Reflections | How Chinese dynasties looked 6 decades in as Singapore celebrates 60 years of independence
The Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties were some of China’s most prominent. What was happening with them six decades in?
Singapore celebrates its 60th year of independence on August 9. While textual and archaeological evidence points to a history of human settlement of at least 700 years, the island nation is relatively young as an independent country.
Singapore is probably the only modern nation whose leader, on the day of its independence in 1965, wept tears not of joy but of sorrow and anguish.
Singapore’s expulsion from the Malaysian federation exposed it to uncertainties from multiple fronts, and it is this sense of vulnerability that informed – and still informs – the country’s development.
In China’s long history, there were dynasties that lasted centuries. What was happening six decades into a few of the more prominent ones?
In the Han dynasty’s 60th year (146BC), almost nothing noteworthy happened to stir the chronicler’s ink.