History of China

The history of China covers thousands of years. The earliest records are from about 1250 BC, but a few things are known about earlier times. Chinese history covers many periods and dynasties. See Ancient China for the earliest times. 

Imperial China
 Qin dynasty 
The Qin dynasty was very important in the history of China and followed the philosophy of Legalism. Its capital was at Xianyang. Under its first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, China became a powerful country, and many new things were done for the first time. A tight legal system was followed. Written language was developed. A common currency became used. The building of the Great Wall of China was started.

 Han dynasty 
The Han dynasty was founded by Liu Bang after the Qin dynasty ended. During the Han dynasty, the territory of China expanded, and many advancements in science and technology took place. It was considered a golden age in Chinese history.

 Three Kingdoms 

The Three Kingdoms (traditional Chinese: 三國; simplified Chinese: 三国; pinyin: Sānguó) was a period of history in which China was divided into the states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Eastern Han dynasty lost all power. Eventually, the Han dynasty's emperor abdicated.

 Jin dynasty 
The Jin dynasty (1115–1234), also known as the Jurchen dynasty or the Great Jin, was one of the last dynasties before the Mongol invasion (and eventual conquest) of China.

The dynasty was founded by the Wanyan (完顏 Wányán) clan of the Jurchens. They were the ancestors of the Manchus, who established the Qing dynasty some 500 years later. The Jin dynasty was founded in northern Manchuria by Wanyan Aguda (完顏阿骨打).

The name of this dynasty is sometimes written as Jinn to differentiate it from an earlier Jin dynasty (265-420) of China, whose name is spelled identically in the Roman alphabet.

The History of Jin recorded that Tangkuo Dingge (唐括定哥), Consort Gui (貴妃) was a Jurchen woman. She was first married to the Jurchen Jin royal Wanyan Wudai (完顏烏帶). She had affairs with her Han Chinese slave, Yan Qi'er (閻乞兒), and with Wanyan Liang (Prince Hailing). When Wanyan Liang became emperor of the Jin dynasty, he forced Dingge to have her husband Wanyan Wudai was killed by her other slaves, Ge Wen (葛溫) and Ge Lu (葛魯), and he promised that she would be named empress.

Wanyan Liang broke his promise after he got bored of her when she entered the harem. Dingge then smuggled Yan Qi'er into the palace through a trunk after first smuggling a trunk full of her clothes as a dummy and then reprimanded him for looking at her clothes so that he would not look when Yan Qi'er was smuggled in next. Dingge and Yan Qi'er had sex until a Jurchen maid. Guige (貴哥) told about them to the emperor. Dingge was strangled, and Yan Qi'er was beheaded.

 Sui dynasty 
The Sui dynasty (隋朝 Suí cháo; 581-618) was founded by Emperor Wen, or Yang Jian. Its capital was Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). The dynasty is important because it reunited Southern and Northern China and had the Grand Canal built.

 Tang dynasty 
The Tang dynasty was founded by the Li (李) family, which came to power during the fall of the Sui Empire. The dynasty was interrupted for a short time by the Second Zhou dynasty (16 October 690–3 March 705), when Wu Zetian managed to claim the throne and become the first and only Chinese empress.

The capital of the Tang, Chang'an (today Xi'an), was then the largest city in the world. Many historians see the Tang dynasty as a high point in Chinese civilization and as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture.

The concept of inalienable private property has grown in China since the Tang dynasty. Chinese land deeds are preserved from medieval times, and there were even land deeds for the afterlife in tombs in the six dynasties.

 Song dynasty 
The Song dynasty maintained the image and memory of the "universal empire" of the Han and the Tang dynasties althought it shrank.

One of the descendants of the Yan clan during the Song dynasty was Yan Zhengqing. When the Eastern Jin dynasty was set up by Han Chinese nobles fleeing south, Yan Han was among them. He was the ancestor of the Yan clan, which were related by blood to the Langye nobles with whom they married, including the Wang clan of Langye, the Yin Clan of Chen commandery and Shen clan of Wuxing. Yan Han was the 13th-generation ancestor of Yan Zhenqing.

 Yuan dynasty 
The Yuan dynasty was first ruled by Genghis Khan, a Mongol leader who took control of the Song dynasty. He was considered a barbarian and uncivilized. His grandson, Kublai Khan, was one of the most famous and liked rulers of the Yuan dynasty. He opened up China to many other cultures and greatly improved life for the Chinese.

 Ming dynasty 
In 1368, a rebellion led by Zhu Yuanzhang broke out in southern China and eventually overthrew the Yuan dynasty. He became Emperor Hongwu and founded the Ming dynasty in Nanjing, the Chinese capital until Emperor Yongle changed the capital to Beijing. 

In the 15th century, Zheng He, along with the majority of the Ming navy, explored the Indian Ocean and brought wealth and power to the Ming Dynasty. The empire experienced a prosperous period until 1449, when the Battle of Tumu Fortress occurred. In the battle, the Mongol descendants of Yuan captured the emperor and surrounded the capital.

After the war against the Mongols, the Ming started to decline. During this time, the empire had two wars with the Japanese (the first against the Japanese pirates took place in southeastern China and the second against the armies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, which invaded Korea) and one war with the Portuguese of Macao. The wars eventually weakened the declining empire. In 1616, rebellions broke out in Manchuria and Shanxi. In 1644, the Manchus crossed the Great Wall, invaded the capital, and destroyed the Shanxi rebels.

 Qing dynasty 

Horses, cattle, farms, villages, servants, slaves, homes, and wives were given by Nurhaci to Jurchens who defected like Guwalca, Hurha, and Warka, as well as to Han Chinese defectors and Mongol defectors to the Later Jin dynasty. 

Jurchen chiefs were given Korean women as wives by Joseon to control them.

Scholars commissioned by Qianlong edited historical texts and made commentaries that made up fanciful and completely fictional etymologies. One of their works analyzed the Jurchen clans mentioned in the History of Jin and tried to match their names to the Manchu clans that still exist.https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/p/pod/dod-idx/manchu-identification-of-jurchen-clan-names-as-found.pdf?c=saksaha;idno=13401746.0003.002;format=pdf

Some Han bannermen promoted to Manchu banners added "giya" to the end of their surname.https://california.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1525/california/9780520215665.001.0001/upso-9780520215665-chapter-5 https://california.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1525/california/9780520215665.001.0001/upso-9780520215665-chapter-6?rskey=b3dAN3&result=10 The ethnic identity of the Tong family of Liaodong during the late Ming and early Qing dynasty has been debated by historians.https://www.iwp.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/20150127_RoweChinaLastEmpireChapter1pp.1130.pdf

The Oirat Torghut Kalmyk Mongol leader Khatun Khan was jailed by Yaqub Beg as he was attacking the Oirats in Kurla and attacking Hui forces for Tuo Ming and Daud Khalifa in Ürümqi with the help of Han militia under Xu Xuegong.

 Modern era 

 Republic of China 

 People's Republic of China 

Mao Zedong was the leader of the People's Republic of China from 1949 until he died in 1976. China has had problems with protests, blocking of information on the Internet; which it punishes the people for unblocking;   and the censorship of social media. 1989 was notable for the controversial Tiananmen Square protests and the final years of the cold war. Since the 2008 Summer Olympics, China has hosted many major international events, and the 2022 Winter Olympics were held in Beijing, China.

In the 21st century, China became the richest country in the world in terms of GDP. 

Timeline

3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors: 50,000 – 2000 BC
Xia Dynasty: c. 2000 – c. 1600 BC
Shang Dynasty (or Yin Dynasty): c. 1600 – 1046 BC
Zhou Dynasty
Western Zhou: 1046 – 771 BC
Eastern Zhou
Spring and Autumn period: 771 – 481 BC
Warring States period: 481 – 221 BC
Qin Dynasty: 221 – 206 BC
Han Dynasty: 206 BC – 220 AD
Western Han: 206 BC – 8 AD
Xin Dynasty: 8 – 23 AD
Three Kingdoms
The Kingdom of Wei: 220 – 265 AD
The Kingdom of Shu: 221 – 263 AD
The Kingdom of Wu: 229 – 280 AD
Jin Dynasty
Western Jin: 265 – 316 AD
Eastern Jin: 317 – 460 AD
The Sixteen Kingdoms
"Former Zhao" or "Han Zhao": 304 – 329 AD
"Cheng Han" or "Former Shu": 306 – 347 AD
Former Liang: 314 – 376 AD
"Later Zhao" or "Shi Zhao": 319 – 351 AD
Former Yan: 334 – 370 AD
"Former Qin" or "Fu Qin": 351 – 394 AD
Later Yan: 384 – 409 AD
"Later Qin" or "Iau Qin": 384 – 417 AD
Western Qin: 385 – 431 AD
"Later Liang" or "Lu Liang": 389 – 403 AD
Southern  Liang: 397 – 414 AD
Southern Yan: 398 – 410 AD
Western Liang: 400 – 421 AD
Northern Liang: 401 – 439 AD
"Xia" or "Hu Xia": 407 – 431 AD
"Northern Yan" or "Feng Yan": 409 – 436 AD
The countries below are not included in the sixteen kingdoms:
Former Chouchi:  296 – 371 AD
Later Chouchi: 385 – 443 AD
Dai: 315 – 376 AD
Ran Wei: 350 – 352 AD
Western Yan: 384 – 394 AD
Zhai Wei: 388 – 392 AD
Western Shu: 405 – 413 AD
Yuwenbu: 302 – 344 AD
Duanbu: 310 – 357 AD
Tuguhun:  313 – 633 AD
Southern and Northern Dynasties
Southern Dynasties
Song: 420 – 479 AD
Chi: 479 – 502 AD
Liang: 502 – 557 AD
Chen: 557 – 589 AD
Northern Dynasties
Northern Wei: 386 – 534 AD
Eastern Wei: 534 – 550 AD
Western Wei: 535 – 557 AD
Northern Chi: 550 – 557 AD
Northern Chou: 557 – 581 AD
Sui Dynasty: 581 – 618 AD
Tang Dynasty: 618 – 907 AD
Tang Dynasty had been interrupted by Wu Chou: 690 – 705 AD
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
Five Dynasties
Later Liang: 907 – 923 AD
Later Tang: 923 – 936 AD
Later Jin: 936 – 947 AD
Later Han: 947 – 950 AD
Later Chou: 951 – 960 AD
Ten Kingdoms
Wu Yue: 904 – 978 AD
Min (changed its name to Yin at 943 AD): 909 – 945 AD
Jinnan: 907 – 963 AD
Chu: 897 – 951 AD
Wu: 904 – 973 AD
Southern Tang: 937 – 975 AD
Southern Han: 917 – 971 AD
Northern Han: 951 – 979 AD
Former Shu: 907 – 925 AD
Later Shu: 934 – 965 AD
And other regimes
Dingnan Jiedu: 881 – 982 AD
Fongshang Jiedu (or Chi): 887 – 924 AD
Lulong Jiedu (or Yan): 897 – 913 AD
Chender Jiedu (or Zhao): 883 – 921 AD
Yiwu Jiedu: 900(?) – 922 AD and 928 – 929 AD
Wuping Jiedu (or Hunan Jiedu): 950 – 963 AD
Chinyuan Jiedu: 946 – 978 AD
Hexi Regime: ?
Song Dynasty
Northern Song: 960 – 1127 AD
Southern Song: 1127 – 1279 AD
Liao Dynasty (or Khitan) - 907 – 1125 AD
After the Gin Dynasty ends the Liao Dynasty, Yelü Dashi, an aristocrat of Liao, rebuilded the Liao Dynasty, we call it Western Liao, also known as Kara-Khitan Khanate: 1132 – 1218 AD
Gin Dynasty: 1115 – 1234 AD
Western Xia: 1038 – 1227 AD
Yuan Dynasty (Actually the Mongolia): 1279 – 1368 AD
Ming Dynasty: 1368 – 1644 AD
Qing Dynasty: 1636 – 1912 AD
Republic of China: 1912 AD – now (It ruled mainland China only until 1949. It lost in the Chinese Civil War and so it now rules only Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Mazhu, the Taiping Island, and the Dongsha Island. The Republic of China after 1949 is actually Taiwan.)
People's Republic of China: 1949 AD – now

References

 Other websites 

 History of China: Table of Contents - Chaos Group at the University of Maryland
 Chinese Database  by Academia Sinica
 Manuscript and Graphics Database  by Academia Sinica
 China Chronology World History Database 
 Ancient Asian World  History, culture and archaeology of the ancient Asian continent. Many articles and pictures
 A universal guide for China studies 
 Chinese History Forum 
 History Forum  - Discuss Chinese history at History Forum's Asian History  section
 Chinese Siege Warfare  - Mechanical Artillery and Siege Weapons of Antiquity - An Illustrated History bought to you by History Forum
 A Simplified History of China
  Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home  Explore the historical contents of domestic architecture during the Qing dynasty and its pertinence to Chinese heritage and historical culture.
 Early Medieval China  is a journal devoted to academic scholarship relating to the period roughly between the end of the Han and beginning of the Tang eras.
 Cultural Revolution Propaganda Poster
 China Rediscovers its Own History 100-minute lecture on Chinese history given by renowned scholar/author Yu Ying-Shih, Emeritus Professor of East Asian Studies and History at Princeton University.
 Resources for Middle School students  Readable resources for students in grades 5-9 - more than 250 links.
 China, history -Citizendium