Ancient China By Michael Holmes Period: 1776 BCE to 9 Ancient China 1600 BCE king jie of the xia dynasty dies ending the dynast Period: 1600 BCE to 1100 BCE Shang Dynasty 1324 BCE reign of emperor wu ding of the shang dynast 1100 BCE Zhou Dynasty begins in china 544 BCE sun tzu,the author of the art of war is born 476 BCE warring states period 341 BCE the crossbow is used for the first time in battle 256 BCE Reign of Lui Bang 221 BCE Qin Dynasty 210 BCE the terracotta army is buried 202 BCE Han Dynasty 141 BCE Reign of Wudi 105 BCE invention of paper 45 BCE reign of emperor wang mang 551 life of confucius