s called this because after the Zhou dynasty weekend, the powerful, independent states of the North China plain often fought among each other. In 221 B.C.E the Qin dynasty conquered the other states and created the first Chinese Empire. After the Qin the Han dynasty ruled China they spread imperial control far to the south and to the west deep into central Asia along the Silk Road. The Boarders they established have lasted to the present day. They often succeeded in converting the people on the boarders to the Chinese culture but sometimes met resistance. By 2 C.E the second census showed that the total population dropped from 58 million to 48 million, however the regional distribution shifted from76 percent in north and 24 percent in the south, to 54 percent and 46 percent. Natural turbulence and pressure from the Xiongnu and the Tibetans caused the drop in population and may have caused the distribution. The Sue-Tang dynasties expanded even deeper into central Asia. Barbarians China once fought against in the north eventually moved behind the Great Wall and settled on its lands, enlisted in its armies, and intermarried with the Chinese. Even when Barbarians conquered the Chinese during the interregnum between 2 C.E and 26 C.E they had to hire Chinese bureaucrats to administer their gains. Even they were conquered their rulers adapted to them usually the opposite is true. The people of China refer to themselves as the People of Han. This does not refer to their ethnic identity, but to their cultural unity. The Chinese speak two different languages, Mandarin and Cambodian, but their written language is the same and is a tool that links the people.The Vietnamese, Koreans, and Japanese all patterned their societies after the Chinese. However they each resisted being assimilated into the Chinese Empire and retained their individual identities. The Indian Empire was created by the Maurya dynasty. Chandragupta Maurya seized con...
