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This region is regarded as the Cradle of China’s Civilization. In ancient times, the main crop in northern China was millet, a food still grown in many parts of the world as a major crop. The civilization of ancient China first developed in the Yellow River region of northern China, in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE. This is a very fertile region however the land needs irrigation to make the crops grow, and well-built river embankments to prevent catastrophic flooding. All these have helped shape Chinese civilization. (For a more detailed description of the geography of China, and how it shaped its civilization, go to the “geography” section in the article The History of China.)Ĭhina is a vast country with a huge range of terrains and climates within it: mountains, deserts and coastlands and above all, the great river systems of China, the Yellow River to the north and the Yangtze to the south. The Geography of Ancient Chinese Civilization Contentsġ766 BCE: traditional date for the founding of the first historic dynasty in China, the Shang dynastyġ122 BCE: Western Zhou dynasty founded after the overthrow of the last Shang kingħ71 BCE: Eastern Zhou dynastyperiod begins after the sack of the Western Zhou capital the first phase is traditionally divided into two: the Spring and Autumn (771-481 BCE) and the Warring States (481-221 BCE) periodsĥ51-479 BCE: Confucius, China’s preeminent philosopher, livesĢ21 BCE: The First Emperor, Qin Shih Huang, completes the conquest of all other Chinese statesĢ02 BCE: The Han dynastyfounded, after several years of chaos following the fall of the QinĢ20 CE: the Fall of the Han dynasty is a convenient marker for the end point of the ancient period of Chinese history. As such, Ancient China was one of the most crucial periods and places in world history. Its achievements can still be powerfully felt today, in a modern China and its world-wide influence.

For the purposes of this article, Ancient China’s civilization refers to that period of Chinese history which began in the early 2nd millennium BCE, when a literate, city-based culture first emerged, to the end of the Han dynasty, in 220 CE.īy this time all the essential foundations of Chinese civilization had been laid down.