The History of China

China is not just simply a country; it is a world deeply embedded with rich culture, boasting thousand of centuries old civilizations, and almost 3500 years old history.  China has one of the world's longest periods of uninterrupted civilization and the world's longest continuously used written language system. Being one of the earliest centers of human civilization, China has a history that dates back thousands of years ago.

The history of China's has largely been characterized by repeated divisions and reunifications amidst irregular periods of war and peace, and brutal imperial dynastic change.

To begin with first dynasty to rule china was The Xia dynasty (c. 2200 - c. 1750 BC). Although there’s not much known about this dynasty however the only known fact is that the Xia descended from a wide-spread Yellow River valley Neolithic culture known as the Longshan culture, and they even had a writing system. The first confirmed dynasty is the Shang Dynasty (c. 1750 - c. 1040 BC). Historically there are three thing associated particularly with this dynasty, one is that they were the most advanced bronze-working civilization in the world, Two, the remains of the Shang dynasty provide the earliest and most complete record of Chinese writing, and three, they were literally one of the most blood-thirsty pre-modern civilization, believing in human sacrifice, for instance if a king died, 100 slaves would join him in his grave. The Shang were invaded by the Zhou (12th to 5th centuries BC). The Zhou were the most powerful principality and completely dominated the area. They were located in the middle of the principalities, giving rise to the Middle Kingdom. The Zhou were able to maintain peace and stability through the hegemony system for a few hundred years. In 771 BC, the capital was sacked by barbarians from the west. Consequently in the Spring and Autumn period, many strong independent states, in continuous war, paid but nominal deference to the Zhou state as the Imperial centre. These states were all unified under one emperor in 221 BC by Qin Shi Huang, steering in the Qin Dynasty, the first combined and centralized Chinese state.

The fall of authoritarian Qin Dynasty in 207 BC was followed by the Han Dynasty which lasted until 220 AD. The Han dynasty has played a vital role in Chinese history. They invented The Chinese history as we know it today and above all they developed the administrative model which every successive dynasty would follow. After some time a period of disunion followed again and in 580, China was reunited under the Sui.

The most important about Sui dynasty is that it was very short and that re-unified China. The Sui dynasty was succeeded by the Tang and Song dynasties. The Tang dynasty is considered to be one of the great dynasties in Chinese history, and China reached its golden age under this dynasty. Between the 7th and 14th centuries, China was one of the most advanced civilizations in the world in technology, literature, and art. The Song Dynasty fell to the invading Mongols in 1279. The Mongols, under Kublai Khan, established the Yuan Dynasty. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongols in 1368 and founded the Ming Dynasty lasting until 1644. After the Ming dynasty, came the Qing (Manchu) dynasty, which lasted until the overthrow of Puyi in 1911. During the Quing dynasty Art flourished in china and above all the western world started making contact on a government to government basis. But the frigidity of the dynasty towards the westerners proved more disturbing than what it was actually meant to be. The behavior of the western world was pretty ambivalent towards china. However in 1911 the Qing dynasty collapsed and China plunged headlong into chaos as was Europe.

In 1912, after a prolonged period of decline, the institution of the Emperor of China disappeared and the Republic of China was established. The following three decades were a period of disunion — the Warlord Era, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War. In 1949 with the Communist Party of China took control of the mainland China and established a communist state- the People's Republic of China.  In the mean the disorganized and corrupt ROC government of the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, where it continued to be recognized as the legitimate government of all China by the Western bloc until 1970s when most nations and the UN switched recognition to the People Republic of China.