China history

China history

The history of China is detailed by historical records dating as far back as 16th century BC. China is one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations. Turtle shells with markings reminiscent of ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty (商朝) have been carbon dated to around 1500 BC. These records suggest that the origins of Chinese civilization started with city-states in the Yellow River valley. The year 221 BC is commonly used as the date when China became unified under a large kingdom or empire. Successive dynasties developed systems of bureaucratic control that would allow the Emperor of China to control the large territory that would become known today as China.

The forced imposition of a common system of writing by the Qin Dynasty (秦) Emperor in the 3rd century BC and the development of a state ideology based on Confucianism in the 2nd century BC, marked the foundation of what is now termed the Chinese civilization. Politically, China is said to have alternated between periods of political unity and disunity, to be occasionally conquered by external groups of people, some eventually being assimilated into the Chinese population. Cultural and political influences from many parts of Asia, carried by successive waves of immigration, merged to create the image of Chinese culture today
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