Archaeological evidence suggests that early hominids inhabited China between 250,000 and 2.24 million years ago.

[31] A cave in Zhoukoudian (near present-day Beijing) exhibits hominid fossils dated at between 680,000 and 780,000 BCE.[32] The fossils are of Peking Man, an example of Homo erectus who used fire.[33] The Peking Man site has also yielded remains of Homo sapiens dating back to 18,000 11,000 BCE.[34] Some scholars assert that a form of proto-writing existed in China as early as 3000 BCE.[35] According to Chinese tradition, the first imperial dynasty was the Xia, which emerged around 2070 BCE.[36] However, the dynasty was considered mythical by historians until scientific excavations found early Bronze Age sites at Erlitou, Henan in 1959.[37] It remains unclear whether these sites are the remains of the Xia Dynasty or of another culture from the same period.