Ancient China

Ancient civilizations in China arose in the valleys of the Huang He (Yellow River) and the Yangtze. According to tradition, the first dynasty was Xia; the first reliably documented state, supported by written and archaeological evidence, is Shang (Yin), which existed in the Yellow River valley about the 16th–11th centuries BCE; its inscriptions on bones survive. At the end of the 11th century BCE (about 1046) the Zhou tribe defeated the Shang and founded the Zhou state. The Zhou rulers called themselves “Sons of Heaven” and their state “all under Heaven”. Farming was a respected occupation in China: millet, wheat and later rice were grown; tea was cultivated. Mulberry trees were grown, silkworms were fed on their leaves, and silk cloth was woven from the cocoons; silk was ancient China’s famous product. In the 8th–5th centuries BCE central Zhou power weakened and provincial rulers became independent (the “many kingdoms” period); then came the “Warring States” period (475–221 BCE), and the ruler of the state of Qin defeated all rivals and united China.