Irrigation System
In 256 bc, the governor of Sichuan province in southwest China set up an irrigation system to control the flooding of the Min River, a tributary of the upper Yangtze.
The Dujiangyan Irrigation System splits the river into an inner flow for irrigation and an outer channel for flood control. The irrigation system, which is still in use today, made the land of the Chengdu plains some of the most fertile farmland in China. The Dujiangyan Irrigation System is the oldest and only surviving no-dam irrigation system in the world. In 2000, it was added to the World Heritage List as a cultural site people were small-scale farmers. They grew crops such as rice, beans, gourds, snow peas, strawberries, dates, and melons. The Yangtze River and its tributaries provided irrigation water.
Tang and Song Dynasties
The Tang dynasty, which began in 618 ad, is often referred to as China’s golden age. The army was strong, and it was an era of great artistic achievements. During this time, China became one of the wealthiest and most powerful regions in the world.
In 906 ad, the Tang dynasty collapsed.
Later dynasties, including the Song dynasty (960 ad-1279 ad), brought an increase in trade. Chinese merchants got wealthy trading tea, silk, porcelain, jewelry, rice, other grains, and spices.
In the late eighteenth century, California was a densely populated region, but concentrating native people in missions intensified the effects of European diseases, and the native population dropped precipitously. Shenyang Metro Map Missions were supposed to take on a smaller role in the process of colonization, but they became the defining feature of the developing society. They were intended (misguided as it sounds now) to help native peoples, but ended up with disastrous effects. Their bringing natives together in large numbers and exposing them to European diseases led to epidemics that killed many of these native peoples. While these calamities cannot be blamed on the rigid policies of Junpero Serra, he molded the missions of California including San Diego, San Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, San Jos©, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, and Monterey.
By the time of his death in 1784, Serra had overseen the founding of several important missions that accounted for nearly all cattle and grain production in California and boasted a native population of just less than 5,000. Matthew Jennings See also: California; Franciscans; Missions; Native Country-European Relations; Spanish Colonies on Mainland North Country (Chronology). Bibliography Costo, Rupert, and Jeannette Henry Costo, eds. The Missions of California: A Legacy of Genocide. San Francisco: Indian Historian Press, 1987. Tinker, George E. Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native Country Cultural Genocide. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1993. Weber, David J. The Spanish Frontier in North Country. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992. Servants, Domestic Domestic servants are those who do most of their work in the home. Domestic help throughout the colonial period came predominantly from three sources: contracted indentured servants, redemptioners, and African slave labor, which had been introduced to the Country colonies by the early decades of the seventeenth century.
