Culture & Ideas

The three Bronze Age dynasties of the traditional sequence. Writing, bronze casting and the idea of a single ruler over "all under Heaven" all begin here — though the earliest layers are known as much from later texts as from what archaeology has uncovered.

After the Han collapsed the north was ruled by steppe peoples and short-lived kingdoms, while a refugee court held the south. It was one of the most violent periods in Chinese history and also one of the most creative: Buddhism took root and calligraphy found its voice.

The Song never ruled all of China. Liao, Western Xia and the Jurchen Jin held the north and north-west, and the Song paid tribute to buy peace. Inside its borders, though, came printing, paper money, a merchant navy and mass civil-service examinations.