Kissimmee Homeschooling

Noah had three sons. And one of them, Japheth, is believed to be the father of the oriental races, which would include the Chinese. The Bible teaches:

 

The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations (Genesis 10:2-5).

 

Islamic and other legends teach:

 

There are numerous Oriental legends about Japheth. According to Mohammedan writers he was the eldest son of Noah, who gave him a stone (called Giude Tasch and Seuk Jede, long preserved in the country of the Mogul), upon which was inscribed the name of God, and which enabled him to cause rain at pleasure. They call him Aboultierk, and ascribe to him eleven sons, among whom are Sin, father of the Chinese, Turk of the Turks, and Ros of the Russians—nations wholly unknown to the ancient Hebrews. They ascribe to his sons great wisdom (Kitto, John; Alexander, William Lindsay. A Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, 3rd Edition. Black, 1876, p. 465).

 

According to the Tartars and Orientals, the Chinese are descended from Tchin, or Gin, the son of Japheth (Painter, John Thomas. Ethnology: or The history & genealogy of the human race: Or, The History & Genealogy of the Human Race. Baillière, Tindall & Cox, 1880 Original from Oxford University Digitized Jul 3, 2006, p. 106).

 

another researcher wrote:

 

In China, along the coast, there was a people called Three Han by the early Chinese writers. Han may be a derivative of Javan or Yahan...The three were Ma-Han, Shon-Han and the Pien-Ha. There is, as Bishop writes, a very close relationship between them and the people who settled Japan. (In Search of...The Origin of Nations. History Research Projects. 2003, pp. 164-165).

 

Some within Church of God circles have also speculated that the Japanese may have descended from Ashkenaz, a son of Gomer (e.g. Generations of Japheth. Church of God News. Chicago District, 1965). Others have indicated that the Koreans came from Ashkenaz. Protestants commentators tend to accept that the oriental peoples descended from Japheth. The Catholic Encylopedia seems to believe that Magog might be identified with Lydia, but its scholars are unsure where the Chinese came from. Marco Polo identified Muhgu in China with Magog of the Bible (Polo M, Passini L. I viaggi di Marco Polo Veneziano. Translated by Vincenzio Lazari. Tipi di P. Naratovich, 1847. Original from the New York Public Library. Digitized Sep 14, 2007, p. 329), but that does not necessarily make it so.

 

 

It may be that the Han Chinese derived from Javan and/or a mixture of the sons of Japheth.

Irrespective of which son(s) or grandson(s) of Noah the oriental peoples descended from, the Bible specifically teaches that all peoples were together and of the same language until after the tower of Babel:

 

1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech...

 

6 And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1,6-9).

 

Thus, until God confused human language and scattered people abroad, all humans were together and spoke the same language.

 

If the Bible is true (and I believe that it certainly is) then we would expect that perhaps somewhere the Chinese may have preserved some knowledge of some of the events recorded in the Bible prior to this scattering as well as some connection to the area of Babel.

 

Written records of the history of China can be found from as early as 1200 BC under the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC).  The Yellow River is said to be the cradle of Chinese civilization, although cultures originated at various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys millennia ago in the Neolithic era. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations.

 

The Bible speaks about origins and this study examines Biblical genealogy to find the origin of the Oriental peoples, the world’s largest family of nations.  The orient has the largest population group of earth.  The anthropological and historical evidences show that all East sian peoples had their origin in China.  From the Bible we can identify the first people group in China. 

 

All men in fact belong to one family because Adam and Eve were parents of all (Gen. 3:20,) but there are three genealogies after the Flood; Gen. 9:18-19,      The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth...  These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled.   According to the Biblical record, Shem is the original forefather of both the West Asian people and East Asian people. In the Genesis account, the ancestry of all the East Asian people can be traced to Shem.

 

 “The mountain of the orient” could be just a symbolic term for the numerous East Asian populations, or it may be a special mountain marking the far-eastern extent of the Joktanite populace; but either way it certainly means that Orientals are Joktan’s descendants.  (Joktan is indicated from the context of Gen. 10:30.) 

 

Chinese history says that the first migrations came into China’s eastern plains from the west, along the Silk Road.  This verifies the accepted dating of the first settlements in China’s Yellow River valley.  Hebrew Text Bible chronology puts this migration about 2200 BCE.  Tribal diversity in the orient began with Joktan’s thirteen sons and their families.  It may also come from the Patriarchal families.  East Asia was gradually populated by the escendants of these Semitic settlers.  We conclude that East Asian mainland peoples are entirely Semitic and may be identified in Bible terms as Eastern Hebrews.  Other west Asian tribes came to China later—such as Assyrians, the ten northern Israeli tribes and Persian Jews.  These all were Semitic and eventually assimilated into China. 

 

China is a country in East Asia whose culture is considered the oldest, still extant, in the world. The name `China’ comes from the Sanskrit Cina (derived from the name of the Chinese Qin Dynasty, pronounced `Chin’) which was translated as `Cin’ by the Persians and seems to have become popularized through trade along the Silk Road from China to the rest of the world. The Romans and the Greeks knew the country as `Seres’, “the land where silk comes from”. The name `China’ does not appear in print in the west until 1516 CE in Barbosa’s journals narrating his travels in the east (though the Europeans had long known of China through trade via the Silk Road). Marco Polo, the famous explorer who familiarized China to Europe in the 13th century CE, referred to the land as `Cathay’. In Mandarin Chinese, the country is known as `Zhongguo” meaning `central state’ or `middle empire’.

 

 

Much of Chinese culture, literature and philosophy further developed during the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC). The Zhou dynasty began to bow to external and internal pressures in the 8th century BC, and the kingdom eventually broke apart into smaller states, beginning in the Spring and Autumn period and reaching full expression in the Warring States period. This is one of multiple periods of failed statehood in Chinese history, the most recent being the Chinese Civil War that started in 1927.

 

Between eras of multiple kingdoms and warlordism, Chinese dynasties have ruled parts or all of China; in some eras control stretched as far as Xinjiang and Tibet, as at present. In 221 BC Qin Shi Huang united the various warring kingdoms and created for himself the title of "emperor" (huangdi) of the Qin dynasty, marking the beginning of imperial China.

 

Successive dynasties developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the emperor to control vast territories directly. China's last dynasty was the Qing (1644–1912), which was replaced by the Republic of China in 1912, and in the mainland by the People's Republic of China in 1949.

 

The conventional view of Chinese history is that of alternating periods of political unity and disunity, with China occasionally being dominated by steppe peoples, most of whom were in turn assimilated into the Han Chinese population. Cultural and political influences from other parts of Asia and the Western world, carried by successive waves of immigration, expansion, foreign contact, and cultural assimilation are part of the modern culture of China.

 

China is one of the world's four ancient civilizations; here we give a concise overview of more than 5000 years of Chinese history, including the Great Wall and the four great inventions of ancient China. Do you know what they are?

 

The written history of China can be said to date back to the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC), over 3,000 years ago. The first dynasty was founded in the 21st century B.C., and China was first unified in 221 B.C.

 

Imperial Era

 

First Dynasties

 

The founding of China's first dynasty, Xia Dynasty in the 21st century B.C. marked a change from a primitive society to a slave society. Slave society developed further during the Shang (16th-11th century B.C.) and the Western Zhou (11th century-770 B.C.) Dynasties.

 

This era was followed by the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (770-221 B.C.), and the transition from the slave society to feudal society.

 

The First Emperor

 

Ying Zheng, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty and the people began to construct the Great Wall

In 221 B.C., Ying Zheng, a man of great talent and bold vision, ended the rivalry among the independent principalities in the Warring States Period.

 

He established the first centralized, unified, multi-ethnic state in Chinese history, under the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.). He called himself Shi Huang Di(the First Emperor), also known as Qin Shi Huang, or First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty.

During his reign, Qin Shi Huang standardized the script, currencies, and weights and measures, established the system of prefectures and counties, and began the construction of the world-renowned Great Wall . He also built a large palace, a mausoleum (the Terracotta Army), and temporary regal lodges in Xi’anyang, Lishan, and other places.

 

At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang, a peasant leader, overthrew the Qin regime in cooperation with Xi’ang Yu, an aristocratic general. A few years later, Liu Bang defeated Xi’ang Yu and established the strong Han Dynasty in 206 B.C.

 

Han Dynasty

 

The Silk Road, an important trade road, was formed in Han Dynasty

 

During the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce were well developed. During the reign of Emperor Wudi (Liu Che, 140-87 B.C.), the Han regime reached the period of its greatest prosperity. The multi-ethnic country became more united during the Han regime, which existed in total 426 years.

 

The emperor conquered the Xiongnu nomads, sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the Western Regions (Central Asia), and in the process pioneered the route known as the "Silk Road" from the Han capital Chang' an through Xinjiang to Europe.  One of the Four Beauties of Ancient China, Wang Zhaojun, was married as a ‘political bride’ to chieftain of the Xiongnu in 33 B.C. Her life and influence created a famous inspiring story about marriage between the Han and the Xiongnu. 

 

Middle Dynasties

 

Han Dynasty was followed by the Three Kingdoms Period (220-265) of Wei, Shu, and Wu. It was followed by the Jin (265-420), the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589), and the Sui Dynasty (581-618).

 

A jade item displayed at Beijing Forbidden City Museum. 

 

In 618, Li Yuan founded the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Later, Li Shimin (r. 626-649), son of Li Yuan, ascended the throne as Emperor Taizong, considered one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history.

After the Tang Dynasty, came the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960).

 

Song and Yuan Dynasties

 

Kublai Khan, the first man made Beijing the capital

 

In 960, General Zhao Kuangyin of the Later Zhou Dynasty rose in mutiny, and founded the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

In 1206 Genghis Khan unified all the tribes in Mongolia and founded the Mongol Khanate. In 1271, his grandson, Kublai Khan, conquered the Central Plain, founded the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), and made Dadu (today's Beijing) the capital.

 

During the Song and Yuan dynasties, handicraft industry and domestic and foreign trade boomed. Many merchants and travelers came from abroad. Marco Polo  from Venice traveled extensively in China, later describing the country's prosperity in his book ‘Travels’.

 

The "four great inventions" of the Chinese people in ancient times, paper making, printing, the compass and gunpowder, were further developed in the Song and Yuan dynasties, and introduced to foreign countries.

 

Ming and Qing Dynasties

 

The Forbidden City is the imperial palace of Ming and Qing Dynasty.

 

In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in Nanjing, and reigned as Emperor Taizu. When his son, and successor, Zhu Di, ascended the throne, he started to build the palace, temples, city walls, and moat in Beijing. In 1421, he officially made Beijing his capital.

 

In the late Ming Dynasty, the Manchus in northeast China grew in strength. Under the leadership of Nurhachi, the Manchus invaded the Central Plain for three generations in succession, and finally founded the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911).

 

The two most famous emperors of the Qing Dynasty were Emperor Kangxi (r. 1661-1772) and Emperor Qianlong (r. 1735-1796). The Kangxi and Qianlong reign periods were known as the "times of prosperity".

 

China was reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country since the first Opium War in 1840. The Revolution of 1911, led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, ended the rule of the Qing Dynasty.

 

Modern Era

 

The Revolution of 1911 is of great significance in modern Chinese history: the monarchical system was discarded with the founding of the provisional government of the Republic of China.

 

The victory was soon compromised by concessions on the part of the Chinese bourgeoisie, and the country entered a period dominated by the Northern Warlords, headed by Yuan Shikai.

 

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China has entered a new Communist era of stability, with the Reform and Opening Up policies of 1978, bringing in China’s phenomenal economic growth.