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Dynasties
Chinese history runs in dynastic cycles. Here is the whole sequence, grouped into 6 eras — from the Xia to the fall of the Qing in 1912, with the shorter-lived and rival states included alongside the great dynasties.
Ancient China
上古三代 c. 2070 – 256 BC 3 dynastiesThe three Bronze Age dynasties of the traditional sequence. Writing, bronze casting and the idea of a single ruler over "all under Heaven" all begin here — though the earliest layers are known as much from later texts as from what archaeology has uncovered.
The First Empires
秦汉 221 BC – 220 AD 3 dynastiesQin's conquests in 221 BC created a single empire for the first time; Han then held it together for four centuries and gave the Chinese their own name for themselves. The Silk Road opened, Confucianism became state doctrine, and the template of imperial rule was set.
Division and Reunion
魏晋南北朝 220 – 589 4 dynastiesAfter the Han collapsed the north was ruled by steppe peoples and short-lived kingdoms, while a refugee court held the south. It was one of the most violent periods in Chinese history and also one of the most creative: Buddhism took root and calligraphy found its voice.
The Tang Age
隋唐五代 581 – 960 3 dynastiesSui reunified the country and dug the Grand Canal; Tang turned that unity into a cosmopolitan empire whose capital at Chang'an was the largest city on earth. When Tang fell in 907, five short dynasties and ten regional kingdoms divided the country for half a century.
Song and Its Rivals
宋辽夏金 916 – 1279 4 dynastiesThe Song never ruled all of China. Liao, Western Xia and the Jurchen Jin held the north and north-west, and the Song paid tribute to buy peace. Inside its borders, though, came printing, paper money, a merchant navy and mass civil-service examinations.
Late Imperial China
元明清 1271 – 1912 3 dynastiesMongol conquest made China part of a Eurasian empire under Kublai Khan; the Ming restored native rule and rebuilt the Great Wall; the Manchu Qing doubled the territory and ruled until 1912, when the old order collapsed under revolt and foreign pressure.