The periodization of Chinese history has always been one of the most delicate problems of historians. The Chinese persisted for a long time in the models of their dynastical history and treated each dynasty accordingly as a complete unity.
Authors like Jacques Gernet, however, started in the 1960s already to divide China's history roughly into Antiquity, Middle Ages, and Modern Times. However, any kind of periodization remains open for academic debates. Below, a general chronology determined by the main dynastical developments in China is listed and briefly introduced in order to provide a rough first overview over a very complex topic.
English Name | Chinese Name | Period |
---|---|---|
Xia Dynasty | 夏朝 | c. 2207 BC - c. 1766 BC |
Shang Dynasty | 商朝 | c. 1765 BC - c. 1122 BC |
Zhou Dynasty | 周朝 | c. 1122 BC - c. 221 BC |
Qin Dynasty | 秦朝 | c. 221 BC - c. 206 BC |
Han Dynasty | 汉朝 | c. 206 BC - c. 220 AD |
Three Kingdoms | 三国 | c. 220 AD - c. 265 AD |
Western Jin Dynasty | 西晋朝 | c. 265 AD - c. 316 AD |
Northern & Southern Dynasties | 南北朝 | c. 317 AD - c. 589 AD |
Sui Dynasty | 隋朝 | c. 589 AD - c. 618 AD |
Tang Dynasty | 唐朝 | c. 618 AD - c. 907 AD |
Five Dynasties & Ten Kingdoms | 五代十国 | c. 907 AD - c. 960 AD |
Song Dynasty | 宋朝 | c. 960 AD - c. 1279 AD |
Liao Dynasty | 辽朝 | c. 907 AD - c. 1125 AD |
Jin-Dynasty | 金朝 | c. 1115 AD - c. 1234 AD |
Western Xia Dynasty | 西夏朝 | c. 1038 AD - c. 1227 AD |
Yuan Dynasty | 元朝 | c. 1279 AD - c. 1368 AD |
Ming Dynasty | 明朝 | c. 1368 AD - c. 1644 AD |
Qing Dynasty | 清朝 | c. 1644 AD - 1911 AD |