3.
These periods were however punctuated by challenges to order and the unity of the state, the most serious of which came from the various nomadic peoples of the North, notably the Mongol invasion at the beginning of the 13th century led by Genghis Khan. The Mongols ruled only Northern China until 1279 when Kublai Khan defeated the Song dynasty in the South and united China under Mongol rule.
4.
In 1644 the Ming dynasty, the conqueror of the Mongols, was itself overthrown by the Manchus from north-east China who founded the Qing dynasty. The Manchus had long been in contact with Chinese civilisation and took over the Ming system almost in tact (although leading posts were reserved for Manchus). The Qing extended their rule over the Asian periphery of China, including Tibet so that by the mid-eighteenth century the traditional Chinese Empire was at the height of its strength and prosperity.
5. The Qing however proved incapable of meeting the challenge of the technologically superior West when it was mounted in the middle of the nineteenth century. Following China's defeat in the first 'Opium War' (1839-42), the Qing ceded Hong Kong island to Britain and were forced to open certain ports to foreign trade. Further humiliating concessions were obtained by Britain and other powers, including the establishment of extraterritorial rights in the trading ports. The Qing also proved incapable of meeting challenges from within, notably a series of peasant revolts, most important of which was the Taiping (1855-65), which devastated large parts of central China. Although some half-hearted attempts at reform and adoption of foreign ways and technology were made the advocates of this course were never in a position to overcome entrenched
conservatism.
6. The fall of the Qing dynasty brought no respite. China was plunged into an era of warlordism, about which the Nationalist Government under Chiang Kai-shek which predominated from the late 20s could do little. The situation was further complicated by the occupation of Manchuria by the Japanese in 1931 and by a full-scale invasion in 1937. These conditions provided opportunities for the Communists and after a nominal alliance between the Communists and the Nationalists during the war, civil war
civil war broke out after Japan's
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