The Oldest Living Civilization (1944)
Does it make sense to talk about the Chinese civilization like a single continuous civilization? That&#x27;s a bit like saying Italy&#x27;s civilization dates from the first Etruscan settlements or that French civilization is as old as the megaliths in Brittany.<p>I am a bit suspicious of these claims as they are central to Chinese nationalism. In order to hold them you have to disregard the several periods where the country was split in several parts and have to integrate somehow the mongol conquest.<p>To the best of my knowledge, the best claimants to the longest enduring and continuously existing organizations are the Holy See and when it comes to governing bodies, Iceland&#x27;s Althing (founded in 930)