A Complete Guide to Chinese History and Folktales

China is one of the world's four great ancient civilizations. Chinese civilization, also known as Huaxia civilization, is one of the oldest in the world and the one with the longest continuous history. The Yuanmou Man, discovered in Yuanmou, Yunnan, lived around 1.7 million years ago and is the earliest known primitive human in China. The Peking Man, who lived near Zhoukoudian in Beijing some 400,000 to 500,000 years ago, could walk upright, make and use simple tools, and use fire, possessing the basic characteristics of modern humans. Modern archaeological discoveries include the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang dynasty, dating to around 1350 BCE; pottery markings from roughly 4,000 to 5,000 years ago; and carved symbols with the nature of writing on tortoise shells from roughly 5,000 to 7,000 years ago. All of these bear witness to the distant origins of the Huaxia people. Later, Yu the Great tamed the floods and pacified the Nine Provinces, ushering in the cycle of Chinese dynasties rising to glory and then declining. Wandering through the long river of history, one encounters countless astonishing scenes: grand and magnificent, bizarre and absurd, hair-raising, or heartrendingly poignant...