Chinese civilization originated in various city-states along the Yellow River (Chinese: 黃河; pinyin: Huáng Hé) valley in the Neolithic era. The written history of China begins with the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600 BC - ca. 1100 BC). Turtle shells with ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty have been carbon dated to as early as 1500 BC. The origins of Chinese culture, literature and philosophy, developed during the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC to 256 BC) that followed the Shang. It was the longest lasting dynasty and spans the period in which the written script evolved from ancient oracle script to the beginnings of modern Chinese writing.

The feudal Zhou Dynasty eventually broke apart into individual city states, creating the Warring States period. In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huangdi united the various warring kingdoms and created the first Chinese empire. Successive dynasties in Chinese history developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the Emperor of China to directly control the vast territories.

The conventional view of Chinese history is that of a country alternating between periods of political unity and disunity and occasionally becoming dominated by foreign peoples, most of whom were assimilated into the Han Chinese population. Cultural and political influences from many parts of Asia, carried by successive waves of immigration, expansion, and assimilation, merged to create modern Chinese culture.

 

The People's Republic of China (PRC) officially recognises 56 distinct ethnic groups, the largest of which are Han Chinese, which constitutes about 91.9% of the total population. The 55 other ethnic groups are officially recognised as ethnic minority groups. The large ethnic minority groups in terms of population include the Zhuang at 16 million, the Manchu at 10 million, the Hui at 9 million, the Miao at 8 million, the Uyghur at 7 million, the Yi at 7 million, the Tujia at 5.75 million, the Mongols at 5 million, the Tibetans at 5 million, the Buyei at 3 million, and the Koreans at 2 million.

Minority population grows faster than that of the majority Han Chinese, in 1953 at 6.1%, in 1990 at 8.04%, in 2000 at 8.41％, and in 2005 at 9.44%. In the most recent survey, their population growth is about seven times faster than that of the Han Chinese.That is because the "One child policy only applies to the majority Han Chinese.

"Undistinguished" ethnic groups are ethnic groups that have not been officially recognized or classified by the central government. The group numbers more than 730,000 people, and would constitute the twentieth most populous ethnic group of China if taken as a single group. The vast majority of this group is found in Guizhou Province.

These "undistinguished ethnic groups" do not include groups that have been controversially classified into existing groups. For example, the Mosuo are officially classified as Naxi, and the Chuanqing are classified as Han Chinese, but they reject these classifications and view themselves as separate ethnic groups.

Citizens of mainland China who are of foreign origin are classified using yet another separate label: "foreigners naturalized into the Chinese citizenship" (外国人入中国籍). However, if there is a newly naturalized citizen who already belongs to a recognized existing group among the 56 ethnic groups (e.g. Han Chinese, Korean, Russian, Gin, Kazakh, etc.), then he or she is classified into that ethnic group rather than the special label.

 

Spoken Chinese (simplified Chinese: 中国话; traditional Chinese: 華語[1]) comprises many regional variants, the largest of which are Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. These varieties of spoken Chinese are, for the most part, not mutually intelligible.

Although the English word dialect is often used to translate the Chinese term fangyan (Chinese: 方言; literally "regional speech"), the differences between the major variants Chinese are great enough that they are mutually unintelligible, a criterion used by many linguists to distinguish different languages from dialects of a single language. However, most Chinese view them as variants of a single Chinese language, which is often a prime consideration of a dialect

In southern China (not including Hong Kong and Macau), where the difference between Standard Mandarin and local dialects are particularly pronounced, well-educated Chinese are generally fluent in Standard Mandarin, and most people have at least a good passive knowledge of it, in addition to being native speakers of the local dialect. The choice of dialect varies based on the social situation. Standard Mandarin is usually considered more formal and is required when speaking to a person who does not understand the local dialect. The local dialect (be it nonstandard Mandarin or non-Mandarin altogether) is generally considered more intimate and is used among close family members and friends and in everyday conversation within the local area. Chinese speakers will frequently code switch between Standard Mandarin and the local dialect. Parents will generally speak to their children in dialect, and the relationship between dialect and Mandarin appears to be mostly stable. Local languages give a sense of identity to local cultures.

Knowing the local dialect is of considerable social benefit and most Chinese who permanently move to a new area will attempt to pick up the local dialect. Learning a new dialect is usually done informally through a process of immersion and recognizing sound shifts. Generally the differences are more pronounced lexically than grammatically. Typically, a speaker of one dialect of Chinese will need about a year of immersion to understand the local dialect and about three to five years to become fluent in speaking it. Because of the variety of dialects spoken, there are usually few formal methods for learning a local dialect.

Due to the variety in Chinese speech, Mandarin speakers from each area of China are very often prone to fuse or "translate" words from their local tongue into their Mandarin conversations. In addition, each area of China has its recognizable accents while speaking Mandarin. Generally, the nationalized standard form of Mandarin pronunciation is only heard on news and radio broadcasts. Even in the streets of Beijing, the flavour of Mandarin varies in pronunciation from the Mandarin heard on the media.

The spoken languages of nationalities that are a part of the People's Republic of China belong to at least seven families:

The Sino-Tibetan family: 28 nationalities (including the Han, Tibetans, Miao (Hmong), and Yao)

The Altaic family: 17 (including the Uyghurs, Mongols, and Manchu)

The Austroasiatic family: 4 (the De'ang, Blang, Gin (Vietnamese), and Wa)

The Tai-Kadai family: several languages spoken by the Zhuang, the Buyei, the Dai people, the Dong people, and the Hlai (Li people).

The Indo-European family: 2 (the Russians and Tajiks)

The Austronesian family: 1 official nationality (the Gaoshan, who speak many languages), 1 unofficial (the Utsuls, who speak the Tsat language but are considered Hui.)

Language isolate: 1 (the Koreans)

Chinese banknotes contain several scripts in addition to Chinese script. These are:

Mongol

Tibetan

Arabic (for Uyghur)

Latin (for Zhuang)