Early Human Settlers of China: From Homo Erectus to the Dynastic Era

Paleolithic Arrivals

• Homo erectus: ~2 million years ago (e.g., Yuanmou, Zhoukoudian).
• Homo sapiens: ~100,000 years ago; hunter‑gatherers along the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.

Neolithic to Bronze Age

Millet and rice cultivation, pottery, and settled villages appear by 7000‑5000 BCE. The Shang Dynasty (c. 1600‑1046 BCE) marks the first historically documented state, followed by Zhou, Qin, Han, and successive dynasties that shaped Chinese civilization.

Key Developments

• Writing (oracle bones), bronze metallurgy, silk, paper, gunpowder, printing.
• Expansion, trade (Silk Road), and cultural exchange.
• Cycles of unity and fragmentation until the 1911 Revolution ended imperial rule.