Standing as one of the four ancient civilizations, China possesses an abundance of glorious history and fantastic cultures, which are appealing for people worldwide and from various life walks to glance over it. The mysterious and attractive country attempts to unveil the enigma of her beauty with its long ancient history, astonishing economic development in modern society, and unique cultures.
From the first unified multi-ethnics feudal dynasty-Qin dynasty until the last feudal society-Qing dynasty, the Chinese civilization is demonstrated with the characteristics of feudal autocratic regimes. Actually, before the Qin dynasty, there was a long period of thousands of years already formed the magnificent pre-Qin civilization. About 1700 000 years ago, the ancestors of Chinese people lived in present-day Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province. This period is considered the beginning of the primitive society of Chinese civilization. Around 2070 BC, the Xia Dynasty became the very first dynasty in Chinese history, lasting for more than 400 years. The later Qin Dynasty was the first large-scale multination unified feudal dynasty with the first emperor Qinshihuang. Succeeding the Xia was the Shang Dynasty, which lasted over 500 years. To its posterity, this dynasty bestowed a great heritage of artifacts, such as precious inscriptions on bones, tortoise shells, and bronze wares. The first Chinese language was created and curved on these materials. The third kingdom was the Zhou dynasty, which was composed of the Western Zhou and the East Zhou because of the altering of the capital city from west to east as a result of the failure of the war. The Zhou Dynasty altogether existed for about 800 years. As the impotence of the ruling king in the Eastern Zhou, the country was actually managed by several vassal states, among which several were powerful enough to fight for the next monarch. Eastern Zhou was divided into the Spring and Autumn Periods and the Warring States Periods in the last few years. The later first emperor Qinshihuang was from the powerful vassal state Qin and finally unified then China with reforms in governance, military, and economy. Afterward, Chinese feudal society became more mature and existed for over 2000 years until the Qing dynasty in 1911. From 1840 to 1949 was modern Chinese history with the beginning mark of the first opium war between the Qing dynasty and the United Kingdom of British. The upheavals during the contemporary period have changed people’s life and society from the perspective of society’s essence and productive models. The ups and downs pushed the Chinese nation to embrace globalization, industrialization, and commercialization. Since 1949, China has been named after the People’s Republic of China and embarked on a new legend in history.
When the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, and Indian civilizations were initially forming and progressing, the ancient Chinese civilization was already prosperous in the Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou dynasties. When the Greek and Roman city-states were in their heyday, Chinese traditional thoughts and cultures developed into a flourishing moment. The comparison between the ancient Chinese civilization and western civilizations in various aspects and the impacts of different factors is beneficial for scholars in multi-disciplines and readers with diverse backgrounds and ambitions to have a comprehensive and profound knowledge of the nation’s development.
After thousands of years, Chinese culture is still the most intriguing aspect presenting many parts of the modern world. Chinese cultures are composed of numerous magnificent elements, including the Chinese traditional ideologies, traditional virtues of China, ancient Chinese literature, science, and technology of ancient China, traditional Chinese art, Chinese cultural relic, ancient Chinese architecture, Chinese arts and crafts, Chinese folk customs, the life of Chinese people, and so on. Those mysterious and shining treasures are waiting for people to restudy and appreciate for enjoyment and feasible for innovation and inspiration in work.
Chinese Kung Fu is commonly recognized worldwide and attracts people worldwide to China to practice. Major festivals are the condense of the ancient-origin cultural understandings and wisdom. The buildings' unique architectural designs tell stories that happened thousands of years ago and witnessed the changes of the ages. Chinese characters constitute one of humanity’s oldest writing systems. The complex and profound compositions of the lines and points liken pictures providing a fascinating insight into Chinese history. Chinese calligraphy and traditional painting are a feast to the eye and worthy of a lifetime to study and practice.
Chinese history and cultures are windows for people worldwide to know more about China and objectively understand the past and current cultural phenomena. With more knowledge from a different civilization, people can have more access to innovation, tolerance, peace, and love.
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