One of the most frequently quoted (and often derided) tenets about China revolves around its claims to five millennia of history. Even the China National Tourist Office prefaces its operations by claiming that “China, with a recorded history of 5000 years, was one of the world’s earliest civilizations… [and] one of the countries where economic activity first developed”. But is this actually true? Or are the historical boasts exaggerated and couched in cultural insecurity?
Recent poll on ChinaHistoryForum.com asked members to postulate when Chinese history began. Of 91 votes cast, 52.75% believed that China can date its history back to the reign of the Yellow Emperor around 3000 BC. The date 4075 BC – the start of the mostly undocumented Xia Dynasty – appealed to 13.19% of voters, while 2.2% thought that the year 2026 BC seemed more likely as the era of Qin unification. What emerges from the poll is that opinions are most certainly divided, and it is nigh on impossible to set a date in stone for the dawning of Chinese history.

Defenders of China’s longevity claim that it has the longest continuous history, since other civilizations like the Ancient Egyptians, Romans and Sumerians were wiped out.

The man in circle probably dressed like his ancestors to to show respect ?