China

Area near Peking was home to hominids 500,000 BCE; Chinese civilization in the south by 7000 BCE; beginning in the 18th century BCE, ruled by many great dynasties including Shang, Chou, Han, T'ang, Sung, Chin, Mongol, Ming, Ch'ing, and Manchu, with often-changing boundaries; official language is Mandarin Chinese, though standard Chinese, Yue, Wu, Minbei, Minnan, Xiang, Gan, Hakka and minority languages are also spoken; Pinyin is official romanized form of writing.