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History
Home » China » China Overview and History » HistoryChina was one of the earliest civilizations and was also one of the first to invent an independent style of writing. The others were ancient Mesopotamia, India, the Mayan Civilization, and Ancient Egypt. The Chinese script is the only logographic script still used in the world. It is still used today by Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans.
According to Chinese sources, the first dynasty was the Xia Dynasty, although some speculate that this is merely legend. However, archeologists have conducted digs that have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that support the existence of the Xia dynasty in the same location that Chinese historical texts claim it was located.
The first confirmed dynasty was the Shang dynasty, which dates from the 18th to the 12th century B.C. From the 12th to the 5th century, the Shang were invaded by the Zhou. During this time, there were many different states in the area that were ruled by warlords. In 221 BC, they were all united under one Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, which became the Qin Dynasty, the first unified centralized Chinese state. This state’s downfall was its legalistic approach to control, which quickly led to rebellion. The Qin Dynasty fell in 206 BC and was followed by the Han Dynasty, which lasted until 220 AD. After this came another period of disunion, until China was reunited under the Sui in 580. China experienced its Golden Age under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties. During this time, China was one of the most advanced civilizations in the world with regard to technology, art, and literature. In 1279, the Song Dynasty was invaded and fell to the Mongols. The Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty, under Kublai Khan. In 1368, a peasant, Zhu Yuanzhang, overthrew the Mongols and established the Ming Dynasty, which lasted until 1644. The Ming Dynasty was followed by the Qing Dynasty, which was overthrown in 1911. In the eighteenth century, China was decisively ahead of the rest of central Asia with regards to technology, but at the same time it was lagging behind the technology of the Europeans.
The decline of the Chinese empire was largely due to the many internal upheavals they experienced. The most important of these was the Taiping Civil War which lasted from 1851 to 1862. It was started by an extremist who believed he was the son of God and the younger brother of Jesus. This war was one of the bloodiest in history and at least 20 million people were killed. The Imperial forces were victorious. There were also a number of rebellions that took place with the Boxer Rebellion being one of the major ones. The rebellion sought to repel Westerners, but the Boxers were defeated by the Eight Nation Alliance.
In 1912, the Republic of China was established and the following three decades were periods of disunion. There was the Warlord Era, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party of China was victorious in the Civil War and took control of mainland China in 1949. The Republic of China government fled to Taiwan at this point. The United Kingdom and Portugal transferred their colonies of Hong Kong and Macau on the southern Chinese coast in 1997 and 1999 respectively.
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