The recorded history of China essentially starts with the ancient settlements of the Chinese people along the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. A number dynasties ruled China from Xia in around
2070 BCE to Qin Dynasty,whose leader Qin Shi Huang became first emperor of 🇨🇳in 221 BCE.
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Qin had the Great Wall built to protect his people from regional invaders. It was under his rule that writing system of China became standardized. In later years, I had opportunity to personally see the ruins of the Terracotta army buried with Emperor Qin outside Xian city.
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Another notable period was during the Han Dynasty, which ruled China for over four centuries and during a time period that is often regarded as the golden age in Chinese history.
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Confucianism became the state religion and the Silk Road trade route was opened to Europe. Hans were succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period.
Buddhism came to China around 250 CE.
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The Tang dynasty ruled over China for nearly three hundred years, followed by the Song dynasty, which too ruled for over three hundred years until 1279. Marco Polo is recorded to have begun his travels to China in 1271, which was towards the end of Song dynasty.
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The Mongols under Kublai Khan defeated Song dynasty & established Yuan dynasty which was replaced in less than a hundred years by the Ming dynasty, which ruled till 1644. It is said that it was in fifteenth century that Chinese began trade relations with the outside world.
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Construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing was also started around the same time and shortly afterwards Beijing became the new capital of the Chinese empire, replacing Nanjing in 1421. The Forbidden City is an amazing complex of the palaces of the Chinese emperors.
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Qing dynasty ruled China for two and a half centuries until 1912, when the Xinhai Revolution of 1911-12 ended this dynasty. A struggle for power in China ensued for decades until communists took power under the leadership of Mao Zedong in 1949, and named country as China.
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The Chinese were considered to be pioneers or early achievers in a number of inventions like the lunisolar calendar, silk cloth, bronze, cast iron, paper, woodblock printing, gun powder, and magnetic compass.
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Reference: Page 348-349 of book authored by @aizaz1101
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“The 2024 Beijing Declaration” marks a historic breakthrough in the Palestine-Israel conflict, as 14 Palestinian factions, including Hamas & Fatah, have agreed to pursue a peace process under the auspices of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
#ChinaPeaceBroker
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The declaration proposes three key principles: an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Governance of West Bank and Gaza under PLO, UN membership and a two-state solution.
This significant development coincides with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to the US, where
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he addressed a joint session of Congress. However, many US lawmakers openly criticized Netanyahu's speech, with some refusing to attend the session. This exposes the US's hypocrisy in promoting a rules-based world order while hosting a controversial leader like Netanyahu.
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On 6 October 2016, PM Nawaz Sharif betrayed Pakistan through #DawnLeaks 🧵⬇️
Pakistan was facing threat of isolation from USA, India and Afghanistan.
On 4 October, during in-house-discussion,there were three presentations: 1st by DGMO, 2nd by NSA & 3rd Foreign Secretary.
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Dawn published a story, supporting international isolation narrative of troika being spread by USA, Indian and Afghanistan.
“Act against militants or face international isolation,civilians tell military”
But before that on 29 September 2016, USA and India NSAs talked+
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On 29 September 2016, US NSA Susan Rice spoke to her Indian counterpart Ajit Doval to offer condolences to families of the Uri attack victims and express support for India on the issue of terrorism, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a read-out on call. +
My difference of opinion proved right when I read an article by S.M. Qureshi,who wrote,
Two years after hanging Bhutto,I was sent to meet Yasir Arafat to patch to see him. He told me that General Zia had promised while siting in Masjid e Haram that he wouldn’t hang Bhutto.
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Zia said this in the presence of Shah Khalid. Later, he did not keep his words.
Here is a detailed account from page126-128 from book, ‘compulsions of power’
Biography of General Mirza Aslam Beg.
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I was promoted Major General in 1978 and assigned the Command of 14 Division which was stationed at Okara, With this command I became part of high Military Hierarchy and remained associated with all military matters of the army from 1978 to 1988.
As groups of mujahideen fought for control of Afghanistan in the 1990s, Benazir Bhutto's government made a decision to back the Afghan Taliban in its bid for power; she later admitted she and her government had made a mistake.
Some members of the Pakistan Taliban became radicalized from their involvement in the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. In 1989, Sufi Muhammad, who had fought in that jihad, formed the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-Shariat-Mohammadi (TNSM) to impose Sharia in Dir.
The TNSM was one of the precursors of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. His son-in-law, Fazal Hayat, known publicly Mullah Fazlullah or just Fazlullah, is the current leader of the Pakistan Taliban. He is a former chairlift operator with no formal religious training.
Bhutto's untimely death forced Musharraf to delay elections beyond 8 January 2008 to 18 February. Leaderless party of Bhutto faced a crisis in middle of the campaign. Zardari, who had remained in Dubai when his wife had travelled back to Pakistan for the campaign, suddenly
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produced a handwritten document reportedly prepared by his wife naming him as the heir of the party command and control. A compliant PPP leadership team quickly accepted this evidence and his new role as the head of the party of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
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To add to the popular appeal of the Bhutto name, Zardari announced on 30 December 2007 that his nineteen-year-old son Bilawal would become party chairman and take over the party on completion of his studies at the University of Oxford in England.
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The transition to democracy following Zia's death raised hopes that Pakistan would enter a new era with the beginnings of a modern party system, the addressing of long-standing social inequalities and the ending of the centre-state problems which had beset the country.
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The advent of Benazir Bhutto as Pakistan's youngest and first female Prime Minister also raised the possibility that gender inequalities would be addressed & Pakistan would move towards becoming a progressive and tolerant Muslim society. Such hopes were to be cruelly dashed.
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The alternation of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in office was marked by political infighting, financial scandals, limited legislative enactment, and economic failure. Poverty increased as result of sluggish growth, despite Nawaz Sharif's attempt to liberalize the economy.
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