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Period: 2500 BCE to
Ancient China
a timeline about Ancient China -
1600 BCE
Shang China
The Shang state was a bronze Age civilization which emerged around 1600 BCE in the plain of north China -
1200 BCE
Oracle Bones
Shang Kings communicated with their ancestors through sacrificial rituals using bones and through divination. The shells and bones would crack and the cracks were interpreted are the ancestors' answers to questions posed by the Shang Kings -
1200 BCE
Lady Hao
who lived around 1200 BCE, was wife of Shang king Wu Ding. Very unusually, she was also a military leader. Most of the information we have about Fu Hao comes from oracle bone inscriptions. -
1000 BCE
First Kings of Zhou
was a state based in the Wei River valley in Northwest China, near today's city of Xi'an. In early texts, three great Zhou rulers are said to have made the Zhou -
800 BCE
Laozi and Daoism
is a legendary figure, who is thought of as the founder of Daoism. Laozi is usually thought to have lived in the sixth century BCE, in the Spring & Autumn period -
400 BCE
Liu Bang, First Emperor of Han
was a man from an ordinary background who founded the Han dynasty. -
200 BCE
Han Confucian Rule
emperors needed to secure order in China, but avoid the harshness of the Qin regime that preceded it -
200
Zhang Qian and the Silk Road
n the third century BCE, a great confederation of nomadic tribes persistently raided China. -
210
Invention of Paper
documents were normally written on bone or bamboo strips, sewn and rolled together into scrolls. -
400
Battle of Gaixia
When the First Emperor of Qin, Qin Shihuangdi died in 210 BCE, Qin institutions fell apart.
