China is an East Asian country with a large territory, a huge
population and an ancient history. With written records dating
back 4,000 years, it is recognized as one of the four great ancient
civilizations of the world, together with ancient Egypt, Babylon
and India. Moreover, it is the only ancient civilization that
has continued to this very day.
China was one of the cradles of the human race. The Chinese nation
is not only the most populous but also one of the oldest in the
world. Fossils that have been found in Chinese territory include
those of Yuanmou Man, the first Homo erectus, who lived
1.7 million years ago, those of Lantian Man, who lived 750,000
years ago, and those of the Peking Man, who lived at Zhoukoudian
in today's suburban Beijing 600,000 years ago. The fossils of
Shu Ape, a primate that lived 45 million years ago, which is known
as the "first anthropoid", were discovered in China
in 1994.
The first light of Chinese civilization revealed itself 7,000
to 8,000 years ago, as indicated by the ruins of the Daxi Culture
in Sichuan and Hubei provinces, the Majiapang Culture in Jiangsu
and Zhejiang provinces, the Hemudu Culture in eastern Zhejiang
and the Yangshou Culture along the middle reaches of the Yellow
River and its main tributaries.
According to legend, the primitive tribes that inhabited the
middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River were unified into
two powerful tribes under the Yellow Emperor and Fiery Emperor,
and began their push southward 5,000 years ago. After years of
warfare, they conquered the Sanmiao and Jiuli tribes active in
south China under the leadership of Chi You. Part of the defeated
tribe was incorporated into the tribes under the Yellow and Fiery
emperors to become a component part of the Han people, which marked
the beginning of the Chinese nation. This history has also given
rise to the term "descendants of the Yellow and Fiery emperors"
that Chinese often use to refer to themselves.
Archaeological studies have revealed that around 5,000 years
ago the Chinese entered the stage of patriarchal society. Not
only did villages begin to appear but also the initial forms of
cities began to become evident. Extensive communities indicated
that the population at the time had already reached a fairly large
size and agriculture had made great headway. The earliest discoveries
took place during this period. Shen Nong tried and tasted various
kinds of wild plants to select crops appropriate to be cultivated
for food and herbal medicine to cure disease. The Yellow Emperor
invented the compass, which helped him defeat Chi You. More importantly,
the appearance of chariots greatly reduced labor intensity. Lei
Su, wife of the Yellow Emperor, discovered silk making by raising
silkworms, and produced the first garments, which allowed the
ancient people to bid goodbye to the period when they wore animal
skins and tree leaves. The tribe under Chi You in the south learned
how to make weapons with copper, creating the conditions for making
bronze vessels, metallurgy and alchemy of later times.
During the Xia Dynasty, 4,000 years ago, China entered the period
of slave society. The Shang Dynasty (16-11th centuries BC), which
replaced the Xia, saw the height of bronze culture, when superb
smelting and casting techniques brought forth beautiful wares
made of bronze. Pottery making also developed very rapidly with
the appearance of primitive pottery wares. Sericulture and silk
weaving reached maturity at this time.
From 475 BC to the end of the 19th century, China went through
a long feudal period. Before the 15th century, China was one of
the most powerful countries in the world, occupying a leading
position in the development of productivity and technology. Ancient
China enjoyed a developed agriculture and advanced irrigation
system, an independent tradition of medicine and advanced botanical
knowledge. China's four great inventions, namely, the compass,
gunpowder, movable type printing and papermaking, not only changed
the world but also accelerated the evolution of world history.
Besides, China was rich in ceramics and silk textiles which were
great inventions that exerted a great impact worldwide. China
also kept the world's most detailed and earliest astronomical
records. The first people to take note of such astronomical phenomena
as comets, sunspots and new stars were all Chinese. It was also
the Chinese who produced the most advanced astronomical observatory
apparatus of the time. In metallurgy, China long held a leading
position. When Europeans still could not turn out a single piece
of cast iron in the 14th century, Chinese people had already produced
cast iron on an industrial scale four centuries earlier.
In the field of thought, Confucius, founder of Confucianism,
not only had far-reaching significance for China, but for the
whole of East and Southeast Asia. The warfare strategies introduced
by the noted military strategist Sun Zi are still studied and
referred to today. Taoism was an important school of thought,
and is known for its simple dialectical elements. Its position
of "quietude and inaction" has many identical views
with the thoughts of modern man. Taoism, based on the Taoist doctrines,
is an independent religion established in China.
When commenting on the relationship between China's civilization
and that of the rest of the world, the late Joseph Needham, historian
of China's science and technology and professor at Cambridge University,
once said that people must remember that China was way ahead of
the West in almost every discipline of science and technology,
from chart making to gunpowder, in early times and into the Middle
Ages. Western civilization, he went on to say, did not begin until
the era of Columbus, and China had left the Europeans far behind
in science and technology before that time.
Unfortunately, the country's feudal bureaucratic system held
back science and inventions from making further progress, and
prevented Chinese society from developing modern science, resulting
in China staying long in the experimental stage in science and
technology.
Modern China is experiencing a completely new era in which respect
for science and inventions and encourage creativity have become
the guiding principles of society. Looking back at the contributions
China's civilization has made to the world, we have reason to
believe that a more prosperous and stronger China will surely
make new contributions to the civilization of mankind.
