A General Chronology of Chinese History

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.

A General Chronology

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

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period was an era of political upheaval in 10th century imperial China. Five states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, while more than a dozen concurrent states were established elsewhere, mainly in Southern China. It was the last prolonged period of multiple political division in Chinese history. Traditionally, the period starts with the fall...

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The Song Dynasty was ruling the central plain and the south of China from the middle of the 10th century (c. 960 AD) to the last quarter of the 13th century (c. 1279 AD). The dynasty was established by Emperor Song Taizu 宋太祖 with his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms 五代十国 period. The Song Dynasty coincided with the Liao 辽朝, the Jin 金朝, and the...

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The Liao Dynasty, also known as the Great Liao 大遼 or the Khitan Empire 契丹国, was an empire in East Asia that ruled from 907 to 1125 over present-day Mongolia and portions of the Russian Far East, Northern Korea, and Northern China. The empire was founded by Abaoji 阿保机, Khagan of the Khitan people, around the time of the collapse of Tang China and was the first state to control all of Manchuria.

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The Jin Dynasty lasted from 1115 to 1234, was officially known as the Great Jin 大金 at that time, and it was one of the last dynasties in Chinese history to predate the Mongol invasion of China. Its name is sometimes written as Kin, Jurchen, Jin or Jinn in English to differentiate it from an earlier Jìn dynasty whose name sounds identical when transcribed without tone marker diacritics in the Hanyu...

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The Western Xia 西夏, to the Mongols the Tangut Empire, ruled Northwestern China from c. 1038 AD to c. 1227 AD. The early capital was established in Ningxia Province. By the beginning of the 12th century AD the power had shifted from the Tangut over to the Kharakhoto, causing the capital city's destruction in 1227 by the Mongols who then founded the Mongol Empire. Along with its political entity...

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The Yuan dynasty, officially the Great Yuan 大元, was an empire of Mongolia established by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borjigin Clan. Although the Mongols had ruled territories including today's North China for decades already, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan proclaimed the dynasty in the traditional Chinese style, and his conquest was not complete until 1279. Kublai Khan's realm...

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The Ming Dynasty (c. 1368 AD – c. 1644 AD), was founded by the peasant rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋, known as the Hongwu Emperor 洪武 and it was the successor to the Yuan Dynasty 元朝 and succeeded by the Qing Dynasty 清朝. At its height, the Ming Dynasty had a population of 160 million people. The Ming was described by Edwin O. Reischauer, John K. Fairbank and Albert M. Craig as "one of the greatest...

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The Qing dynasty, was the last imperial dynasty of China, established in 1636 and ruling entire China from 1644 to 1912. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty 明朝 and succeeded by the Republic of China. The multi-cultural Qing Empire lasted almost three centuries and formed the territorial base for modern-day China. The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria.

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