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Chinese Dynasties
| Dynasty |
Characteristics and History |
| Hsia
c.1994–c.1523 B.C. |
Semilegendary Emperor Yu built irrigation channels, reclaimed land. Bronze weapons, chariots, domestic animals used. Wheat, millet cultivated. First use of written symbols. |
| Shang or Yin
c.1523–c.1027 B.C. |
First historic dynasty. Complex agricultural society with a bureaucracy and defined social classes. Well-developed writing, first Chinese calendar. Great age of bronze casting. |
| Chou
c.1027–256 B.C. |
Classical age (Confucius Confucius , Chinese K'ung Ch'iu or K'ung Fu-tzu [Master K'ung], c.551–479? B.C., Chinese sage. Positive evidence concerning the life of Confucius is scanty; modern scholars base their accounts largely on the Analects,
..... Click the link for more information. , Lao Tzu Lao Tzu , fl. 6th cent. B.C., Chinese philosopher, reputedly the founder of Taoism. It is uncertain that Lao Tzu [Ch.,=old person or old philosopher] is historical. His biography in Ssu-ma Ch'ien's Records of the Historian (1st cent. B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. , Mencius Mencius , Mandarin Meng-tzu, 371?–288? B.C., Chinese Confucian philosopher. The principal source for Mencius' life is his own writings. He was born in the ancient state of Ch'ao, in modern Shandong prov.
..... Click the link for more information. ) despite political disorder. Written laws, money economy. Iron implements and ox-drawn plow in use. Followed by Warring States period, 403–221 B.C. |
| Ch'in
221–206 B.C. |
Unification of China under harsh rule of Shih Huang-ti. Feudalism feudalism , form of political and social organization typical of Western Europe from the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire to the rise of the absolute monarchies.
..... Click the link for more information. replaced by pyramidal bureaucratic government. Written language standardized. Roads, canals, much of the Great Wall Great Wall of China, fortifications, c.1,500 mi (2,400 km) long, winding across N China from Gansu prov. to Hebei prov. on the Yellow Sea. The wall, running mostly along the southern edge of the Mongolian plain, was erected to protect China from northern nomads.
..... Click the link for more information. built. |
| Han
202 B.C.–A.D. 220 |
Unification furthered, but harshness lessened and Confucianism Confucianism , moral and religious system of China. Its origins go back to the Analects (see Chinese literature), the sayings attributed to Confucius, and to ancient commentaries, including that of Mencius.
..... Click the link for more information. made basis for bureaucratic state. Buddhism Buddhism , religion and philosophy founded in India c.525 B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. There are over 300 million Buddhists worldwide. One of the great world religions, it is divided into two main schools: the Theravada or Hinayana in Sri Lanka and
..... Click the link for more information. introduced. Encyclopedic history, dictionary compiled; porcelain produced. |
| Three Kingdoms
A.D. 220–265 |
Division into three states: Wei, Shu, Wu. Wei gradually dominant. Confucianism eclipsed; increased importance of Taoism Taoism , refers both to a Chinese system of thought and to one of the four major religions of China (with Confucianism, Buddhism, and Chinese popular religion).
..... Click the link for more information. and Buddhism. Many scientific advances adopted from India. |
| Tsin or Chin
265–420 |
Founded by a Wei general; gradual expansion to the southeast. Series of barbarian dynasties ruled N China. Continued growth of Buddhism. |
| Sui
581–618 |
Reunification; centralized government reestablished. Buddhism, Taoism favored. Great Wall refortified; canal system established. |
| T'ang
618–907 |
Territorial expansion. Buddhism temporarily suppressed. Civil service civil service, entire body of those employed in the civil administration as distinct from the military and excluding elected officials. The term was used in designating the British administration of India, and its first application elsewhere was in 1854 in England.
..... Click the link for more information. examinations based on Confucianism. Age of great achievements in poetry (Li Po Li Po , Li Pai , or Li T'ai-po , c.700–762, Chinese poet of the T'ang dynasty. He was born in what is now Sichuan prov.
..... Click the link for more information. , Po Chü-i Po Chü-i , 772–846, Chinese poet. He occupied several important government posts, rising to the presidency of the imperial board of war in 841. He wrote over 3,000 poems, brief, topical verses expressed in very simple, clear language.
..... Click the link for more information. , Tu Fu Tu Fu , 712–70, Chinese poet. Tu Fu is often considered the greatest of Chinese poets. He did not pass the imperial civil service examinations and, although he held a few official positions for brief periods, he spent many poverty-stricken years as a wanderer.
..... Click the link for more information. ), sculpture, painting. |
| Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
907–960 |
Period of warfare, official corruption, general hardship. Widespread development of printing (see type type, for printing, was invented in China (c.1040), using woodblocks. Related devices, such as seals and stamps for making impressions in clay, had been used in ancient times in Babylon and elsewhere.
..... Click the link for more information. ); paper money first printed. |
| Sung
960–1279 |
Period of great social and intellectual change. Neo-Confucianism attains supremacy over Taoism and Buddhism; central bureaucracy reestablished. Widespread cultivation of tea and cotton; gunpowder first used militarily. |
| Yüan
1271–1368 |
Mongol Mongols , Asian people, numbering about 6 million and distributed mainly in the Republic of Mongolia, the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China, and Kalmykia and the Buryat Republic of Russia.
..... Click the link for more information. dynasty founded by Kublai Khan Kublai Khan , 1215–94, Mongol emperor, founder of the Yüan dynasty of China. From 1251 to 1259 he led military campaigns in S China. He succeeded (1260) his brother Mongke (Mangu) as khan of the empire that their grandfather Jenghiz Khan had founded.
..... Click the link for more information. . Growing contact with West. Confucian ideals discouraged. Great age of Chinese playwriting. Revolts in Mongolia and S China end dynasty. |
| Ming
1368–1644 |
Mongols expelled. Confucianism, civil service examinations, reinstated. Contact with European traders, missionaries. Porcelain, architecture (see Chinese architecture Chinese architecture, the buildings and other structures created in China from prehistoric times to the present day.
Early Architecture
As a result of wars and invasions, there are few existing buildings in China predating the Ming dynasty
..... Click the link for more information. ), the novel and drama flourish. |
| Ch'ing or Manchu
1644–1912 |
Established by the Manchus Manchu , people who lived in Manchuria for many centuries and who ruled China from 1644 until 1912. These people, related to the Tungus, were descended from the Jurchen, a tribe known in Asia since the 7th cent. They were first called Manchu in the early 17th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. . Territorial expansion but gradual weakening of Chinese power; decline of central authority. Increasing European trade; foreign powers divide China into spheres of influence. Opium War Opium Wars, 1839–42 and 1856–60, two wars between China and Western countries. The first was between Great Britain and China. Early in the 19th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Hong Kong Hong Kong , Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov.
..... Click the link for more information. ceded; Boxer Uprising Boxer Uprising, 1898–1900, antiforeign movement in China, culminating in a desperate uprising against Westerners and Western influence.
By the end of the 19th cent. the Western powers and Japan had established wide interests in China.
..... Click the link for more information. . Last Chinese monarchy. |
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