China History
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The first civilizations in China arose in the Yangtse and Yellow river valleys at about the same time as Mesopotamia, Egypt and India developed their first civilizations.
For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences. Paper and gunpowder, for example, are Chinese inventions and Chinese developments in astronomy, medicine, scholarship and other fields were extensive. A tomb unearthed in Changsha contained a heliocentric model of the solar system, and showed its occupant wore a bra — it is 3,200 years old.
China also explored the world and traded extensively with other nations. By the 5th-6th centuries AD, voyages to India and the Arab countries were routine. In the 15th century the Ming Dynasty fleets under Admiral Zheng He reached as far as East Africa.
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Dynasty |
Date |
|
Xia |
C.21st-16th century B.C. |
|
Shang |
C.16th-11th century B.C. |
|
Western Zhou |
C.11th century B.C.-770 B.C. |
|
Eastern Zhou (Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods) |
770-221 B.C. |
|
Qin |
221-207 B.C. |
|
Western Han |
206 B.C.-A.D. 24 |
|
Eastern Han |
25-220 |
|
Three Kingdoms (Wei, Shu and Wu) |
220-265 |
|
Western Jin |
265-316 |
|
Eastern Jin |
317-420 |
|
Southern and Northern Dynasty |
420-589 |
|
Sui |
581-618 |
|
Tang |
618-907 |
|
Five Dynasties |
907-960 |
|
Northern Song |
960-1127 |
|
Southern Song |
1127-1279 |
|
Yuan |
1271-1368 |
|
Ming |
1368-1644 |
|
Qing |
1644-1911 |
|
Republic of China |
1912-1949 |
|
People's Republic of China |
1949- |