Khan Academy: An Introduction to Ancient China

We will refer to Ancient China as the time between the Neolithic period (ca. 6,000-ca. 1750 B.C.E.) and the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), This is the formative stage of Chinese civilization. During this time, what we now call China developed from a collection of isolated cultural communities to a set of organized states which eventually coalesced around the idea of a single unified state, and then expanded to include contact with other civilizations.