A Wisdom Archive on Dzungar

Near the place where Arys River flows into the Syr Darya lie the ruins of a town, the memory of which has survived throughout the ages. Despite many changes, it still retains its original name of Otrar. The town has become famous as the place where Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, the great philosopher of the Middle Ages, was born. Otrar, which was renamed Farab in the Middle Ages, was the capital of the Otrar-Farab district. From the west, the district extended to the Kzylkum desert, spread out between the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers. Syr Dary ...

Read more here: » Otrar: Encyclopedia II - Otrar - Ancient history

One of the greatest mysteries of the Qing Dynasty was the event of Kangxi's will, which along with three other events, are known as the "Four greatest mysteries of the Qing Dynasty". To this day, whom Kangxi chose as his successor is still a topic of debate amongst historians. Most suggest the will had chosen Yinti, the 14th Prince, as successor. Kangxi's first Empress gave birth to his second surviving son Yinreng, who was at age 2 named Crown Prince of the Great Qing Empire, which at the time, although a Han Chinese custom, ensured ...

Read more here: » Kangxi Emperor: Encyclopedia II - Kangxi Emperor - Twice Removing the Crown Prince

The Kangxi Emperor ordered the compiling of the most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever put together, The Kangxi Dictionary. He also invented a very useful and effective Chinese calendar. In many ways this was an attempt to win over the Chinese gentry. Many scholars still refused to serve a foreign conquestion dynasty and remained loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Kangxi persuaded many scholars to work on the dictionary without asking them to formally serve the Qing. In effect they found themselves gradually taking on more and ...

Read more here: » Kangxi Emperor: Encyclopedia II - Kangxi Emperor - Cultural achievements

Following the abolition, Kangxi made several sweeping changes in the political landscape. The 13th Imperial Prince, Yinxiang, was placed under house arrest for "cooperating" with the former Crown Prince. Yinsi, too, was stripped of all imperial titles, only to have them restored years later. The 14th Imperial Prince Yinti, whom many considered to have the best chance in succession, was named "Border Pacification General-in-chief" quelling rebels and was away from Beijing when the political debates raged on. Yinsi, along with the 9th and 10th Princes, had all pledged their support for Yinti. Yinzhen ...

Read more here: » Kangxi Emperor: Encyclopedia II - Kangxi Emperor - Disputed Succession

At the same time, the Emperor was faced with the Russian advance from the north. The Qing Dynasty and the Russian Empire fought along the Sahaliyan ula (Amur) Valley region in 1650s, which ended with a Qing victory. The Russians invaded the northern frontier again in 1680s. After series of battles and negotiations, the two empires signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689 giving China the Amur valley and fixing a border. At this time the Khalkha Mongols preserved their independence and only paid tribute to the Manchu Empire. A conflict b ...

Read more here: » Kangxi Emperor: Encyclopedia II - Kangxi Emperor - Russia and the Mongols

The prosperity of Otrar was interrupted by the Mongol invasion. In 1218 Genghis Khan sent to Otrar, and the Khoresmshakh Mohammed court, a trade caravan that was robbed upon arrival which was ordered by Mohammed to Inalchik Kair-khan, the governor of the town. He thought spies were secreted in the caravan. Through his envoy, Genghis Khan ordered that the guilty men be punished and that they give him Kair-khan. However, the khoresmshakh ...

Read more here: » Otrar: Encyclopedia II - Otrar - Mongol influence

In 1921, Outer Mongolia revolted with Russian support, forming modern Mongolia. A Communist government was formed in 1924. The USSR defended Mongolia from Japanese invasion. However, the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, for reasons both practical and philosophical, enacted an often brutal if not entirely effective sweeping aside Mongolian tradition, working against the Buddhist religions, clan-ism, and script, and for collectivism (as opposed to the traditional nomadic lifestyle). Mongolia aligned itself with Russia after the Sino-Soviet split of 1958. In 1990 the Communist government was overthrown, and by 1992 Mongol ...

Read more here: » Mongols: Encyclopedia II - Mongols - Modern history

Mongols - Genghis Khan. The Mongols were originally a confederation of tribes in competition with the Tatar, Kerait, Merkit and Naiman confederations and therefore only one division of what we call the Mongol nation. Genghis Khan unified the Mongol people by absorbing the other confederations into his own and the word Mongol came to mean the entire people. Though few in number (approximately 200,000 people at the height of their empire), Mongols were important in Eurasian history. Under the leadership of G ...

Read more here: » Mongols: Encyclopedia II - Mongols - History

Dzungaria is a largely steppe and semidesert basin surrounded by high mountains: the Tian Shan in the south and the Altai in the north. Urumqi, Yining and Karamai are the main cities; other smaller oasis towns dot the piedmont areas. ...

Read more here: » Dzungaria: Encyclopedia II - Dzungaria - Geography

The Mongols attempted two unsuccessful invasions of Japan (see Mongol invasions of Japan). The first attempt ended in a retreat after the Battle of Bun'ei in 1274. The second attempt was cancelled after many ships had been destroyed by a famous typhoon, called kamikaze (divine wind) in 1281. The Mongols succeeded very briefly in their invasion of Dai Viet in the northern part of contemporary Vietnam, but were soon defeated by the Vietnamese general Tran Hung Dao after almost three decades. The attack on the Javanese kingdom of Singhasari in 1293 caused the collapse of that state, but t ...

Read more here: » Mongols: Encyclopedia II - Mongols - Timeline of conquest

Dzungaria is named after a Mongolian kingdom which existed in Central Asia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It derived its name from the Dzungars, who were so called because they formed the left wing (züün, left; gar, hand) of the Mongolian army. It was raised to its highest pitch by Kaldan or Bushtu Khan in the latter half of the 17th century, but completely destroyed by the Qing government about 1757-1759. It has played an important part in the history of Mongolia and the great mi ...

Read more here: » Dzungaria: Encyclopedia II - Dzungaria - History

Traversed by the Silk Road, Xinjiang is the Chinese name for the Tarim and Dzungaria regions of what is now northwest China. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), the region was subservient to the Xiongnu, a powerful nomadic people based in modern Mongolia. In the 2nd century BC, Han China sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the states in the region, beginning several decades of struggle between the Xiongnu and Han China over dominance of the region, eventually ending in Chinese success. In 60 BC Han China established the Protectorate of the Western Regions (西域都護府) at Wulei (烏壘; near modern Luntai) to oversee the ent ...

Read more here: » Xinjiang: Encyclopedia II - Xinjiang - History