<P> The term "Bronze Age" has been transferred to the archaeology of China from that of Western Eurasia, and there is no consensus or universally used convention delimiting the "Bronze Age" in the context of Chinese prehistory . </P> <P> By convention, the "Early Bronze Age" in China is sometimes taken as equivalent to the "Shang dynasty" period of Chinese prehistory (16th to 11th centuries BC), and the "Later Bronze Age" as equivalent to the "Zhou dynasty" period (11th to 3rd centuries BC, from the 5th century also dubbed "Iron Age"), although there is an argument to be made that the "Bronze Age" proper never ended in China, as there is no recognizable transition to an "Iron Age". </P> <P> Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the Erlitou (Wade--Giles: Erh - li - t'ou) period, which some historians argue places it within the range of dates controlled by the Shang dynasty . Others believe the Erlitou sites belong to the preceding Xia (Wade--Giles: Hsia) dynasty . The U.S. National Gallery of Art defines the Chinese Bronze Age as the "period between about 2000 BC and 771 BC," a period that begins with the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule . </P> <P> The widespread use of bronze in Chinese metallurgy and culture dates to significantly later, probably due to Western influence . While there may be reason to believe that bronzework developed inside China separately from outside influence, the discovery of Europoid mummies in Xinjiang suggests a possible route of transmission from the West beginning in the early second millennium BC . </P>

When did the bronze age start in china