China

Four hundred and ten years ago today, a Jurchen chieftain proclaimed himself Khan. The dynasty his heirs built solved an ancient problem — and created the conditions for a modern catastrophe.

On 7 February 1906, Aisin-Gioro Puyi was born in Beijing. He became Emperor of China at two, lost the throne at six, spent his life as the plaything of forces vastly larger than himself, and died a gardener.

On 23 January 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself the Hongwu Emperor and founded the Ming dynasty. He had been born to a destitute peasant family, orphaned by plague, and spent his teens wandering as a mendicant monk. He ended a century of Mongol rule over China.

On 9 January 1127, Jin forces took Bianjing, the Song capital, and seized both Emperor Qinzong and his retired father Huizong - China's greatest painter and its worst tactician. The Northern Song dynasty ended. The humiliation never did.