China –

Origins and Historical Overview

© Howard R. Spendelow

Georgetown University23 Jul 2013

China’s topography

rainfall distribution

China-centered history

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examples of oracle-bone writing (jiaguwen 甲骨文 )

oracle bones

Standing Figure from Sanxingdui, Sichuan

Bronze Age excavation sites

Shang period

Shang period cultural sites

Zhou

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Warring States, around the time of Confucius

Warring States 戰國

Qin 秦

Han

Han and the Xiongnu, c. 135 BCE

Han and its boundaries

Three Kingdoms, 262

Eurasia, 565

East Asia during the Sui

Tang dynasty

Tang, Tibet, & Central Asia – c. 700 CE

early Tang empire

Silk Road – land and sea routes

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China as part of the Mongol Empire, late 12th cent. CE

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Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

Ming period provinces

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Zheng He’s voyages

Zheng He’s routes and final destinations

Jan Adkins’ 1993 comparative sketch (China/Columbus’ Santa Maria)

”Qilin” by Shen Du, 1414

Qing Dynasty

Qing Expansion

劇終(the end)

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