The history of the area now known as China has alternated between periods of prosperity,
political unity, and peace and periods of war and statehood.
The Yellow River nurtured China's civilization.
Between eras of multiple kingdoms and warlordism,
Chinese dynasties have ruled parts or all of China;
in some eras control stretched as far as Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia, as at present.
The regions were occupied by other people-groups;
often, non-settled peoples of the steppe identified as Mongolic, Turkic and Khitan.
With thousands of years of continuous history,
China is among the world's oldest civilizations and is regarded
as one of the cradles of civilization.
According to ancient historical texts such as the Book of Documents
(early chapters, 11th century BC), the Bamboo Annals (c.296BC)
and the Records of the Grand Historian (c.91BC),
China's first dynasty was the Xia dynasty (2070–1600 BC).
Although there is no writing known from the period,
and Shang writings do not indicate the existence of the Xia,
Neolithic civilizations originated at various cultural centers along
both the Yellow River and Yangtze River,
and these Yellow River and Yangtze civilizations arose millennia before
the Xia and Shang. Among these Chinese civilizations, the Erlitou culture,
distributed in the central plains of China, is contemporaneous with the Xia Dynasty.
The earliest known written records of history in China date from as early as 1250 BC,
from the Shang dynasty (c.1600–1046 BC) during the reign of king Wu Ding.
The oracle bone script appearing in the Shang Dynasty recorded various events of the Shang Dynasty.
The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley,
which is commonly held to be the cradle of Chinese civilization.
The Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) supplanted the Shang and
introduced the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule.
The central Zhou government began to weaken due to external
and internal pressures in the 8th century BC,
and the country eventually splintered into smaller states during the Spring and Autumn period.
These states became independent and fought with one another in the following Warring States period.
Much of traditional Chinese culture, literature and
philosophy first developed during those troubled times.
It was during this period that rival kingdoms developed bureaucratic systems
that enabled them to control vast territories directly,
laying the foundation for the imperial system of government.
In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang conquered the various warring states
and created for himself the title of Huangdi or 'emperor' of the Qin,
marking the beginning of imperial China. However,
the oppressive government fell soon after his death,
and was supplanted by the longer-lived Han dynasty (206 BC –220AD).
During the Three Kingdoms, the Jin and the Southern and Northern Dynasties,
China was in a split state. During the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties,
the economy flourished, science and technology developed, and cultural influence was extensive.
During the Zhou Dynasty, the international status reached its peak.
During the Liao, Song, Western Xia, Jin and Yuan Dynasty, multicultural integration,
economic and technological development reached a new height.
In the end of Ming Dynasty,The sprout of capitalism was born
in the south of the Yangtze River in China.
China's last dynasty was the Qing (1636–1912），
which was replaced by the Republic of China in 1912,
and then in the mainland by the People's Republic of China in 1949.
The Republic of China retreated to the island of Taiwan in 1949.
Both the PRC and the ROC currently claim to be the sole legitimate government of China,
resulting in an ongoing dispute even after the United Nations recognized the PRC as the government
to represent China at all UN conferences in 1971.
Hong Kong and Macau transferred sovereignty to China in 1997 and 1999
from the United Kingdom and Portugal respectively,
becoming special administrative regions (SARs) of the PRC.