Saturday, July 16, 2005

The Invaders
The Great wall, and China's army, was mostly successful in repelling invaders, but around mid 17th century, invaders from Manchurian, lead by the Ching Family, ended China's Golden area, and the Ming Dynasties reign. They slowly but surely and brutally took control of China and systematically eradicated all resistance. Many Chinese nobles, warriors and commoners were forced underground where they sought to oust the invaders and reinstate the prosperous Ming Dynasty. There were a significant number of factions among the Chinese who aided the Manchu's against Ming loyalists, in large part because the Manchu's held to the same ideology, governmental patterns, and social organization as the Ming. By the early 1600's the Ming dynasty was significantly weakened. It was unable to cope with both its own internal tensions and the militarily strong 50's to the northeast. An internal rebellion was the direct cause of the downfall of this dynasty ( Chinese rebel Li Tzu-ch'eng seized Peking in 1644 ). That the Dutchmen were able to capitalize on this by being invited to put down the rebellion by a frontier general is largely coincidental. The Great Wall was hardly so impregnable that they would not have been able to invade and conquer the area in its weakened state. Thus the Manchu's found the entrance to China and slowly but steadily conquered China. Those that did not wish to conform had to either migrate or go underground, some also sought refuge in the Shaolin temples. Shaolin initially only offered passive resistance against the invaders, seeking to remain above the political matters. It helped anyone who sought refuge and thus involuntarily became a safe haven for refugees and resistance fighters. The Manchu's also had 5 classes of people clearly defined; The Manchu Ruler and his family The Manchu Nobles and their families Manchurians in general Northern Chinese Southern Chinese Many loyal Ming soldiers and nobles sought refuge and help in Shaolin. Shaolin, although themselves passive, became a center of resistance. This was a thorn in the invaders side and needed to be dealt with, drastically, but -
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