“The Mandate of Heaven” initiated by the Zhou Dynasty 1029-771 BC , was cooked up historians figure to get rid of the previous Dynasty, this tradition would endure for a long time. Before the Zhou China had no concept of heaven. So the Zhou ascribed this mandate back far enough so as to make it eternal, and used this mandate to explain the fall of the Shang Dynasty, and rightfully take their place. This mandate holds Emperors and folks accountable morally etc., making it tidy to come up with reasons for the failure of Previous Dynasties. The fall of the Shang dynasty can with this mandate be traced to the orgies of Ming Tao, orgies are a deal breaker I reckon, this and the roasting and eating of their opponents was not in compliance with the mandate. Roasting, and eating your opponents during an orgy was definitely bad. Anyways, 3,000 years of the rise and fall of Dynasties can be attributed to “Divine intervention”, thusly making History pretty simple.
UNDERSTANDING CHINA
Western views of “world history” do not really apply to China. For example, China has no “roots” in the Roman Empire, Greek philosophy or in the Jewish bible. As such there is not equivalent to the renaissance, or the enlightenment until the time of Mao.
China has a unique way of identifying who its rulers and defining its territory. Territory may be anything ever ruled over by the 3000 years old succesion of Chinese rulers. The rulers are identified (or dignified) by “The Mandate of Heaven.” The Mandate of Heaven was initiated by the Zhou Dynasty 1029-771 BC , as a way to legitimize the overthrow of the previous Shang Dynasty. Ironically, before the Zhou China had no concept of heaven. So Zhou historians ascribed this mandate back far enough so as to make it eternal, and used this mandate to explain the rightfully take the place of the Shang . This mandate holds Emperors and folks _and Party Chairs now) accountable morally etc., making it tidy to come up with reasons for the failure of previous dynasties. For example, the current regime claims that it replaced the cirruption of Chiang Kai-shek, The fall of the Shang dynasty was attributed to the orgies of Ming Tao, Roasting and eating your opponents during an orgy was definitely bad.