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History of China

Emperor Throne
in Forbidden City, Beijing

China, one of the countries that can boast of an ancient civilization, has a long and mysterious history - almost 5,000 years of it! Like most other great civilizations of the world, China can trace her culture back to a blend of small original tribes which have expanded till they became the great country we have today.

It is recorded that Yuanmou man is the oldest hominoid in China and the oldest dynasty is Xia Dynasty. From the long history of China, there emerge many eminent people that have contributed a lot to the development of the whole country and to the enrichment of her history. Among them, there are emperors like Li Shimin (emperor Taizong of the Tang), philosophers like Confucius, great patriotic poets like Qu Yuan and so on.

Chinese society has progressed through five major stages - Primitive Society, Slave Society, Feudal Society, Semi-feudal and Semi-colonial Society, and Socialist Society. The rise and fall of the great dynasties forms a thread that runs through Chinese history, almost from the beginning. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st, 1949, China has become a socialist society and become stronger and stronger.

Timeline of Chinese History (Click to enlarge)

Chinese History Chronology

Dynasty	Period	Founder	Capital
Prehistoric Times	1.7 million years ago - the 21st century BC	recorded leaders include Yellow Emperor, Yao, Shun...	around the Yellow River and Yangtze River in central China
Xia	21st - 17th century BC	Yu the Great	Anyi ( in Yuncheng, Shanxi); Yangcheng (in today's Dengfeng, Zhengzhou, Henan); Yangdi (in today's Yuzhou, Henan); Zhenxun (in Luoyang, Henan)
Shang	17th century BC - 1046 BC	Tang	Bo (in Shangqiu, Henan); Yin (in Anyang, Henan)
Zhou	1046 - 256 BC
Western Zhou	1046 BC - 771 BC	King Wu (Ji Fa)	Fengjing and Haojing (in today's Xi'an, Shaanxi)
Eastern Zhou	770 - 256 BC	King Ping (Ji Yijiu)	Luoyi (today's Luoyang)
--- Spring and Autumn Period	770 - 476 BC
--- Warring States Period	475 - 221 BC
Qin	221 - 207 BC	Qin Shi Huang (Ying Zheng / Zhao Zheng)	Xianyang (in today's Xianyang and Xi'an of Shaanxi)
Han	202 BC - 220 AD	Liu Bang
Western Han	202 BC - 9 AD	Liu Bang	Chang'an (today's Xi'an)
Xin Dynasty	9 - 23 AD	Wang Mang	Chang'an (today's Xi'an)
Eastern Han	25 - 220 AD	Liu Xiu	Luoyang
Three Kingdoms	220 - 280 AD
Kingdom of Wei	220 - 265 AD	Cao Pi	Luoyang
Kingdom of Shu	221 - 263 AD	Liu Bei	Chengdu
Kingdom of Wu	222 - 280 AD	Sun Quan	Jianye (today's Nanjing, Jiangsu)
Jin	265 - 420 AD	Sima Yan
Western Jin	265 - 316 AD	Sima Yan	Luoyang
Eastern Jin	317 - 420 AD	Sima Rui	Jiankang (Nanjing, Jiangsu)
Five Hus and Sixteen States	304 - 439 AD
Northern and Southern Dynasties	420 - 589 AD
Northern Dynasties	386 - 581 AD
--- Northern Wei	386 - 534	Tuoba Gui	Pingcheng (today's Datong, Shanxi); Luoyang
--- Eastern Wei	534 - 550	Yuan Shanjian (actually controlled by Gao Huan)	Yecheng (in Linzhang, Handan, Hebei)
--- Western Wei	535 - 557	Yuan Baoju (actually controlled by Yuwen Tai)	Chang'an (today's Xi'an)
--- Northern Qi	550 - 577	Gao Yang	Yecheng (in Linzhang, Handan, Hebei)
--- Northern Zhou	557 - 581	Yuwen Jue	Chang'an (today's Xi'an)
Southern Dynasties	420 - 589 AD
--- Song	420 - 479	Liu Yu	Jiankang (today's Nanjing)
--- Qi	479 - 502	Xiao Daocheng	Jiankang (Nanjing)
--- Liang	502 - 557	Xiao Yan	Jiankang (Nanjing)
--- Chen	557 - 589	Chen Baxian	Jiankang (Nanjing)
Sui	581 - 618 AD	Yang Jian	Daxing (in today's Xi'an, Shaanxi); Luoyang
Tang	618 - 907 AD	Li Yuan	Chang'an (today's Xi'an); Luoyang
Five Dynasties and Ten States	907 - 960 AD		Bianliang (Kaifeng, Henan); Luoyang
--- Later Liang	907 - 923 AD	Zhu Wen (Zhu Quanzhong / Zhu Huang)	Bianliang (Kaifeng)
--- Later Tang	923 - 936 AD	Li Cunxu	Luoyang
--- Later Jin	936 - 946 AD	Shi Jingtang	Bianliang (Kaifeng)
--- Later Han	947 - 950 AD	Liu Zhiyuan	Bianliang (Kaifeng)
--- Later Zhou	951 - 960 AD	Guo Wei	Bianliang (Kaifeng)
Ten States	902 - 979 AD
Song	960 - 1279 AD	Zhao Kuangyin
Northern Song	960 - 1127 AD	Zhao Kuangyin	Bianjing (Kaifeng)
Southern Song	1127 - 1279 AD	Zhao Gou	Lin'an (Hangzhou)
Liao	907 --- 1125 AD	Yelü Abaoji	Shangjing (Baarin Left Banner, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia)
Western Xia Dynasty	1038 - 1227 AD	Li Yuanhao	Xingqing (today's Yinchuan, Ningxia)
Jin	1115 - 1234 AD	Wan-yen A-ku-ta (Wanyan Aguda / Wanyan Min)	Huining (Harbin, Heilongjiang); Zhongdu (today's Beijing); Bianjing (Kaifeng)
Yuan	1271 - 1368 AD	Kublai Khan	Dadu (today's Beijing)
Ming	1368 - 1644 AD	Zhu Yuanzhang	Yingtian (today's Nanjing, Jiangsu); Shuntian (today's Beijing)
Qing	1644 - 1911 AD	Aisin Gioro Nurhachi / Hong Taiji / Fulin (Emeror Shunzhi)	Beijing

- Last updated on Jan. 25, 2023 -

Questions & Answers on History of China

Asked by Miley Potts from IOWA | Jan. 19, 2021 15:35

I am interested in the great wall!

I like to learn more about the great wall but my teacher is teaching us about china and stuff like that but i still don't get why people built the great wall of china can you tell me why?

Answers (8)

Answered by Megan | Jan. 21, 2021 16:00

They basically built the Great Wall of China to protect themselves from intruders and people outside of China. It started being built during the Qin Dynasty because many people tried to kill the emperor at that time for his harsh rules. ( Fact-check my answer tho.)

Answered by Daniel | Jun. 16, 2021 04:35

Correction: It started during the Spring & Autumn period, Qin was the winner of that period and they connected the walls to defend against the nomadic tribes from modern day Mongolia. The great wall continued to be expanded throughout the history of China as the northern Nomadic tribes and federations kept intruding and attacking the border regions and China proper. The great wall you see today are generally built around the Ming Dynasty.

Answered by David Zhou | Aug. 29, 2021 10:49

I am Chinese，we built this huge monster only due to the invasion of Hun. Maybe you haven't heared yet, but they are really horrible

Answered by Danny | Aug. 09, 2022 15:31

Kind of interesting that your teacher is teaching about China and stuff like that but no elaboration and consideration exercise? When your teacher teach about western history they will ask and explain further of why an event occur etc but when it came to China they don't teach much...... I wonder. Was it that they themselves didn't know much about China or they are worry to provide too much information about China?

Answered by Duan | Oct. 05, 2022 02:17

In ancient times, China was not such a big country that included so many minorities. At that time, the minorities in north of China were nomadism and they always came to wealthy China to rob food, so people living in the central part of the country needed to build the Great Wall to protect themselves.

Answered by Someone | Nov. 27, 2022 03:56

It is to win the war. But it didn’t work……

Answered by Mulan | Nov. 27, 2022 03:57

You can see it at a movie 🎥 called,” Mulan”

Answered by Ian | Jan. 25, 2023 07:02

It was to keep invading tribes from getting into China and taking it down from the inside out

Asked by Riana from UK | Jun. 12, 2020 09:39

I am interested in, when the Great wall of China was built and details

As I like general knowledge
Thank you

Answers (3)

Answered by Dan from USA | Jun. 14, 2020 00:55

The great wall was constructed during the Qin dynasty and construction began in 215 BC, although there would be renovations and additions made every time China's neighbors to the north were too powerful for China's armies to contain them. Renovation continued until the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644 AD, The Ming renovations were by far the largest and included the addition of cannon placements and massive towers.

Answered by David Zhou | Aug. 29, 2021 10:54

Almost two thousand years, in fact you need to know，we built it only for alerting sth but no relying on it to fight the enemy. emmm,yeah---from China

Answered by Danny | Aug. 09, 2022 15:37

Chinese are defensive and they don't attack to conquer other. You bet "I come, I see, I conquer" are not Chinese and don't mistaken the one that expanded the territory into Eurasia and Middle East is Gengkhis-Kublai Khan, they are Mongolian then admire Chinese system and culture that they assimilate into Chinese and established Yuan Dynasty. Until today Chinese are peaceful and defensive just like how they are trying to defend China as one and protecting Taiwan from they United Pirates. Learn Chinese language if you want to know the real China. Many English medium sources might not be accurate