| Dynasty |
Characteristics and History |
| Hsia
c.1994c.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.1523c.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.1027256 B.C. |
Classical age (Confucius, Lao Tzu, Mencius) despite political disorder. Written laws, money economy. Iron implements and ox-drawn plow in use. Followed by Warring States period, 403221 B.C. |
| Ch'in
221206 B.C. |
Unification of China under harsh rule of Shih Huang-ti. Feudalism replaced by pyramidal bureaucratic government. Written language standardized. Roads, canals, much of the Great Wall built. |
| Han
202 B.C.A.D. 220 |
Unification furthered, but harshness lessened and Confucianism made basis for bureaucratic state. Buddhism introduced. Encyclopedic history, dictionary compiled; porcelain produced. |
| Three Kingdoms
A.D. 220265 |
Division into three states: Wei, Shu, Wu. Wei gradually dominant. Confucianism eclipsed; increased importance of Taoism and Buddhism. Many scientific advances adopted from India. |
| Tsin or Chin
265420 |
Founded by a Wei general; gradual expansion to the southeast. Series of barbarian dynasties ruled N China. Continued growth of Buddhism. |
| Sui
581618 |
Reunification; centralized government reestablished. Buddhism, Taoism favored. Great Wall refortified; canal system established. |
| T'ang
618907 |
Territorial expansion. Buddhism temporarily suppressed. Civil service examinations based on Confucianism. Age of great achievements in poetry (Li Po, Po ChU-i, Tu Fu), sculpture, painting. |
| Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
907960 |
Period of warfare, official corruption, general hardship. Widespread development of printing (see type); paper money first printed. |
| Sung
9601279 |
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. |
| YUan
12711368 |
Mongol dynasty founded by Kublai Khan. Growing contact with West. Confucian ideals discouraged. Great age of Chinese playwriting. Revolts in Mongolia and S China end dynasty. |
| Ming
13681644 |
Mongols expelled. Confucianism, civil service examinations, reinstated. Contact with European traders, missionaries. Porcelain, architecture (see Chinese architecture), the novel and drama flourish. |
| Ch'ing or Manchu
16441912 |
Established by the Manchus. 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; Hong Kong ceded; Boxer Uprising. Last Chinese monarchy. |
