One phenomenon is that it is difficult for Chinese dynasties to exceed 300 years. In China's 5,000-year history, the great unified feudal dynasty has gone through seven important stages: Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. However, they all perished one after another after a period of prosperity.

So, what was the most fundamental reason for the demise of these dynasties?

1. Qin Dynasty: Labor and money, and pursue harsh government. After Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms, his ruling system was quite cruel. Under the influence of the Shang Dynasty's reforms, the unified Qin Dynasty system was even more intensified, and the slightest carelessness would be tortured, among them, the extermination of the nine ethnic groups also originated from the Qin Dynasty. The so-called, "covering more than 300 miles, isolating the day." The magnificent Afang Palace, which was built with great labor and money, has become an important symbol of the death of Qin.

Under the heavy conscription, the people inevitably rebelled against the Qin Dynasty. Secondly, the power of the prime minister is too great, and the system of three princes and nine secretaries implemented by the Qin Dynasty has not been able to avoid the phenomenon of power focusing on the prime minister. The traitor Zhao Gao destroyed the Qin State, but without the support of Li Si, the powerful prime minister of the government and the opposition, how could Zhao Gao let his plot succeed step by step?

In the end, "the pawn called, Hangu lifted, the Chu people were burned, and the poor scorched earth was pitied!" ”

Second, the Han Dynasty: the parallel of the county and the state, the reuse of relatives. After the unification of the Han Dynasty, it also followed the example of the Qin Dynasty and implemented the county system. However, in order to show majesty and consolidate the rule, although the parallel system of counties and counties was implemented, its essence was a combination of the county system and the feudal system. Moreover, the Han Dynasty wantonly reused foreign relatives and divided the princes, which not only failed to achieve the goal of consolidating centralized power, but also broke out the "Seven Kingdoms Rebellion".

After that, the pacification of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion temporarily weakened the power of the princes, but the problems of the system were deeply rooted. In the later battles between the Han Dynasty and the princes, it fell into years of war, so the national strength was lost, and finally, it went to extinction.

3. Tang Dynasty: There were many feudal towns, endangering the central government. The Tang Dynasty was the most powerful country in the world at that time, and it was a world leader in the fields of science and technology, weapons, and agriculture. After the unification of the Tang Dynasty, it set up vassals throughout the country and arbitrarily sealed the feudal envoys to govern various regions, which eventually led to a serious expansion of local power and the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion.

After that, the Tang Dynasty was in danger in an eventful autumn, and in the end, it went to an end.

Fourth, the Song Dynasty: heavy literature and light military force, the army is insufficient. The Song Dynasty learned the lesson of the fall of the Tang Dynasty, and in order to prevent the feudal towns from being divided again and the ministers from taking too much power, the Song Dynasty established a complete set of autocratic and centralized political systems in the court, and concentrated political, military, and financial power to the greatest extent, including legal, official, military, imperial examination and other systems, and implemented the "three divisions system".

As a result of these measures, the centralization of power in the Song Dynasty completely outperformed the local power, and the local power no longer had enough capital to compete with the centralized power. In addition, the rulers of the Song Dynasty believed that in order to strengthen their rule, they had to weaken the power of the military generals. Therefore, the Song Dynasty's "expropriation of elite soldiers" and "release of military power with a glass of wine" not only made the generals lose their military power, but also weakened the ability to cooperate between soldiers and generals, which in turn caused the weakness of the combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty army.

As a result, the Song dynasty was often at a disadvantage in battles with the Xia, Liao, Jin, and Mongol states, and eventually, after several years of fighting, the Song dynasty came to an end.

5. Yuan Dynasty: ethnic discrimination, dark rule. Long before the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, Genghis Khan led the Mongol iron cavalry to conquer the Central Plains. When he conquers a city, he slaughters many of the local people. Moreover, after Genghis Khan, the Han Chinese were even more unpopular, far inferior to livestock, and the rulers often treated them as slaves.

This situation was not alleviated until Kublai Khan's reforms, which called for the implementation of the Han system, and the discrimination of the Han people was somewhat alleviated, but the status of the Han people was still very low. In addition, after conquering the whole country, Kublai Khan revealed his fierceness, abandoned the "pseudo-sinicization", and established the dark "four-class system", which made the society at that time miserable. Finally, the Han Chinese revolted and overthrew the Yuan dynasty.

Sixth, the Ming Dynasty: financial collapse, improper employment. After the Song Dynasty resolved the contradiction between the central and local governments, another contradiction appeared, namely: the contradiction between imperial power and relative power. After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, Prime Minister Hu Weiyong was suspected of rebellion and was later executed by Zhu Yuanzhang, thus abolishing the prime minister system for more than 1,600 years. After that, the Ming Dynasty went through a period of development, with economic prosperity and social stability.

However, behind the prosperity was a crisis, due to the high concentration of land, the large landlords hidden property tax evasion, so that the Ming government's fiscal revenue gradually decreased. In addition to the war and the increase in military salaries, Zheng He went to the West seven times, spending a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, and gradually increasing the financial burden. However, the response to the fiscal collapse was again to increase taxes, which led to peasant uprisings.

In addition, another reason for the fall of the Ming Dynasty was the improper use of people, first Yan Song and then Wei Zhongxian. Both controlled the government at different times, killing officials indiscriminately, and disrupting the ruling order of the Ming Dynasty. After the death of Zhang Juzheng, who was known as the "savior prime minister", the "Zhang Juzheng reform" that really played a positive role in the development of the Ming Dynasty was immediately abolished. It can be seen how inappropriate the Ming Dynasty was in employing people.

7. Qing Dynasty: Closed off the country and ruled rotten. The absolutist centralized system of the Qing Dynasty reached its peak, and in order to improve efficiency, the Qing Dynasty established the Military Aircraft Department. However, under this highly centralized rule, the Qing Dynasty was not able to escape the fate of extinction. The fall of the Qing Dynasty consisted in resting on its laurels, being blind and arrogant, and forever indulging in the old dreams of the Celestial Empire.

As everyone knows, at this time, the strength of other countries is increasing, the ambitions of colonial aggression are constantly expanding, and foreign powers have already deployed their forces around the world. Finally, in 1840, the eyes of Westerners were on China. In the war with Western countries, the Qing government was defeated one after another, signed treaties, and ceded land and paid reparations. Due to the emptiness of the national treasury, the Qing government had to raise taxes on the peasants, which led to the loss of popular support, and eventually, died in the Xinhai Revolution.

As the saying goes: "Those who win the hearts of the people get the parallel system of counties and counties, but its essence is a combination of the county system and the sub-feudal system." Moreover, the Han Dynasty wantonly reused foreign relatives and divided the princes, which not only failed to achieve the goal of consolidating centralized power, but also broke out the "Seven Kingdoms Rebellion".

After that, the pacification of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion temporarily weakened the power of the princes, but the problems of the system were deeply rooted. In the later battles between the Han Dynasty and the princes, it fell into it again. "The political system of the rulers and the support of the people determine the peace and turmoil of society. From the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, successive rulers have learned from the rise and fall of previous dynasties, but the increasing centralization of power, the people's minds have been more and more tightly bound, and the fundamental system of feudalism has not been changed, which has also become the most important reason for the demise of successive dynasties.