ANST-701 Lessons

Upon entering the classroom, students’ eyes are immediately beckoned towards the professor’s desk at the front of the room. A few circle around it and, appearing fascinated by the large, jade-coloured sculpture on her desk that represents a sinuous dragon.

Do not fear, dears - I can assure you that this statue is not in the least bit magical and is perfectly safe to touch. That said, do not break it. This particular statue was a gift from my mentor and I do treasure it.

I am certain you are all aware that this is a representation of a dragon, but it is also a rather large hint as to our general topic over the next two lessons. It is a stylized representation of a Chinese Fireball, and it is to the history of China that we now turn!

History and Magic in China

A complete history of China can be found in the library, but it is about ten volumes in length and will probably take you several months to read and understand. I am going to take all of that information and sum it up in a span of a few minutes. A nice piece of magic, wouldn’t you say?

China - or the area in which that country now resides - has been populated for over 780,000 years. Evidence of the presence of Homo sapiens dates back as far as 125,000 BCE. That is a lot of history. Quite literally, humans (and other beings) have lived in the general area of modern China since the dawn of mankind. 

Skipping over a few thousand millennia, the first civilization that we would consider to be ancient China emerged in approximately 2200 BCE. During this time, the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, which run east to west along most of China, flooded almost constantly.  Seeing as these are two of the largest rivers on the planet, a general sort of chaos encompassed the land as the population focussed merely on day-to-day survival of natural disasters.

A great many people tried in vain to stop the flood waters, but it wasn’t until Yu the Great figured out a way to divert the water in a sort of irrigation system that the land became stable. It took Yu 13 years to complete this task, an effort that earned him the loyalty of the entire kingdom. The beginning of his rule marked the beginning of the Xie dynasty - the first dynasty of China - which lasted until 1600 BCE. Interestingly, while he kicked off the first dynasty, and was the first ruler during that dynasty, he is not considered the first emperor of China, as there were still many different, scattered states across the expanse of China that had different leaders. We will speak more of Yu the Great in our next lesson, but suffice to say for now that there was some substantial magic use in turning the tide of the floodwaters!

With this, dynastic rule in China began, bringing with it many interesting rulers and time periods. We will, of course, not be able to cover them all, but let us look at a few of particular import, interest, and magical significance: the Qin dynasty and the Ming dynasty.

Qin Dynasty

The Qin dynasty (221 to 206 BCE) was rather short, its first ruler being Qin Shi Huang, who has the esteemed privilege of also being the first ruler to hold the title of Emperor of China, as he had united all of the various warring states in one way or another. Another very interesting piece of information about him? Well, he was a Muggle and he absolutely hated wizards. 

Perhaps it would be better to say that Qin was absolutely terrified of wizards. So terrified as to be considered a phobia. On many occasions, he was quoted on saying that he hated wizards - just as vehemently as someone with severe arachnophobia would state that they hate spiders.

It is not clear why Qin loathed wizardkind so much. Interestingly, despite his loathing, he made sure to use magical ability to his advantage. He was not a stupid man and saw great value in their talents. Thus, his reign was filled with both incredible magical feats, as well as witch hunts on an incredible scale. Honestly, there is probably no period of history with more contractions than this one.

On the magical side, Qin (who was apparently as fearful of intruders as he was of wizards) was responsible for the construction of the Great Wall of China. Responsible for it, but certainly not the brains or brawn behind the construction. While historical accounts are a bit foggy on what spells were used, we do know that magic was an integral part of the building of the Great Wall. There is simply no way that it could have been made so sturdy in such a relatively short period of time without the aid of magic! It was Qin himself who authorized the magic use during the construction, showing that he was willing to turn a blind eye to magic when it suited his purpose.

Alas, the usefulness of magic during the construction did not in any way sway Qin’s fear of magic and its users. Unfortunately, his hate intensified after being fooled by charlatans (not once, but twice) who insisted they could make him immortal. Minor cuts and scrapes showed that this immortality was false, and being unable to tell true wizards from false ones, Qin’s fear and anger grew. He became so paranoid that in 213 BCE the “Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars” catastrophe occurred. Under the guise that no history but the one his dynasty wrote was acceptable, Qin ordered the burning of some very specific historical and religious texts, as well as the burning of any magical tomes that could be located. Scholars (magical and Muggle) that owned or followed any of these texts (or were assumed to follow them) were buried alive. In total, more than 460 wizards and Muggles were murdered.

And yet the contradictions did not end. Sensing the end of his days, Qin arranged for an army to guide him to the afterlife, and protect his tomb until the end of time. You may have heard of this army: the Terracotta Warriors. And they are infused with magic. Well, sort of. Without spoiling the surprise, I will read you an excerpt from Effy Jones, a member of the curse-breaking team that cleared Qin’s tomb in the early 1970s. 

Excerpt from Jones, Effy - Personal Journal 1973 CE

Harold, Stanley, and I had to break in a new fella today, on account of losing Weir to those bloody mummies last week. I swear that the next ninny who thinks that illuminating a whole undiscovered room in one go is a good idea is going to have more than mummies to worry about, but I’m off topic.

The new fella’s name was Steuffencrakden… which was too long to shout in the middle of a mess, so we shortened it to Stuffy. Which actually turned out to be quite appropriate, given today’s events. 

We were tasked with clearing a newly discovered tomb in China - still undiscovered by Muggles, but dangerously close to being found. The goblins wanted it cleared of all the loot as soon as possible, and given that the tomb purportedly belonged to the magic-fearing Qin Shi Huang, there was little fear of losing Stuffy to an errant poison or spell. Or so we thought.

Upon entering the area, Harold and Stanley immediately started up their antics with Stuffy. They made flickering lights appear down the hallways, odd sounds echo around corners - the typical antics that you put up with on your first day on the job. The kid held up well, stoic and all that, but you could tell he was getting on edge.

After showing him the ropes for a bit, I sent him out on point. Told him to look out for mummies, which caught me a glare since we all know there aren’t any in China. Obviously pissed with our hazing, Stuffy takes off down the corridor and around a corner - not the best move when your team is supposed to be backing you up.

The guys and I moved to try and catch up when a blood curdling scream echoed down the corridor - one of the ones you know from experience is not a joke. We hustled, wands out, turned the corner, and found Stuffy staring open-mouthed at hundreds of warriors ready to attack. 

Well, that’s about when your instincts kick in. Stanley’s shield went up instantly and Harold moved left as I launched right, moving into defense formation. I shouted for the team to move into attack pattern delta four, only to watch as Stuffy collapsed to the floor. I twisted around to find his attacker only to discover… the statues weren’t moving. They weren’t attacking. Stuffy had just plain passed out. 

Not so auspicious for the guy’s first day, but I’m leaving that out of the official report since the three of us idiots didn’t immediately realize that any magic used to animate these warriors had long since worn off… if they had ever been charmed with magic to begin with. We carried Stuffy out of the tomb and told him how brave he was and all that. Guy quit the next day anyway, so I guess it didn’t matter. 

And you thought curse-breaking was always a glamorous job! Well, whatever the case may be, f Jones’ team did discover the Terracotta Warriors, though they are definitely not magical, and perhaps never were. You see, the positioning of the army - facing towards the entrance, weapons at the ready - certainly seemed to be ready to defend the tomb. Magiarchaeologists have also found incredibly tiny magical inscriptions engraved into the warriors’ weapons and armor. These factors and more point to the fact that they were supposed to be magical - perhaps triggered by light or movement. They would then protect the tomb, in a manner similar to how the statues of Hogwarts will protect the school when needed. 

Obviously, it didn’t work. The debate that remains today about the whole situation centers around why. did the magic simply fail over time? Was it a grand example of complete and total magical failure? Or were the wizards employed by Qin for this task so enraged with his treatment of wizard kind that they simply didn’t activate the spells after his death? Both are valid options, and the topic for your essay today. In either case, the tomb was quickly cleared of the few items of value and left for Muggles to discover - an event that occurred not even a full year after Jones and her team entered the tomb.

Ming Dynasty

One final topic for today, before you get to that essay I hinted about, is the Ming dynasty. You may have heard about Ming pottery: beautiful and highly valued art both in the magical and Muggle worlds. Besides bowls and vases, the Ming dynasty holds the honour of, most likely, being the time period in which the Li De Magical School was founded.

I say “most likely” as Li De is rather tight-lipped when it comes to revealing anything regarding its creation or history, but the archaeological evidence is rather conclusive. Because of certain architectural features, we know that the Forbidden City (which served as the Imperial Palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties), was built at the beginning of the Ming dynasty. Li De shares many of these same architectural features, indicating a high probability that these two structures were built during the same time period. The question of which came first - the Forbidden City or Li De - may never be answered, due to how long ago it was and a potential lack of first hand accounts… but such is life!

The Ming dynasty was a time of great magical advancement, despite the political turmoil happening every so often on the national level. Perhaps it was the presence of the school - a central place for children and scholars to gather - but regardless, magical study and knowledge increased greatly during this time.

Conclusion

This system of various dynasties ruling one by one lasted all the way up until the Xinhai revolution in 1911 CE. Some of these dynasties were times of great peace for Muggles and wizards alike, and others were filled with war, political intrigue, and strife.

But, sadly, that is all that we have time for today. Our next class will conclude our discussion on ancient China and will cover a few important magical figures such as Yu the Great, as well as a fascinating Chinese magical creature.

Image credits here, here, here, and here
Original lesson written by Professor Liria Morgan