ROAD TO 2012

• migration of Homo Erectus from East Africa to Shanxii. 
• artifacts along Yellow River and Dragon Bone Hill
• Peking Man is discovered on December 29, 1929.

See more on laser scanning of the Zhoukoudian Ape Man Cave.

• homo sapiens replace paleolithic homonid species who have by now become extinct 
• The holocene period has begun and the neolithic revolution brings on innovative tools, food production methods

• Rice cultivation and other agricultural advancements is giving rise to bigger clans and the population is expanding quickly 

• In the north of China the Yang Shao Culture is developing faster than the rest China and several clans of less than a hundred members each.
• Farming is common as well as the making of pottery  

• Black ceramics was the custom for the Longshan people who were building villages.
• Wide domestication of animals is seen at this time 

• an early Dynasty develops called the XIA Dynasty.
• little information could classify the existance of this dynasty until the 1960's 1970's when archeological evidence was found to support and separate the existance of such a culture
• before these excavations the XIA dynasty and Chieh the decadent emporer was thought to exist only in mythology
• the artifacts pointed to a culture exiting the neolithic stoneage and entering the metal bronze age 

• bronze working is well understood by the newly created Shang Dynasty
• Anyang ( modern Henan ) is the capital city state of the Shang (YIN) Dynasty
• These Chinese people become the super power along the Yellow River because the have superior knowledge of militarization, urbanization methods ruled by institutional minded emperors who rule as king overlords perceived as being divinely elected.

• writing scripts are developed and controlled by authoritarian rule in a bureaucratic way which allows for greater state control and highly centralized governments
• a 60 year cycle lunar calendar is developed
• trade with exterior nations is developing 

• Zhou or Chou Dynasty overthrows Shang Dynasty
• the Zhou culture had developed along the Wei Valley where todays modern day Shanxii Province exists.
• in 770 BC the demise of the Zhou dynasty began when several rival kingdoms arose

• Lao Tsi is several years older than Kung Tzu.
• Both are philosophers
• Lao Tsi goes on to develop a method of living and worshiping that later becomes known as Taoism. Lao Tsi is the Old Master
• The Master is Kung Fu Tzu who develops the philosophy known as Confusionism
• Lao Tsi doesn't like what is going on in the interior of China and takes is philosophy to India
• China takes on the philosophy of Confucius 

• kingdom of QIN  or Qin Dynasty
• led by Qin Shi Huang
• the Terra Cotta Warriors discovered in 1974 ( 7000 of them ) tell the story of a people who were defended by military soldiers willing to fight for the first true emperor of China with lances, swords,  spears, dagger-axes, hooks, crossbows, and more.
• Yin Sheng is born in 259 BC and becomes Qin Shi Huang or Qin First Emperor after fighting to unite the multiple kingdoms that had risen in revolt against the Zhou Dynastic leader. 
• Qin Shi Huang was the son of the King of Qin
• Some of the other kingdoms included
  • Han
  • Wai
  • Chu
  • Zhao
  • Yan
  • Qi 
• The Great wall of China Project to protect the interior of China from Mongols and others begins to be built.

The Silk Road was named after the lucrative silk trades that were part of an import and export business between civilizations

• paper making makes it's beginning during the Han Dynasty and the invention of paper making is often credited to Cai Lun who used fishnet, bark, and cloth to make a paper that replaced the old method of writing on bamboo, wood, or on structures and pottery. 

• the SUI dynasty is the forerunner of the T'ang Dynasty
• the SUI dynasty saw that reunification of Northern and Southern China
• during this period the Grand Canal was constructed
• Governments were recentralized
• Coinage was standardized
• beginning of widespread use of silver and gold coins and the development of credit
• Urban centers move from government centers to commercial centers and cultural centers 

• the T'ang Dynasty was founded by the Li family
• briefly challenged by a reunified Zhou dynasty movement ( 690 - 705 )
• capital city of Tang Dynasty was Chang'an ( Xian today )
• considered a period of progress and stability
• woodblock printing was invented and was an innovation far ahead of it's time
• hydraulics were used to power air conditioning fans
• Buddhism became a normal religious and philosophical way of life for many
• because of the country stability governments were allowed to decentralize
• continued development of credit and commercial cities
• Sui and T'ang dynasties see a move from Confucionism to widespread Taoism and Buddhism 
• Ottoman Muslims begin to follow the Allah dictates and swear the Christian European as enemy. They use the silk road as a merchant wall to interrupt trade between Europe and China

• a period of 5 dynasties and 10 kingdoms begins
• the stability seen in the Tang Dynasty years is gone
• in 1044 gunpowder is invented far ahead of any other civilizations by Ching Tsao Yao with a combination of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulphur
• this gun powder was not used to discharge fire arms just yet

• from 907 to 960 northern China had five
  • posterior Liang
  • posterior Tang
  • posterior Jinn
  • posterior Han
  • posterior Zhou
• from 907 to 979 ten kingdoms arose. Nine in southern China and one in the North

• the Sung dynasty rises from it's capital city of Kaifeng on the Yellow River
• in 1127 Sung loses the northern part of China to Chin dynasty
• in 1279 the rest of the Sung dynasty loses it's power 
• Revival of Confucionism

• Genghis Khan was Timuchin and by the time his grandson Kublai Khan came to power as the Mongol military emperor, Genguis Khan had prepared the armies by unifying the nomadic Mongols who would go on to break through the once inpenatrable Great Wall of China.
• Once inside the interior of China the relatively small but better prepared Mongols took China over.
• Timuchin died in 1227
• Kublai Khan continued the Mongol conquest and called the reform the Yuan dynasty an move the central intelligence to the capital of Cambaluc ( Beijing today )
• The Yuan dynasty was dissolved in 1368 

• the Ming dynasty was formed by the peasant leader who took on the Yuan dynasty
• the end of the Mongol empire came to an end in China due partly to natural causes where the Yellow River flooded and changed direction which caused havoc on the farming land and led to mass starvation 
• 15th century - Maritime exploration to find a sea route to Asia is under way
• 1516 Portuguese European establish merchant trading posts at Macao