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Χρονικόν
EL · Ελληνικά

Chronicle I of X

Ancient China: Xia, Shang & Zhou

中國 · Zhongguo

Oracle bones and bronze kings, Confucius and the Warring States: China before the empire.

Span
to 221 BC
Entries
10
The Houmuwu ding, the largest surviving ancient Chinese ritual bronze
Frontispiece · The Houmuwu ding, the largest surviving ancient Chinese ritual bronzeVia Wikimedia Commons
  1. 5000 BC

    Neolithic ChinaCultural

    The Yangshao and the millet villages

    Along the Yellow River, Neolithic farmers of the Yangshao culture raise millet, keep pigs, and paint bold red-and-black pottery.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 1
  2. 2070 BC

    The Xia DynastyPolitical

    Yu the Great and the first dynasty

    Tradition holds that Yu the Great tamed the floods and founded the Xia, China's first hereditary dynasty.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
  3. 1600 BC

    The Shang DynastyCultural

    The Shang and the bronze kings

    The Shang dynasty rules the Yellow River plain, casting magnificent ritual bronzes and building the first great Chinese cities.

    The Houmuwu ding, the largest surviving ancient Chinese ritual bronze
    The Houmuwu ding, the largest surviving ancient Chinese ritual bronze · Via Wikimedia Commons
    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
  4. 1250 BC

    The Shang DynastyCultural

    Oracle bones and the birth of writing

    Shang diviners scratch questions to the ancestors onto ox bones and turtle shells — the earliest known Chinese writing.

    A Shang oracle bone inscribed for divination, the earliest Chinese writing
    A Shang oracle bone inscribed for divination, the earliest Chinese writing · Via Wikimedia Commons
    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
  5. 1046 BC

    The Western ZhouPolitical

    The Zhou conquest and the Mandate of Heaven

    King Wu of Zhou overthrows the last Shang king and proclaims that Heaven has withdrawn its mandate from a corrupt house.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
  6. 771 BC

    The Eastern ZhouPolitical

    The fall of the west and the Eastern Zhou

    Nomad raiders sack the Zhou capital; the court flees east to Luoyang, and royal power fades before the great vassal states.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
  7. 551 BC

    Spring and AutumnCultural

    Confucius and the age of the philosophers

    Confucius is born into a fractured age and teaches a moral order of virtue, ritual, and benevolent government.

    Confucius, whose teachings shaped Chinese civilization, in a Tang-era depiction
    Confucius, whose teachings shaped Chinese civilization, in a Tang-era depiction · Via Wikimedia Commons
    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
  8. 500 BC

    Spring and AutumnCultural

    Laozi, Sun Tzu, and the hundred schools

    Daoism, Legalism, Mohism and the art of war flourish as thinkers offer rival cures for a warring world.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3

  9. 2 more entries, to 221 BC