A person who does not understand his own history before birth is always a child. - Cicero
Whether it is Chinese history or world history, if you want to truly understand a period of history, you must first understand the time when this history occurred, and time represents an era and a civilization. Everyone knows that the chronology we use now is the Common Era chronology, many countries in the world have adopted this chronology, and what we now call 2020 is the year 2020 after the Common Era. So how is the division between BC and the post-AD, when did the year of the Common Era begin, which dynasty should be the first year of the Common Era in China, and what meaningful events occurred in this dynasty in the first year of the Common Era?
The advent of the AD chronology
The Common Era chronology first appeared in western countries, many countries in the West believe in Christianity, they record the birth year of God Jesus as the first year of the Common Era, also known as the first year of the Common Era. Jesus was considered B.C. before he was born, and after that he was after A.D. However, this chronology was only used by a few Western countries in the beginning, and most countries still used their own unique chronology. With the continuous development of society, exchanges between countries have also become more.
Especially in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, some countries in the West began to expand on a large scale, and the constant conflict between various civilizations made the AD law more and more common. After the baptism of the Renaissance, the AD chronology became the mainstream of the Western countries' chronology. In fact, China came into contact with the AD chronology very late, and it was not until the Republic of China period that the AD chronology appeared in China. Because in ancient Times China has always been a self-sufficient eastern power, rarely communicating with other countries.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, When China's feudal dynasty began to decline, Chinese discovered that the closed-door policy of the past was no longer feasible, and China was eager to change the status quo. At this time, many Western countries tried to split China, and it was at this time that the Western Common Era chronology spread to China. Everyone knows that ancient China was based on the names of various emperors, such as the first year of Zhenguan, the tenth year of Guangxu, and the first year of Kangxi. This chronology has continued in China for thousands of years, and it has become a traditional culture in China, and although we no longer use such a chronology today, we can still see such words in history books.
During the Republic of China period, Chinese people had deeply realized China's backwardness and Chinese understood that only by connecting with the world could China be saved. Therefore, some people have proposed to replace the previous traditional chronology with the Common Era chronology, so as to make China "international". Unlike western countries, many Chinese do not directly say that this chronology is the Common Era chronology, but describe it as the Gregorian calendar. After the founding of new China, the Common Era Chronology officially became the official Chinese chronology.
China's 1st year of the Common Era
After the founding of New China, although the Common Era chronology became the most formal chronology, the traditional lunar calendar was not completely abolished, and many places still rely on the lunar calendar, especially in some remote rural areas. Many important traditional festivals in China are also based on the lunar calendar, such as the spring festival, the most important traditional festival in China, as well as the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival.
So according to what method is the Chinese Common Era chronology, which year is the Chinese AD 1. In Chinese history, the year in which Liu Yan, the Hanping Emperor, succeeded to the throne was known as the first year of the Common Era, that is, at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. Taking the year of the succession of the Hanping Emperor Liu Yan as the dividing line, the previous one is called BC, and the next one is called The Common Era. The amazing thing is that there is no year in the middle of the first year BC and the year after the common era, there is no year zero AD. After the first year OF, it is the year after the Common Era. For the sake of convenience, the post-AD was called the Common Era, so the year when Liu Yan, the Emperor of Hanping, succeeded to the throne at the end of the Western Han Dynasty was the year 1 AD.
Many people are very confused about how many years BC China really was, and this question has not been clarified until now, because a primitive society had appeared in China more than a million years ago, and a feudal slave society began in China more than two thousand years ago, so there is no very accurate answer to this question.
Major event of AD 1 AD
The end of the Western Han Dynasty is defined as the first year of the Common Era is also a certain reason, not any year can be called the first year of the Common Era, at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Yan succeeded to the throne after the Western Han Dynasty underwent a series of changes, the Chinese dynasty also underwent a great turn. In the first year of the Common Era, Liu Yan, the Emperor of Hanping, was only 9 years old when he succeeded to the throne, and a child who was not yet ten years old could only become a tool for others and be used by some people with hearts. At that time, Sima Wang Mang was such a "person with a heart", Wang Mang was the nephew of the Empress Dowager of the Western Han Dynasty, holding all the military power of the Western Han Dynasty in his hands, and was a veritable regent.
Moreover, the emperor at that time was still a stinking boy, and Wang Mang was bold in doing anything, never considering right and wrong. During his reign as an assistant, Wang Mang bribed many officials and used them as weights for his usurpation of power, and those who were honest and honest and did not agree with him were killed on various charges. Wang Mang, who was so fierce and fierce, was indeed a kind person in the hearts of the empress dowager and the people of Dawn, and many people thought that Wang Mang was a clean official who really sought a life for the people.
And this was just a strategy of Wang Mang, who through these means made the empress dowager and the people of the world feel that they were a good person and did not have the intention of usurping power, so he won the hearts of the people. In order to reward Wang Mang, the empress dowager also gave him official positions and offerings, and Wang Mang also formally monopolized power. A few years later, Wang Mang felt that the time was ripe and that the power in his hands was far greater than that of the Hanping Emperor, so he launched a war to usurp power. There is no doubt that this war ended in Wang Mang's victory, and the world of the Great Han Dynasty also fell into Wang Mang's hands.
Another major event in AD 1 was the rise of Buddhism in China, which had only two main schools, Taoism and Confucianism, and the influx of Buddhism led to the formation of a "three-legged" picture of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism in China. Moreover, Buddhism spread very quickly in Chinese folk, and it did not take long for Buddhism to become the largest religion in China, and the number of people who believe in Buddhism far exceeded the number of people who believed in Taoism, the native religion of China.
Another important event in the first year of the Common Era was that Chinese silk began to be introduced to Western countries, and China's earliest Silk Road also began at this time, which opened the door to exchanges between ancient China and the Western world. At that time, Chinese thought had a great influence on Western countries, especially in Rome, Pakistan and other countries, and now many ancient Chinese ceramic vessels and other cultural relics can be seen in the museums of these countries. It is these historical events that make the last year of the Western Han Dynasty extremely important in Chinese history, and the last year of the Western Han Dynasty is therefore called the first year of the Common Era.