Editing China (section)

=== Prehistory ===
[[File:National Museum of China 2014.02.01 14-43-38.jpg|thumb|10,000-year-old pottery, [[Xianren Cave]] culture (18000–7000 BCE)]]

[[Archaeological excavation|Archaeological evidence]] suggests that early [[Hominidae|hominids]] inhabited China 2.25 million years ago.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ciochon |first1=Russell |last2=Larick |first2=Roy |date=1 January 2000 |title=Early Homo erectus Tools in China |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/0001/newsbriefs/china.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200106111404/https://archive.archaeology.org/0001/newsbriefs/china.html |archive-date=6 January 2020 |access-date=30 November 2012 |website=[[Archaeology (magazine)|Archaeology]]}}</ref> The hominid fossils of [[Peking Man]], a ''[[Homo erectus]]'' who [[Control of fire by early humans|used fire]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Peking Man World Heritage Site at Zhoukoudian |url=http://www.unesco.org/ext/field/beijing/whc/pkm-site.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623160018/http://www.unesco.org/ext/field/beijing/whc/pkm-site.htm |archive-date=23 June 2016 |access-date=6 March 2013 |publisher=UNESCO}}</ref> have been dated to between 680,000 and 780,000 [[Before Present|years ago]].<ref name="autogenerated198">{{Cite journal |last1=Shen |first1=G. |last2=Gao |first2=X. |last3=Gao |first3=B. |last4=Granger |first4=De |date=March 2009 |title=Age of Zhoukoudian Homo erectus determined with (26)Al/(10)Be burial dating |journal=Nature |volume=458 |issue=7235 |pages=198–200 |doi=10.1038/nature07741 |pmid=19279636 |s2cid=19264385}}</ref> The fossilized teeth of ''Homo sapiens'' (dated to 125,000–80,000 years ago) have been discovered in [[Fuyan Cave]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rincon |first=Paul |date=14 October 2015 |title=Fossil teeth place humans in Asia '20,000 years early' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34531861 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817113912/http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34531861 |archive-date=17 August 2017 |access-date=14 October 2015 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Chinese [[proto-writing]] existed in [[Jiahu]] around 6600 BCE,<ref name="earliest writing">{{Cite news |last=Rincon |first=Paul |date=17 April 2003 |title='Earliest writing' found in China |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2956925.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320140538/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2956925.stm |archive-date=20 March 2012 |access-date=14 January 2020 |work=BBC News}}</ref> at [[Damaidi]] around 6000 BCE,<ref>[[Qiu Xigui]] (2000) ''Chinese Writing'' English translation of {{lang|zh-Hant|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|978-1-5572-9071-7}}</ref> [[Dadiwan culture|Dadiwan]] from 5800 to 5400 BCE, and [[Banpo]] dating from the 5th millennium BCE. Some scholars have suggested that the [[Jiahu symbols]] (7th millennium BCE) constituted the earliest Chinese writing system.<ref name="earliest writing" />