ancient china By jsingh6 2100 BCE The legendary Xia dynasty is established 1045 BCE The western zhou dynasty begins (to 770 BCE) 551 BCE Confucius lives 500 BCE iron working begins in china 221 BCE the qin dynasty creates the chinese empire 184 BCE revolt of the yellow turbans 105 BCE the chinese invent a method of making paper from silk 65 BCE buddhism arrives in china from india