Assault on Government Officials

Assault on Government Officials

By: Julia H

April 5, 1351 Hong-Po Daily

ZHEJIANG - Just last week, a group of Yuan officials were assaulted on the coast of Zhejiang. They were assaulted by a group of Han soldiers from The Red Turban Army, lead by Fang Guozhen. The Red Turban Army wanted to over throw the Mongols and re-establish the song dynasty.

    The Red Turbans actions will most certainly cause consequences. That may mean the loss of their lives by the Mongol Army. Fang Guozhen, the leader of the assault told us, “The government must be over thrown! Things have been getting worse around here and can not continue. If it does the whole dynasty will  be corrupted. Now that the Mongols know how we feel, we shall have to continue our plans, both our lives and our country depend on it!”

      Many Chinese subjects have been reporting a lot of hardships in the Yuan Dynasty. There have been additional taxes for the native Chinese people, inflation, and natural disasters, including famine and flood. Some people feel that the government officials are being too greedy, and that the native Chinese aren’t being treated properly. The central government has been greatly weakened and it could continue and become even worse.

     The group of officials assaulted was not very big, though there were more near by and the word spread very quickly. After the assault some of the officials who had been assaulted ran to their fellow officials. Hakesh Koothrappali, is one of the foreign officials from India who was near by. Hakesh said, “We must not back down against these rebels! This Dynasty is getting stronger! We must build our forces stronger and we will defeat them, they are no match for us. We are going to be more cautious and aware to make sure we are prepared for them.”

    How does the Emperor feel about this though? Emperor Togus Khan gave a message to the nation and said, “Do not worry, this incident will not last for long. We are doing our best to get rid of these rebels. Our power may be declining a little, but not for long! It will grow again to an even higher height then before. Those rebels will be defeated and there shall be many consequences. “ The Emperor may be hopeful and confident, but not every one is as calm and confident has he is. Some say that the dynasty is more than just losing a little power. They say that by saying “power may be declining a little” he means that the dynasty is losing the Mandate of Heaven. Is the dynasty really losing the Mandate of Heaven?

Have the Chance to Defeat the Mongols? Hurray!

     A group of Red Turban Army soldiers assaulted a group of Mongol Government officials. The Red Turbans were lead by Fang Guozhen. Fang Guozhen and his men wanted to over throw the Mongol government and re-establish the Song dynasty. This assault on the Mongol officials will help bring China back into power. It will lead China to a triumphant victory in the end, a sacrifice made for the greater good.

    The Yuan dynasty is falling and is not properly run, if it is continued to run on like this it will collapse. So many natural disasters have happened, flooding and famine, along with unfair treatment of social classes. The upper classes are given freedom to do as they please, while the lower classes, mostly native Hans, are under strict rule, and are barely even able to walk the streets. The Mandate of Heaven has already been lost, it is time of this dynasty to go. This assault will bring the native Chinese back into power, which will restore tradition, culture, and order back to the dynasty.

    Some may say that the Mongol government is stronger then the dynasties we have had before. They believe that this government has brought change to China’s formally isolated ways. That it has brought new, rich culture and life style to China. These changes though, are not worth the sacrifice! We can create new ways of life with out having to be dictated by foreigners who treat us like peasants in our own country. This dynasty has lost the Mandate of Heaven, why should we forget what we have known forever and ignore the Mandate?
   
    China should no longer have to be the way it is, our dynasty is struggling to stay alive as it is. Tearing down the dynasty and restoring it to the way it was before will bring china back into power. The assault the Red Turban Army did against the Mongol government is the start to restoring china to its rightful glory.

A View of the Land: Yuan Dynasty




https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitAUAjBRRar0fyASeOXSOsPq6byZagF9OhYG2_cJzVfN2I6iXjnQs_brlwnWXLeZa2NMQVEc45n3U9HJqLGPbxCz_wz-Z94IHJFzKLjEsrZyiYS78sQ13vi0GMAk2pL17drsXxD8OBSHo/s1600/mao+yuan+dynasty.gif

 

           The Yuan Dynasty was ruled by the Mongols so the dynasty consisted of Mongol territory as well. The borders of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) were bigger than those of present day China. The Maroon shaded area represents the land of the Yuan Dynasty and the dotted line represents the present day borders of China and Mongolia. The Yuan Dynasty consists of parts of present day China, Mongolia, North Korea, Russia and India. The previous dynasty, the Song Dynasty, was considerably smaller. The Song Dynasty only consists of land in modern day southern China. When the Mongols concord the Song Dynasty, the land of the Song Dynasty was added to the already large amount of Mongol land. The Mongols had even more territory than just the Yuan Dynasty. The map below shows the entire Mongol territory.  The entire Mongol territory is much larger than the Yuan Dynasty on its own.

http://www.artsmia.org/art-of-asia/history/images/maps/mongol-empire-large.gif

 

Government Official's Site of Astonishment

          I have had a shocking day learning about a way of life I have never experienced. Today was my first day on the job of inspection as a government official in the Imperial Court in Dadu. I was sent to Hangzhou to make sure that Chinese families were following the laws. That they did not have weapons, were not congregating in public, were not dealing in bamboo, and there were no marriages between statues and ethnic groups. As I walked amongst the peasants in the slum, I was astonished. Has it always been like this? With barely anyone out in the streets? These people are so separated from every one else. I was barely allowed to socialize with the peasants at all as a result of having to have very little contact with them. When they did see me, the were just as astonished as I was. They were usually kept away from government officials. Being both a foreigner and new to this job as left me less informed then the other officials. I must be careful though, Kublai Khan is starting only allow Mongols to be government officials

           At one home I searched, a knife was found and was then confiscated. Further investigation is going to be held. The family that had the knife had clearly been trying to hide it. The blade of the knife was six inches long! The other officials believe that this family has been involved with other families and might be involved with planing a revolt.

          That wasn’t the only law breaking we caught. As we entered a house unexpectedly, we found our selves in the middle of a small ceremony. The people stared at us dumbfounded. They were trying to secretly marry an native Chinese woman with a foreign man. There the bride and groom knelt on the floor in front of the in laws. A sacramental sheep in between them, a knife stretched out to the sheep’s neck. Toasting glasses on the floor next to them along with the comb used to comb their hair, the brides veil still over her face. After staring at us with a shocked expression, the bride burst into tears, because she knew what her fate would now be. As we dragged the young couple away to jail, she whined and wailed, “Noooooo!” Her young groom was patting her on the head and whispering in her ear trying to comfort her.

          I am staying here in Hangzhou for a while. I have to go back out and search again. There are so many laws these people have to follow, I wonder what my job will bring me tomorrow. Maybe I will learn some new things abut this country’s culture. I must get my sleep now so that I am not weary tomorrow, I don’t want to fall asleep on the job! Especially with the threat of Kublai Khan if I was to.

Exspress Your Self: Music is a Way of Life

    Music, as well as art, was a very popular form of expression in the Yuan Dynasty. The people of the Yuan Dynasty relied on art to express them selves. Some instruments express a certain feeling and gives the music they are used in the same feel. A piece of music may express how the artist feels by their choice of instruments. Some very popular instruments were fully developed in this time period.

    The Flute was a common instrument in this time. The flutes were usually made of bamboo, some bone, and had six holes which the fingers cover to create certain notes. There was one hole to be blown into, know on a common flute now a days as an embouchure hole. When a flutist plays the Chinese flute, a common image to be associated with the music is a farmer riding a bull while playing the flute. A very common Flute in the Yuan Dynasty was the Dizi or bamboo flute. A six fingered Dizi is the most popular, but there are other variations like the 11 finger with added keys for extra notes which has been adapted from the western style flute.

   

      The Mongols used an instrument called the Horse-Head Fiddle. In the Yuan dynasty, China was ruled by the Mongol Empire, introducing this instrument into China. This fiddle is made of wood, and the head or scroll of the fiddle is carved as a horse’s head. The strings are made of horse hairs. The Mongols believed that the creation of this fiddle comes from a great legend. A horse racers horse was shot and killed, he loved his horse so much that he saw him in a dream. In the dream, his horse told him to make this fiddle.

    The people of the Yuan Dynasty were very expressive through their music and art. It was part of their way of life.

Fang Guozhen: His Story of Fight

Q: So Fang, you have recently lead a group of Red Turban Army solders, which is run by The White Lotus Society, in an assault on Mongol officials. What made you want to take over the Mongols?
A: What made me want to take over the Mongols is their way of government. They are not supporting this dynasty but only making it have more troubles for it. All the natural disasters lately have not helped either. The government officials are greedy and there aren’t good conditions for the native Chinese. We are being broken apart and treated like foreigners in our own country. We should be the ones in charge.

Q: Why is it so important to you that China be restored to the way it was?
A: If we had the native Chinese leaders in power again, we would be able to bring back the old ways of life. We would bring back the old ways of tradition and culture. China was running fine for so many years before the Mongols, why should we sacrifice the well being of our country for their small benefits.

Q: How do you feel your rebellion has effected the Mongols?
A: I feel that our rebellion has showed the Mongols how the people really feel. I think that it has made them more aware of the statues of this dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty is growing weaker and weaker, and this has weakened the mongols even more. They have finally realized that they have lost the Mandate of Heaven, the most powerful key to ruling a dynasty.

Q: Do you feel that your rebellion has been successful?
A: I feel that this rebellion will do what it was intended to do, bring China back into power and restore it to its rightful rule. This rebellion has made me stronger, I feel that it is going just as planned and before we know it we will be establishing a new dynasty. This will be a historic event known to bring down the Yuan Dynasty.

Q: Thank you for your time, is there one last thing you would like to say to the Mongols?
A: You’re welcome, thank you. Yes, there is one last thing I would like to say to the Mongols. They should be prepared. If they want to keep their dynasty they better stay strong. They may have made some great changes to Chinese culture, but they have also made some terrible ones. The native Hans will not stand for their ways much longer.

The Beauty of freedom: Religion for all

    In the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols who ruled were very tolerant of different belief systems. People of different religions were able to practice their religion freely. Some of the major religions in the yuan dynasty were Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Islam.

    Most of the Mongols were Buddhist, which came from India, including Kublai Khan and his favorite wife. Most of the people who were of the Islamic religion were foreigners. The native Chinese scholars are ones who studied Confucianism. Confucius was a great Chinese philosopher who thought that education was not just about memorizing and learning skills. Many people followed his beliefs, the civil service exams were based from his teachings. The special passages that the scholars studied are the Analects of Confucius written by Confucius. A quote from the Analects of Confucius is “Silence is a friend who will never betray.” This means that if you want to keep something a secret don’t tell anyone because that way there is no chance of anyone telling.

    Some of the Native Chinese believed in Daoism (also known as Taoism.) Daoism is all about being one with nature, and using nature as example for ones life, to live life simply. In Daoism they believe in being one with the Dao, or the way and accepting the good and the bad or Yin and Yang. Daoism was based off of the writings by a Chinese wise man named Laozi. His writings were put into a book called Daodejing (also called Taoteching) meaning “The Way and It’s Power.” A quote from the Daodejing is:
“A sage lets go of extremism
             lets go of luxury
             lets go of apathy.”
                    -Laozi Tao
This quote is showing how the people who study daoism live life simply and give up luxuries.
    Many beliefs were demonstrated during the Yuan Dynasy, all had their own ways and their own followers.