at the heart of Japan." It was tensions over Korea and Manchuria, respectively, that led Japan to become involved in the first Sino-Japanese War with China in 1894-1895 and the Russo-Japanese War with Russia in 1904-1905. The war with China made Japan the world's first non-Western modern imperial power. It established Japan's dominant interest in Korea, while giving it the Pescadores Islands, Formosa (now Taiwan), and the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria, which was eventually retroceded in the "humiliating" Triple Intervention. Over the next decade, Japan would flaunt its growing prowess, including a very significant contribution to the Eight-Nation Alliance, formed to quell China's Boxer Rebellion. Many Japanese, however, believed their new empire was still regarded as inferior by the Western powers, and they sought a means of cementing their international standing. This set the climate for growing tensions with Russia, who would continually intrude into Japan's "line of advantage" during this time.
Anglo-Japanese Alliance
To counter the powerful Russian influence in China, Japan sought an alliance with a western power. The British Empire, worried that Russia might endanger the interest it held in China and still burdened with the cost of the Boer War, shared common interest with Japan. The negotiations started in 1901. On January 30, 1902, the alliance was formally signed between Japan and the UK. Of the six major agreements, none is more important than the third article. This declared that in the event either of the nations was at war with two or more countries, the other must declare war on those countries. Surprised, Russia tried to counter this by allying with France and Germany. Germany backed down, however, and on March 16, a mutual pact was signed between France and Russia. March 16, at the beginning of the Battle of Tsushima, in 1905.]] In 1905, after several months of bloody fighting and many Japanese victories over Tsarist Russia, the Russo-Japanese War had settled into a stalemate and U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt was called in to mediate a settlement. The resulting Treaty of Portsmouth gave generous economic and diplomatic concessions to Japan, especially in Manchuria, and was considered by observers to indicate Japanese victory in the war and official recognition of Japan as a world power. Japan was denied an indemnity, which lead to riots due to the massive amounts of public investiture and fervor in the war. Much anger was also felt at the denial of the whole of Sakhalin (Karafuto) which the Japanese felt Russia had extorted in 1875 in exchange for the Kurile Islands. Both wars gave Japan a free hand to occupy Korea (Period of Japanese Rule), which it formally annexed in 1910.
World War I to End of World War II
In a manner perhaps reminiscent of its participation in quelling the Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the century, Japan entered World War I and declared war on the Central Powers. Because Japan's role in World War I was limited largely to attacking German colonial outposts in East Asia, it permitted Japan to expand its influence in Asia and its territorial holdings in the Pacific. Acting virtually independently of the civil government, the Japanese navy seized Germany's Micronesian colonies. It also attacked German possessions in Shandong. The post-war era brought Japan unprecedented prosperity. Japan went to the peace conference at Versailles in 1919 as one of the great military and industrial powers of the world and received official recognition as one of the "Big Five" of the new international order. It joined the League of Nations and received a mandate over Pacific islands north of the Equator formerly held by Germany. Japan was also involved in the post-war Allied intervention in Russia, occupying Russian (Outer) Manchuria and also north Sakhalin (with its rich oil reserves). It was the last Allied power to withdraw from the interventions against Soviet Russia (doing so in 1925). During the 1920s, Japan progressed toward a democratic system of government in a movement known as 'Taisho Democracy'. However, parliamentary government was not rooted deeply enough to withstand the economic and political pressures of the late 1920s and 1930s, during which military leaders became increasingly influential. These shifts in power were made possible by the ambiguity and imprecision of the Meiji Constitution, particularly its measure that the legislative body was answerable to the Emperor and not the people, and the 2.26 Incident. Party politics came under increasing fire because it was believed they were divisive to the nation and promoted self-interest where unity was needed. As a result, the major parties voted to dissolve themselves and were absorbed into a single party, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association (IRAA), which also absorbed many prefectural organizations such as women's clubs and neighborhood associations. However, this umbrella organization did not have a cohesive political agenda and factional in-fighting persisted throughout its existence, meaning Japan did not devolve into a totalitarian state. The IRAA has been likened to a sponge, in that it can soak everything up, but there is little one could do with it afterwards. Its creation was precipitated by a series of domestic crises, including the advent of the worldwide economic depression in the 1930s and the actions of extremists such as the members of the Cherry Blossom Society, who enacted the 5.15 Incident.
World War II
5.15 Incident, the largest battleship in history, 1941.]] Under the pretense of the Manchurian Incident, Lieutenant Colonel Kanji Ishiwara invaded Inner (Chinese) Manchuria in 1931, an action the Japanese government mandated with the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo under the last Manchu emperor, Pu Yi. As a result of international condemnation of the incident, Japan resigned from the League of Nations in 1933. After several more similar incidents fueled by an expansionist military, the second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937 after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Japan allied with Germany and Italy, and formed the Axis Pact of September 27, 1940. Many Japanese, including Kanji, believed war with the West to be inevitable due to inherent cultural differences and the oppression of Western imperialism (Japanese imperialism, often just as brutal, was justified as "preparing" Asia for the upcoming confrontation). However, while Kanji took his action in the belief that his nation should focus on subduing Soviet Russia, tensions were mounting with the U.S. As a result of public outcry over Japanese aggression and reports of atrocities in China, such as the infamous Nanjing Massacre, the U.S. began an embargo on such goods as petroleum products and scrap iron in 1940. On July 25, 1941, all Japanese assets in the US were frozen. Because Japan's military might, especially the Navy, was dependent on their dwindling oil reserves, this action had the contrary effect of increasing Japan's dependence on and hunger for new acquisitions. Many civil leaders of Japan, including Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro, believed a war with America would end in defeat, but felt the concessions demanded by the U.S. would almost certainly relegate Japan from the ranks of the World Powers, leaving it prey to Western collusion. They also believed that such a war would be brought to a close quickly, settled with negotiations. While they vied for a diplomatic peaceful solution, offering two compromises that were brazenly rejected by Secretary of State Cordell Hull, the military leaders vied for a quick military action. However, there were dissenters in the ranks about the wisdom of that option, most notably Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku. He pointedly warned that at the beginning of hositilities with the US, he would have the advantage for six months, after which Japan's defeat in a prolonged war would be almost certain. Yamamoto Isoroku.]] The Americans were expecting an attack in the Philippines (and stationed troops appropriate to this conjecture), but on Yamamoto Isoroku's advice, Japan made the decision to attack Pearl Harbor where it would make the most damage in the least amount of time. The US believed that Japan would never be so bold as to attack their home base, and they were taken completely by surprise. The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan). At the same time, the Japanese army attacked colonial Hong Kong and occupied it for nearly four years. Unfortunately, the attack proved a long term strategic disaster that actually did relatively little lasting damage to the US and provoked the nation to retaliate with full commitment against Japan and its allies. While Nazi Germany was in the middle of its Blitzkrieg through Europe, Japan was in the middle of a Blitzkrieg in Asia. In addition to already having colonized Taiwan and Manchuria, the Japanese Army captured most of coastal Chinese cities like Shanghai, and had conquered French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), Thailand, British Malaya (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore) as well as the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). They had also conquered British Burma (Myanmar) and reached the borders of India and Australia, conducting air raids on the port of Darwin, Australia. Japan had soon established a massive empire, stretching over much of the Pacific. After almost 4 years of war, resulting in the loss of 3 million Japanese lives and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as daily air raids on Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, and the destruction of all other major cities (except Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura, for their historical importance), Japan signed an instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Harbor on September 2, 1945. Symbolically, the deck of the Missouri was furnished bare except for two American flags. One had flown over the White House on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. The other had flown the mast of Commodore Perry's ship when he had sailed into that same harbor nearly a century before to urge the opening of Japan's ports to foreign trade. As a result of World War II, Japan lost all of its overseas possessions and retained only the home islands. Manchukuo was dissolved, and Inner Manchuria was returned to the Republic of China; Japan renounced all claims to Formosa; Korea was taken under the control of the UN; southern Sakhalin and the Kuriles were occupied by the U.S.S.R.; and the United States became the sole administering authority of the Ryukyu, Bonin, and Volcano Islands. International Military Tribunal for the Far East, an international war crimes tribunal sentenced seven Japanese military and government officials to death on November 12, 1948, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II. The 1972 reversion of Okinawa completed the United States' return of control of these islands to Japan. Japan continues to protest for the corresponding return of the Kuril Islands (Northern territory or 'Hoppou Ryoudo') from Russia. Defeat came for a number of reasons. The most important is probably Japan's underestimation of the industro-military capabilities of the U.S. The U.S. recovered from its initial setback at Pearl Harbor much quicker than the Japanese expected, and their sudden counterattack came as a blow to Japanese morale. U.S. output of military products also skyrocketed past Japanese counterparts over the course of the war. Another reason was factional in-fighting between the Army and Navy, which led to poor intelligence and cooperation. This was compounded as the Japanese forces found they had overextended themselves, leaving Japan itself vulnerable to attack.
Occupied Japan
Kuril Islands Main article: Occupied Japan After the war, Japan was placed under international control of the Allies through the Supreme Commander, Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Entering the Cold War with the Korean War, Japan came to be seen as an important ally of the US government. Political, economic, and social reforms were introduced, such as an elected Japanese Diet (legislature) and expanded suffrage. The country's constitution took effect on May 3, 1947. The United States and 45 other Allied nations signed the Treaty of Peace with Japan in September 1951. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty in March 20, 1952, and under the terms of the treaty, Japan regained full sovereignty on April 28, 1952.
Post-Occupation Japan
Main Article: Post-Occupation Japan From the 1950s to the 1980s, Japan's history consists mainly of its rapid development into a first-rank economic power, through a process often referred to as the "economic miracle". The post-war settlement transformed Japan into a genuine constitutional party democracy, but, extraordinarily, it was ruled by a single party throughout the period of the "miracle". This strength and stability allowed the government considerable freedom to oversee economic development in the long term. Through extensive state investment and guidance, and with a kick-start provided by technology transfer from the U.S.A. and Europe, Japan rapidly rebuilt its heavy industrial sector (almost destroyed during the war). Given a massive boost by the Korean War, in which it acted as a major supplier to the UN force, Japan's economy embarked on a prolonged period of extremely rapid growth, led by the manufacturing sectors. Japan emerged as a significant power in many economic spheres, including steel working, car manufacture and the manufacture of electronic goods. It is usually argued that this was achieved through innovation in the areas of labour relations and manufacturing automation (Japan pioneered the use of robotics in manufacturing). Throughout this period its annual GNP growth was over twice that of its nearest competitor, the U.S.A. By the 1980s, Japan - despite its small size(1) - had the world's second largest economy. These developments had a marked effect on its relations with the U.S.A., the foreign nation with which it had the closest links. The U.S.A. initially heavily encouraged Japan's development, seeing a strong Japan as a necessary counterbalance to Communist China. By the 1980s, the sheer strength of the Japanese economy had become a sticking point. The U.S.A. had a massive trade deficit with Japan - that is, it imported substantially more from Japan than it exported to it. This deficit became a scapegoat for American economic weakness, and relations between the two cooled substantially. There was particular friction over the issue of Japanese car exports, as Japanese cars by this point accounted for over 30% of the American market. The U.S.A. also criticised the closed nature of the Japanese economy, which was marked by heavy tariff protection which made entry into the Japanese market difficult for foreign firms. Japan throughout the 1980s and 1990s embarked on a process of economic liberalisation aimed at appeasing American criticism. The car issue was dealt with through a series of "voluntary" restrictions on Japanese exports and by making factories in America. (1) Japan is small in area compared to countries like China (which has 26 times the area) or the USA (25 times) but is larger than the UK (with only 2/3 the area of Japan) and Germany (94%). In population, however, Japan is about half the size of the United States.
The 'Lost Decade'
The economic miracle ended abruptly at the very start of the 1990s. In the late 1980s, abnormalities within the Japanese economic system had fueled a massive wave of speculation by Japanese companies, banks and securities companies. Briefly, a combination of incredibly high land values and incredibly low interest rates led to a position in which credit was both easily available and extremely cheap. This led to massive borrowing, the proceeds of which were invested mostly in domestic and foreign stocks and securities. Recognising that this bubble was unsustainable (resting, as it did, on unrealisable land values—the loans were ultimately secured on land holdings) the Ministry of Finance sharply raised interest rates. This "popped the bubble" in spectacular fashion, leading to a major crash in the stock market. It also led to a debt crisis; a large proportion of the huge debts that had been run up turned bad, which in turn led to a crisis in the banking sector, with many banks having to be bailed out by the government. Eventually, many became unsustainable, and a wave of consolidation took place (there are now only four national banks in Japan). Critically for the long-term economic situation, it meant many Japanese firms were lumbered with massive debts, affecting their ability for capital investment. It also meant credit became very difficult to obtain, due to the beleaguered situation of the banks; even now the official interest rate is at 0% and has been for several years. Despite this credit is still difficult to obtain. Overall, this has led to the phenomenon known as the "lost decade"; economic expansion effectively came to a total halt in Japan during the 1990s. The effect on everyday life has been rather muted, however. Unemployment runs reasonably high, but not at crisis levels. The official figure is a little under 5%, but this is a considerable underestimate — the real level is probably around twice that. This has combined with the traditional Japanese emphasis on frugality and saving (saving money is a cultural habit in Japan) to produce a quite limited effect on the average Japanese family, which continues much as it did in the period of the miracle.
Political life
Since the liberation of Japan from American rule in 1952, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been the largest political party. While various scandals have plagued the party, the LDP has been in power almost constantly since 1955, when it was created with the merging of Japan's Liberal and Democratic conservative parties. Only in 1993 did Japan come under reformist rule for a year. Today, the Liberal Democratic Party continues to dominate Japanese politics, though the opposition, lead by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) seems to be gaining stronger influence in the Diet. Today, the government is led by Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi, holding office since 2001, who is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He made a radical change when allowed for members of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (the modern day antecedent of the Imperial Army) to be sent to Iraq. Today, the ruling coalition is formed by the conservative LDP and also the New Clean Government Party, a conservative yet theocratic Buddhist political party affiliated with the Buddhist sect Soka Gakkai. The opposition is formed by the Democratic Party, as well as the moderate yet staunchly communist Japanese Communist Party, and the somewhat social-democratic Social Democratic Party (Japan), formerly the Japan Socialist Party. Minor political parties included the conservative Liberal League, as well as the Midori no kaigi, an ecologist-reformist party formerly known as the Sakigake Party, and before that, the New Party Sakigake.
Periodization
One commonly accepted periodization of Japanese History:
Japanese era names
Era Name (Nengō) in Japan ( after Meiji ) :Nengō are commonly used in Japan as an alternative to the Gregorian calendar. :For example, in censuses, birthdays are written using Nengō. :Dates of newspapers and official documents are also written using Nengō. :Nengō are changed upon the enthronement of each new Emperor of Japan (Tennō). :Meiji ( 1868 - 1912) :Taishō ( 1912 - 1926) :Showa ( 1926 (December 25) - 1989 (January 7) ) :Heisei ( 1989 (January 8) - present ) :For Example : ::1945 was the 20th year of Shōwa. ::2001 was the 13th year of Heisei. ::1989 was the 64th year of Shōwa through January 7, but on January 8, it became the 1st year(Gan-nen) of Heisei. :Before World War II ended, Imperial era (Kōki) is also used in common that the year of enthronement of first emperor (Jimmu-Tennō) is defined as First poop. (= 660 B.C.)
See also

- History of Tokyo
- Military History of Japan
- List of Japanese battles
Further Reading

Postwar Japan

- Allinson, Gary D. Japan's Postwar History, 2nd edition, Cornell University Press, 2004 (ISBN 0801489121)
References

- - [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/jptoc.html Japan]
External links

- [http://www.samurai-archives.com/ Samurai Archives Japanese History Page] - a great amount of text about Japanese history
- [http://www.openhistory.org/jhdp/intro/Intro.html A Short Introduction to Japanese History] by Christopher Spackman. This is published under the terms of the GFDL, so it should be usable as a resource for Wikipedia.
- [http://www.openhistory.org/jhdp/encyclopedia/index.html Encyclopedia of Japanese History] by Christopher Spackman. Also published under the GFDL, this is highly stubby, with most entries very short or empty. However, it may be a good source of inspiration for subjects to write articles on.
- [http://www4.ncsu.edu/~fljpm/chron/jc01.outline.html Outline Chronology of Japanese Cultural History]
- [http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/index_ne.html National Museum of Japanese History] ko:일본의 역사 ja:日本の歴史

712

Events
- Ansprand succeeds Aripert as king of the Lombards.
- From North Africa, Musa bin Nusair reinforces last year's Muslim invasion of Iberia.
- June 12 - Luitprand succeeds his father Ansprand as king of the Lombards.
- Emperor Xuanzong of Tang China succeeds Emperor Ruizong of Tang China as emperor of China. Births
- Al-Mansur, second Abbasid caliph (d. 775)
- Du Fu, Chinese poet (d. 770) Deaths
- Aripert, king of the Lombards
- Ansprand, king of the Lombards Category:712 als:712 ko:712년

Nihonshoki

Nihonshoki (Japanese: 日本書紀) is the second oldest history book about the ancient history of Japan. Compared with Kojiki, the oldest, it is more elaborate and has proven invaluable to historians as it includes the most complete historical records they have of ancient Japanese history. Nihonshoki was finished in 720. The book is also called the Nihongi (日本紀). Like Kojiki, Nihonshoki begins with mythological tales that cannot be relied on for historical reference, but it also continues on to contemporary events. It is considered to have recorded accurately the latter reigns of Emperor Tenji, Emperor Temmu, and Empress Jitō. Nihonshoki focuses on the merits of the virtuous rulers and the mistakes of the bad ones. It recorded episodes from mythological eras, diplomatic contacts with China and Korea, and numerous events close to its time of compilation. Though Kojiki was written in transliterated Japanese with Chinese characters, Nihonshoki was written in classical Chinese as was common for any official documents at that time.

External links

- [http://kodaishi-db.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ Nihonshoki TEXT] Category:History books Category:Ancient Japan Category:Shinto ko:니혼쇼키 ja:日本書紀

Nihonshoki

External links

- [http://kodaishi-db.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ Nihonshoki TEXT] Category:History books Category:Ancient Japan Category:Shinto ko:니혼쇼키 ja:日本書紀

Kami

Kami (神) is the Japanese for "god". The word is used to indicate any sort of god, beings of a higher place or belonging to a different sphere of existence. This includes spirits and the God of the Abrahamic religions. The word connotates charisma, wisdom, miracle — any kind of thing resembling divinity. See, for example, kamikaze. Because Japanese does not distinguish number (singular/plural) in nouns, it is rarely clear whether kami means a single entity or multiple entities. Japanese often imply multiple entities, including Buddha and the Abrahamic God (the latter is usually called Kami-sama, with the high honorific suffix -sama). In Shinto, the ancient animistic religion of the Japanese, kami are understood as the divine forces of nature. The worshippers of the Shinto religion in ancient Japan revered creations of nature which exhibited a particular beauty and power such as waterfalls, mountains, boulders, animals, trees, grasses and even rice paddies. They strongly believed the spirits or resident kami deserved respect. Shinto believers also adhere to kami having an anthromorphic form with the ability to act and communicate, as in a kind of avatar. They could not be seen by men. However, they were not omnipotent and omnipresent. In Japanese mythology, for example, Amaterasu, the sun goddess of the Shinto pantheon, could not see the events of the human world. She also had to use divination rituals to see the future. The kami traditionally possessed two souls, one gentle (nigimi-tama) and the other aggressive (arami-tama). This human but powerful form of kami was also divided into amutsu-kami ("the heavenly deities") and kunitsu-kami ("the gods of the earthly realm"). A deity would behave differently according to which soul was in control at a given time. In many ways, this was representative of nature's sudden changes and would explain why there were kami for every meteorological event: snowfall, rain, typhoons, floods, lightning and volcanoes. The ancestors of a particular family can also be worshipped as kami. In this sense, these kami were worshipped not because of their godly powers, but because of a distinct quality or value. These kami were regional and many shrines (hokora) were built in honour of these kami. In his 1946 Ningen-sengen radio broadcast, the emperor Hirohito declared that he is not an akitsumikami (manifest kami). In the 2005 expansion to Magic: The Gathering, entitled Champions of Kamigawa, kami and shinto are the basis for the ongoing storyline of the series. The set has stayed surprisingly true to the Japanese mythology, using actual kami names instead of inventing ones. In Kamigawa, the Kami have been angered by the actions of a human lord. This anger has sparked the "Kami War", in which the noble kami spirits turn against their human worshippers.

Some specific kami

- Izanami, the first woman
- Izanagi, the first man
- Amaterasu, the sun goddess
- Susanoo, god of storms and seas
- Inari, god of rice

Izanagi

Izanagi is a deity in Japanese mythology and in Shintoism. He and his spouse Izanami bore many islands, deities, and forefathers of Japan. When Izanami died in childbirth, Izanagi tried (but failed) to retrieve her from Yomi (a hades). In the cleansing rite after his return, he begot Amaterasu (the sun goddess) from his left eye, Tsukiyomi (the moon god) from his right eye, and Susanoo (tempest or storm god) from his nose. The story of Izanagi and Izanami has close parallels to the Greek Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, but it also has a major difference. When Izanagi looks prematurely at his wife, he beholds her monstruous and hellish state and she is shamed and enraged. She pursues him in order to kill him. She fails to do so, but promises to kill a thousand of his people every day. Izanagi retorts that a thousand and five hundred will be born every day. There are remarkable similarities also between Izanami and Izanagi on the one hand and the Maya deities Itzamna and Ix Chel on the other. Among the Maya as among the Yamato, the male god is a gentle deity, creator of the sun and moon, while the female goddess (Ix Chel in Central America) is only benevolent while in company of her husband. If isolated from him, she becomes a malevolent goddess of floods, destruction and death. She has a serpent growing from her head, much like Izanagi in Yomi. A point that is at the same time a difference and a similarity: The name Izanami is the female goddess among the Yamato, while Itzamna is the male god among the Maya. The connection, if there really is one, must go back thousands of years to Paleolithic times, and in the course of the millennia the deities must have exchanged names or genders among one of the two peoples. Category:Creator gods Category:Japanese gods Category:Shinto kami ja:イザナギ

Izanami

In Japanese mythology, Izanami (J:イザナミ meaning "She who invites") is a goddess of both creation and death, as well as the former wife of the god Izanagi. She is also referred to as Izana-mi or Izanami-no-kami.

Goddess of Creation

The first gods summoned two divine beings into existence, the male Izanagi and the female Izanami, and charged them with creating the first land. To help them do this, Izanagi and Izanami were given a spear decorated with jewels, named Amenonuhoko (heavenly spear). The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Amenoukihashi (floating bridge of heaven), and churned the sea below with the spear. When drops of salty water fell from the spear, they formed into the island Onogoro (self-forming). They descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island. Eventually they wished to be mated, so they built a pillar called Amenomihashira and around it they built a palace called Yahirodono (the room of eight footsteps?). Izanagi and Izanami circled the pillar in opposite directions, and when they met on the other side, Izanami spoke first in greeting. Izanagi didn't think that this was the proper thing to do, but they mated anyhow. They had two children, Hiruko (watery child) and Awashima (island of bubbles) but they were badly-made and are not considered deities. They put the children into a boat and set them out to sea, then petitioned the other gods for an answer as to what they did wrong. They were told that the male deity should have spoken first in greeting during the marriage ceremony. So Izanagi and Izanami went around the pillar again, and this time, Izanagi spoke first when they met, and their marriage was then successful. From their union were born the ohoyashima, or the eight great islands of the Japanese chain:
- Awazi
- Iyo (later Shikoku)
- Ogi
- Tsukusi (later Kyushu)
- Iki
- Tsusima
- Sado
- Yamato (later Honshu) : Note that Hokkaido, Chishima, and Okinawa were not part of Japan in ancient times. They bore six more islands and many deities. Izanami died giving birth to the child Kagututi (incarnation of fire) or Ho-Masubi (causer of fire). She was then buried on Mt. Hiba, at the border of the old provinces of Izumo and Hoki, near modern-day Yasugi of Shimane Prefecture. So angry was Izanagi at the death of his wife that he killed the newborn child, thereby creating dozens of deities.

Goddess of Death

Izanagi lamented the death of Izanami and undertook a journey to Yomi ("the shadowy land of the dead"). Quickly, he searched for Izanami and found her. At first, Izanagi could not see her at all for the shadows hid her appearance well. Nevertheless, he asked her to return with him. Izanami spat out at him, informing Izanagi that he was too late. She had already eaten the food of the underworld and was now one with the land of the dead. She could no longer return to the living. Izanagi was shocked at this news but he refused to give in to her wishes of being left to the dark embrace of Yomi. While Izanami was sleeping, he took the comb that bound his long hair and set it alight as a torch. Under the sudden burst of light, he saw the horrid form of the once beautiful and graceful Izanami. She was now a rotting form of flesh with maggots and foul creatures running over her ravaged body. Crying out loud, Izanagi could no longer control his fear and started to run, intending to return to the living and abandon his death-ridden wife. Izanami woke up shrieking and indignant and chased after him. Wild shikome (foul women) also hunted for the frightened Izanagi, instructed by Izanami to bring him back. Izanagi burst out of the entrance and quickly pushed a boulder in the mouth of the cavern that was the entrance of Yomi. Izanami screamed from behind this impenetrable barricade and told Izanagi that if he left her she would destroy 1,000 residents of the living every day. He furiously replied he would give life to 1,500. The story has both strong parallels, and significant differences, with the Greek Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and the Maya Myth of Itzamna and Ix Chel. Category:Creator goddesses Category:Death goddesses Category:Japanese goddesses Category:Shinto kami ja:イザナミ

Empress Suiko

Empress Suiko (推古天皇 Suiko Tennō) (554-April 15, 628)) was the 33rd imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, and the first known woman to hold this position. She had several names including Princess Nukatabe and (possibly posthumous) Toyomike Kashikiya. She was the third daughter of Emperor Kimmei, and her mother was Soga no Iname's daughter, Soga no Kitashihime. She was a consort to her half-brother Emperor Bidatsu, but after Bidatsu's first wife died she became his official wife and was given the title Ōkisaki (official wife of the emperor). She bore two sons and three daughters. After Bidatsu's death, Suiko's brother, Emperor Yōmei, came to power for a brief period of about two years before dying of illness. Upon Yōmei's death, a power struggle arose between the Soga clan and the Mononobe clan, with the Sogas supporting Prince Hatsusebe and the Mononobes supporting Prince Anahobe. The Sogas prevailed and Prince Hatsusebe acceded to the throne as Emperor Sushun in 587. However, Soga no Umako quickly began to fear Sushun's growing resentment of the power of the Soga clan and Umako had him assassinated in 592. When asked to accede to the throne to fill the power vacuum that then developed, Suiko became the first of several examples in Japanese history where a woman was chosen to accede to the throne to avert a power struggle. Prince Shōtoku was appointed regent the following year and, although political power during Suiko's reign is widely viewed as having been wielded by Prince Shōtoku and Soga no Umako, Suiko was far from powerless. For example, her refusal to grant Soga no Umako's request that he be granted the imperial territory known as Kazuraki no Agata in 624 is widely cited as evidence of her independence from his influence. Some of the many achievements under Empress Suiko's reign include the official recognition of Buddhism by the issuance of the Flourishing Three Treasures Edict in 594, the opening of relations with the Sui court in 600, the adoption of the Twelve Level Cap and Rank System in 603 and the adoption of the Seventeen-article constitution in 604. Suiko was also one of the first Buddhist monarchs in Japan and had taken the vows of a nun shortly before becoming empress. At a time when imperial succession was generally determined by clan leaders, rather than the emperor, Suiko left only vague indications of succession to two candidates while on her deathbed. One, Prince Tamura, was a grandson of Emperor Bidatsu and was supported by the main line of Sogas, including Soga no Emishi. The other, Prince Yamashiro, was a son of Prince Shōtoku and had the support of some lesser members of the Soga clan. After a brief struggle within the Soga clan in which one of Prince Yamashiro's main supporters was killed, Prince Tamura was chosen and he acceded to the throne as Emperor Jomei in 629.

Notes

#April 15, 628 corresponds to the Seventh Day of the Third Month of 628 (Boshi) of the traditional lunisolar calendar used in Japan until 1873. Suiko Suiko Suiko Suiko ja:推古天皇 zh-cn:推古天皇

Legend

:For other senses of this word, see legend (disambiguation). A legend (Latin, legenda, "things to be read") is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants, includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility", defined by a highly flexible set of parameters, which may include miracles that are perceived as actually having happened, within the specific tradition of indoctrination where the legend arises, and within which it may be transformed over time, in order to keep it fresh and vital, and realistic. Modern retellings of the legend of Saint George omit many of the miraculous happenings that were central to earlier versions, but which have lost credibility. Thus modern "urban legends" are quite correctly termed legends: "it happened to the brother-in-law of someone my friend's mother knew". The distinction is carefully drawn by Karl Kerenyi in the opening pages of The Heroes of the Greeks (1959): :"An essential difference between the legends of heroes and mythology proper, between the myths of the gods and those of the heroes, which are often entwined with them or at least border upon them, consists in this: that the latter prove to be, whether more or less, interwoven with history, with the events, not of a primaeval time which lies outside of time, but with historical time." A clear example, which distinguishes what is myth from what is legend, is the tale of the Gordian Knot. The legend concerns Alexander the Great, who, when confronted with the ancient knot of cornel bark that secured the pole of the sacral ox-cart at Gordium in the winter of 333 BC, severed it with a slash of his sword. The myth of the Gordian Knot is the founding myth of Gordium itself, justifying the authenticity of its line of kings. From the moment a legend is retailed as a legend, its authentic legendary qualities begin to fade and recede: in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving transformed a local Hudson River Valley legend into a sly literary anecdote with "Gothic" overtones, which actually tended to diminish its character as genuine legend. Like metaphors, legends may be living or dead: the vital signs of a legend depend upon its being fiercely defended as true, which eliminates the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow. But compare the Voyage of Saint Brendan, and the "Black Legend" of the supposedly fanatical and cruel national character of Spain. Legends that exceed these boundaries of "realism"— a term that has no practical application unless it is bound within particular cultural perspectives— are "fables". The talking animal formula of Aesop identifies his brief parables as fables, not legends. The parable of the Prodigal Son would be a legend if it were told as having actually happened to a specific son of a historical father. If it included an ass that gave sage advice to the Prodigal Son it would be a fable. Legend may be transmitted orally, passed on person-to-person, or, in the original sense, through written text. Jacob de Voragine's Legenda Aurea or "The Golden Legend" comprises a series of vitae or instructive biographical narratives, tied to the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. They are presented as lives of the saints, but the profusion of miraculous happenings and above all their uncritical context are characteristics of hagiography. The Legenda was intended to inspire extemporized homilies and sermons appropriate to the saint of the day. The word "legend" appeared in English ca 1340, transmitted from medieval Latin through French. Its first blurred extended (and essentially Protestant) sense of a nonhistorical narrative or myth was first recorded in 1613. By emphasizing the unrealistic character of "legends" of the saints, English-speaking Protestants were able to introduce a note of contrast to the "real" saints and martyrs of the Reformation, whose authentic narratives could be found in Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Thus "legend" gained its modern connotations of "undocumented" and "spurious". Legend may be interpreted for its ontological consequences and be treated as myth. To take an example, myths surrounding Cadmus, a Phoenician immigrant credited with bringing the alphabet and other Near Eastern culture to Bronze Age Greece, may have begun as a series of legends gathering around the memory of the historical founder of certain coastal cities in Greece. Explaining the origins of myth as former historical legends in this fashion is termed "euhemerism". See the entry Euhemerus for more detail. A legend or legend fragment is a meme that propagates through a culture. It may be crystallized in a literary work that fixes it and which affects the future direction it will take: compare Hamlet (legend) and Shakespeare's Hamlet. When a legend that is rooted in a kernel of truth is so strongly affected by an ideal (perhaps of chivalry) that it conforms to expected literary conventions of behavior, it becomes Romance. Some legends we "know" today may have their basis in historical fact. What distinguishes legend from chronicle, however, is that legend applies a structure that reveals a moral "meaning" to events, which lifts them above the meaningless repetitions and constraints of average human lives and gives them a universality that makes them worth repeating. Conspiracy theories are similar to legends in that the linchpin of the conspiracy is usually a plausible, but unprovable secret agenda which exclusively drives the story and links otherwise unconnected happenings into a satisfying pattern. Before the invention of the printing press, stories were passed on via oral tradition. Storytellers abounded. They learned their stock in trade, their stories, typically from an older storyteller, who might (or more usually might not) have actually been there when the "story" was "history" bardic schools. Artificial legends are the stock-in-trade of computer gaming. See The Legend of Zelda, among numerous examples.

Some legends

- Atlantis, especially when its "actual site" is hunted for (Plato used the myth as a parable);
- Cenodoxus, or the Damnation of the Good Doctor of Paris, an event leading ultimately to the Sanctification of St. Bruno of Carthusia;
- King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, when the "real Arthur" is identified in 6th century Cornwall;
- The Holy Grail;
- El Dorado and the Fountain of Youth, which both evolved from legend to myth;
- Vlad the Impaler; the legend from which vampire mythology is said to derive;
- Robin Hood
- Roland
- William Tell

Chinese language

The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, Pinyin: Hànyǔ, 华语/華語, Huáyǔ or 中文, Zhōngwén) forms part of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. About one-fifth of the people in the world speak some form of Chinese as their native language, making it the language with the most native speakers. The terms Chinese language and Chinese can both refer to spoken Chinese or written Chinese. Spoken Chinese is tonal. Regional variation between different variants/dialects is comparable to that of, for instance, the Romance language family; many variants of spoken Chinese are different enough to be mutually incomprehensible (see Is Chinese a language or family of languages? below). For spoken Chinese, there are between six and twelve main regional groups (depending on classification scheme), including Mandarin, Cantonese, Fujianese and Hakka. However, variants of spoken Chinese almost always use the same written form (with occasional dialect-specific characters, such as in Cantonese). Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China, united Chinese writing in the 3rd century BC by setting standard written forms for which there had previously been many regional variations. Before the 20th century, the common written form was Literary Chinese (Classical Chinese), which no one spoke as a mother tongue. In the early 20th century, the baihuawen movement pushed the birth of the new written form, Vernacular Chinese, based on dialects of Mandarin. In the meantime, dialect-specific characters have contintued to develop primarily in Cantonese, but also occasionally in other dialects. The Chinese language, spoken in the form of Standard Mandarin, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan, as well as one of four official languages of Singapore (together with English, Malay, and Tamil). Chinese—de facto, in spoken form, Mandarin—is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (alongside English, Arabic, French, Russian, and Spanish). Spoken in the form of Standard Cantonese, Chinese is one of the official languages of Hong Kong (together with English) and of Macau (together with Portuguese). Among Chinese diaspora, Cantonese is the most common language one can hear in Chinatowns, thanks to early immigrants from Southern China. However, the rise of Northern and Taiwanese immigrants has led to the increase in the use of Mandarin and various Min dialects. Min The terms and concepts used by Chinese to separate spoken language from written language are different from those used in the West, because the political and social development was different in China compared to Europe. Whereas Europe fragmented into smaller nation-states after the fall of the Roman Empire, whose identities were often defined by language, China was able to preserve cultural and political unity through the same period, and maintained a common written language throughout its entire history, despite the fact that its actual diversity in spoken language has always been comparable to that of Europe. As a result, Chinese makes a sharp distinction between "written language" (wén; 文) and "spoken language" (yǔ; 语/語). The concept of a distinct and unified combination of written and spoken forms of language is therefore much stronger in the West than in China.

Spoken Chinese

Chinese spoken language The map on the right depicts the subdivisions ("languages" or "dialect groups") within Chinese. The traditionally recognized seven main groups, in order of population size are:
- Mandarin 北方 or 官話/官话 (shown in the map as divided into East and West groups, but also includes the Jianghuai and Huguang areas depicted in the map)
- Wu 吳/吴 (Shanghainese)
- Cantonese 粵/粤
- Min Family 閩/闽, further divided into 5 to 7 subdivisions, all mutually unintelligible.
- Xiang 湘
- Hakka 客家
- Gan 贛/赣 In parentheses above are the culturally dominant or representative dialects of each language or dialect group today. Chinese linguists have recently distinguished 3 more groups from the traditional seven:
- Jin 晉/晋 from Mandarin
- Hui 徽 from Wu
- Pinghua 平話/平话 from Cantonese There are also many smaller groups that are not yet classified, such as: Danzhou dialect, spoken in Danzhou, on Hainan Island; Xianghua (乡话), not to be confused with Xiang (湘), spoken in western Hunan; and Shaozhou Tuhua, spoken in northern Guangdong. See List of Chinese dialects for a comprehensive listing of individual dialects within these large, broad groupings. There is also Standard Mandarin, the official standard language used by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, and Singapore. Pronunciation of Standard Mandarin is based on the Beijing dialect, which is the dialect of Mandarin as spoken in Beijing, with vocabulary largely based on dialects of Mandarin, and grammar and syntax on vernacular Chinese. The governments intend for speakers of all Chinese speech varieties to use it as a common language of communication. It is therefore used in government, in the media, and in instruction in schools. There is much controversy around the terminology used to describe the subdivisions of Chinese: some people call Chinese a language and its subdivisions dialects, while others call Chinese a language family and its subdivisions languages. Although Dungan is very closely related to Mandarin, not many people consider it "Chinese", because it is written in Cyrillic and spoken by people outside China who are not considered Chinese in any sense. It is common for speakers of Chinese to be able to speak several varieties of the language. Typically, in southern China, a person will be able to speak Standard Mandarin, the local dialect, and occasionally a more general regional dialect, such as Cantonese. Such polyglots frequently code switch between Standard Mandarin and the local dialect, depending on the situation. A person living in Taiwan, for example, may commonly mix pronunciations, phrases, and words from Standard Mandarin and Taiwanese, and this mixture is considered socially appropriate under many circumstances. In Hong Kong, it is not unusual for people to speak Cantonese and English, and sometimes Mandarin. In the sense that the written language is based on Standard Mandarin and the dialects are mostly spoken but not written, the situation in China is a complex and interesting case of diglossia.

Is Chinese a language or a family of languages?

Spoken Chinese comprises many regional and often mutually unintelligible variants. Linguistically, the situation is comparable to that of Romance languages, which are mutually unintelligible but all derive from Latin and so share many common underlying features. However, the socio-political context of Chinese language is quite different from that of European languages. In Europe, political fragmentation gave rise to independent states roughly the size of Chinese provinces. This generated a political desire to create separate cultural and literary standards to differentiate nation-states and standardize the language within a nation-state. In China, a single cultural and literary standard (Classical Chinese and later, Vernacular Chinese) continued to exist while the spoken language continued to diverge between different cities and counties, much as European languages diverged, due to the scale of the country, and the obstruction of communication by geography. For example, mountainous South China displays more linguistic diversity than the flat North China. In parts of south China, a major city's dialect may be marginally intelligible to close neighbours. For instance, Wuzhou is about 120 miles upstream from Guangzhou, but its dialect is more like Standard Cantonese spoken in Guangzhou, than is that of Taishan, 60 miles southwest of Guangzhou and separated by several rivers from it (Ramsey, 1987). The diverse Chinese spoken forms and common written form comprise a very different linguistic situation from that in Europe. In Europe, linguistic differences sharpened as the language of each nation-state was standardized. For example, a farmer on the French side of the border would start to model his speech and writing after Paris while his neighbour on the Spanish side after Madrid. The use of local speech became erroneous. In China, standardization of spoken dialects was weaker, and mostly due to cultural influence. Although, as with Europe, dialects of regional political or cultural capitals were still prestigious and widely used as the region's lingua franca, their linguistic influence depended more on the capital's status and wealth than entirely on the political boundaries of the region. China's linguistic situation is more similar to India's. Although India was historically not as unified as China, parts of it speaking multiple languages have long been united in various states, and many of its languages were not standardized until the last few decades through political centralization. Like Classical Chinese, Sanskrit long played a role as common written language. Unlike Classical Chinese, its descendants are recognized as separate languages, 18 of which are official national languages. Many Chinese languages do not have sharp boundaries. As with many areas that were linguistically diverse for a long time, it is not always clear whether the speech of a particular area of China should be considered a language in its own right or a dialect of another. The Ethnologue lists a total of [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90151 14], but the number varies between seven and seventeen depending on how strict the intelligibility criterion is. For Chinese people, regional linguistic differences are less important than cultural or nationalistic similarity. They generally consider Chinese a single language, partly because of the common written language. They refer to dialects as the speech of a location, for example Beijing dialect is (北京話/北京话), the speech of Beijing, and Shanghainese is (上海話/上海话), the speech of Shanghai. Often laypeople are not aware that various "dialects" are categorized into "languages" based on mutual intelligibility, though in areas where language varies greatly (such as the southeast) people do group dialects into categories like Wu or Hakka. There is a tendency to regard dialects as equal variations of a single Chinese language, even though many parts of north China are quite homogeneous in language, unlike parts of south China. As with the concept of Chinese language itself, the divisions among dialects are mostly geographical rather than based on linguistic distance. For example, Sichuan dialect is considered distinct from Beijing dialect in the same way that Cantonese is, although linguists consider Sichuan dialect and Beijing dialect Mandarin dialects, unlike Cantonese. The idea of single language has major political overtones, and explains the amount of emotion over this issue. The idea of Chinese as a language family may suggest that China consists of several different nations, challenge the notion of a single Han Chinese "race", and legitimize secessionist movements. This is why some Chinese are uncomfortable with it, while supporters of Taiwan independence tend to be strong promoters of Min- and Hakka-language education. Furthermore, for some, suggesting that Chinese is more correctly described as multiple languages implies that the notion of a single Chinese language and a single Chinese state or nationality is backward, oppressive, artificial, and out of touch with reality. However, the links between ethnicity, politics, and language can be complex. Many Wu, Min, Hakka, and Cantonese speakers consider their own varieties as separate spoken languages, but the Han Chinese race as one entity. They do not regard these two positions as contradictory, but consider the Han Chinese an entity of great internal diversity. Moreover, the government of the People's Republic of China officially states that China is a multinational state, and that the term "Chinese" refers to a broader concept Zhonghua Minzu that incorporates groups that do not natively speak Chinese, such as Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongols. (Groups that do speak Chinese and are considered "ethnic Chinese" are called Han Chinese.) This is seen as an ethnic and cultural concept, not a political one. Similarly, on Taiwan, some supporters of Chinese reunification promote the local language, while some supporters of Taiwan independence have little interest in the topic. And the Taiwanese identity incorporates Taiwanese aborigines, who are not considered Han Chinese because they speak Austronesian languages, predate Han Chinese settlement, and are culturally and genetically linked to other Austronesian-speaking peoples such as Polynesians.

Written Chinese

The relationship among the Chinese spoken and written languages is complex. It is compounded by the fact that spoken variations evolved for centuries, since at least the late Han Dynasty, while written Chinese changed much less. Until the 20th century, most formal Chinese writing was done in wényán (文言), translated as Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese, which was very different from any spoken variety of Chinese, much as Classical Latin differs from modern Romance languages. Since the May Fourth Movement of 1919, the formal standard for written Chinese was changed to báihuà (白話/白话), or Vernacular Chinese, which, while not completely identical to the grammar and vocabulary of dialects of Mandarin, was based mostly on them. The term standard written Chinese now refers to Vernacular Chinese. Chinese characters are morphemes independent of phonetic change. Thus, although the number one is "yi" in Mandarin, "yat" in Cantonese and "tsit" in Hokkien, they derive from a common ancient Chinese word and still share an identical character ("一"). Nevertheless, the orthographies of Chinese dialects are not completely identical. The vocabularies of different dialects have diverged. In addition, while literary vocabulary is mostly shared among all dialects, colloquial vocabularies are often different. Colloquially written Chinese usually involves "dialectal characters" which may not be understood in other dialects or characters that are considered archaic in standard written Chinese. Cantonese is unique among non-Mandarin regional languages in having a widely used written colloquial standard with a large number of unofficial characters for words particular to this variety of Chinese. By contrast, the other regional languages do not have such widely-used alternative written standards. Written colloquial Cantonese has become quite popular in online chat rooms and instant messaging, although for formal written communications Cantonese speakers still normally use standard written Chinese. Also, in Hunan, some women wrote their local language in Nü Shu, a syllabary derived from Chinese characters. The Dungan language, considered a dialect of Mandarin, is also nowadays written in Cyrillic, and was formerly written in the Arabic alphabet, although the Dungan people live outside China.

Chinese characters

The Chinese written language employs Chinese characters (漢字/汉字 pinyin: hànzì), which are logograms: each symbol represents a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language). They are not just pictographs (pictures of their meanings), but are highly stylized and carry much abstract meaning. Only some characters are derived from pictographs. In 100 AD, the famed scholar