China

China — page 3 — 2 Please retirees

China — page 4 — China INTRODUCTION hina is among the oldest existing civilizations in the world Nomadic peoples wandered through much of what is now China more than 12 000 years ago By around 7000 B C many of those peoples had begun to settle along China s rivers including the Yellow River in the north and the Yangtze in the south There they began to farm and raise animals Over time farming settlements joined together to form states Eventually some states became stronger than others They conquered their neighbors and estab lished dynasties that ruled over China The early his tory of China can be divided into five main dynasties the Xia SHAH ruled from about 2070 to 1600 B C the Shang from around 1600 to 1046 B C the Zhou The longest river in Asia the Yangtze has influenced Chinese history from its

China — page 5 — O from 1046 to 221 cial order Under the B C the Qin CHIN Shang and early Zhou from 221 to 206 B C China was set up as and the Han from 206 a feudal society The B C to AD 220 king gave control over The land that con various states to mem stituted China varied bers of the royal fami from dynasty to dynas ly In return the rulers ty reaching its farthest of the states remained extent under the Han loyal to the king There CHINA CIRCA A D 220 The Chinese consid was little opportunity ered their land to be the center of the world and to climb the social ladder since it was only by called it Zhongguo or the Middle Kingdom birth into the royal family that a person obtained Anyone outside China's borders was considered a government position By the end of the Zhou a barbarian Natural barriers including the dynasty however social mobility had become a Himalayas to the west vast empty plains to the reality Government officials now received their north and ocean to the south and east kept position on the basis of merit rather than birth China separate from outsiders Although China Peasant farmers who once worked for feudal was made up of many different cultural groups lords had the opportunity to purchase their own and eventually stretched more than 1 000 miles land and merchants often amassed riches equal 1 610 km from to south and from east to those of rulers In some cases members of the north to west its peoples were united by similar lan lower classes became educated and were able to guages and cultures reach the top offices in the country including As China's dynasties changed so did its so that of emperor Sections the Great Wall St intact today at reminders of China s long dynastich

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