China, c. 2070 BC – AD 220

The oracle bones, the Mandate of Heaven, the hundred schools, the first emperor, and the road that reached Rome.

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China

THE XIA, IN TRADITION THE SHANG WESTERN ZHOU THE STATES CONTEND QIN THE HAN 2000 BC 1500 BC 1000 BC 500 BC AD 1 THE DYNASTIES THE SCHOOLS WHAT WAS WRITTEN WORKS CONTACT WITH THE WEST c. 2070 BC — The Xia, in tradition. The first dynasty in the Chinese histories, and the only one with no writing of its own to attest it. Sima Qian gives its king-list. The Erlitou site, c. 1900 BC, is the usual candidate; the identification is disputed.1 c. 1600 BC — The Shang. The first Chinese dynasty attested by its own writing. Bronze casting at a scale unmatched anywhere at the date.2 c. 1200 BC — Fu Hao. A consort of King Wu Ding, buried at Anyang with 468 bronzes, 755 jades and sixteen sacrificed people. The oracle bones record her leading armies. The earliest named woman in Chinese history, and her tomb was found intact in 1976.5 1046 BC — The Zhou take the mandate. The Shang are overthrown, and the Zhou justify it with the Mandate of Heaven: rule is granted by Heaven and withdrawn from the unworthy. A doctrine that makes rebellion legitimate, and it governs Chinese political thought for three thousand years.6 771 BC — The Zhou lose the west. The capital falls and the court moves east. Royal authority becomes nominal and the states begin acting for themselves.8 771–476 BC — Spring and Autumn. The period named for the chronicle of the state of Lu, which Confucius was said to have edited. Zhou authority is nominal; the states contend.9 475 BC — The Warring States. Two and a half centuries of war between seven states, and the most productive period in Chinese thought — the hundred schools, Mozi, Mencius, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, and Sunzi’s Art of War.13 221 BC — QIN SHI HUANG UNIFIES CHINA. The first emperor. Script, weights, measures and axle widths standardised by decree; the states' walls joined into one; the empire divided into commanderies under appointed officials rather than hereditary lords. Two years before Rome fights Zama.14 206 BC — The Han. Four centuries, with one interruption. The dynasty that fixes Chinese administration, and from which the majority ethnicity still takes its name.17 141–87 BC — Emperor Wu. Fifty-four years. The empire doubles; the Xiongnu are pushed back; Confucianism is made the state doctrine and an imperial academy founded to teach it. Officials begin to be selected on learning rather than birth.18 119 BC — The salt and iron monopolies. The state takes the trade in both. The debate over it was recorded and survives as the Discourses on Salt and Iron — an argument about state control of the economy, written down in 81 BC.20 AD 9–23 — Wang Mang. A regent takes the throne and declares a new dynasty. He nationalises land, abolishes slavery and reissues the coinage; the reforms fail, the Yellow River shifts course, and rebellion ends him. The Han are restored in 25.23 AD 184 — The Yellow Turbans. A millenarian peasant rising against the Han, put down by regional commanders who then keep their armies. The dynasty never recovers the provinces from them.28 AD 220 — THE HAN END. Four hundred years close, and China divides into the Three Kingdoms. The same century in which Rome enters its own crisis — and neither empire knew the other was failing.29 c. 1042 BC — The Duke of Zhou. Regent for his nephew, and the figure Confucius held up as the model of the good statesman five centuries later. The Book of Documents preserves the speeches attributed to him.7 c. 551 BC — Confucius born. A contemporary of the Buddha and of Mahavira. Three teachers in one century, in three separate civilisations, all answering the same question about how a man should live.10 c. 500 BC — The Daodejing. Attributed to Laozi, whose historicity is disputed. The counterweight to Confucius: withdrawal against engagement, the same fork the Indian renouncers took.11 AD 65 — Buddhism reaches China. The first securely dated notice of a Buddhist community, at the court of a Han prince. The Indian teaching travels the road Zhang Qian opened, and China becomes the largest Buddhist population in the world.24 c. 1250 BC — THE ORACLE BONES. Ox scapulae and turtle plastrons inscribed at Anyang, heated until they cracked, and the cracks read as answers. The earliest Chinese writing, and it is already a mature script — some 150,000 pieces recovered, and the characters are the direct ancestors of those in use today.3 213–212 BC — THE BURNING OF THE BOOKS. Qin Shi Huang orders the histories of the other states destroyed and, by the tradition, scholars buried alive. Sima Qian is the source and he wrote under the succeeding dynasty; the scale is disputed. What is not disputed is that the pre-Qin record survives thinly.15 c. 94 BC — Sima Qian's Shiji. The Records of the Grand Historian, covering two thousand years to his own day. He completed it after being castrated rather than executed, choosing the disgrace so the work would be finished. It is the model for every Chinese dynastic history after it.21 AD 105 — Paper. Cai Lun reports the process to the Han court. It reaches the Islamic world in the eighth century and Europe in the twelfth — a thousand years to cross, and it is the medium every surviving library then depends on.25 AD 132 — Zhang Heng's seismoscope. A bronze vessel with eight dragons that dropped a ball toward the direction of a distant earthquake. It is reported to have detected a shock some 500 km away that was not felt at the capital. The device does not survive; the description does.26 c. 1200 BC — Sanxingdui. A bronze-working culture in Sichuan producing masks and standing figures unlike anything Shang, including a figure nearly four metres tall. No writing, and no mention in any Chinese text. A civilisation known only from its pits.4 c. 500 BC — Cast iron. China is casting iron in moulds some eighteen centuries before Europe manages it, using blast furnaces developed from bronze practice. Ploughshares, weapons and tools follow.12 210 BC — The terracotta army. Some eight thousand figures buried with the first emperor at Xi'an, each with an individual face, discovered in 1974. The tomb mound itself has never been opened.16 138 BC — ZHANG QIAN GOES WEST. Sent by Emperor Wu to find allies against the Xiongnu, he is captured, held ten years, escapes and continues. He reaches Bactria — Greek-ruled Bactria, the far edge of Alexander's conquests — and returns after thirteen years. His report opens the Silk Road.19 53 BC — Silk at Carrhae. Roman sources report the Parthians unfurling silk banners at Carrhae, where Crassus was destroyed. Rome meets Chinese silk on a battlefield without knowing where it came from.22 AD 166 — ROME REACHES CHINA. The Hou Hanshu records envoys from Daqin, sent by a ruler named Andun — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — arriving by sea and presenting ivory and tortoiseshell. The Chinese annals record a Roman embassy; no Roman source records sending one.27
  1. 1c. 2070 BCThe Xia, in tradition
  2. 2c. 1600 BCThe Shang
  3. 3c. 1250 BCTHE ORACLE BONES
  4. 4c. 1200 BCSanxingdui
  5. 5c. 1200 BCFu Hao
  6. 61046 BCThe Zhou take the mandate
  7. 7c. 1042 BCThe Duke of Zhou
  8. 8771 BCThe Zhou lose the west
  9. 9771–476 BCSpring and Autumn
  10. 10c. 551 BCConfucius born
  11. 11c. 500 BCThe Daodejing
  12. 12c. 500 BCCast iron
  13. 13475 BCThe Warring States
  14. 14221 BCQIN SHI HUANG UNIFIES CHINA
  15. 15213–212 BCTHE BURNING OF THE BOOKS
  16. 16210 BCThe terracotta army
  17. 17206 BCThe Han
  18. 18141–87 BCEmperor Wu
  19. 19138 BCZHANG QIAN GOES WEST
  20. 20119 BCThe salt and iron monopolies
  21. 21c. 94 BCSima Qian's Shiji
  22. 2253 BCSilk at Carrhae
  23. 23AD 9–23Wang Mang
  24. 24AD 65Buddhism reaches China
  25. 25AD 105Paper
  26. 26AD 132Zhang Heng's seismoscope
  27. 27AD 166ROME REACHES CHINA
  28. 28AD 184The Yellow Turbans
  29. 29AD 220THE HAN END

Two things this lane shows that the others do not. The script is continuous. The characters cut into ox bone at Anyang around 1250 BC are the direct ancestors of those in use today — no other writing system on this site has that. Egypt’s died; cuneiform died; the Indus script was never read.

And the contact is late but documented from the Chinese side. Zhang Qian reaches Greek-ruled Bactria in the second century BC and his report opens the road. Rome meets the silk before it knows the source. In AD 166 the Hou Hanshu records envoys from Daqin sent by Andun — Marcus Aurelius — and no Roman source records sending them.

The Register

How the grading reads. one amber dot: a single channel carries it. two green: two independent sources cross. three green: a contemporary inscription, coin or other object. Twenty-nine entries.

№DateLaneEventAtt.
1c. 2070 BCDYNASTY The Xia, in tradition. The first dynasty in the Chinese histories, and the only one with no writing of its own to attest it. Sima Qian gives its king-list. The Erlitou site, c. 1900 BC, is the usual candidate; the identification is disputed.
2c. 1600 BCDYNASTY The Shang. The first Chinese dynasty attested by its own writing. Bronze casting at a scale unmatched anywhere at the date.
3c. 1250 BCWRITTEN THE ORACLE BONES. Ox scapulae and turtle plastrons inscribed at Anyang, heated until they cracked, and the cracks read as answers. The earliest Chinese writing, and it is already a mature script — some 150,000 pieces recovered, and the characters are the direct ancestors of those in use today.
4c. 1200 BCWORKS Sanxingdui. A bronze-working culture in Sichuan producing masks and standing figures unlike anything Shang, including a figure nearly four metres tall. No writing, and no mention in any Chinese text. A civilisation known only from its pits.
5c. 1200 BCDYNASTY Fu Hao. A consort of King Wu Ding, buried at Anyang with 468 bronzes, 755 jades and sixteen sacrificed people. The oracle bones record her leading armies. The earliest named woman in Chinese history, and her tomb was found intact in 1976.
61046 BCDYNASTY The Zhou take the mandate. The Shang are overthrown, and the Zhou justify it with the Mandate of Heaven: rule is granted by Heaven and withdrawn from the unworthy. A doctrine that makes rebellion legitimate, and it governs Chinese political thought for three thousand years.
7c. 1042 BCSCHOOLS The Duke of Zhou. Regent for his nephew, and the figure Confucius held up as the model of the good statesman five centuries later. The Book of Documents preserves the speeches attributed to him.
8771 BCDYNASTY The Zhou lose the west. The capital falls and the court moves east. Royal authority becomes nominal and the states begin acting for themselves.
9771–476 BCDYNASTY Spring and Autumn. The period named for the chronicle of the state of Lu, which Confucius was said to have edited. Zhou authority is nominal; the states contend.
10c. 551 BCSCHOOLS Confucius born. A contemporary of the Buddha and of Mahavira. Three teachers in one century, in three separate civilisations, all answering the same question about how a man should live.
11c. 500 BCSCHOOLS The Daodejing. Attributed to Laozi, whose historicity is disputed. The counterweight to Confucius: withdrawal against engagement, the same fork the Indian renouncers took.
12c. 500 BCWORKS Cast iron. China is casting iron in moulds some eighteen centuries before Europe manages it, using blast furnaces developed from bronze practice. Ploughshares, weapons and tools follow.
13475 BCDYNASTY The Warring States. Two and a half centuries of war between seven states, and the most productive period in Chinese thought — the hundred schools, Mozi, Mencius, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, and Sunzi’s Art of War.
14221 BCDYNASTY QIN SHI HUANG UNIFIES CHINA. The first emperor. Script, weights, measures and axle widths standardised by decree; the states' walls joined into one; the empire divided into commanderies under appointed officials rather than hereditary lords. Two years before Rome fights Zama.
15213–212 BCWRITTEN THE BURNING OF THE BOOKS. Qin Shi Huang orders the histories of the other states destroyed and, by the tradition, scholars buried alive. Sima Qian is the source and he wrote under the succeeding dynasty; the scale is disputed. What is not disputed is that the pre-Qin record survives thinly.
16210 BCWORKS The terracotta army. Some eight thousand figures buried with the first emperor at Xi'an, each with an individual face, discovered in 1974. The tomb mound itself has never been opened.
17206 BCDYNASTY The Han. Four centuries, with one interruption. The dynasty that fixes Chinese administration, and from which the majority ethnicity still takes its name.
18141–87 BCDYNASTY Emperor Wu. Fifty-four years. The empire doubles; the Xiongnu are pushed back; Confucianism is made the state doctrine and an imperial academy founded to teach it. Officials begin to be selected on learning rather than birth.
19138 BCCONTACT ZHANG QIAN GOES WEST. Sent by Emperor Wu to find allies against the Xiongnu, he is captured, held ten years, escapes and continues. He reaches Bactria — Greek-ruled Bactria, the far edge of Alexander's conquests — and returns after thirteen years. His report opens the Silk Road.
20119 BCDYNASTY The salt and iron monopolies. The state takes the trade in both. The debate over it was recorded and survives as the Discourses on Salt and Iron — an argument about state control of the economy, written down in 81 BC.
21c. 94 BCWRITTEN Sima Qian's Shiji. The Records of the Grand Historian, covering two thousand years to his own day. He completed it after being castrated rather than executed, choosing the disgrace so the work would be finished. It is the model for every Chinese dynastic history after it.
2253 BCCONTACT Silk at Carrhae. Roman sources report the Parthians unfurling silk banners at Carrhae, where Crassus was destroyed. Rome meets Chinese silk on a battlefield without knowing where it came from.
23AD 9–23DYNASTY Wang Mang. A regent takes the throne and declares a new dynasty. He nationalises land, abolishes slavery and reissues the coinage; the reforms fail, the Yellow River shifts course, and rebellion ends him. The Han are restored in 25.
24AD 65SCHOOLS Buddhism reaches China. The first securely dated notice of a Buddhist community, at the court of a Han prince. The Indian teaching travels the road Zhang Qian opened, and China becomes the largest Buddhist population in the world.
25AD 105WRITTEN Paper. Cai Lun reports the process to the Han court. It reaches the Islamic world in the eighth century and Europe in the twelfth — a thousand years to cross, and it is the medium every surviving library then depends on.
26AD 132WRITTEN Zhang Heng's seismoscope. A bronze vessel with eight dragons that dropped a ball toward the direction of a distant earthquake. It is reported to have detected a shock some 500 km away that was not felt at the capital. The device does not survive; the description does.
27AD 166CONTACT ROME REACHES CHINA. The Hou Hanshu records envoys from Daqin, sent by a ruler named Andun — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — arriving by sea and presenting ivory and tortoiseshell. The Chinese annals record a Roman embassy; no Roman source records sending one.
28AD 184DYNASTY The Yellow Turbans. A millenarian peasant rising against the Han, put down by regional commanders who then keep their armies. The dynasty never recovers the provinces from them.
29AD 220DYNASTY THE HAN END. Four hundred years close, and China divides into the Three Kingdoms. The same century in which Rome enters its own crisis — and neither empire knew the other was failing.