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-493 AD  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. Han culture, a mic of Confucianism and Buddhism, became the defining majority culture in China

 

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.  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 Han 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 by Ghengis Kahn, imperial dynasty of China that dominated the Han culture. 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 based on autocracy rather than Confucius, the majority ethnic group in China. First capital in Nanjing, then established capital in Yan renamed it Beijing, constructed the Forbidden City, and restored the Grand Canal, converted the Great Wall to stone. Over time feudal market economy grew. 

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​Quing Dynasty 1644-1911AD Manchu-led (Manchurian) dynasty, again dominated the Han culture at a critical time as the Industrial revolution transformed the West. Manchus, were a sedentary farming people  in the North East of China bordering on Korea.    The British cultivates opium to sell to China in exchange for tea. By 1830, opium addiction had become a scourge and British set up 5 trading ports. In 1850 - 1871 Taiping revolution started in the south based on Christianity, crushed by Quing aided by Brits.  Japan attacked and colonials moved in. Around 1900, Boxer (N Chinese martial arts)  rebellion eventually ended by foreign powers.

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Wars and revolts against feudal poverty consumed the 20th century. Republic of China 1912 led by Sunya tsen was still dominated by foreign forces. Japan supported Allies in WW1 and were given German colonies at Versailles. 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.  ​​ After WW2, in 1949, civil Imperial China fled to  Taiwan, and Mao doctrinaire communists take over mainland China. After Mao, China started to  evolve a centrally managed market economy.

 

First world economic revival has dominated in the 21st century. The country has been transformed into an autocratic market economy.