Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY
21st-16th centuries BC
Xia dynasty
16th-11th centuries BC
Shang dynasty
11th century to 771 BC
Zhou dynasty
770-476BC
Spring and Autumn Period - China fragments into city states and small king-
doms
457-221 BC
Warring States - China's fragmentation continues
221-207 BC
Qin dynasty
206 BC-220 AD
Han dynasty
222-280
Three Kingdoms Period: China is divided into three competing territories, the
Wei, Shu Han and Wu
265-420
Jin dynasty
420-581
Southern dynasties and Northern dynasties - rapid succession of short-lived dyn-
asties
581-618
Sui dynasty - China united for the first time since Han dynasty
618-907
Tang dynasty
907-1125
Liao dynasty
1125-1234
Jin (Jurchen) dynasty
1271-1368
Yuan dynasty
1368-1644
Ming dynasty
1644-1911
Qing dynasty
1911-45
Republic founded, its fall followed by civil war between Nationalists and Com-
munists, and Japanese occupation
1945-49
Further period of civil conflict between Guomindang and the Communist
People's Liberation Army
1949
Communists take power over mainland China; establishment of People's Republic
Beginnings
Peking man
(
Homo erectus pekinensis
) walked the Beijing area from 750,000-250,000 BC,
as evidenced by a number of fossils unearthed in caves between 1921 and 1937 near the vil-
lage of Zhoukoudian, a site around 60km southwest of what is today the city centre.
Homo
sapiens
inhabited the same area at a later date (c.30,000 BC); tools and bone fragments from
this time have also been discovered in Wangfujing, right in the middle of the modern city.
