Although the downtown area was no more than a fishing village as recently as in the mid-19th century, Shanghai as an administrative region has a history much longer than that. It began as Huating County, an administrative district established in 751 AD in the south-western suburbs of the city. In 991 AD, the township of Shanghai was set up within the county. In the 14 years between 1260 and 1274, the town evolved into an important trade hub and in 1292, the central government approved the establishment of Shanghai County, which has been widely deemed as the official beginning of the City of Shanghai ...

From then on, the feudal history of China extended for more than 2,000 years and was shaped by the life and death of another 14 dynasties, including Han, Tang, Song, Ming and Qing. The highlights of this long period include some of the most well-known epics of ancient China, such as the Great Wall (first constructed by Qin Shi Huang), the Silk Road (opened during Han, 206-220 BC), the Four Great Inventions: paper, printing technology, the compass and gunpowder (introduced to the rest of the world between the 10th and 14th centuries) and Admiral Zhen He's great voyage to the Southern Oceans (between 1405 and 1433), the most ambitious exploration in the pre-Columbus era ...