ocr: China has the world's oldest continuous civilization. Its recorded history begins 4,000 years ago with the Shang dynasty, foundedi int the northi in 1766 BC. Succeeding dynasties expanded China's boundaries;it: reachedi its greatest territorial extent under the Manchu (Qing) dynasty: in the 18th century. Chinese isolationism frustrated Europe's attempts to expand into the empire until the 19th century, when China hadf fallen behind the industrializing West. For the previous 3,000y years,it had been one ofthe world's most advancedi nations. a 1839-1860 Opium Wars with Britain. China defeated; f ...
