The Way It All Began...

The history of China goes quite a ways back....back to around 3,000 B.C. when some of the first signs of civilization was spotted. That's almost 5,000 years ago! Wow! About a 1,000 years later, a complex picture writing system was developed, using forms we know of as ideograms, pictograms, and phonograms. The writing was inscribed on oracle bones, which were used to keep records and tell fortunes.

In 1766 B.C., China's first documented dynasty began. It become known as the Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 B.C.). The Shang people were identified for their use of horse-drawn chariots and their greatly organized armies. After the Shang Dynasty came the Chou Dynasty (1122-221 B.C.). During this era, an empire was united and use of iron was discovered. After more than 900 years, the Chou Dynasty collapsed and the Ch'in Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) arose. Although this dynasty did not last long, it left two lasting traditions; the name China and the structure of the empire.

The Earlier, or sometimes called Western, Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-A.D. 9) followed the Ch'in Empire. The early Han emperors encouraged talented young men to join the government as well as study and restore the classics. Soon, due to the support of the emperors, the number of scholars increased from 50 to 30,000! But tragedy struck when Wang Mang, the nephew of Han Empress Lo, seized the empire and created a new dynasty called the Hsin (A.D. 9-23). The new kingdom didn't quite please all the people though, so it was not long before rebellion ascended and brought the dynasty to an end.

The next ruler descended from the Han family, so yet another Han Dynasty (A.D. 23-220) began. Although the emperor tried, he could not restore China's splendid days of the early Hans, but he did succeed in gaining back lost territory. The later Han Dynasty, however, encountered many rebellions, and after almost 200 years it came to an end.

After the fall, the empire was divided in to 3 different dynasties (A.D. 220-581). They were the Wei, Shu Han, and Wu. It was not until almost four centuries later when finally a general, from the Northwest, united the separate dynasties. The general became Emperor Wen Ti, and started the Sui Dynasty (A.D. 581-618). The Sui empire lasted less than half a century though, and a new dynasty came to be. Thus started the T'ang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907). During this dynasty, China reached its greatest expansion ever, and many other outstanding reforms were made. But as you could probably guess, the T'ang Dynasty, like all the others before it, collapsed after 289 years of ruling China, and another Dynasty arose, and yet another after that.......