History of The Chinese Empire

Ancient histories
Archaeological sites such as Sanxingdui and Erlitou show evidence of a Bronze Age civilization in China. The earliest written record of China's past dates from the Shang Dynasty in perhaps the 13th century BC, and takes the form of inscriptions of divination records on the bones or shells of animals—the so-called oracle bones. However the earliest comprehensive history of China, the Historical Records by Sima Qian, a renowned Chinese historiographer of the 2nd century BC, begins perhaps 1300 years earlier, with an account of the Five Emperors. These rulers were semi-mythical sage-kings and moral exemplars, and one of them, the Yellow Emperor, is said to be the ancestor of all Chinese people.

The Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty emerged in 202 BC. It was the first dynasty to embrace the philosophy of Confucianism, which became the ideological underpinning of all regimes until the end of imperial China. Under the Han Dynasty, China made great advances in many areas of the arts and sciences. Emperor Wu (Han Wudi) consolidated and extended the Chinese empire by pushing back the Xiongnu (sometimes identified with the Huns) into the steppes of modern Inner Mongolia, wresting from them the modern areas of Gansu , Ningxia and Qinghai. This enabled the first opening of trading connections between China and the West, the Silk Road .

The Ming Dynasty
There was strong sentiment, among the populace, against the rule of the "foreigner" (known as Dazi), which finally led to peasant revolts. The Mongolians were pushed back to the steppes and replaced by the Ming Dynasty () in 1368.

During Mongol rule, the population had dropped by 40 percent, to an estimated 60 million. Two centuries later, it had doubled. Urbanization thus increased as the population grew and as the division of labor grew more complex. Large urban centers, such as Nanjing and Beijing, also contributed to the growth of private industry. In particular, small-scale industries grew up, often specializing in paper, silk, cotton, and porcelain goods. For the most part, however, relatively small urban centers with markets proliferated around the country. Town markets mainly traded food, with some necessary manufactures such as pins or oil.

Notable Discoveries

Sanxingdui
Sanxingdui is an archaeological site, about 40 kilometres from Chengdu in Sichuan Province, China. The relics found at Sanxingdui astonished archaeologists, since they were in an artistic style that was completely dissimilar from Chinese art at the time.

Sanxingdui was a Bronze Age culture, demonstrating advanced bronze smelting technique from about 1,200 years BC. The kingdom appears to have lasted for around 1,000 years, disappearing suddenly. Sanxingdui was a cultural contemporary of the Shang Dynasty, yet developed a different method of bronze-making; surprisingly, the culture was never directly recorded by Chinese historians.

Banpo
Banpo is the site of a Neolithic village located near Xi'an, China. Banpo is the most famous archaeological site associated with the Yangshao culture. Archaeological sites with similarities to the first phase at Banpo are considered to be part of the Banpo phase (5000 BC to 4000 BC) of the Yangshao culture.

Banpo village is now open to tourists. The museums contain ancient artifacts, including pottery and hunting tools.