China is one of the world’s four ancient civilizations; here we give a concise overview of more than 5000 years of Chinese history, including the Great Wall and the four great inventions of ancient China. Do you know what they are?

The written history of China can be said to date back to the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC), over 3,000 years ago. The first dynasty was founded in the 21st century B.C., and China was first unified in 221 B.C. by Qin Shihuang – Owner of The Terracotta Army.

First Dynasties

The founding of China’s first dynasty, Xia Dynasty in the 21st century B.C. marked a change from a primitive society to a slave society. Slave society developed further during the Shang (16th-11th century B.C.) and the Western Zhou (11th century-770 B.C.) Dynasties.

This era was followed by the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (475-221 B.C.), and the transition from the slave society to feudal society.