East Asia (2637 – 910 BCE): Rivers, Metals, and the Rise of States

Regional Overview

During the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, East Asia emerged as one of the world’s great civilizational heartlands.
From the Yellow and Yangtze valleys of China to the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Taiwan, and the highlands and steppe corridors of western China and Mongolia, societies transformed irrigation, metallurgy, and writing into the instruments of state power.
This was an age of hydraulic empires, bronze workshops, and expanding frontiers, when settled farmers, mobile herders, and maritime voyagers together forged the cultural matrix that would define East Asia’s classical eras.

Geography and Environment

East Asia’s vast domain encompassed temperate plains, subtropical coasts, and alpine plateaus.
The Yellow River carved loess terraces ideal for millet and wheat, while the Yangtze Delta offered lush paddies for rice.
To the north and west lay the steppe and desert margins—Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Gansu—where grasslands merged into arid basins and mountain ranges.
Along the Pacific rim, the Korean and Japanese archipelagos formed the maritime frontier, linked to the mainland by currents and trade.
These diverse settings sustained a continuum from intensive wet-rice agriculture to high-pasture nomadism.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

Holocene stability continued, though alternating floods, droughts, and cool spells along the Yellow River spurred engineering and migration.
Monsoon rains sustained southern rice fields, while drier cycles reshaped steppe pastures.
Environmental mastery—levees, canals, and paddy works—became the defining measure of political capacity.

Societies and Political Developments

By the mid-third millennium BCE, the Longshan culture of northern China had introduced walled towns and social hierarchy, evolving into the Erlitou state (often equated with the semi-legendary Xia).
The Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) institutionalized bronze ritual, written records, and urban administration; its successor, the early Zhou, extended feudal rule across the plains.
In the south, Liangzhu and its heirs built water-managed jade-working centers.
Across the steppe rim, pastoral chiefdoms traded horses and metalwork with the settled zones, while in Korea, the Mumun culture advanced agriculture and monumental dolmen building.
The Jōmon peoples of Japan refined a maritime-forest economy, their cord-marked ceramics among the world’s oldest continuous traditions.

Economy and Technology

Agriculture anchored all development: millet and wheat in the north, rice in the south, supplemented by legumes, fruit trees, and silk production.
Bronze metallurgy reached unprecedented artistry under the Shang, producing ornate vessels, chariot fittings, and weapons.
Iron smelting appeared toward the close of this era, transforming farming and warfare.
Riverine and coastal transport expanded trade in jade, salt, ceramics, and textiles; the Yangtze Delta became a maritime hub connecting inland producers with Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.
In the west, the Hexi Corridor and Tarim oases formed early nodes of the Silk Road, moving jade eastward and horses west.

Belief, Writing, and Art

Shang oracle-bone inscriptions inaugurated Chinese writing, binding religion and administration.
Bronze vessels embodied a theology of ancestor worship and royal mediation between Heaven and Earth.
In the south, jade rituals expressed a cosmology of water and fertility; in the steppe, stone stelae and kurgan rings honored sky gods and heroic ancestors.
Across Korea and Japan, dolmens, shell mounds, and figurines encoded lineage and territorial identity.
Art and ritual thus formed a shared grammar of power from the Pacific to the Altai.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

East Asia’s civilizations grew through constant motion.
Caravan and river routes carried goods from the Tarim Basin to the Yellow Plain; maritime passages through the Bohai, East China, and Japan Seas linked coastal polities and disseminated crops, metals, and ideas.
These overlapping land and sea networks prefigured the trans-Eurasian and trans-Pacific exchange systems of later antiquity.

Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Flood-control levees, paddy irrigation, and terrace farming stabilized yields in volatile climates.
Nomadic mobility balanced the steppe’s shifting pastures, while coastal fishers diversified protein sources and trade goods.
In every zone, societies developed adaptive mosaics of agriculture, herding, and craft that cushioned environmental stress and underpinned political endurance.

Regional Synthesis and Long-Term Significance

By 910 BCE, East Asia was a continent of interconnected yet distinctive worlds:

• In China, bronze states and written administration redefined governance.

• In Korea and Japan, agrarian and megalithic cultures matured along maritime arteries.

• In the western highlands and steppe, mobile herders linked China to Central Asia’s metallurgical frontier.

Together these traditions laid the foundations of the classical Chinese, Korean, and Japanese civilizations, and established East Asia’s lasting role as a pivot between the land empires of Eurasia and the oceanic cultures of the Pacific.

Maritime East Asia (2637 – 910 BCE): River Valleys, Coastal Plains, and Early States

Geographic and Environmental Context

Martitime East Asia—including eastern China, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan—was anchored by fertile river basins such as the Yellow River and Yangtze River, alongside extensive coastal plains and sheltered inland seas. The Bohai Gulf, East China Sea, and Sea of Japan created maritime corridors, while inland mountain ranges like the Qinling and Taebaek defined cultural and ecological boundaries. The climate ranged from temperate in the north to subtropical in the south, fostering diverse agricultural systems.

Agriculture and Early Civilizations

By the mid–third millennium BCE, the north’s Yellow River basin supported millet and wheat farming, while the Yangtze basin cultivated rice in sophisticated paddy systems. These agricultural foundations sustained some of East Asia’s earliest complex societies.

• In the Yellow River region, the late Longshan culture (c. 3000–1900 BCE) developed rammed-earth walled towns, elaborate pottery, and social stratification, laying the groundwork for the emergence of the Erlitou cultur e(c. 1900–1500 BCE), often identified with the semi-legendary Xia dynasty.

• The Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) established one of the first fully documented states in East Asia, with urban centers, palatial compounds, and control over large territories through networks of allied and subordinate polities.

• In the Yangtze basin, complex cultures such as Liangzhu (before c. 2300 BCE) and its successors specialized in jade production, hydrological engineering, and ceremonial centers.

Technological and Cultural Developments

Bronze metallurgy flourished under the Shang, producing ritual vessels, weapons, and chariot fittings of extraordinary skill. Oracle bone script emerged as the earliest known form of Chinese writing, used for divination and state record-keeping. Jade carving traditions—especially in Liangzhu-descended communities—produced bi disks and cong tubes, objects central to ritual and elite identity.
In Korea, the Mumun period (c. 1500–300 BCE) introduced intensive agriculture, large-scale dolmens, and bronze weaponry. In Japan, the Jōmon culture maintained a hunter-fisher-gatherer economy with some plant cultivation, producing highly distinctive cord-marked pottery and shell middens that attest to rich coastal subsistence.

Maritime Networks and Exchange

Coastal and riverine transport tied together communities across Lower East Asia. The Yangtze Deltaacted as a hub for trade in jade, ceramics, and textiles, while the Shandong Peninsula facilitated contact between northern China and the Korean Peninsula. Early seafaring along the East China Sea connected mainland cultures with Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands, moving nephrite jade, shell ornaments, and possibly agricultural crops.

Cultural and Symbolic Expressions

In the north, Shang ritual life centered on ancestor worship, with elaborate bronze vessels used in feasts and sacrifices. In the south, water-focused cosmologies and earth–sky symbolism infused jade artistry and ceremonial landscapes. Across Korea and Japan, monumental burial sites—dolmens in Korea, shell mounds in Japan—served as both funerary monuments and markers of social memory.

Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Communities engineered river levees, paddy fields, and irrigation channels to manage seasonal flooding and droughts. Coastal fishing villages diversified diets with shellfish, seaweed, and marine fish, buffering agricultural shortfalls. In Korea and Japan, seasonal resource scheduling allowed balanced exploitation of marine and terrestrial environments.

Transition to the Early First Millennium BCE

By 910 BCE, Martitime East Asia was a region of dynamic cultural interaction and technological sophistication. In China, the Shang state’s political, economic, and ritual systems set precedents for later dynasties, while in Korea and Japan, evolving agricultural and maritime traditions created the foundations for complex societies that would integrate more fully into continental networks in the centuries ahead.

Maritime East Asia (2637 – 910 BCE): River Valleys, Coastal Plains, and Early States

Geographic and Environmental Context

Martitime East Asia—including eastern China, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan—was anchored by fertile river basins such as the Yellow River and Yangtze River, alongside extensive coastal plains and sheltered inland seas. The Bohai Gulf, East China Sea, and Sea of Japan created maritime corridors, while inland mountain ranges like the Qinling and Taebaek defined cultural and ecological boundaries. The climate ranged from temperate in the north to subtropical in the south, fostering diverse agricultural systems.

Agriculture and Early Civilizations

By the mid–third millennium BCE, the north’s Yellow River basin supported millet and wheat farming, while the Yangtze basin cultivated rice in sophisticated paddy systems. These agricultural foundations sustained some of East Asia’s earliest complex societies.

• In the Yellow River region, the late Longshan culture (c. 3000–1900 BCE) developed rammed-earth walled towns, elaborate pottery, and social stratification, laying the groundwork for the emergence of the Erlitou cultur e(c. 1900–1500 BCE), often identified with the semi-legendary Xia dynasty.

• The Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) established one of the first fully documented states in East Asia, with urban centers, palatial compounds, and control over large territories through networks of allied and subordinate polities.

• In the Yangtze basin, complex cultures such as Liangzhu (before c. 2300 BCE) and its successors specialized in jade production, hydrological engineering, and ceremonial centers.

Technological and Cultural Developments

Bronze metallurgy flourished under the Shang, producing ritual vessels, weapons, and chariot fittings of extraordinary skill. Oracle bone script emerged as the earliest known form of Chinese writing, used for divination and state record-keeping. Jade carving traditions—especially in Liangzhu-descended communities—produced bi disks and cong tubes, objects central to ritual and elite identity.
In Korea, the Mumun period (c. 1500–300 BCE) introduced intensive agriculture, large-scale dolmens, and bronze weaponry. In Japan, the Jōmon culture maintained a hunter-fisher-gatherer economy with some plant cultivation, producing highly distinctive cord-marked pottery and shell middens that attest to rich coastal subsistence.

Maritime Networks and Exchange

Coastal and riverine transport tied together communities across Lower East Asia. The Yangtze Deltaacted as a hub for trade in jade, ceramics, and textiles, while the Shandong Peninsula facilitated contact between northern China and the Korean Peninsula. Early seafaring along the East China Sea connected mainland cultures with Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands, moving nephrite jade, shell ornaments, and possibly agricultural crops.

Cultural and Symbolic Expressions

In the north, Shang ritual life centered on ancestor worship, with elaborate bronze vessels used in feasts and sacrifices. In the south, water-focused cosmologies and earth–sky symbolism infused jade artistry and ceremonial landscapes. Across Korea and Japan, monumental burial sites—dolmens in Korea, shell mounds in Japan—served as both funerary monuments and markers of social memory.

Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Communities engineered river levees, paddy fields, and irrigation channels to manage seasonal flooding and droughts. Coastal fishing villages diversified diets with shellfish, seaweed, and marine fish, buffering agricultural shortfalls. In Korea and Japan, seasonal resource scheduling allowed balanced exploitation of marine and terrestrial environments.

Transition to the Early First Millennium BCE

By 910 BCE, Martitime East Asia was a region of dynamic cultural interaction and technological sophistication. In China, the Shang state’s political, economic, and ritual systems set precedents for later dynasties, while in Korea and Japan, evolving agricultural and maritime traditions created the foundations for complex societies that would integrate more fully into continental networks in the centuries ahead.

Chinese civilization, as described in mythology, begins with Pangu, the creator of the universe, and a succession of legendary sage-emperors and culture heroes who teach the ancient Chinese to communicate and to find sustenance, clothing, and shelter.

The first prehistoric dynasty is said to be Xia, from about the twenty-first to the sixteenth century BCE.

Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Anyang, Henan Province, in 1928, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the Xia, but since then, and especially in the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the existence of Xia civilization in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts.

At minimum, the Xia period marks an evolutionary stage between the late neolithic cultures and the Chinese urban civilization typical of the Shang dynasty.

The last Shang ruler, a despot according to standard Chinese accounts, is overthrown by a chieftain of a frontier tribe called Zhou, which had settled in the Wei Valley in modern Shaanxi Province.

The Zhou dynasty has its capital at Hao, near the city of Xi'an, or Chang'an, as it is known in its heyday in the imperial period.

Sharing the language and culture of the Shang, the early Zhou rulers, through conquest and colonization, gradually sinicize, that is, extend Shang culture through much of China Proper north of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River).

The Zhou dynasty will last longer than any other, from 1027 to 221 BCE.

It is philosophers of this period who first enunciate the doctrine of the "mandate of heaven" (tianming), the notion that the ruler (the "son of heaven") governs by divine right but that his dethronement would prove that he had lost the mandate.

The doctrine explains and justifies the demise of the two earlier dynasties and at the same time supports the legitimacy of present and future rulers.

A line of hereditary Shang kings rules over much of northern China, and Shang troops fight frequent wars with neighboring settlements and nomadic herdsmen from the inner Asian steppes.

The capitals, one of which is at the site of the modern city of Anyang, are centers of glittering court life.

Court rituals to propitiate spirits and to honor sacred ancestors are highly developed.

In addition to his secular position, the king is the head of the ancestor- and spirit-worship cult.

Evidence from the royal tombs indicates that royal personages were buried with articles of value, presumably for use in the afterlife.

Perhaps for the same reason, hundreds of commoners, who may have been slaves, are buried alive with the royal corpse.

Thousands of archaeological finds in the Yellow River or Huang He Valley—the apparent cradle of Chinese civilization—provide evidence about the Shang dynasty, which endured roughly from 1700 to 1027 BCE.

The Shang dynasty (also called the Yin dynasty in its later stages) is believed to have been founded by a rebel leader who overthrew the last Xia ruler.

Its civilization is based on agriculture, augmented by hunting and animal husbandry.

Two important events of the period are the development of a writing system, as revealed in archaic Chinese inscriptions found on tortoise shells and flat cattle bones (commonly called oracle bones), and the use of bronze metallurgy.

A number of ceremonial bronze vessels with inscriptions date from the Shang period; the workmanship on the bronzes attests to a high level of civilization.

The Rise of Bronze Metallurgy and the Beginning of the Bronze Age (c. 2637 BCE)

The Bronze Age marks a transformative period in human technological and social development, characterized by the widespread use of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin typically mixed in a 10:1 ratio. This shift led to major advancements in toolmaking, weaponry, and ornamentation, gradually replacing stone tools and setting the stage for urbanization and state formation.

The Traditional Dating of the Bronze Age

• The beginning of the Bronze Age is traditionally dated to 2637 BCE, corresponding to the first year of the Chinese calendar.
• However, regional variations in bronze metallurgy suggest that bronze production emerged independently in different parts of the world at different times.

Key Developments During the Bronze Age

• Metallurgical Innovation:

  • The discovery of copper-tin alloying allowed for the creation of stronger, more durable tools and weapons.
  • Bronze had a lower melting point than pure copper, making it easier to cast into complex shapes.

• Widespread Use in Tools, Weapons, and Ornaments:

  • Bronze swords, axes, and spearheads revolutionized warfare and hunting.
  • Plows and agricultural tools improved farming efficiency, boosting food production.
  • Jewelry and ceremonial artifacts became symbols of status and wealth.

• Urbanization and the Growth of Early States:

  • The development of metallurgy spurred trade networks, as tin and copper had to be sourced from different regions.
  • Societies became more hierarchical, with metal production controlled by ruling elites and specialized artisans.
  • The emergence of writing systems (e.g., Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs) coincided with the growth of early civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China.

The Transition to the Iron Age

• The Bronze Age lasted for over seventeen centuries, until the rise of iron metallurgy, which gradually replaced bronze in toolmaking and warfare.
• Iron was more abundant than tin, making it a more sustainable and widely available material.
• The Iron Age ushered in new technological and military developments, further advancing human civilization.

The Bronze Age was a crucial turning point in prehistory, fostering technological progress, social complexity, and economic expansion, shaping the foundations of many early civilizations that would influence the course of human history.

Shimao (石峁): An Upper East Asian Citadel of the Late Neolithic

Rising above the northern edge of the Loess Plateau in today’s Shenmu County, Shaanxi, Shimao was the largest fortified settlement of the Late Neolithic in northern China, active roughly 2300–1800 BCE. At its height, Shimao extended over 400 hectares, dwarfing its contemporaries and anchoring a frontier zone between the agrarian heartlands to the south and the pastoral–foraging cultures of the Ordos and northern steppes. Built of massive stone walls—unusual in Neolithic China—the city’s terraced fortifications, palatial platform, and gates lined with human sacrifices reveal an emerging political order shaped by competition, display, and the orchestration of labor at unprecedented scales.

Shimao’s most remarkable signatures are its jade-rich assemblages and hybrid symbolic program. Jade plaques, blades, scepters, animal ornaments, and inlaid wall mosaics echo Longshan jade traditions yet appear in far greater volume and more northerly style. Thin-walled black pottery and carved motifs show a selective adoption of material traits from the Longshan cultural sphere, which extended through Shandong and northern Henan. At the same time, Shimao’s iconography—especially its stone-carved masks, stepped terraces, and animal–spirit imagery—draws from older northern traditions of the Ordos and steppe worlds. This cultural hybridity positions Shimao as a frontier capital, mediating between millet-farming societies to the south and mobile pastoralists to the north.

Recent findings reveal extensive craft specialization—workshops for jade, stone, bone, and horn, along with evidence of textile production—and an elite compound separated by inner walls. The scale of construction, repeated remodeling, and rich ritual deposits suggest a powerful ruling lineage at Shimao that commanded long-distance trade in jade and other prestige goods. Climate shifts around 2000 BCE, along with emerging Bronze Age powers to the south, likely contributed to its decline, but the site’s influence endured in the cultural memory and political formations of the early northern states.

Upper East Asia (2637 – 910 BCE): Highlands, Deserts, and Steppe Crossroads

Geographic and Environmental Context

Upper East Asia—including Mongolia and the broad highland and basin regions of western China (Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, and western Heilongjiang)—was a landscape of extreme contrasts. Towering ranges like the Altai, Tien Shan, Kunlun, and Himalayas enclosed plateaus, desert basins such as the Tarim and Qaidam, and vast open steppe. The climate was sharply continental and often arid, with long cold winters, short summers, and sharply limited growing seasons outside irrigated oases.

Subsistence and Mobility

By the mid–third millennium BCE, most of the open steppe and semi-arid basins were the domain of pastoral nomads herding sheep, goats, cattle, and horses, with seasonal mobility ensuring access to fresh pastures. In oases and river valleys—especially in the Tarim Basin and along the upper Yellow River—irrigated farming supported wheat, barley, and millet, often alongside orchard crops.
Hunting of wild ungulates, gazelle, and antelope supplemented pastoral and agricultural production, while in high-altitude Tibet and Qinghai, herders adapted to low-oxygen environments with yak domestication, integrating wool, milk, and transport into their economies.

Technological and Cultural Developments

Upper East Asia’s position between Central Asia and East Asia made it a conduit for major technological shifts. Early bronze metallurgy arrived from the west via steppe exchange networks, producing tools, weapons, and ornaments that blended Central Asian and local styles. Pottery traditions ranged from plain utilitarian wares in nomadic camps to finely decorated vessels in settled farming communities.
In the Ordos and Altai regions, early evidence of chariotry and horse gear appears in the late third to early second millennium BCE, paralleling developments in the Andronovo and Seima–Turbino horizons further west.

Cultural Networks and Population Movements

Archaeological and genetic evidence suggests that Upper East Asia was a zone of population exchange. Bronze and stone artifacts from the Chemurchek culture of western Mongolia show affinities with both steppe metallurgical centers and Xinjiang oasis cultures. Movement along the Hexi Corridor connected these highland and steppe groups with the early Qijia culture of Gansu, an important link between steppe pastoralists and early Chinese farming societies.

Burials and Symbolism

Burial practices in Mongolia and Xinjiang often involved stone slab cists or circular enclosures, sometimes with anthropomorphic stelae. These monuments, often aligned to celestial events, reflect both social prestige and ritual cosmology. In the Tarim Basin, early cemeteries—such as those of the Xiaohe culture—featured wooden coffins, woolen textiles, and grave goods indicating far-flung trade connections, including materials of Central Asian and even West Asian origin.

Trade and Exchange Routes

Upper East Asia’s oases and valleys formed early nodes in what would become the Silk Road. Goods such as jade from the Kunlun Mountains moved east toward the Yellow River, while metal, horses, and livestock products traveled west into Central Asia. The Altai–Tien Shan corridor funneled cultural and technological innovations in both directions.

Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Pastoralists optimized survival in marginal climates through mobility, herd diversification, and knowledge of seasonal pastures. Oasis farmers used irrigation channels and floodwater diversion to stabilize yields. In the high plateaus, yak herding, insulated dwellings, and seasonal transhumance allowed communities to endure harsh winters and thin air.

Transition to the Early First Millennium BCE

By 910 BCE, Upper East Asia was firmly embedded in trans-Eurasian exchange networks. Its peoples combined the mobility of the steppe with the resource management of settled oasis farmers, creating a cultural mosaic that would later play a central role in the Silk Road’s formative centuries.