Five thousand years of Chinese civilization

Five thousand years of Chinese civilization (or 5000 years of Chinese history^[1]) is an expression or assertion widely circulated since the late Qing dynasty that China has five thousand years of history or civilization. First disseminated by European missionaries in the 17th century, the expression is commonly found especially in the Chinese-speaking world by the early 20th century to show that China has a long-lasting history, although it is sometimes used by the governments and media as an instrument of Chinese nationalism.^[2] Even though the archaeological evidence for China's ancient history is not yet sufficient, the belief that the history of China is at least 5,000 years old, and that China is one of the Four Great Ancient Civilizations, is deeply ingrained in popular culture.^[3]