Editing History of China (section)

==Prehistory==
{{main|Prehistory of China}}
===Paleolithic (1.7 Ma – 12 ka)===
{{see also|List of Paleolithic sites in China}}
{{Multiple image
| align =right
| perrow = 2/2/2
| total_width = 300
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| title = Paleolithic
| image1 = Skull pekingman.jpg 
| caption1 = Traditional reconstruction of the Peking Man skull
| image2 = Teeth of Yuanmou Man (Cast) - cropped.png
| caption2 = Casts of the teeth of Yuanmou Man
| image3 = Dali Man Skull, Replica.jpg
| caption3 = Restoration of the skull [[Shaanxi History Museum]]
| image4 = Longlin 1.jpg
| caption4 = LL-1 partials skull
}}

The [[archaic human]] species of ''[[Homo erectus]]'' arrived in [[Eurasia]] sometime between 1.3 and 1.8 [[million years ago]] (Ma) and numerous remains of its subspecies have been found in what is now China.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|p=737}} The oldest of these is the southwestern [[Yuanmou Man]] ({{lang|zh-hans|元谋人}}; in [[Yunnan]]), dated to {{c.}} 1.7 Ma, which lived in a mixed [[bushland]]-forest environment alongside [[chalicothere]]s, [[deer]], the elephant ''[[Stegodon]]'', [[rhino]]s, cattle, pigs, and the [[giant short-faced hyena]].{{sfn|Zhu|Potts|Pan|Yao|2008|pp=1077, 1084–1085}} The better-known [[Peking Man]] ({{lang|zh-hans|北京猿人}}; near Beijing) of 700,000–400,000 [[Before Present|BP]],{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|p=737}} was discovered in the [[Zhoukoudian]] cave alongside [[scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]], [[chopper (archaeology)|choppers]], and, dated slightly later, points, [[burin (lithic flake)|burins]], and awls.{{sfn|Wu|Lin|1983|p=92}} Other ''Homo erectus'' fossils have been found widely throughout the region, including the northwestern [[Lantian Man]] in [[Shaanxi]], as well minor specimens in northeastern [[Liaoning]] and southern [[Guangdong]].{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|p=737}} The dates of most [[List of Paleolithic sites in China|Paleolithic sites]] were long debated but have been more reliably established based on modern [[magnetostratigraphy]]: Majuangou at 1.66–1.55 Ma, Lanpo at 1.6 Ma, [[Xiaochangliang]] at 1.36 Ma, Xiantai at 1.36 Ma, [[Banshan]] at 1.32 Ma, Feiliang at 1.2 Ma and Donggutuo at 1.1 Ma.{{sfn|Ao|Dekkers|Wei|Qiang|2013|p=1}} Evidence of fire use by ''Homo erectus'' occurred between 1–1.8&nbsp;million years BP at the archaeological site of [[Xihoudu]], Shanxi Province.{{sfn|James|Dennell|Gilbert|Lewis|1989|p=2}}

The circumstances surrounding the [[Human evolution|evolution]] of ''Homo erectus'' to contemporary ''[[H. sapiens]]'' is debated; the three main theories include the dominant [[Recent African origin of modern humans|"Out of Africa" theory]] (OOA), the [[regional continuity model]] and the admixture variant of the OOA hypothesis.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|p=737}} Regardless, the earliest modern humans have been dated to China at 120,000–80,000 BP based on fossilized teeth discovered in [[Fuyan Cave]] of [[Dao County]], Hunan.{{sfn|Liu|Martinón-Torres|Cai|Xing|2015|p=696}} The larger animals which lived alongside these humans include the extinct ''[[Ailuropoda baconi]]'' panda, the ''[[Crocuta|Crocuta ultima]]'' hyena, the ''Stegodon'', and the [[giant tapir]].{{sfn|Liu|Martinón-Torres|Cai|Xing|2015|p=696}} Evidence of [[Middle Palaeolithic]] [[Levallois technique|Levallois]] technology has been found in the lithic assemblage of [[Guanyindong]] Cave site in southwest China, dated to approximately 170,000–80,000 years ago.{{sfn|Hu|Marwick|Zhang|Rui|2018|p=82}}

===Neolithic===
{{See also|List of Neolithic cultures of China}}
{{Further|Yellow River civilization|Yangtze civilization|Liao civilization}}
{{Multiple image
| align =right
| perrow = 2/2/2
| total_width = 300
| caption_align = center
| title = Neolithic
| image1 = National Museum of China 2014.02.01 14-43-38.jpg
| caption1 = 10,000-year-old pottery, [[Xianren Cave]] culture (18,000–7000 BC)
| image2 = Bone Arrowheads, Jiahu site.jpg
| caption2 = Bone Arrowheads, [[Peiligang culture]] (7000–5000 BC)
| image3 = Butterfly-shaped ivory vessel with the pattern of two birds facing the sun(Neolithic) in Zhejiang Museum.JPG
| caption3 = Butterfly-shaped ivory vessel with the pattern of two birds facing the sun, [[Hemudu culture]] (5500–3300 BC)
| image4 = Hemudu Site Museum, 2017-08-12 36.jpg
| caption4 = Pottery artifacts from Hemudu culture (5500–3300 BC)
}}

The [[Neolithic Age]] in China is considered to have begun about 10,000 years ago.<ref name="neolithic period in china">{{cite web|title=Neolithic Period in China|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cneo/hd_cneo.htm|work=Timeline of Art History|publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]| date= October 2004|access-date=10 February 2008}}</ref> Because the Neolithic is conventionally defined by the presence of agriculture, it follows that the Neolithic began at different times in the various regions of what is now China. Agriculture in China developed gradually, with initial domestication of a few grains and animals gradually expanding with the addition of many others over subsequent millennia.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Lander|first=Brian|title=The King's Harvest: A Political Ecology of China from the First Farmers to the First Empire|date=2021|publisher=Yale University Press|language=en}}</ref> The earliest evidence of cultivated rice, found by the Yangtze River, was carbon-dated to 8,000 years ago.<ref name="Pringle"/> Early evidence for [[millet]] agriculture in the Yellow River valley was [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon-dated]] to about 7000 BC.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rice and Early Agriculture in China|url=http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/legacy/banpo/banpo.html|work=Legacy of Human Civilizations|publisher=Mesa Community College|access-date=10 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827184517/http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/legacy/banpo/banpo.html|archive-date=27 August 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Jiahu]] site is one of the best preserved early agricultural villages (7000 to 5800 BC). At [[Damaidi]] in Ningxia, 3,172 [[Neolithic signs in China|cliff carvings]] dating to 6000–5000 BC have been discovered, "featuring 8,453 individual characters such as the sun, moon, stars, gods and scenes of hunting or grazing", according to researcher Li Xiangshi. Written symbols, sometimes called [[proto-writing]], were found at the site of Jiahu, which is dated around 7000 BC,<ref name= "earliest writing">{{cite news |title='Earliest writing' found in China |first=Paul |last=Rincon |date=17 April 2003 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2956925.stm |work=BBC News }}</ref> Damaidi around 6000 BC, [[Dadiwan culture|Dadiwan]] from 5800 BC to 5400 BC,<ref>[[Qiu Xigui]] (2000). ''Chinese Writing''. English translation of 文字學概論 by Gilbert L. Mattos and [[Jerry Norman (sinologist)|Jerry Norman]]. ''Early China Special Monograph Series No. 4.'' Berkeley: The Society for the Study of Early China and the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. {{ISBN|978-1-55729-071-7}}</ref> and [[Banpo]] dating from the 5th millennium BC. With agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and redistribute crops, and the potential to support specialist craftsmen and administrators, which may have existed at late Neolithic sites like [[Taosi]] and the [[Liangzhu culture]] in the Yangtze delta.<ref name="Pringle">{{cite journal|last=Pringle |first=Heather |title=The Slow Birth of Agriculture |url=http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/images/neolithic_agriculture.htm |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |year=1998 |volume=282 |issue=5393 |page=1446 |doi=10.1126/science.282.5393.1446 |s2cid=128522781 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101201656/http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/images/neolithic_agriculture.htm |archive-date=1 January 2011   |issn=0036-8075 }}</ref> The cultures of the middle and late Neolithic in the central Yellow River valley are known, respectively, as the [[Yangshao culture]] (5000 BC to 3000 BC) and the [[Longshan culture]] (3000 BC to 2000 BC). Pigs and dogs were the earliest-domesticated animals in the region, and after about 3000 BC domesticated cattle and sheep arrived from Western Asia. Wheat also arrived at this time but remained a minor crop. Fruit such as [[peaches]], [[cherries]] and [[Orange (fruit)|oranges]], as well as chickens and various vegetables, were also domesticated in Neolithic China.<ref name=":0"/>

===Bronze Age===
{{see also|List of Bronze Age sites in China}}
[[File:Huang_Di.png|thumb|Map of tribes and tribal unions in Ancient China, including the tribes led by the [[Yellow Emperor]], [[Emperor Yan]] and [[Chiyou]].]]
Bronze artifacts have been found at the [[Majiayao culture]] site (between 3100 and 2700&nbsp;BC).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/landscapessociet00mart |title=Landscapes and Societies: Selected Cases |publisher=Springer |year=2010 |isbn=978-90-481-9412-4 |page=310 |url-access=registration | chapter=Holocene Environmental Changes and the Evolution of the Neolithic Cultures in China |last1=Mo |first1=Duowen |last2=Zhao |first2=Zhijun |last3=Xu |first3=Junjie |last4=Li |first4=Minglin |doi=10.1007/978-90-481-9413-1_19 |editor-first=I. Peter |editor-last=Martini |editor-first2=Ward |editor-last2=Chesworth}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Higham |first=Charles |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations |publisher=Infobase  |year=2004 |isbn=0-8160-4640-9 |page=200 |author-link=Charles Higham (archaeologist)}}</ref> The Bronze Age is also represented at the [[Lower Xiajiadian culture]] (2200–1600&nbsp;BC)<ref>{{Cite book |title=Leadership Strategies, Economic Activity, and Interregional Interaction: Social Complexity in Northeast China|author-link=Gideon Shelach-Lavi| last=Shelach |first=Gideon |page=89 | doi= 10.1007/0-306-47164-7_5 |isbn=978-0-306-47164-3 | publisher=Springer | year=2002}}</ref> site in northeast China. [[Sanxingdui]] located in what is now [[Sichuan]] is believed to be the site of a major ancient city, of a previously unknown Bronze Age culture (between 2000 and 1200&nbsp;BC). The site was first discovered in 1929 and then re-discovered in 1986. Chinese archaeologists have identified the Sanxingdui culture to be part of the [[state of Shu]], linking the artifacts found at the site to its early legendary kings.{{sfn|Bagley|1999|p=135}}<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Rawson |first=Jessica |title=New discoveries from the early dynasties |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/new-discoveries-from-the-early-dynasties/91579.article |access-date=3 October 2013 |magazine=[[Times Higher Education]]}}</ref> The graves at Mogou revealed a high level of [[Prehistoric warfare|violence]] in the [[Qijia culture]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Skeletal evidence for violent trauma from the bronze age Qijia culture (2,300-1,500 BCE), Gansu Province, China |journal=International Journal of Paleopathology |date=December 2019 |volume=27 |pages=66-79 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879981718301712}}</ref>

{{anchor|Iron Age}}
[[Ferrous metallurgy]] begins to appear in the late 6th century in the [[Yangtze]] valley.<ref name="Higham">Higham, Charles. 1996. ''The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia''{{Page needed|date=November 2011}}</ref> A bronze hatchet with a blade of [[meteoric iron]] excavated near the city of [[Gaocheng District|Gaocheng]] in [[Shijiazhuang]] (now [[Hebei]]) has been dated to the 14th century&nbsp;BC. An Iron Age culture of the [[Tibetan Plateau]] has tentatively been associated with the [[Zhang Zhung culture]] described in early Tibetan writings.