History of China - 中国历史

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(English)

The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area, and can be under many diverse historiographical lenses. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and hardship. Classical Chinese civilization first emerged in the Yellow River valley, which along with the Yangtze and Pearl valleys now constitute the geographic core of China and have for the majority of its imperial history. China maintains a rich diversity of ethnic and linguistic people groups. The traditional lens for viewing Chinese history is the dynastic cycle: imperial dynasties rise and fall, and are ascribed certain achievements. Throughout pervades the narrative that Chinese civilization can be traced as an unbroken thread many thousands of years into the past, making it one of the cradles of civilization. At various times, states representative of a dominant Chinese culture have directly controlled areas stretching as far west as the Tian Shan, the Tarim Basin, and the Himalayas, as far north as the Sayan Mountains, and as far south as the delta of the Red River.

The Neolithic period saw increasingly non-parochial societies began to emerge along the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. For example, the Erlitou culture existed throughout the central plains of China during the era traditionally attributed to the Xia dynasty (c.  2070–1600 BCE) by Chinese historiographers in foundational works like the Records of the Grand Historian—a text written around 1700 years after the date assigned to the fall of the Xia. The earliest surviving written Chinese dates to roughly 1250BCE, consisting of divinations inscribed on oracle bones. Chinese bronze inscriptions, ritual texts dedicated to deceased ancestors, form another large corpus of early Chinese writing. The earliest strata of received literature in Chinese include poetry, divination, and records of official speeches. China is believed to be one of a very few loci of independent invention of writing, and the earliest surviving records display an already-mature written language. The culture remembered by the earliest extant literature is that of the decentralized Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–256 BCE), during which bureaucratization increased, chariot-based warfare was superseded by infantry, the earliest classical texts took shape, the Mandate of Heaven was introduced, and philosophies such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism were first articulated.

(中文)

中國歷史如果從中國的文字史首次成体系的甲骨文出现的商朝中期（前1300年算起）算起約有3,300年；从考古学上具有城市定位代表性的二里头文化遗址（前1920年）算起約有3,700年；从西周文献中的夏朝（前2070年算起）算起约有4,100年；从西周文献中傳說中的尧（前2350年算起）算起约有4400年；從孔子所言三皇五帝的傳說時代算起約有4,700年（前2698年算起）或者5300年（前3300年算起）；从已发现的最早城市良渚文化遗址算起約有5,300年（也有意见认为良渚文化仍属史前时期）；從盤古、女媧、有巢氏等不確定的神話時代算起約有「五千年」（這也是傳統民間認知上的長度）；从第一座城市高庙文化彭头山遗迹算起有6800年历史；从最早的文字雏形贾湖契刻符号开始算起有8600年历史；從新石器時代的磁山文化算起約有1万年；從舊石器時代的北京猿人和藍田猿人時期算起約有68–100多萬年的历史。

中国的傳說有伏羲做八卦，而近代在湖广高庙文化遗址则出土了形状为八角星的占卜盘；黃帝時代倉頡造文字，而近代考古出土則發現3,300年前（前1300年）的甲骨文、4,500年前的陶文、約5,000年前至8,000年前具有文字性質的龜骨契刻符號；黃帝時代杜康造酒，而近代考古学家则在10,000年前至7,000年前的裴李岗文化贾湖遗址发现了世界上最早的酿造酒。

從政治和社會形態區分中國歷史，據考古資料顯示，約在距今六千年前的裴李崗文化晚期或者仰韶文化早期時代，中原地區從母系氏族社會漸漸過渡到父系氏族社會。同時，原始社會平等被打破。而據有文字記載的歷史，夏朝已經開始君王世襲，周朝建立完備的禮制，至東周逐漸解構，秦朝統一各國政治和許多民間分歧的文字和丈量制度，並建立中央集權的專制君權統治。自漢朝起則以文官主治國家直至清朝。清末以降，從西方世界東傳的科學主義、民主主義、資本主義、共產主義、社會主義等之各種新思潮始規模性流傳。20世紀初，人民興起革命終推翻數千年來的中国帝制及封建社會等傳統，並於1912年初建立首次共和制——「中華民國」。1949年10月1日，中国共产党在大陸建立“中华人民共和国”，而中國國民黨執政的中華民國政府因國共內戰戰敗而遷至臺灣，74年以來維持兩岸分治及戰後和平格局至今。