Naval history of China
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| History of China | ||||||
| 3 Sovereigns & 5 Emperors | ||||||
| Xia Dynasty | ||||||
| Shang Dynasty | ||||||
| Zhou | ||||||
| Spring & Autumn | Eastern Zhou | |||||
| Warring States</div> | ||||||
| Qin Dynasty | ||||||
| Western Han | Han | |||||
| Xin | ||||||
The naval history of China dates back thousands of years, with archives extending back very early about the ancient navy of China. But considering China was a country which was longtime menaced by nomad tribes such as the Xiongnu, Gokturks, Mongols and so on, the navy was always seen as an adjunct rather than an important military force. Nevertheless, Chinese naval technology was vastly superior to that of other nations until after the 15-16th centuries, by which time China's canal system and internal economy were sufficiently developed to nullify the need for the pacific fleet, which was scuttled when conservative Confucianists gained power in the court and began the policy of inward perfection. With the Opium wars, which shook up the generals of the Qing Dynasty, the navy was once again attached greater importance.
When the British fleet encountered the Chinese during the first Opium War, their officers noted the appearance of paddleboats among the Chinese fleet, which they took for a copy of the Western design. Paddleboats were actually a Chinese invention dating back close to a millennium, which had been abandoned for some time and only recently reconstituted before the war. Numerous other innovations were present in Chinese vessels during the Middle Ages that had not yet been adopted by the Western and Islamic worlds, some of which were documented by Marco Polo but which did not enter into other navies until the 18th Century, when the British successfully incorporated them into ship designs. For example, medieval Chinese hulls were split into sections so that a hull rupture only flooded a fraction of the ship and did not necessarily sink it. Junks also had their sails staggered by wooden poles so that the crew could raise and lower them with ropes from the deck, like window blinds, without having to climb around and tie or untie various ropes every time the ship needed to turn or adjust speed.
The Chinese fleet shrank tremendously after its military/exploratory functions were deemed too expensive and it became primarily a police force on routes like the Grand Canal. Ships like the juggernauts of Zheng He's "treasure fleet," which dwarfed the largest Portuguese ships of the era by several times, were discontinued, and the junk became the predominant Chinese vessel until the country's relatively recent (in terms of Chinese sailing history) naval revival.
Contents |
[edit] Qin Dynasty
- Xu Fu
- Wei Tusui (尉屠睢) Conquered Yue (peoples)
[edit] Three Kingdoms
[edit] Sui Dynasty
[edit] Tang Dynasty
[edit] Song Dynasty
[edit] Ming Dynasty
[edit] Qing Dynasty
[edit] Republic of China
[edit] People's Republic of China
- People's Liberation Army Navy
- First Taiwan Strait Crisis
- Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
- Third Taiwan Strait Crisis
- Battle of Hoang Sa (1974)
[edit] See also
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