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The University High School Band
The History and Theory of Music

China

Chinese Dynasties through History

The history of China is measured in dynasties, or hereditary monarchies that ruled for centuries at a time. The first dynasty was the legendary Xia Dynasty, which was long considered mythical.

More established historical records attest to the Shang Dynasty, which lasted from the 17th to 10th centuries BC. It existed at the same time as Babylon, Assyria, Davidic Israel, and the Egyptian New Kingdom, but was somewhat less urbanized.

The final Shang king, Di Xin, was a tyrant. He was overthrown by one of his generals, Wu, who established the Zhou Dynasty. Di Xin set fire to his palace and locked himself inside.

The Zhou Dynasty lasted for nearly eight hundred years and was the height of the Bronze Age in China. It waning years were called the Spring and Autumn Period, named after an historical chronicle of the time. Centralized power declined, but some of China's most important scholars flourished: Sun-Tzu wrote The Art of War, Laozi founded Taoism with the Tao Te Ching, and Kong Fu Tzu (more commonly known by his Latinized named "Confucius") authored many works, most importantly the Analects.

As the Zhou Dynasty finally collapsed, regional powers grew more independent and often came into conflict with one another. Eventually seven different states - the Qin, Han, Wei, Chu, Zhao, Yan, and Qi - emerged in a struggle for control of China, leading to the Warring States Period.