Qin and Han dynasties China slowly became a major geopolitical power center during the ancient era. Various ancient Chinese dynasties enlarged their realms. However, it was only under the unified Qin dynasty that China truly started its process of expansion into other nations. Qin's expansionism led to its
first contacts with the
Xiongnu, the
Yue tribes, and extended its reach to the
Korean Peninsula. The Han dynasty marked the height of early Chinese expansionism. Under
Emperor Wu of Han, the
Han China became the regional center of geopolitical influence in East Asia, projecting much of its imperial power on its neighbors. Han China managed to conquer
northern Korea and
northern Vietnam, annexing and incorporating several parts of these territories. The Han dynasty also managed to conquer various nomadic tribes as far north as what is now modern
Mongolia and
Siberia and gained control over western regions such as modern
Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia. Following the fall of the Han dynasty, northern Korea gained political independence from The Central Plain dynasties, leaving only northern Vietnam remaining under Chinese control, and the
Three Kingdoms era temporarily halted Chinese expansionism. Nonetheless, the
Cao Wei,
Shu Han and
Eastern Wu managed to extend its territorial gains in some parts under their territorial control. Once the Three Kingdoms ended and establishment of the
Jin dynasty, Chinese expansionism halted for four centuries, as China was in dire need to consolidate back its borderland following its significant population losses. The
Sui dynasty, which reunified China after another 350 years of divisions, attempted to embark back on expansionism, but
four disastrous campaigns to Goguryeo put the dynasty to an end.
Tang dynasty The establishment of the
Tang dynasty marked the comeback of Chinese expansionism. Like its
Han predecessor, the Tang empire established itself as a medieval East Asian geopolitical superpower that marked another
golden age for Chinese history. Tang China managed to maintain its grip over northern Vietnam and invaded northern
Korea. The Tang empire also managed to extend its control over
Xinjiang and Central Asia, reaching as far west as the
Aral Sea,
Caspian Sea and the
Lake Baikal for several decades. China also gained loyalty from the Turkic and Sogdian tribes at the northern and western borders. The Tang managed to encroach into the Tibetan territory and occupy
Lhasa, until they had to abandon such expansionist pursuits due to difficult climate. The Tang Chinese expansion was checked following the
Battle of Talas in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, when the Tang was defeated by the Arabs. However, China remained strong enough to process a significant weight until the
An Lushan Rebellion which crippled the Tang. The rebellion partly led to the collapse and implosion of the Tang into several warring states and kingdoms. After the Tang collapse, China would be divided into several smaller nations until the unification during the Yuan dynasty and Mongol empire.
Fragmentation during Song, Jin, Liao dynasties When the Tang dynasty collapsed, China entered the
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. After this period, China remained fragmented and was divided into a number of smaller countries that emerged from the turmoil. These included the Song dynasty to the south and the Liao and Jin dynasties to the north. The Song, Liao, and Jin would continue to fight each other for centuries. As a result of perpetual instability, the Vietnamese eventually seceded from the union in the
Battle of Bạch Đằng in 938,
Song dynasty, unified much of China's south and launched an invasion of northern Vietnam in the process, but was repelled by
Lê Hoàn. From then, the Song dynasty had struggled to reconsolidate back the borderland and inner territories, as well as repeated wars with Vietnam, the
Liao dynasty, the
Jin dynasty and the
Western Xia. This had prevented the Song dynasty from ever taking any serious military expeditions. These various kingdoms (Song, Liao, Jin, Xia) would fight each other until they were all conquered and unified by the
Yuan dynasty in 1279.
Yuan dynasty The
Yuan dynasty, as a
Khagan-ruled division of the
Mongol Empire and an
imperial Chinese dynasty, was founded by the
Mongols in the traditional Chinese style in 1271. The Mongol Empire was characterized by unprecedented territorial expansionism north and west, reaching as far as
Eastern Europe and the
Middle East, although the Yuan dynasty based in China was unable to exert actual power over the west khanates due to the
disintegrated nature of the Mongol Empire. The Yuan dynasty in China undertook attempts to conquer other territories further east and south too. It launched two
invasions of Burma, with the
first invasion delivering a devastating blow to the
Pagan Kingdom and effectively resulted in its collapse. The Yuan dynasty also managed to
conquer Korea and
Tibet, thereby incorporating Tibet into Chinese territory for the first time in history. However, the Yuan dynasty had been unsuccessful in
its attempt to conquer Vietnam, with the Mongols being repelled by
Trần Thái Tông. Furthermore, The Yuan's naval expeditions to invade
Java and
Japan yielded disastrous results, eventually leading to the end of Sino-Mongol expansionist desires.
Decline during Ming dynasty Following the collapse of the Yuan dynasty, the newly established
Ming dynasty was initially reluctant to embark on expansionism due to destruction from
rebellions in the waning years of the Yuan dynasty. The first Ming emperor,
Hongwu, was openly against expansionism and was more concerned with killing his internal political opponents than dealing with outside threats. He specifically warned future Emperors only to defend against foreign barbarians, and not engage in military campaigns for glory and conquest. However, once Hongwu died, the reign of
Yongle saw the Ming attempt to expand its territories. The Ming launched an
invasion to Vietnam, eventually leading to the
fourth Chinese domination. However, the Ming was defeated in the
Battle of Tốt Động – Chúc Động 20 years later. Moreover, the Ming launched an attack on the Mongols and Northern Yuan to the north, but the Ming failed, and their emperors were even captured by the Mongols in the
Tumu Crisis. Following its failures in Vietnam and the north, the Ming dynasty started to concentrate only in internal affairs, and refused to make further interventions or expeditions, except for naval expeditions and trades such as the
Ming treasure voyages by
Zheng He. Rather than expanding, the Ming was more defensive in nature and faced internal rebellions such as the
Rebellion of Cao Qin and
Bozhou rebellion as well as invasions from the north such as from the
Later Jin (eventually the Qing) and the Japanese under
Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the
Imjin war.
Qing dynasty The
Qing dynasty was a
Manchu-ruled dynasty, descended from the
Jurchens which founded the
Jin dynasty earlier. The dynasty embraced expansionism. By the late 19th century, in response to competition with other states, the Qing government of China attempted to exert direct control of its frontier areas by conquest or, if already under military control, conversion into provinces. The ability of Qing China to project power into Central Asia came about because of two changes, one social and one technological. The social change was that under the Qing dynasty, from 1642, the Chinese military forces were organized around cavalry which was more suited for power projection than prior Chinese infantry. The technological change was advances in artillery which negated the military advantage that the people of the steppe had with their cavalry. The
Dzungar Khanate was the last great independent nomadic power on the steppe of Central Asia. The
Dzungars were deliberately exterminated in a brutal campaign during the
Dzungar genocide by Manchu Bannermen and Khalkha Mongols. It has been estimated that more than a million people were slaughtered, and it took generations for it to recover. The Qing ruling family
Aisin Gioro was supportive of Tibetan Buddhism and many in the ruling class adopted the religion. The Qing dynasty was seen to be the return of Chinese expansionist policies. Under the Qing rule, China expanded beyond the
Great Wall and started to annex more territories in the process. The Qing invaded
Korea, managed to conquer
Mongolia, and also annexed modern territories of
Xinjiang and
Tibet as well. The Qing also managed to
extend its control into Central Asia for once more, mostly concentrated in what would be today Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Qing also destroyed the
Kingdom of Tungning of
Koxinga, and annexed
Taiwan as well. This marked for the first time, China managed to directly control Xinjiang, Taiwan, Tibet, Central Asia and Mongolia. China also marked its claims far to
Sakhalin, even though the Qing didn't manage to control it; or even to
Kashmir where it fought a bitter war against the
Sikhs. Ming loyalists led by
Koxinga invaded Taiwan and expelled Dutch colonialists from the island during the
Siege of Fort Zeelandia and founded the Chinese
Kingdom of Tungning. The Ming loyalists quickly moved to replace the institutions and culture of Dutch colonial rule with Han Chinese colonial rule. Language and religious institutions left by the Dutch were closed and replaced with Confucian temples and Chinese language schools for both Han Chinese and aboriginals. Officials encouraged new immigration of Han Chinese from China into territory further inland, turning aboriginal lands into new farmland. After fighting between the Ming loyalists and the
Qing during the
Revolt of the Three Feudatories, the Qing attacked the Kingdom of Tungning. the Qing won the
Battle of Penghu and the Ming loyalists submitted to Qing rule. Tungning was annexed as part of
Fujian. The Qing were "reluctant colonizers" but became convinced of Taiwan's value to their empire due to the threat the island posed if used as a base by rival powers, and by its abundant resources. The Qing turned Taiwan into its own province in 1885, after
Japanese interest and a defeated
French invasion attempt. After the
British expedition to Tibet in the waning days of the Qing dynasty, the Qing responded by sending
Zhao Erfeng to further integrate Tibet into China. He succeeded in abolishing the powers of the Tibetan local leaders in
Kham and appointing Chinese magistrates in their places by 1909–1910. Qing forces were also sent to
Ü-Tsang in 1910 to
establish a direct control over Tibet proper, though a province was never established in this area. The
Qing campaign against Burma (Myanmar) (1765–1769) was its most disastrous and costly frontier war. It ended in a military defeat but the Qing rulers could not accept Burma as an equal, and when diplomatic relations were resumed in 1790, the Qing court considered it a restoration of Chinese suzerainty. The Qing dynasty established a
tributary relationship with
Joseon dynasty Korea following the
Qing invasion of Joseon in 1636. In 1882, China and Korea signed the
China–Korea Treaty of 1882 stipulating that Korea was a dependency of China and granted Chinese merchants the right to conduct overland and maritime business freely within Korean borders as well as the Chinese unilateral extraterritoriality privileges in civil and criminal cases. China also obtained concessions in Korea, such as the
Chinese concession of Incheon. However, Qing China lost its influence over Korea following the
First Sino-Japanese War in 1895.
Republic of China When the Qing
collapsed in 1912, the newly established
Republic of China (ROC) claimed inheritance of all territories held by the Qing dynasty. When both
Tibet and
Outer Mongolia declared their independence, they were not recognized by the Republic of China. Most of the area comprising the present-day
Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) became a
de facto independent polity except for border areas such as
Amdo and Eastern
Kham. The Republic of China focused its efforts on consolidating their control over Chinese territories, however, faced numerous pressure from the expansionist
Empire of Japan in 1915, with the
Twenty-One Demands caused public uproars. It also faced strong opposition from the
Soviet Union, which also embraced expansionist policy, leading to the
border conflict of 1929. The Soviets and Japanese meddling into Chinese affairs and the lack of compromises from Western leaders over Japanese and Russian expansionism made the work difficult, as Russia had interests with regard to Xinjiang, and
Japanese invasion in northeast China at 1931. On the same time, the
Chinese Civil War also prevented any attempts of a possible Chinese expansion. When
World War II broke out, nonetheless
Chiang Kai-shek had sought to restore Chinese influence. Being a major ally and one of the
Big Four, Chiang wanted to restore Chinese influence in Korea and Southeast Asia, in a vision for a new Asia under Chiang's command. Once the World War II ended, Chiang Kai-shek started trying to implement the project, by sending troops to occupy northern Vietnam. Later, as the Chinese Civil War resumed, Chiang had to redeploy most of his army to fight the now-stronger communist force inside the border. In 1949, the government of Republic of China lost the war and was forced to
retreat to Taiwan where it continues to rule today.
People's Republic of China Following the
de facto end of the Chinese Civil War,
Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 and
incorporated Xinjiang after absorbing the
Second East Turkestan Republic, which had rebelled against the ROC with help from the
Soviet Union before the latter switched side. The PRC
annexed Tibet through a series of events that involved negotiations with the
Government of Tibet,
a military conflict in the
Chamdo area of western
Kham in October 1950, and the
Seventeen Point Agreement, which was ratified by the
14th Dalai Lama in October 1951 but later repudiated. The
Five Fingers of Tibet was a territorial claim attributed to
Mao Zedong that considers
Tibet to be China's right hand palm, with five fingers on its periphery:
Ladakh,
Nepal,
Sikkim,
Bhutan, and
North-East Frontier Agency (now known as
Arunachal Pradesh) that are considered China's responsibility to "liberate". The policy has never been discussed in official Chinese public statements and is now dormant, but concerns have often been raised over its possible continued existence or revival. Following
Dalai Lama's escape to India, China and India fought
a border war in 1962, where China gained
Aksai Chin and stampeded into
Arunachal Pradesh (called
South Tibet in China), before retreating from the latter over increasing turmoil. Before that, China also sought to take over Taiwan, then under the authority of the rival Republic of China, causing the
Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, but was unsuccessful due to American threats in response. China also sought to
take over Sikkim in 1967, but it was unsuccessful. A Chinese map published in 1961 showed China claiming territories in Bhutan,
Nepal and the
Kingdom of Sikkim. Incursions by Chinese soldiers and Tibetan herdsmen allying with the Chinese government also provoked tensions in Bhutan. In 1974, China launched its first naval expedition to reclaim the
Paracel Islands and defeated the 50-strong
South Vietnamese occupation force. Tensions triggered between China and later unified communist Vietnam led to the
Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979. China and Vietnam later fought another bitter
skirmish in the South China Sea in 1988, resulting in China's consolidation of some disputed islands. The PRC's stated goal of
unification with Taiwan is often perceived as an expansionist endeavor with
geostrategic significance for the PRC, allowing it to break out of the
first island chain and increase the country's
strategic depth. ==See also==