Chinese History

China is one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations. Archaeological material indicates that people were already living in the territory of China today one million years ago, and has a recorded history of about 3600 years. The timeline below shows the major history of Chinese Dynasties.

Xia   2205-1766 B.C., 440 years

The first prehistoric dynasty is said to be Xia. In Henan province, palace-like buildings and tombs have been excavated, the earliest known bronze vessels have also been found.

Shang   1766-1122 B.C., 645 years

The Shang was the second hereditary dynasty in China. It lasted almost six hundred years with thirty-one kings over seventeen generations. Much of the information available on Shang society comes from inscriptions made on the shoulder blades of oxen and shells of turtles, known as the "oracle bones". Over 150,000 fragments of oracle bones have now been identified.

Zhou   1122-221 B.C., 902 years

The last Shang rule, a despot was overthrown by a chieftain of a frontier tribe called Zhou .Developed iron tools, society, money and written laws. Zhou reigned over 900 years and was the longest-ruling dynasty in Chinese history. It was especially noted for it brilliant achievements in culture.
Confucius lived approximately 551-479 BC. His teachings have since influenced the thought and behavior of the people in China, Japan and other parts of Asia.

Qin   221-206 B.C., 16 years

In 221 BC, the first Emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi, conquered the rest of China after a few hundred years of disunity. He built up the Qin Dynasty - the first unified, multi-national, autocratic and power-centralized state in Chinese history, and constructed a continuous line of fortification called the great wall. Though the dynasty lasted only 15 years, many of the institutions of later Chinese imperial governments first took shape in this period.

Han   206 B.C.-220 A.D., 426 years

After a short civil war, a new dynasty Han was emerged. The Han people assumed a dominant position. This dominance still exists in China today. The empire expanded westward, making possible China texport Chinese silk to the Roman Empire. The paths of caravan traffic are called the silk road.

PERIOD OF DISUNITY  220-589, 370 years

For 370 years following Han's collapse, a number of kingdoms and dynasties emerged and fought each other for domination. The regimes emerged in this period include: the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu (220-280), the Jin Dynasty (265-420), and the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589). Prolonged fighting caused much suffering among the people. Against this background, popularity of Buddhism and Taoism grew substantially.

Sui   581-618, 38 years

China was reunified in A.D. 589 by the short-lived Sui dynasty. Victory in taming the Turks of Central Asia. Overstrained the resources on fortifying the Great Wall and completion of the Grand Canal, the longest man-made river in the world.

Tang   618-907, 290 years

The second emperor, Li Shimin, an exceptionally talented statesman and military strategist, started his reins in 627 and made Tang probably the most glorious dynasty in Chinese history. Empire greatly expanded; period of excellence in sculpture, painting and poetry; influence by Central Asia in dance and music. Japan copied much of Tang culture and institutions, and adopted Chinese characters as her form of written language. The capital city of Chang'an was a cosmopolitan city of wealth and splendor unparallel in the world.

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms   907-960, 54 years

Tang's collapse was followed by fifty-some yeas of chaos. In this period, known as the Age of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, fifteen regimes emerged in quick succession. First use of paper money was reported.

Song   960-1279, 320 years

Enjoyed calm and growth between 960 and 997, printing (movable type) invented.
In the next 200 years Song was beleaguered by invasions from three formidable ethnic minority kingdoms: Liao of the Khitan, Xia of the Tibtan/Tangut, and Jin of the JurchenTartarss tribes. Mongols first annexed northern China, and in 1279 exterminated Song.

Yuan   1271-1368, 98 years

Genghis Khan (1162-1227), the Mongol conqueror, united the Mongol tribes, annexed northern China, central Asia, Iran, southern Russia, and eastern Europe. In 1279 Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, exterminated Song and established the Yuan dynasty with its capital in Beijing. This is the first alien regime to rule China.
Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant, spent 20 years in China (1275-1295).His travelogue was the only account of the Far East available to Europeans until the 17th century.

Ming   1368-1644, 277 years

The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) was founded by a Han Chinese peasant and former Buddhist monk turned rebel army leader. Beijing flourished as new capital

Qing   1644-1911, 267 years

The Qing Dynasty, which was founded by the Jurchen (Manchu) people, was the second ethnic group to rule the whole of China. It is also the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history. Culture flourished, but conservatism eventually led to the dynasty's demise; western powers, Russia and Japan defeated China to impose their requests for trade and other advantages.

Republic of China   1911-1949

Nationalistic revolutionaries led by Sun Yatsen overthrew Qing in 1911 and ended the last dynasty of China. Intense efforts by diverse elite groups to refashion China into a modern state. Later on chaos and wars among local warlords and political factions; bitter strife between the Nationalists and Communists. in 1949, the Nationalists evacuated to the island of Taiwan and has since developed Taiwan into one of the most prosperous economies in Asia.

People's Republic of China   1949-

The Communists defeated the Nationalists and founded the People's Republic on October 1, 1949. China is fast changing and emerging as a major economic power.