The Emigrants
Today, China is one of the largest and most influential countries in the world. It is common knowledge that China is a very powerful and expansive nation. It ships its products all over the world to other countries. Chinese people live almost everywhere, in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and of course Asia. How and why did the Chinese people spread from their large country to all over the world?
Despite its massive size, the nation that is now China started out small. The people living there called it “Zhongguo”, the Middle Kingdom. This is probably because the Chinese thought that their country was the middle, the center of the world. In its early years, it was very isolated, thereby giving the people the impression that it was the center of civilization. Despite being cut off from Africa, the Middle East, and India, the ancient Chinese thrived with farming, especially in the east. The Huang He and Yangzi rivers run through this heartland, where the soil is especially fertile for growing crops (Ellis). It appears that this place would be perfect for a sprouting civilization to develop. It was. So it is a little bit puzzling why so many Chinese would want to leave. There are always many factors that affect emigration, but there are a few big
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The dynastic cycle revolved around the idea of the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven, in essence, was the divine right to rule with support from gods. If the ruling dynasty proved too weak, it was believed that events like invaders, floods, famine, earthquakes, and other disasters were signs that the rulers had lost the favor of the gods. A new dynasty would rise up in the chaos and establish a firm rule. This cycle would go on throughout the centuries of Chinese dynasties. The cycle prompted fighting each time it started, so some people moved to find more peaceful