China Through Ten Millennia

What Defines China? What Sustains Its Ten-Millennia Legacy?
何谓中国？何以万年！

Grounded in robust archaeological discoveries of recent years, this book vividly traces the historical trajectory of the origin, formation, and development of Chinese civilization-from the ten-thousand-year-old Shangshan Culture to the Xia-Shang period's Erlitou-fully manifesting the exceptional continuity of Chinese civilization. Through in-depth analysis of numerous archaeological findings across the land of China, it concretely and vividly illustrates how, over the millennia preceding the Shang and Zhou dynasties (roughly spanning the past ten thousand years), the ancestors of various ethnic groups inhabiting this land, through collective human agency, jointly forged a distinctive Chinese civilization encompassing agricultural, pastoral, and mountain agro-pastoral traditions. This laid a solid foundation for the growth of Chinese civilization in its new historical phases. This work significantly aids us in further clarifying our understanding of the long-standing, excellent traditions of Chinese civilization and in accurately and fully comprehending the profound assertion of its exceptional continuity.

本书即近年来坚实的考古发现为基础，从万年上山到夏商二里头，生动展示了中华文明起源、形成、发展的历史脉络，充分体现了中华文明突出的连续性。通过对中国大地上诸多考古成果的深入分析，本书具体而生动地说明了商、周以前数千年间，也就是差不多距今一万年这段时间中，生活在中国大地上的各族群的先民，如何以人的自觉共同缔造了具有鲜明独特性格的中华农耕文明、游牧文明以及山林农牧文明，为中华文明在新的历史阶段的生长奠定了坚实的基础。这部著作，对于我们进一步清楚认识中华文明悠久的优秀传统，并准确和充分地理解中华文明具有突出的连续性这一重大论断有着较大的帮助。

全书图文并茂，深入浅出，一卷在手，读懂万年中国。本书已经列入"十四五"国家重点出版物出版规划，为"中华文明新探索丛书"中的第一部作品。