China, one of the world's most ancient civilizations, has a
recorded history of nearly 4,000 years. "Yuanmou Man," a fossil
anthropoid unearthed in Yuanmou in Yunnan Province, who lived about
1.7 million years ago, is China's earliest primitive human
discovered to date. "Peking Man," who lived in the Zhoukoudian area
near Beijing 600,000 years ago, was able to walk upright, make and
use simple tools, and knew how to make fire. The Neolithic Age
started in China about 10,000 years ago, and relics from this
period can be found all over the country. Cultivated rice and
millet as well as farming tools have been found in the remains of
Hemudu in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, and Banpo, near Xi'an City,
Shaanxi Province, respectively. These relics date back some
6,000-7,000 years.
The most ancient dynasty, the Xia Dynasty started in 2070 BC The
center of Xia was the western part of modern Henan Province and the
southern part of modern Shanxi Province, with a sphere of influence
that reached? the northern and southern areas of the Yellow
River. It was in this period that slave society appeared and the
next two dynasties, Shang (1600-1046 BC) and Western Zhou (1046-771
BC), saw it develop further. This era was followed by the Spring
and Autumn (770-476 BC) and Warring States (475-221 BC) periods,
characterized by the decline in power of the ruling house and power
struggles between regional powers, marking the transition from
slave to feudal society.?
Chinese mastered the technology of smelting bronze approximately
5,000 years ago and iron tools came into use during the Shang
Dynasty, 3,000 years ago. White and color-glazed ceramics were
produced. Silk production was considerably developed and the
world's first jacquard silk weaving technology appeared. During the
Spring and Autumn Period steel production technologies came on the
scene. During the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods,
there was a great upsurge of intellectual activity, producing many
famous philosophers, such as Lao Zi, Confucius, Mencius and Mo Zi,
and the well-known military scientist Sun Wu, author of the Art of
War.?
