China is the world's oldest continuous major civilization, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. Successive dynasties developed systems of bureaucratic control, which gave the agrarian-based Chinese an advantage over neighbouring nomadic and mountain dwelling cultures. The development of a state ideology based on Confucianism (100 BC) and a common system of writing (200 BC) both strengthened Chinese civilization. Politically, China alternated between …showed first 75 words of 286 total…

…showed last 75 words of 286 total…imperialism while simultaneously extending control into Central Asia. In the early 20th century, the institution of the Emperor of China disappeared, and China entered a period of disunion started by the Chinese Civil War. There are now two nations which lay formal claim to the title of "China": the People's Republic of China (also called "Mainland China") and the pre-revolution government of the Republic of China which administers Taiwan and several small islands of Fujian.