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China History

Effective family history research requires some understanding of the historical events that may have affected your family and the records. Learning about wars, governments, laws, migrations, and religious trends may help you understand political boundaries, family movements, and settlement patterns. These events may have led to the creation of records such as land or military documents that mention your family.

You will better understand the lives of your ancestors if you use histories to learn about the events in which they may have participated. For example, by using a history you might learn about the events that occurred in the year your great-grandparents were married.

Brief History of China

Not much is known about the first Chinese dynasty - Xia. Until fairly recently, most historians thought it was a myth. But archeological records have proven its existence. What little is known indicates that the Xia had descended from a wide-spread Yellow River valley Neolithic culture known as the Longshan culture. They were famous for their black-lacquered pottery. Even though no known examples of Xia-era writing survive, they almost certainly had a writing system that was a precursor of the Shang dynasty's "oracle bones."

The second Chinese dynasty is the Shang dynasty. They were the most advanced bronze-working civilization in the world, and they provide the earliest and most complete record of Chinese writing.

The Shang were quite possibly the most blood-thirsty pre-modern civilization and were fond of human sacrifice. The dynasty had an unusual system of succession. Instead of a patrilineal system where power was passed from father to son, the kingship passed from elder brother to younger brother. When there were no more brothers, then the succession went to the oldest maternal nephew.

The Western Zhou dynasty succeeded the Shang. They used a father-to-son succession system and did not continue human sacrifice. The Zhou did not rule all of what was then China, which was made up of a number of quasi-independent principalities at that time. The Zhou were the most powerful principality and were located in the middle of the principalities. This gave rise to the term "The Middle Kingdom," which the Chinese call their country. The Zhou were able to maintain peace and stability through their method of rule. In 771 BC, the capital was sacked by barbarians from the west.

After the capital was sacked, the Zhou moved east and effectively divided the dynasty into eastern and western periods.

The Chinese do not appear to have a world view for the idea of independent, equal nations. There is the rest of the world, and then there is China. It is not that they reject the idea of a community of nations; it is that they cannot conceive of it.