Out of Africa through the peopling of Eurasia. Ancient DNA and migration routes, 70,000–5,000 BCE.

Where farming emerged and how population concentrated differently in China and Europe. Convergence vs. persistent dispersal, 9,000 BCE–1000 AD.

From competing chiefdoms to territorial empire. 38 archaeological sites across six periods, 3300–206 BCE.

3,735 military engagements mapped across the full imperial timeline, from the legendary period through 1911. Extracted from 中国历代战争年表 and geocoded against CHGIS V6.

Distance from the steppe as a predictor of state size. The geographic constraint that separates Chinese from European political development.

China's great demographic shift from north to south. The Huai River divide, centroid drift, and Skinner macro-regions, 2 AD–1982.

How long did emperors last? Dynasty-level patterns in ruler tenure, succession, and violent removal.

How the Chinese state taxed, spent, and borrowed across two millennia. Revenue extraction, expenditure composition, and the land tax.

Where did China's ruling class come from? Hometown geography of political elites across Tang, Song, and Ming. Drawing on Wang (2022) and Huang (2023).