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A quick access to
CHINESE HISTORY
GEOGRAPHIC MAP OF CHINA
PREHISTORIC CHINA

Yuanmou Man: c. 1.7 million yrs ago
 Unearthed
(2 teeth) in 1965 (Yunnan)
 First hominid known to control fire



New finds (http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/15/china/china-teeth-cave-nature/)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXS4ONg30s8
Lantian Man: c. 1 million yrs ago
 Remnants
found in 1963-64 (Shaanxi)
 Stone tools & animal bones also found

Peking Man: c. 710k-230k yrs ago
A
complete skullcup found in 1929 (Beijing)
 Traces of fire and stone tools found later
PREHISTORIC CHINA

Upper Cave Man: c. 80k-10k yrs ago
3
skulls and other fossils found (Beijing)
 Along w/ carbon dust, stone & bone tools

Hemudu Culture: 5000-4000 BC
 Lower
Yangtze River (Zhejiang)
 Paddy rice & cultivating tools
 Lacquerware found in 1978 (wooden
bowl coated with red lacquer sap)
PREHISTORIC CHINA

Origin of pottery: 4800-2900 BC
 Yangshao

Culture in Shaanxi
Dawenkou Culture: 4300-2500 BC
 Painted
potteries with inscriptions
 Acupuncture emerged

Hongshan Culture: 4000-3000 BC
 Livestock:
pigs, cattle, sheep
 Jade artifacts
ANCIENT CHINA

Yellow Emperor (ancestor of humanity)
& Yan Emperor: 2700-2600 BC
 Sericulture
& silk reeling
 Land & water transportation
 Music
 Medicine
 Math & calendar
 Writing system
YAO-SHUN（-YU）

Legendary leaders (last 3 of the 五帝 5 Di’s)
who passed their power to the worthy
 Yao:
decided 366 days in one year, and 29 or 30
days in a month; and using leap month(s)
 Shun: Defeated rebels, and killed Yu’s father Gun,
who failed to put flood under control
 Yu the Great: succeeded in
controlling the flood, and set
nine zhou’s (or provinces)
THE XIA DYNASTY

Yu The Great passed the power to his son, Qi (
启, which means “start”), and started the
hereditary system
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTT18W0wO-A
The first dynasty of China was established, with
16 kings over 400+ years (c.2200 BC – 1700BC)
 The Xia Calendar
(夏历) becomes
the basis for now

THE SHANG (OR YIN) DYNASTY
Reigned during 1600BC-1046BC
 Created the Oracle Bone scripts
 Highly developed in making bronzeware,
architecture, etc.

THE ZHOU DYNASTY
Traced by to Hou Ji, served as agriculture
leader during Yao’s reign
 Lasted some 800 yrs. (1046BC-256BC), which
is the longest in Chinese history

THE FALLING OF THE ZHOU

The Spring-and-Autumn period (770BC-476BC)
 The
Zhou royal house lost control
 Five Powers became leaders of their allies

The Warring State period
 Even
more chaotic wars between some 140
vassal states, leading to the end of most of them
 The “Hundred Schools of Thought”
THE QIN DYNASTY

The First Emperor of Qin unified China in
221BC and titled himself HuangDi
 Unified
writing to the “small seal” script
 Unified measurement and wheel distance of carts
THE HAN DYNASTY

2,000-year-old ROYAL TOMBS of Marquis of
Haihun in China
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-8QASNwal4
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_PrDeNKOHs

THREE KINGDOMS PERIOD

http://www.gudianwenxue.com/article/3061.h
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