Photography, rowing and the pursuit of data.....and Renee  

China is a huge basin bounded by mountains to the West and South, subject to invasion from North. A single Han culture centered on combinations  Confucianism and Buddism. Mostly feudal governance with periods of scholarship disrupted by violent civil wars and invasions by Monguls from central Asia. No tradition of democratic governance.

 

Shang Dynasty 1600 - 1122BC  valley,   Zhengzhou Shang City. of the Yellow River  First bronze castings.

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Zhou Dynasty 1122-221BC  Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism started.  Confucianism integrates philosophy, ethics, and social governance, with a core focus on virtue, social harmony, and familial responsibility.

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Qin Dynasty 221-206BC built both the Terracotta Army in Xian and parts of the Great Wall of China.

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Han Dynasty 206BC-581AD  shared power with both the nobility and scholars. Papermaking, the nautical steering ship rudder, the use of negative numbers in mathematics, the raised-relief map, the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere for astronomy, and a seismometer . Buddism arrives over the Silk Road. 

 

Wei Dynasty 493-1127 AD. Longmen Grottoes, Buddist cliff temples

Sui Dynasty 581-641AD Reunified north and south, construction of the Grand Canal 1776km long parts are still visible in Beijing.

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Tang Dynasty 618-907AD capital Xian. Buddhism, spread its culture across much of Asia. Woodblock printing   Commercial books began to be printed around 762 A.D.  The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an).   Between 755-763 CE, civil wars with 36 million people dead.  Industrial scale export business in ceramics for the East Asia Islamic market, as shown in the Belitung wreck.  

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Followed by the Five Dynasty Ten Kingdoms 907-960AD  with Infighting and upheaval.

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Song Dynasty 960-1274AD  Economic and cultural Renaissance.   GNP 3x Europe. Reinvigorated Confucianism with Buddhist ideals. Su Song   was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman.  centered on Kaifeng on the Yellow River.

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Yuan Dynasty 1279-1336AD  was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China. The Mongul empire  (1206–1368) extended all the way to todays central Turkey. 

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Ming Dynasty 1368-1677AD. ruled by the Han people, the majority ethnic group in China. Established capital in Yan renamed it Beijing, constructed the Forbidden City, and restored the Grand Canal, converted the Great Wall to stone.

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Quing Dynasty 1644-1911AD Manchu-led (Mongolian) dynasty.  The West imposed various trading empire hubs such as Hong Kong.

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Republic of China 1912 led by Sunya tsen was still dominated by foreign forces.  Communist party formed 1921. By 1928 Chiang becomes head of state, but by 1931 civil war with the communists had started  after the long march from   Jiangxi. In 1937 war with Japan preceded WW2.  

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After WW2, in 1949, civil Imperial China fled to  Taiwan, and Mao doctrinaire communists take over mainland China. After Mao, China evolved a centrally managed free market economy that has transformed the country into a first world industrial powerhouse.