|
Dates
|
Dynasty
|
Events
|
| ca.
2200-1500 B.C. |
Xia |
Xia
is said the first prehistoric dynasty. Xia had descended
from a wide-spread Yellow River valley Neolithic culture
known as the Longshan culture, famous for their black-lacquered
pottery. |
| 1700-1027
B.C. |
Shang |
The
use of bronze metallurgy made Shang people the most
advanced bronze-working civilian in the world. Archaic
Chinese inscriptions were found on tortoise shells and
flat cattle bones (commonly called oracle bones). They
were the earliest Chinese writing. |
| 1027-771
B.C. |
Western
Zhou |
China
was made up of a number of quasi-independent principalities
at this period. The Zhou was the most powerful principality.
They were located in the middle of the principalities.
Chinese call the country -- the Middle Kingdom. |
| 770-221
B.C. |
Eastern
Zhou |
After
the capital was sacked by barbarians from the west,
the Zhou moved east. Therefore, it divided the Zhou
dynasty into eastern and western periods. the power
of the Zhou declined somewhat. |
| 770-476
B.C. |
Spring
and Autumn period |
The
so-called Spring & Autumn period (722-481 B.C.),
provides a history of period with a proliferation of
new ideas and philosophies. The three most important,
from a historical standpoint, were Daoism, Confucianism,
and Legalism. |
| 475-221
B.C. |
Warring
States period |
Massive
armies, long battles, sieges, were all common features
of the Warring States battlefield. |
| 221-207
B.C. |
Qin |
Qin,
the most aggressive of the Warring States, subjugated
the last of its rival states. The first emporer of China
(king of Qin) conquered the rest of China after a few
hundred years of disunity. To fend off barbarian intrusion,
the fortification walls built by the various warring
states were connected to make a 5,000-kilometer-long
great wall. |
| 206
B.C.-A.D. 9 |
Western
Han |
When
the Han dynasty was founded, China stretched from modern
Shenyang (some 500 km north of Beijing) in the north
to around Guilin in the south; from the Pacific in the
east to Tarim Basin in the west. China was the largest
country in the world. The caravan traffic road to Central
Asia was called "Silk Road" because the path
was used to export silk to the Roman Empire. The Han
period produced China's most famous historian, Sima
Qian, whose Shiji (Historic Records) provides a detailed
chronicle from the time of a legendary Xia emperor to
that of the Han emperor Wu Di. Two of the great Chinese
inventions, paper and porcelain, date from Han times.
|
| A.D.
9-24 |
Xin
(Wang Mang interregnum) |
|
| A.D.
25-220 |
Eastern
Han |
|
| A.D.
220-280 |
Three
Kingdoms:
- 220-265:
Wei
- 221-263:
Shu
- 229-280:
Wu
|
Wei,
Shu, and Wu, had overlapping reigns during the period
A.D. 220-280. In later times, fiction and drama greatly
romanticized the reputed chivalry of this period. |
| A.D.
265-316 |
Western
Jin |
|
| A.D.
317-420 |
Eastern
Jin |
|
| A.D.
420-588 |
Southern
and Northern Dynasties
|
420-588 Southern
Dynasties:
- 420-478 -- Song
- 479-501 -- Qi
- 502-556 -- Liang
- 557-588 -- Chen
386-588
Northern Dynasties:
- 386-533
-- Northern Wei
- 534-549
-- Eastern Wei
- 535-557
-- Western Wei
- 550-577
-- Northern Qi
- 557-588
-- Northern Zhou
|
| A.D.
581-617 |
Sui
|
China
was reunified in A.D. 589 by the short-lived Sui dynasty. |
| A.D.
618-907 |
Tang
|
The
Tang is considered to be one of the great dynasties
of Chinese history. Block printing was invented, making
the written word available to vastly greater audiences.
The period was the golden age of literature and art.
Buddhism, originating in India around the time of Confucius,
flourished during the Tang period, becoming thoroughly
a permanent part of Chinese traditional culture. |
| A.D.
907-960 |
Five
Dynasties:
|
- 907-923 -- Later Liang
- 923-936 -- Later Tang
- 936-946 -- Later Jin
- 947-950 -- Later Han
- 951-960 -- Later Zhou
|
| A.D.
907-979 |
Ten
Kingdoms |
|
| A.D.
960-1279 |
Song:
- 960-1127
-- Northern Song
- 1127-1279
-- Southern Song
|
The
Song dynasty ranks up there with the Tang and the Han
as one of the great dynasties. It advanced technology,
culture, and economics. It is notable for the development
of cities not only for administrative purposes but also
as centers of trade, industry, and maritime commerce.
|
| A.D.
916-1125 |
Liao
|
|
| A.D.
1038-1227 |
Western
Xia |
|
| A.D.
1115-1234 |
Jin
|
|
| A.D.
1279-1368 |
Yuan |
The
Mongols had subjugated north China, Korea, and the Muslim
kingdoms of Central Asia and had twice penetrated Europe
by the mid-thirteenth century. Kublai Khan established
the first alien dynasty to rule all China. The most
famous traveler of the period was the Venetian Marco
Polo, whose account of his trip to "Cambaluc,"
the Great Khan's capital (now Beijing), and of life
there astounded the people of Europe. |
| A.D.
1368-1644 |
Ming
|
The
Chinese fleet sailed the China seas and the Indian Ocean,
cruising as far as the east coast of Africa. |
| A.D.
1644-1911 |
Qing |
In
1644, the Manchus took over China and founded the Qing
dynasty. The Qing regime was determined to protect itself
not only from internal rebellion but also from foreign
invasion. What the Western powers were interested in
was the carving up of China for their own purposes.
In 1911, the Qing dynasty collapsed. |
| A.D.
1911-1949 |
Republic
of China |
|
| A.D.
1949- |
People's
Republic of China |
|
