NEOLITHIC: (about 12,000BP-2200BC) Cave dwellers, early settlements around water, to small towns of specific ethnic association. Artifacts include stone/bone/shell/wood/horn tools, beads, simple sun/moon/earth-worship antiquities, fine decorated pottery vessels, and some animalistic and astrological-type jades of laborious workmanship. This dynasty saw the emergence of snake, tortoise, tiger, hare, fish, dragon & bird/phoenix as major symbols of shamanistic power and clan identity. Burial practices of incorporating large amounts of precious objects established, and silk discovery produces a world-class material.

XIA-SHANG Dynasties: (22nd century BC - end of 12th C. BC) Early alliances produced major power assertion of a ruling family, a trend that would continue throughout Chinese history. 2,000 city-states arose across the land. Development of writing, bronze metallurgy, money, musical instruments and trade from afar. Inscriptions on bronze vessels are among the earliest written records of civilization. Continual wars produced large numbers of captives/slaves that were the labor-base for the nobility.

ZHOU(Chou) Dynasty: (End of 12th C. BC to 221 BC) Consolidation of the many into the few: By the 4th C. BC, five major "states" vied for power. Elaborate trade networks required large amounts of fine bronze coins in various natural shapes; the finest craftsmanship produced exquisite decorative pottery, bronzes, jades, ivories and glass. Iron-working perfected for the first time, with states vying for control of the raw metal. Horse-drawn vehicles sprouted everywhere, and the crossbow revolutionized warfare. Carved jades called the "highest forms of money and wealth". Though tumultuous times, the voices of Lao-Tzu and Confucius emerged from the Zhou as beacons of moral and spiritual right, carrying the Chinese of all levels into the modern world. Slave society evolves into feudalism, as large landholders jockey for control of the regional governments. Live burial of relatives eliminated by Confucius.

QIN(Chin)/HAN Dynasties: (221BC-220AD) Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Emperor, unified China over a period of thirty years. He built roads, standardized laws, weights and measures, extracting large annual sums in tribute. A commoner rising to General would defeat his son and establish the HAN Dynasty in 207BC, ushering in the golden age of Chinese culture and thought. Private ownership of land in some regions encouraged by illuminated magistrates. Jade culture at zenith, with jade burial suits encasing rulers for eternal protection, and massive pottery armies standing at watch in the tombs. Massive stone sculptural tradition emerges, especially around the major tombs of the rulers. Unification of the empire spawns the Great Wall. and trade is extensive with the outlying provincial areas, silk being the most profitable. (It is said that the demand within the Roman Empire for Chinese silk was so insatiable that it virtually bankrupted Rome and directly led to its downfall in the 5th and 6th centuries AD).

SIX DYNASTIES: (220AD-589AD) This dynasty saw another period of unrest and conflict. Jade culture in decline, as many small dynasties struggle against corruption, natural disasters that produced widespread famine. There was extensive movement of ethnic tribes, the Mongols expanding southward into Qinghai and Tibet. Collapse of trade, but Buddhism - coming over the mountains from India - catches hold in the West among the elite.

SUI/TANG Dynasties (589-906 AD) Cultural reawakening among the Emperor, his family and the court. Buddhism was allowed to take precedence over Daoism and Confucionism, which resulted in a mass reaction against it during the late 9th century. Contacts and trade reestablished with the far-flung tribes of the Empire, producing massive amounts of glass beads and other trade items. Large glazed and unglazed pottery animals and officials adorned the tombs of the great and near-great, but jade creation limited to a few auspicious figures and decorative belt fittings.

LIAO (907-1125AD) and JIN (overlapping, later) Dynasties Northern tribes assert themselves, but cannot conquer the south. This is left to the SONG (Sung) dynasty.

SONG(Sung) Dynasty (that held off the Mongols from 960-1279AD) strengthened Confucionism as the state "religion" and made rigorous testing compulsory for the myriad of officials that ruled the country on a daily basis. Painting, literature, music, and the other arts flourished, and a literati developed that often renounced wealth and power in favor of scholarly pursuits. Jade collecting and use mushroomed, with kings & emperors vying for the best things that could be found in "excavations" (grave robbing was an endeavor sponsored by the ruling family) or created by the officially subsidized workshops in the major cities of the East. Pure white nephrite was esteemed and prices rose for the best raw material that could be found in the western mountains of Turkestan (todays Xinjiang Province).

YUAN Dynasty (1279-1368AD) China was just one of the many conquests of Ghenghis Khan and his followers. The visits of Marco Polo made China finally "known" around Europe, introducing them to tea, gunpowder, white and color-glazed porcelain, jade and paper money, among other things. But the Mongols were great conquerors but terrible administrators. Before the end of a hundred years they had lost the will to rule, and gave way to a native family more adept at intrigue and control of a far-flung empire.

MING Dynasty (1368-1644AD) A wonderful period in China, when the country was at peace, the arts continued to flourish, and trade with the other nations of Asia (especially Indonesia and the Philippines) grew to extensive proportions. The raw material of jade was available and flowed to the carving centers, and the patron-commission system allowed newly-wealthy merchants to acquire jades (when previously such ownership was restricted to the titled and landed nobility or royalty).

QING (Ching) Dynasty (1644-1911AD) Another revolt brought the Manchus to power (from Manchuria, in the far northeast of the country). Life for the ordinary Chinese changed little, and Emperor Kangxi and his grandson Qinlong were great scholars and patrons of the arts. They expanded the Palace workshops paying the talented carvers well and made sure that the finest jade material flowed into the Imperial treasuries. Only in the 19th century did the interest and quality in jade craftsmanship slip, as superficial decorative accessories in amber, coral, silver, gold and blue kingfisher feathers, for example, were among the things that supplanted them.

1911 REVOLUTION to PRESENT Interest in things from the old and disgraced dynastic periods was discouraged by the governments and social mores during much of the 20th century. The Republican period (generally thought of as 1912-1937 or so , when China was invaded by Japan) saw many jade workshops closed, with some of the few remaining catering to overseas tastes. Only in the last 30 years or so has a "highly active consortium of forgers" set about to fool collectors (and not just foreigners) with counterfeit bronzes, pottery and jades. Prior periods saw mostly isolated fakery: individual efforts on a small scale. This is contrasted with the legitimate pieces made in the time-honored traditions of the past that were reverently done - not to fool but to satisfy. That the Chinese of the last 1000 years felt so good about their history and craft traditions that they commissioned many pieces similar (to the best creations of the ancient Zhou and Han) emphasizes both the continuum that characterizes the long history of China and her art as well as the high level of jadecraft that the ancients had achieved during the 1st millenium BC.