The oldest states on the territory of modern China were formed many centuries ago. And these were not just associations, but full-fledged states. It is enough to remember that Confucius, who was, among other things, an ideologist of state management, lived even earlier than the time of Alexander the Great’s conquests in the West.
In China, as well as later in Russia, the tendency to unification of lands was of great importance. Attempts to build a large state and centripetal tendencies go back to the period of Eastern Zhou, and it is VIII — V centuries. The Qin and Han dynasties also built an empire. But invariably everything rolled back to political fragmentation. From our domestic history we remember that it is very dangerous situation.
Russian princedoms, having appeared independent from each other became a tidbit for steppe peoples and could not render worthy resistance to invasion of hordes of Genghis Khan. In times of Distemper we allowed even Poles to Moscow. And many centuries before that the Chinese found themselves in a similar situation.
In the beginning of IV century A.D. the state of Jin was corroded from inside by the Troubles. The weakening state was absolutely not ready to external threats, therefore tried in every possible way to be friends with neighbors. And the neighbors were young and turbulent nations that did not have the depth of state wisdom, political maturity, which were in the baggage of the Jin state.
These peoples were steppe nomads. Scattered across Eurasia during the Great Migration of Peoples. They’ll come to Europe. They’ll be everywhere. They came under the Chinese. Nomads are not used to comfort and convenience. They can restrict themselves for long periods of time. They are innumerable in number, they fight wholeheartedly.
The Chinese try to trade with them, send their people to them for service, give them gifts, even award them with some titles. The nomads didn’t give up anything, but they didn’t guarantee anything either. They became more and more numerous, and their ambitions grew even faster. The Great Wall of China was growing too, but walls have never stopped anyone.
The Huns were the first to strike in the north of the Jin country. It was as if they didn’t even notice the Chinese resistance. They occupied everything up to the central provinces and brutally killed the emperor. Not only did the emperor lose his life, but history counts rulers more often than ordinary people.
«The Qin people built the Long Wall as a defense against the barbarians.
The Long Wall grew upward, and the empire rolled downward.
People still laugh at it today…
As soon as it was announced that the walls would be built in the east,
it was obligatory to report that barbarian hordes attacked in the west…»
Wang Xitong on the Great Wall of China. 18th century.
Did it stop there? On the contrary, it was just the beginning. Other nomadic tribes realized that the Chinese were weak, so they could be plundered without hindrance. And so a string of new peoples came. Xianbi, Qiang, Jie… I can’t name them all. They attacked from all sides, saturating themselves with the resources accumulated by the state. The locals became slaves. Centuries of culture destroyed.
But here’s the thing, China is unlike any other, primarily in that no one can make it anything else. The Chinese always remain Chinese, and the conquerors eventually turn into Chinese too, adopting the culture, traditions, mentality.
That is what happened this time. The Toba tribes of the Xianbis lived in Inner Mongolia. They were more successful than other nomads and began to conquer more and more territory of China. The Toba leader Gui suddenly decided that he was worthy of becoming emperor. He would unite Northern China into the Northern Wei Empire, organizing the administration of the territories according to the Chinese model and with the help of the Chinese.