Chinese Dynasties ("Vogue" by Madonna) Lyrics:
Early on everywhere you turned was chaos for over three hundred years. (of history)
Legend says Xia kingdom was first to appear. About them little is known. (of history)
Along came Shang, a farming society, left us bronze and some oracle bones.
They venerated their ancestors so, it’s called Qing-ming. Then along came Zhou.
-chorus:
Xia, Shang, Zhou.
Dynasties, they come and they go.
Xia, Shang, Zhou.
Don’t you know the Dao is “the Way”?
Laozi had his say.
Zhou kings weren’t divine, they had to obey the Mandate of Heaven, or else! (obey or else!)
Nature might send a great disaster your way, no one to blame but yourself. (just blame yourself!)
Invasion, rebellions, then your dynasty falls, another clan takes control,
Unless you mind the 5 relationships, a new philosophy, by Kong Fu-zi, Confucius!
-chorus
Civil war would sour Zhou’s control, Qin would seize power.
Roads and money, build a wall. Legalism made lots of laws.
Practical. Punished all. So everybody hated him.
-chorus
(Dynasties in China.)
(History of China.)
Qin ruled by Shihuangdi. Strictest of the dynasties.
Liu Bang, with peasant brawn, overthrew, then created Han.
Northern invasion, civil war, 300 years of blood and gore.
Sui stepped up to boost morale--forced to build the Grand Canal.
Tang gave government exams and gave peasants back some land.
Li Bo, Du Fu wrote their thoughts, Artisans made porcelain pots.
Song conquered by Kublai Khan. Mongols beat by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Ming worked hard to build a wall, but they too, like all before, would fall.
-chorus
(Dynasties.)
(History.)
(Dynasties, they come and they go.)
(In ancient China.)
(Dynasties, they come and they go.)
(In ancient China.)