Did other civilizations (Eastern Asia was my thought, but others as well) besides Classical European distinctly progress from Stone to Bronze to Iron Ages?

by Toorelad

I was listening to a Japanese history book today and it occurred to me that I've never really heard of a Japanese or Chinese Bronze Age.

It made me wonder if the world all kind of got there at the same relative time through trade and war, or if other areas got there on their own at different times, or if any areas skipped any of these ages without interference from another culture.

thestoryteller69

I know it's not quite what you're asking, but my answer on when the Ban Chiang culture created their first bronze artefacts may be of interest. Essentially, Vietnam and Thailand seem to have entered the Bronze Age quite rapidly, probably because they had adopted bronze working from southern China, as opposed to a slow process of trial and error.