The Warring States period was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, bureaucratic and military reform, and political consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the wars of conquest that saw the state of Qin annex all the other contender states by 221 BC and found the Qin dynasty, the first imperial dynasty in Chinese history.
The seven Warring States of Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Qi, Chu, Qin c. 260 BC
Leather horse armour from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng c. 433 BC
Dagger handle, Zhou dynasty
Warring States Bronze Warriors
The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Yellow River valley, which along with the Yangtze basin constitutes the geographic core of the Chinese cultural sphere. 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.
Traditional reconstruction of the Peking Man skull
Restoration of the skull Shaanxi History Museum
LL-1 partials skull
10,000-year-old pottery, Xianren Cave culture (18,000–7000 BC)