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China
is one of the world's most primitive civilizations that
has a continuous lineage. Chinese civilization started
with the city-states in the Yellow River valley. The
Yellow River valley established itself as a cultural
point in late Neolithic times. It is evident that the
first villages were set up there only.
It is assumed that China became integrated under a
large kingdom in 221 BC.
There were political and cultural influences from many
parts of Asia and successive waves of immigration, expansion
and assimilation merged to create Chinese
culture.
It was in 7000 BC when the Chinese were farming millet
and gave birth to the Jiahu culture. Around 8453 individual
characters depicting Sun, moon, stars, scenes of hunting
and others were formed between 6,000BC and 5,000 BC
which were similar to the earliest characters of written
Chinese. After the Yangshao, there came the Longshan
culture around 2500 BC.
The Bamboo Annals record Chinese history from about
2800 BC and the records of the Grand Historian composed
by Chinese historiographer Sima Qian in the 2nd century
BC give an account of the Five Emperors and the Three
August Ones.
The entire Chinese history can be divided into 4
stages which are:
- Prehistoric
- Ancient
- Imperial
- Modern
The ancient era of China consists of Xia Dynasty, Shang
Dynasty, Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn, Period, Warring
States Period.
The Imperial era can be divided into:
- Qin Dynasty
- Han Dynasty
- Jin Period
- Southern and Northern Dynasties
- Sui Dynasty
- Tang Dynasty
- Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
- Song Dynasty and Liao, Jin, Western Xia
- Yuan Dynasty
- Ming Dynasty
- Qing Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty is famous as the Great Wall of China
started being built that time. This was later progressed
during the Ming Dynasty. The unification of the legal
code, the concept of centralized government, measurement,
written language and currency of China were the contributions
of this period.
The phase of political disharmony between the Song
and the Tang is known as the Five Dynasties and Ten
Kingdoms Period. It lasted from 907 to 960. China was
a multi-state system in this time. The Qing Dynasty
was set up after the Ming dynasty was defeated. It was
the last Han Chinese dynasty.
The modern era contains:
- Republic of China
- Present era
Northern China was threatened during the beginning
of the 20th century by the Boxer Rebellion. It was March
12, 1912 when the provisional government of the Republic
of China was established in Nanjing. Sun Yat-sen, the
President, was compelled to empower over Yuan Shikai.
During the time of the Long March, the communists were
reorganized under a new leader, Mao Zedong. The struggle
between the KMT and the CPC was carried on openly through
the 14-year long Japanese invasion. The CPC took over
most of the country by 1949.
China was divided once again on October 1, 1949 according
to the claims of the government. Still, People's Republic
of China does not want foreign relations to deviate
from the 'One China Policy'. The history
of China is full of adventure, revolution, changes
and integrity in concord.
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