Overview and History 7The Beginning
How did it begin? Legends abound about China’s earliest
years, many of them involving wild animals, fortune-telling,
and lots of flying. Then there are ‘the men’—‘Yuanmou
Man’ and his descendant ‘Peking Man’, who are believed
to have inhabited China 1.7 million and 500,000 years
ago, respectively. Not much is known about either of them,
however, as an apparent preference for staying shrouded in
mystery seems to have been the order of the day.
The Neolithic Age that followed Peking Man’s time is
represented primarily by the Longshan and Yangshao
cultures, both village groups in the Northern areas of today’s
China. They are distinguished by their pottery, smooth
and black for the Longshan, and red with black swirls for
the Yangshao.
Xia (2070–1600 BC)
Perhaps best known for being the precursor to the Shang, the
Xia also represents the beginning of China’s dynastic history.
With the Xia, China made the first turn on a wheel of unity,
collapse, chaos and reunification that would characterise her
development for centuries to come. This dynasty also marked
a shift in the life of China’s people, from primitive to slave
society, under the watchful eyes of new Xia leaders.
Shang (1600–1046 BC)
Taking over from the Xia in 1600 BC, after conflict among
warlords led to that dynasty’s decline, Shang rulers oversaw a
flourishing of important developments during their period of
post-conflict calm: the earliest and most complete examples
of Chinese writing on shamanistic oracle bones; an ability
to use iron tools and the skills to smelt bronze, giving China
the most advanced bronze-making techniques in the world
at that time; white and glazed pottery; and the beauty of silk
and innovative weaving techniques with which to work it.
On the very practical side, the Shang put their mark on
the hierarchy and class stratification introduced by the Xia.
Society was comprised of a king, nobles, commoners and
slaves, each with a place and a purpose. For the last group,