Very early Chinese History

China is the only civilization which has maintained a cultural continuity from the second millennium B.C. to the present and is often referred to as the world's oldest civilization. The first Dynasty that we can prove existed through Archaeological evidence is the Shang Dyanasty which occurred between 1766-1122 B.C. The Shang capital is now the ruins of Ao, near present-day An-yan. Ao was a planned city where the buildings were constructed from compacted earth. During the Shang Dynasty a highly organized agrarian society had developed and was founded on Kingship and an elaborate class system.Painting, music, and writing in the form of pictographs had developed.

In 1122 B.C. the Chou people took over command and established a capital in Hao, southwest of modern Sian. Under the Chou emperor, China was split into semi-independent vassal states, later city-states.in 722 B.C. the Chou capital was moved to Lo-yang. The Chou Dynasty is often referred to in two different contexts. Western Chou Dynasty is the time period before the moving of the capital, and the time after the move is refereed to as the Eastern Chou Dynasty. China did not do so great under the Chou people. There was constant war doe to one city-state trying to take over others. The Eastern Chou Dynasty is divided again into the Ch'un-ch'in Period (722-481 B.C.) and the Period of the Contending State (480- 221 B.C.) Due to the contention during the Period of the Contending States, the Chou Dynasty fell and leadership was in contention.




Time Line

Ch'in Dynasty (221-206 B.C.)
Early Han Dynasty (226 B.C.-9 A.D.)
Later Han Dynasty (9-220 A.D.)
The Three Kingdoms (220-265 A.D.)
(Kingdoms of Wei, Wu, and Shu)
The Western and Eastern Tsin Dynasties (265-420 A.D.)
Northern (439-581 A.D.) and Southern (420-589 A.D.) Dynasties
The Sui Dynasty (581-618 A.D.)
The T'ang Dynasty (618-906 A.D.)
The Five Dynasties (907-960 A.D.)
The Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.)
The Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368 A.D.)
The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.)
The Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1911 A.D.)
Modern China (1911-)

The revolution of 1911 overthrew the government of the Ch'ing Dynasty. The Revolutionary League declared the establishment of the Republic of China. A provisional government at Nanking was organised and Dr. Sun Yat-sen was elected president.