Which country has a longer continuous history, China or India?

哪个国家的历史更有连续性，中国还是印度？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Nguyễn Đình Quý

Both China and India.

中国和印度都是如此。

Origins of India: India claims the Indus Valley Civilization as “India”, but we find no evidence supporting this. The Indian core culture traced back to the Vedic period, circa 1500–600 BCE with the first Vedic texts in Indian script. Ancient India ended with the founding of the Mauryan Empire of Ashoka the Great in 268 BCE, after which it entered the Classical period.

印度的起源：印度把印度河流域文明称为“印度文明”的开始，但我们还没有找到支持这一说法的证据。印度的核心文化可以追溯到吠陀时期，大约公元前1500-600年，最早的印度文字是吠陀文卷。公元前268年阿育王孔雀帝国的建立宣告了古印度的终结，此后进入了古典时期。

Ancient India timeline:

1500 BCE: rise of the Vedic period

1200 BCE: Kuru Kingdom

600 BCE: Second urbanization

600–400 BCE: Maghada Kingdom

325 BCE: Invasion of Alexander the Great

269 BCE: Ashoka crowned emperor

古印度时间线：

公元前1500年：吠陀时期的兴起

公元前1200年：库鲁王国

公元前600年：第二次城市化

公元前600-400年：摩揭陀王国

公元前325年：亚历山大大帝入侵

公元前269年：阿育王加冕为皇帝

Origins of China:China claims the ia dynasty as “China”, but again we don’t find actual evidence that it is necessary Chinese or another civilization. The Chinese core culture traced back to the Shang dynasty, circa 1550 BCE with the first Chinese texts in oracle bone inscription. Ancient China ended in 221 BCE when Qin Shi Huang proclaimed emperor, and the country entered the Imperial period.

中国的起源：中国将夏朝称为“华夏文明”的开始，但我们也尚未找到实际的证据表明夏朝是中国文明或其他文明。中国的核心文化可以追溯到商朝，大约公元前1550年，中国文字首次出现在甲骨文上。公元前221年秦始皇称帝，宣告了古代中国的结束，中国进入了帝制时期。

Ancient China timeline:

1550 BCE: Early Shang dynasty and Erligang city-states.

1250 BCE: Late Shang dynasty

1045 BCE: Rise of the Zhou dynasty

771–475 BCE: Spring and Autumn Period

475–221 BCE: Warring States period

221 BCE: Qin Shi Huang crowned emperor.

古代中国时间线：

公元前1550年：商朝早期和二里岗城邦。

公元前1250年：商朝晚期

公元前1045年：周朝的崛起

公元前771-475年：春秋时期

公元前475-221年：战国时期

公元前221年：秦始皇称帝。

Mathers Marshall

China has been a continuous country, culture and civilization for 4,000 years, whereas India is simply a name of civilization.

中国是一个延续了4000年的国家、文化和文明，而印度只是一个文明的名字。

After reading and watching a lot on Quora, reddit and YouTube (especially Reddit), now I'm certain that it's impossible (not simply difficult) to explain Chinese history to Europeans and Americans, who have fragmented and short history from their very begng to modern days, which is completely opposite to that of China. So I'm gradually aware that explaining Chinese history to them is just like explaining the feeling of male orgasm to women. Google the meaning of "夏虫不可语冰".

我在Quora、Reddit和YouTube(尤其是Reddit)上看过了很多五花八门的言论，现在我很确定，向欧洲人和美国人解释中国历史是不可能完成的任务(不是单纯的困难了)，他们自己从古至今的历史都是碎片化的、短暂的，和中国的历史完全相反。所以我逐渐意识到，向她们解释中国历史，就像向女人解释男人的高潮感觉一样。你可以搜一下“夏虫不可语冰”这句话的含义。

Even as to the Chinese culture, it's perfectly continuous too, as Chinese kept their main body of culture perfectly and what happened was simply to have been evolving gradually, absorbing from surroundings and choosing to change from interior, rather than being conquered and forced to change from exterior, like Iran and India. However! what do they expect? A still culture, yes, really really still, completely still, with almost no evolution, for thousands of years... Yes, from my observation, their history are too short such that they even don’t know what evolution is...

中国文化是完全连续的，因为中国人完美地保留了他们的文化主体，随着历史的推进逐渐演变，他们从周围环境中吸收，从内部进行改变，而不是被外界征服、被迫从外部进行改变，就像伊朗和印度那样。但是！西方人希望看到的是什么呢？一个一成不变的文化，是的，真的完全停滞，完全不变，几千年来保持不变……是的，根据我的观察，西方的历史太短了，他们甚至不知道进化是什么东西……

So I give up. Good luck.

So for being relieved, you can keep reading Reddit posts or watching YouTube videos made by those people who don't know Chinese language and history just like you, where they would be very happy and eager to tell you that actually China's not continuous with his 2,000 words "introduction", just like how someone happily and eagerly preaches the flat earth theory with zero real knowledge.

所以我放弃了。祝你好运。

所以，你可以继续浏览Reddit上的帖子，观看YouTube上那些和你一样不懂中文和历史的人制作的视频，他们非常乐意、非常渴望告诉你，根据他起草的2000字“介绍”，中国的历史并不连贯，就像曾经有人在对科学毫无了解的情况下兴奋地宣传地平论一样。

Besides content makers who are not informed (as in the last paragraph), it will be more likely to find some who have a historical complex, jealousy towards China, or special political intention against China

Some day I'll collect some Reddit posts slandering Chinese history to show them to Chinese on Chinese TikTok. I believe they’re very nice video material and there must be many Chinese curious about how experts and celebrities there without knowledge discuss about the flat-earth-theory-style thing with their own 2,000 words teaching articles.

除了不知情的内容制造者，我们还很有可能发现一些对中国抱有历史情结、嫉妒中国或对中国有特殊政治意图的人

改天我会在Reddit上收集一些诋毁中国历史的帖子，转发到中国的抖音上给中国人看。我相信它们会是非常好的视频素材，肯定有很多中国人好奇那些专家和名人如何用他们2000字的教学文章讨论地平论之类的东西。

Esmailjee Mohamed Ali

There was no India, it is a new thing. But in ancient times it was the KINGDOM OF KUSH, in Arabic, Kingdom of Heaven and in the Bible Garden of Eden.

The country with the Longest, Continous History. First place: SIRI LANGA DEEPA or Sri Lanka (10,500 years) Second Place; KINGDOM OF KUSH (10,450 years) Third Place: Afghanistan/Persia (10,300 years.)

CHINA is in the Eighth Place.

历史上并没有印度，印度是一个新事物。在古代时，这片地区是库什王国，在阿拉伯语中是天堂王国，也是圣经中的伊甸园。

人类历史上最悠久的国家。第一名：SIRI LANGA DEEPA或斯里兰卡(10500年)；库什王国(10450年)；第三名：阿富汗/波斯(10300年)。

中国排名第八。

John ina

I would say both are the only two countries who have longest continuous history in the world. They have many similarities like:

我想说，这两个国家都是世界上连续历史最长的国家。它们有很多相似之处：

1.India and China have 5000 years of history

2.India and China were richest for almost 2000 years

3.Both got invaded by many foreign empires ( mostly India). But most of them failed . Like for India only mughals and British were able to successfully conquer india and for China only Mongols and Manchus was able to conquer China

1.印度和中国都有5000年的历史。

2.印度和中国在近2000年的时间里都是全球最富裕的国家。

3.两国都被许多外国帝国(主要是印度)入侵过。但大多数入侵者最后都失败了。比如印度，成功征服印度的只有莫卧儿和英国，成功征服中国的只有蒙古人和满族人。

4.Both were ancient and medival superpowers

5.Both were very influential . India gave Medicine, Number 0 , Algebra, steel, Chess, Spice, Toilets to the world . China gave compass, gunpowder, tea, paper, printing press, noodles to the world

6.India and China most of its history was divided into separate kingdoms. Only some empires like Maurya, gupta, Delhi sultanate, mughals and maratha united India , And qin, han, tang, ming and qing united China.

4.两国都是古代和中世纪的超级大国

5.两国都很有影响力。印度为世界提供了医药、数字零、代数学、钢铁、国际象棋、香料和厕所。中国为世界提供了指南针、火药、茶叶、纸张、印刷术和面条。

6.印度和中国在历史上大部分时间都分散成独立的王国。只有孔雀、古普塔、德里苏丹国、莫卧儿和马拉地等帝国统一了印度，秦汉唐明清等王朝统一了中国。

7.Both also had dark history like they got humiliated by European colonism . One got brutally colonised and other got brutally humiliated and high on drugs

8.Unlike persia and Egypt. India and china still follows ancient culture Both of them still follow ancient practices . India still follows Hinduism , wear ancient clothes, as well as food, speak ancient language. China also still follows buddhism, taoism, wear ancient clothes, eat ancient foods, speak ancient language

7.两国都有被欧洲殖民 主义羞辱过的黑暗历史。一个惨遭殖民，另一个惨遭羞辱，吸食毒品。

8. 和波斯、埃及不同，印度和中国仍然遵循着古老的文化，他们仍然遵循着古老的习俗。印度仍然信奉印度教，穿着古老的衣服，吃着古老的食物，说着古老的语言。中国仍然遵循佛教、道教，穿古老的衣服，吃古老的食物，说古老的语言。

9.Both took part in world wars and won. Both were very poor in 20th century

10.Now in 21st century both China and India are rising again. China is going full speed development and will quickly become world superpower . India also slowly rising

9.两国都参加了世界大战并取得了胜利。这两个国家在20世纪都非常贫穷。

10.如今是21世纪，中国和印度都重新崛起。中国正在全速发展，很快就会成为全球超级大国。印度也在缓慢崛起。

At the end I wish both could become friends in future . India and china becoming allies is a nightmare for west. I hope both could be superpowers again. Asia should dominate the world

最后，我希望两国将来能成为朋友。印度和中国结成盟友，对西方来说会是一场噩梦。我希望两国都能再次成为超级大国。亚洲应该主宰世界。

Roger Shao

The first time to answer the question ( I’m so sorry for my poor English.)

I just want to say that we should not mix up 2 countries and 2 civilizations. For 2 civilizations, there is no doubt that the history of that in today’s India is longer than China. But for 2 countries, that would be China. Because the ancestor of today’s people living in India didn’t live there, but Chinese live in China all the time.

这是我第一次回答问题(很抱歉，我的英语不太好)。

我只想说，我们不应该把两个国家和两种文明混为一谈。对于两个文明来说，毫无疑问，印度的历史比中国要长。但对于两个国家来说，中国的历史比印度更长。因为今天生活在印度的印度人的祖先并没有生活在印度，但中国人一直生活在中国。

Andrew Roberts

If you accept:

Continuous History = Unbroken written chronology of past events.

Then I'd opt for China, as the Indian Kingdoms have never been very good at recording their own history, and are often dependent on Chinese, Nepalese and/or Afghan chronicles for what little they know of their own early medieval period, and Greek, Persian and Chinese historians for their ancient history.

You also have a millennium between the first decipherable Chinese inscriptions appearing in the Shang dynasty, c1200 BCE and the Edicts of Ashoka being inscribed, c300 BCE.

如果你接受：

连续的历史等于记载历史事件的不间断的编年史。

那么我认为中国的历史更有连续性，因为印度王国从来没有妥善地记录自己的历史，常常依赖中国、尼泊尔和/或阿富汗的编年史，他们对自己在中世纪早期的历史知之甚少，他们还依赖希腊、波斯和中国的历史学家来了解自己的古代史。

公元前1200年第一个可破译的中国铭文出现在商朝，比公元前300年铭刻的阿育王诏书还早了一千年的时间。

Joseph Boyle

China put much more emphasis on creating chronological dynastic histories. Indian literary efforts went more in other directions.

As cultural regions, both have continuous history stretching thousands of years.

中国则更重视按年代划分的王朝历史。而印度则是在其他方向上更加努力。

作为文化区域，两国都有着绵延数千年的历史。

Xue Pei

It's difficult to answer this question.

India has a history about 5000 years. But the history was not continuous. China has a history about 3500 years in the view of western scholars. But in Chinese scholars' view, it has a 5000-year history. And all Chinese think China has a 5000-year history. In addition, Chinese history is continuous. It has its characters, clothes, food, music and so on.

So I think China has a longer history than India. Thank you.

这个问题很难回答。

印度有大约5000年的历史。但印度的历史并不连续。在西方学者看来，中国有3500年的历史。但在中国学者看来，中国有5000多年的历史。所有中国人都认为中国有着5000年的历史。此外，中国历史是连续不断的，有自己的历史人物，服饰，食物，音乐等等。

所以我认为中国拥有比印度有更长的历史。谢谢！

Aswin Jacobs

China is reputed for its ancient history a really long tradition of empires....but India's history's definitely got more twists nd turns than China!

中国以其古老的历史和悠久的王朝传统而闻名天下....但印度的历史肯定比中国更曲折！