Timeline of Chinese History

China's Prehistory
1,000,000-200,000 BP-----Lower (Early) Paleolithic
-----400,000-200,000-----Homo erectus (Peking Man)

200,000-50,000 BP-----Middle Paleolithic
----------------------Early Homo sapiens

50,000-12,000 BP-----Upper (Late) Paleolithic
---------------------Homo sapiens sapiens

12,000-2000 BC-----Neolithic
-----8000-5000-----Beginning of agriculture
-----5000-3000-----Yangshao Painted Pottery
-----3000-2200-----Longshan Black Pottery

-----2200-500 BC-----Bronze Age

2200-1750 BC-----Xia
1750-1040 BC-----Shang
1100-256 BC-----Zhou

600-500 BC-----Beginning of Iron Age

Major Periods in Imperial China

771-256 BC-----Eastern Zhou

-----403-221 BC-----Warring States
221-206 BC-----Qin
206 BC-AD 8-----Earlier Han

25-220-----Later Han
220-589-----Period of North-South disunion
-----386-535-----Northern Wei

589-618-----Sui
618-907-----Tang

(continues Northern and Southern Song)