Timeline of Ancient China by Wesley Sayre

Shang dynasty: 1700-1122 BCE

wesleysayre — 2024-03-05 18:14:04 UTC

The Shang dynasty was the first major event in Chinese history and had many advancements, like full cities, and advanced tools. It is considered to be a large foundation of the Chinese civilization. Many key features of Chinese history were created by the end of this period.

Zhou Dynasty: 1045-256 BCE

wesleysayre — 2024-03-05 18:14:17 UTC

This Dynasty came after the Shang, and has many qualifying traits. Some of these are such as being the longest lasting dynasty, expanding the ruled area of China, and dividing the land of China under different ruling aristocrats. They also created most of the recognizable belief systems, like the Daoism system, the Legalism system, and Confucianism.

Warring States Period: 700-221 BCE

wesleysayre — 2024-03-05 18:14:32 UTC

This is a period that lives up to its name, and is called this because it took place in a time period where most of China is fighting each other over the land of China. There are some advancements in this period, like the development of steel, much before it was gained by other countries. Mostly, there was only war in this period. The smaller states were eaten up, and the Qin conquered all of the states, giving way to the Qin Dynasty.

Confucianism and Daoism Developed: 500 BCE

wesleysayre — 2024-03-05 18:15:18 UTC

These are two beliefs of the Chinese. Daoism is the belief in being one with nature and using it to fix problems. They believed in withdrawal from the world. Confucianism was invented by Confucius, and was the belief of how to live in society. It was do's and don'ts, and involved knowing your place in society, and respecting others.

Legalism Developed: 250 BCE

wesleysayre — 2024-03-05 18:15:24 UTC

Legalism is one of the other beliefs, along with Confucianism, and Daoism. It is more of a set of rules for the government, and how to follow them. Basically putting the government and politics first. It was composed of harsh law, and doing what would benefit the state, even if that would be unethical. It is believing without question in religion.

Qin Dynasty: 221-210 BCE

wesleysayre — 2024-03-05 18:15:34 UTC

The Qin Dynasty was from the warring states period and was the triumphant state, that gained control of China. There were some advancements, such as creating large agricultural projects, using war tactics of appointing land to officials, and multiple conquests of land. They heavily inforced legalism, and their law was very harsh and unjust.

Han Dynasty: 206 BCE-220 CE

wesleysayre — 2024-03-05 18:15:50 UTC

The Han Dynasty is the last documented timeline event on this slideshow. They followed a similar ruling pattern as the Qin, but slightly milder than the Qin. They ruled for 400 years, and are known to be the least equal in wealth, culture, government, and population compared to the other states of areas that came before. They used civil service more efficiently than other states and had many achievements. Some achievements are creating a new law code, such as the Qin, but less harsh, they had a well controlled government, and inventing many iron tools and putting them to good use.