According to Chinese legend, China is ruled by the Three August Ones and the Five Emperors, sage–kings and moral–exemplars.
One of them, the Yellow Emperor, is possibly the royal ancestor of the Han Chinese.
Note that the earliest written records of China’s past date from approximately the thirteenth century BCE, the time of the Jewish Exodus.
These written records are inscriptions (spiritual/religious–related) on a trove of bones and shells known as the “Oracle Bones.”
The Shang Dynasty spans approximately 550 years, from 1600 BCE to 1046 BCE. It incorporates 31 kings, from Tang to Di Xin (a.k.a. Zhou, Zhou Xin, Zhou Wang). Note that this last emperor, notwithstanding his name, is not a Zhou Dynasty emperor.
Over the 550–year span, the Shang Dynasty moves its capital six times, the last time to the city of Yin (modern–day Henan in east–central China), traditionally considered the “cradle of Chinese civilization.”
The Shang Dynasty is succeeded by the 800–year Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 BCE). King Wu of Zhou invokes the so–called “Mandate from Heaven,” a celestial invocation of legitimacy to rule by divine right, employed by succeeding claimants to the Chinese thrown over the centuries.
(Author’s note: I use this line, with my three kids, with mixed results.)
The Zhou Dynasty, China’s longest, spans 37 emperors.
Note that for some reason, Zhou Dynasty emperors reign approximately 21 years on average, whereas preceding Shang Dynasty kings reign just 8 years on average.
In any event, in 221 BCE, Qin defeats the other six states, including the Zhou, and finally unifies China under the Qin Dynasty.
Note: Whenever you hear that so–and–so “unified a country,” do not assume that this was a nice and sweet “Boy Scout operation.”