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~ Biographies ~ Comparative
Essays ~ Change Over Time Essays
~ FAQs
Date |
Dynasty |
Geopolitical Location and Status |
Religion |
Significant Facts |
Influential people |
| c.1994-c.1523 BC | Hsia | Huang He, North China Plain | Animism, Pan Gu creation myth | Use of bronze, domestic animals, farming, pottery, and written symbols | Unknown |
| c.1523-c.1027 BC | Shang | Huang He, northern China | Ancestor Worship, Taoism originates | Picture writing, silk, jade, horse-drawn chariots, first calendar, bone libraries | Lao Tse, supposed founder of Taoism |
| c.1027-256 BC | Chou | Unified empire, North China Plain | Confucianism | Use of iron, written laws, Mandate of Heaven, feudalism | Confucius, philosopher |
| 221-206 BC | Ch'in | from Mongolian plateau to Vietnam | Taoism | Centralized bureaucracy, Great Wall, roads, canals | Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, first emperor |
| 202 BC- 220 AD | Han | Empire expanded north | Buddhism introduced, Confucianism becomes official state doctrine | Peasant rebellions, scientific and astronomical advances, imperial university, historical documentation | Pan Chao, earliest woman scholar |
| 220-581 AD | Three Kingdoms | Political and geographical division | Taoism and Buddhism eclipse Confucianism, Christianity introduced | scientific advances from India, 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' glamorized chivalry | Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, opened door into Asia for later missionaries |
| 581-618 AD | Sui | Imperial reunification | Taoism and Buddhism still favored | reduction of peasant taxes, census taken, Grand Canal system linked rivers, | Sui Wen Ti, reunited empire |
| 618-907 AD | T'ang | Largest territorial expansion | Confucian civil service exams, printing of Buddhist sutras | equal allocation political system, regular census, temple sculpture, poetry, painting, gunpowder invented | Li Po , Po Chü-i , Tu Fu (poets) |
| 907-960 AD | An Lu-shan Rebellion | five north dynasties, ten south kingdoms | traditional Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism dominate | first paper money printing, printing of Confucian classics and Taoist canon, technological advancement | An Lu-shan, instigator of rebellion |
| 960-1279 AD | Sung | Barbarian occupation of north China | Neo-Confucianism introduced, supreme over Buddhism, Taoism | social and intellectual change, commercial development, gunpowder's first military use, creation of encyclopedias | Chu His, founder of Neo-Confucianism |
| 1271-1368 AD | Yu'an | Mongols invade, rule all China | religious tolerance, though Confucian ideals discouraged | unification of China, capital Beijing, more contact with West, playwriting flourishes | Kublai Khan, Mongol dynasty, and Jesuits Friar John Carpini and William of Rubruck |
| 1368-1644 AD | Ming | China proper | Confucianism reinstated | Mongols expelled, central bureaucracy restored, porcelain, architecture, novel, drama developed, Forbidden City | Matteo Ricci, Jesuit missionary and Hung Hsiu-ch'uan, leader of Taiping Rebellion |
| 1644-1912 AD | Ch'ing | Territorial expansion, Pax Sinica | prevalent Confucianism, Jesuits convert 200,000 to Christianity | Internal weakening, Boxer Uprising, more trade with Europe led to Opium War, | Tz'u-hsi, dowager empress and Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission |
| 1912-1949 AD | Republic of China | Formal unification | Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism still mainstream philosophy | Stage is set for Communism, forming of the Red Army, Communist literature distributed, Nationalist feelings grow | Sun Yat-sen, "Father of modern China," Chiang Kai Shek |
| 1949 AD- present | People's Republic of China | First Communist government established | Communism tries to exterminate Christianity, without success | Land, social and thought reforms, Great Leap Forward results in setback, Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution | Mao Zedong, Chairman of the People's Republic, Deng Xiaoping, Communist leader |
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