Recent History
In 1912, after a prolonged period of decline, the institution of the Emperor of China disappeared and the Republic of China was established. The following three decades were a period of disunion, the Warlord Era, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War.
The latter ended in 1949 with the Communist Party of China in control of mainland China. The CPC established a communist state, the People's Republic of China that laid claim to be the successor state of the Republic of China.
Today, China's pre-CCP ruling government has become a fully governing body in Taiwan, which has official diplomatic relations with less than 30 countries. The majority of the international community recoganize "One China policy" that claims the PRC as the only legitimate government in China. In addition, the PRC disputes Taiwan's status as an independent country from the Mainland. However, in recent year, some of the people on Taiwan Island, led by Chen Shuibian has pushed and failed for a separate political indentity from the Mainland.
The United Kingdom and Portugal transferred their colonies of Hong Kong and Macau on the southern Chinese coast to the PRC in 1997 and 1999, respectively.
Longer Historical Perspective
China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization. Chinese civilization was also one of the few to invent writing independently, the others being ancient Mesopotamia (Sumerians), India (Indus Valley Civilization), the Mayan Civilization, and Ancient Egypt. The Chinese script is still used today by the Chinese and Japanese, and to a lesser extent by Koreans and Vietnamese. This script is the only logographic script still used in the world.
The first dynasty according to Chinese sources was the Xia Dynasty, but its references have traditionally been believed to be legendary. Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the existence of the Xia Dynasty. But since then, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the possible existence of the Xia dynasty at the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts.
However, the first reliable historical dynasty is the Shang, who settled along the Huang He River from eastern China, dating from the 18th to the 12th centuries BC. The Shang were in turn invaded from the west by the Zhou (12th to 5th centuries BC), whose centralized authority was slowly eroded by the ceding of state-like authority to warlords ruling small states; eventually, in the Spring and Autumn period, many strong independent states, in continuous war, paid but nominal deference to the Zhou state as the Imperial centre. They were all unified under one emperor in 221 BC by Qin Shi Huang, ushering in the Qin Dynasty, the first unified centralized Chinese state.
