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China Travel Guide » About China » History of China
History of China - Page 1
The earliest recorded history of the great civilisation dates back to 5000 BC which thrived along the shores of Huang He valley, North China. It is referred to as a continuous civilisation due to the preserved and well documented texts of those times and the people's constant strife towards the development of an administrative system and evolution of a singular ideographic script as well as a continuous growth in art and culture which rivalled other contemporary world civilisations.
The great 2nd century BC historiographer Sima Qian in his scriptures quotes Shia dynasty as a period when the system of inherited rulership was established during 4000 BC, the date not corroborated. A number of archaeologists believe the dynasty was established during the 2000 BC based on the unearthing of a bronze smelter from excavations at Henan.
Shang dynasty came into existence in c1700 BC and ruled northern and central China with Anyang as a capital city, near the border of Henan from about 1384 BC. During the dynasty, advancements in agricultural methods and metallurgy are believed to have caught pace. Ancestral worship was common and so was the reverence to the main god Shang Ti.
Chou dynasty, c1100 BC - c 256 BC, coexisted and later fought the Shang dynasty establishing Hao (Zongzhou) as its capital, later followed by Luoyang (Henan Province) as its administrative centre from 722 BC. Iron started being widely used along side bronze for the manufacturing of farming implements and weapons. The era was also known as the Hundred Schools of Thought as great philosophers such as Confucius, Mo-ti, Lao Tzu, Mencius, and Chuang-tzu lived and laid foundation for the schools of philosophies of Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism.
Ch'in, which was one of the former territories of the Chou kingdom, seized power during the 4th century BC as the Chou dynasty had weakened by then. Ch'in shih-huang-ti became the king at a very young age, counseled by the scholar Li Ssu. He unified the whole of north China which was in the midst of chaos as the independent states in the region were constantly at war amongst themselves. Ch'in shih-huang-ti created a centralised form of government based on the Legalism principles, abolished feudalism and established uniform weights and measures. It was during this dynasty that the network of roads and canals that converged on the capital was built and a foundation to the Great Wall of China was laid. The word China is derived from Ch'in after the death of the emperor Ch'in constant infighting led to the downfall of the dynasty.
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