The History of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity,fracture,prosperity,and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Yellow River valley,which along with the Yangtze basin constitutes the geographic core of the Chinese cultural sphere. China maintains a rich diversity of ethnic and linguistic people groups. The traditional lens for viewing Chinese history is the dynastic cycle:imperial dynasties rise and fall,and are ascribed certain achievements. Throughout pervades the narrative that Chinese civilization can be traced as an unbroken thread many thousands of years into the past,making it one of the cradles of civilization. At various times,states representative of a dominant Chinese culture have directly controlled areas stretching as far west as the Tian Shan,the Tarim Basin,and the Himalayas,as far north as the Sayan Mountains,and as far south as the delta of the Red River.
The Xia dynasty is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition,it was established by the legendary figure Yu the Great,after Shun,the last of the Five Emperors,gave the throne to him. In traditional historiography,the Xia was succeeded by the Shang dynasty.
The Chinese Dragon is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology,Chinese folklore,and Chinese culture at large. Chinese dragons have many animal-like forms such as turtles and fish,but are most commonly depicted as snake-like with four legs. Academicians have identified four reliable theories on the origin of the Chinese dragon:snakes,Chinese alligators,thunder worship and nature worship. They traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers,particularly control over water.
Hebei is a province in North China. Hebei is China's sixth most-populous province,with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese,3% Manchu,0.8% Hui,and 0.3% Mongol. Varieties of Chinese spoken include Jilu Mandarin,the Beijing dialect of Mandarin,and Jin Chinese.
According to Chinese mythology and traditional Chinese historiography,the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were a series of sage rulers,and the first Emperors of China. Today,they are considered culture heroes,but they were widely worshipped as divine "ancestral spirits" in ancient times. According to received history,the period they existed in preceded the Xia dynasty,although they were thought to exist in later periods to an extent in incorporeal forms that aided the Chinese people,especially with the stories of Nüwa existing as a spirit in the Shang dynasty and Shennong being identified as the godly form of Hou Ji and a founder of the Zhou dynasty.
The Yellow Emperor,also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi,is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero included among the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors,and an individual deity (shen) or part of the Five Regions Highest Deities in Chinese folk religion. Calculated by Jesuit missionaries,who based their work on various Chinese chronicles,and later accepted by the twentieth-century promoters of a universal calendar starting with the Yellow Emperor,Huangdi's traditional reign dates are 2697–2597 or 2698–2598 BC.
For most of its history,China was organized into various dynastic states under the rule of hereditary monarchs. Beginning with the establishment of dynastic rule by Yu the Great c. 2070 BC,and ending with the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor in AD 1912,Chinese historiography came to organize itself around the succession of monarchical dynasties. Besides those established by the dominant Han ethnic group or its spiritual Huaxia predecessors,dynasties throughout Chinese history were also founded by non-Han peoples.
Weifang is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province,People's Republic of China. The city borders Dongying to the northwest,Zibo to the west,Linyi to the southwest,Rizhao to the south,Qingdao to the east,and looks out to the Laizhou Bay to the north. Its population was 9,386,705 at the 2020 census,of whom 3,095,520 lived in the built-up area made up of four urban districts and Changle County largely being urbanized.
Huaxia is a historical concept representing the Chinese nation,and came from the self-awareness of a common cultural ancestry by the various confederations of pre-Qin ethnic ancestors of Han people.
In Japanese and Chinese historiography,the Four Great Ancient Civilizations were Egypt,Mesopotamia,India,and China,which are identified as the cradles of civilization. The concept is popularly used in Japan and China—for example in history textbooks—but not generally known in the western world.
The Northeast Project,which is short for the Serial Research Project on the History and Current State of the Northeast Borderland,was a five-year research project on the history and current situation of the frontiers of Northeast China which lasted from 2002 to 2007. It was launched by the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS) and received financial support from both the Chinese government and the CASS.
Chinese clothing includes the traditional hanfu and garments of ethnic minorities,as well as modern variations of indigenous Chinese dresses. Chinese clothing has been shaped through its dynastic traditions,as well as through foreign influences. Chinese clothing showcases the traditional fashion sensibilities of Chinese culture traditions and forms one of the major cultural facets of Chinese civilization.
During the late Zhou dynasty,the inhabitants of the Central Plains began to make a distinction between Hua and Yi,referred to by some historians as the Sino–barbarian dichotomy. They defined themselves as part of cultural and political region known as Huaxia,which they contrasted with the surrounding regions home to outsiders,conventionally known as the Four Barbarians. Although Yi is usually translated as "barbarian",other translations of this term in English include "foreigners","ordinary others","wild tribes" and "uncivilized tribes". The Hua–Yi distinction asserted Chinese superiority,but implied that outsiders could become Hua by adopting their culture and customs. The Hua–Yi distinction was not unique to China,but was also applied by various Vietnamese,Japanese,and Koreans regimes,all of whom considered themselves at one point in history to be legitimate successors to the Chinese civilization and the "Central State" in imitation of China.
The history of Zhengzhou,a city that is today the provincial capital of Henan Province,China,spans over 10,000 years from its beginnings as a Neolithic settlement to its emergence as a trading port during the final years of the Qing dynasty.
Qingzhou or Qing Province was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China dating back to c. 2070 BCE that later became one of the thirteen provinces of the Han dynasty. The Nine Provinces were first described in the Tribute of Yu chapter of the classic Book of Documents,with Qingzhou lying to the east of Yuzhou and north of Yangzhou. Qingzhou's primary territory included most of modern Shandong province except the southwest corner.
The Liao Civilization or Liao River Civilization,named after the Liao River,is an umbrella term for several ancient civilizations that originated in the Liao basin. It is thought to have first formed in 6,200 BC. This civilization was discovered when Ryuzo Torii,a Japanese archaeologist,discovered the Hongshan culture in 1908.
Yellow River civilization,Huanghe civilization or Huanghe Valley civilization,Hwan‐huou civilization is an ancient Chinese civilization that prospered in the middle and lower basin of the Yellow River. Agriculture was started in the flood plain of the Yellow River,and before long,through flood control and the irrigation of the Yellow River,cities were developed and political power found reinforcement. One of the "four major civilizations of the ancient world",it is often included in textbooks of East Asian history,but the idea of including only the Yellow River civilization as one of the four biggest ancient civilizations has become outdated as a result of the discovery of other early cultures in China,such as the Yangtze and Liao civilizations. The area saw the Yangshao and Longshan cultures of the Neolithic era and developed into the bronze ware culture of the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
Xia,Shang,Zhou Dynasties:From Myths to Historical Facts is a book by a Taiwanese history professor Olga Gorodetskaya. It touches upon several predominant theories regarding Ancient China's earliest dynasties,namely Xia dynasty,Shang dynasty and Zhou dynasty,and tries to present archaeological evidence that those theories are in fact myths originated in early Chinese historical works,which resemble hagiographies and have little basis in reality on the ground. The book and as a result its author are a subject of considerable controversy within the Sinological academia,especially so within the People's Republic of China.
Ba-Shu culture refers to a regional culture centered around Sichuan province and Chongqing city,also encompassing parts of Yunnan,Guizhou,southwestern Shaanxi and neighboring regions which speak Southwestern Mandarin. Historically centered around the Yangtze River,it emerged as an amalgamation of the cultures of the Shu and Ba kingdoms after their conquest by the State of Qin. The discovery of the Shu site of Sanxingdui in 1986 and Jinsha in 2001 places the Ba-Shu culture's age at nearly four millenia old;consequently,it is commonly considered to be one of the cradles of Chinese civilisation and culture. Ba-Shu culture has continued to the present day and is nowadays famous for aspects such as its cuisine and Sichuan opera.
The earliest human occupation of what is now China dates to the Lower Paleolithic c. 1.7 million years ago—attested by archaeological finds such as the Yuanmou Man. The Erlitou and Erligang cultures inhabiting the Yellow River valley were Bronze Age civilizations predating the historical record—which first emerges c. 1250 –c. 1200 BCE at Yinxu,during the Late Shang.
