Ancient Times (from antiquity to 1840 A.D.)

500,000-1,000,000 years ago, there were primitive human beings such as Yuanmou Man, Lantian Man and Peking Man in the wide expanse known today as China. After the long period of primitive existence, the Xia Dynasty, the first dynasty in Chinese history, was established in the 21st century B.C., heralding the beginning of a slave society in China. The following Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties saw further development of the slave society. Then came the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods which served as the transition from slave to feudal society.

In 221 B.C., Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, ended the rivalry among the independent principalities in the Warring States Period and established the first centralized, unified, multi -national state in Chinese history-the Qin Dynasty. Subsequently, one dynasty replaced another. They included the Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasty, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing.

Dynasty Year

Xia..............................................21st - 16th century B.C.
Shang............................................17th - 1st century B.C.
Western Zhou......................... .... 11th century - 771 B.C.
Eastern Zhou............................................770 - 256 B.C.
Spring and Autumn Period............... .......770 - 476 B.C.
Warring State Period.................. ..............475 - 221 B.C.
Qin........................................ .............221 - 206 B.C.
Western Han................................. ....206 B.C. - A.D. 24
Eastern Han..............................................25 - A.D. 220
Three Kingdoms (Wei, Shu, Wu)............. .........220 - 280
Western Jin..............................................265 - 316