Well, the earliest recorded dynasty (records found in ancient libraries. pretty educated civilization, eh?), Xia was established around 2100 B.C. Then evidence from recordings on tortoise shells (again, pretty smart, since tortoise shells last pretty long) indicates that the Shang dynasty was established around 1600 B.C. The period wasn’t too stable, as the capital was moved around a lot. The Zhou dynasty was established circa 1000 B.C. ( I could be off on that date). It was the longest dynasty in Chinese history, as it lasted for I wanna say 800 years (?). But, like many great empires such as Rome, it began to fall apart during this time. A decentralized government allowed for the country to divide amongst itself, and thus, China became many small "nations".

The famous and great emperor Qin rallied up his troops and united China around 221 B.C. Although ruthless with his battle tactics and ruling, he was inarguably the greatest emperor in Chinese history. (By the way, if you’re interested in movies, certain events and people during this time inspired the movie "The Myth", a really cute combination of action and romance.) He is remembered for his grand and still mostly unexplored tomb, guarded by terra-cota soldiers and rivers of mercury that have since seeped into the soil and poisoned the surrounding land. The Han dynasty soon followed after the short reign of emperor Qin, and lasted for approximately 400 years, starting circa 200 B.C. Confucianism was adopted, and the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu inspired the now popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms (which, by the way, sounds so much more poetic and beautiful in Chinese).

The Jin dynasty followed, which temporarily reunited the three kingdoms. This is the time that many of the ethnicities in China today were introduced. After the collapse of Jin, individual northern and southern dynasties emerged. Buddhist and Taoist followers settled their religious disputes during this time (now, if only the Reformation had gone this peacefully). The Sui dynasty brought China together once again in 589. Despite its many accomplishments, the dynasty fell after an arrogant leader and exhaustion of resources.

In 618, the Tang dynasty was established. Trade routes with the outside world were opened up more freely. Yet, rebellions and struggle for power led to its downfall. During the time of political turmoil, the Chinese went through 5 regimes in the north and 10 (ironically) stable regimes in the south.

The Song dynasty, esblished in 960, led China into prosperity as a whole. Scientific knowlege and technologies lead to a peak during this period. After this linage of emperors ended, the Mongols, led by the infamous Kublai Khan, invaded and took over the regime. During this time, China also experienced devastating effects from the Black Plage (see, European weren’t the only ones suffering).

During the Ming dynasty (1368), large naval and army forces were built, urbanization grew, and xenophobia became prevalent. Started during the Qin dynasty and anexed to in the following dynasties, the Great Wall was completed during this time. This was the last Han dynasty. After the fall in 1648, the Qing (note the "g") took over. Although certain areas were consolidated, there were numerous internal rebellions that led to political turmoil and allowed Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to invade and divide the country into spheres of influence. Of the eight, only the US gave back excess amounts paid for "protection against instability", thus the Chinese trusted the US the most out of the invaders.

Well, communism spread and entered China, and the young (who else?) wanted change. Hence, more political turmoil. Then there was the civil war, the Japanese invasion, the cultural revolution, and a bunch of other things that I’m too lazy to get into, since they are not as interesting as the romanticized history of ancient China.

Currently, there’s the whole Tibet and Taiwan political issues, on which I will not elaborate, since I have pretty controversial views that people might want to strangle me over.

BONUS: Current culture among the young people
1. a desire to imitate western fashion, music, and general pop culture.
2. pretty big on girl pop groups and boybands (hey, i have no problem with that).
3. struggle to balance the spoiled, single-child lifestyle and harsh real world realities.
4. bangs. bangs are cute.
5. instead of emphasizing jocks, the most popular people in high school are intelligent first, athletic second (although both are required to be "popular").