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Chinese Dynasties

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008

Chinese Dynasties

Chinese Dynasties
Dynasty	Characteristics and History
Hsia  c.1994-c.1523 BC	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.1523-c.1027 BC	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.1027-256 BC	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, 403-221 BC
Ch'in  221-206 BC	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 BC-AD 220	Unification furthered, but harshness lessened and Confucianism made basis for bureaucratic state. Buddhism introduced. Encyclopedic history, dictionary compiled; porcelain produced.
Three Kingdoms  AD 220-265	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  265-420	Founded by a Wei general; gradual expansion to the southeast. Series of barbarian dynasties ruled N China. Continued growth of Buddhism.
Sui  581-618	Reunification; centralized government reestablished. Buddhism, Taoism favored. Great Wall refortified; canal system established.
T'ang  618-907	Territorial expansion. Buddhism temporarily suppressed. Civil service examinations based on Confucianism. Age of great achievements in poetry ( Li Po , Po Chü-i , Tu Fu ), sculpture, painting.
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms  907-960	Period of warfare, official corruption, general hardship. Widespread development of printing (see type ); paper money first printed.
Sung  960-1279	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.
Yüan  1271-1368	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  1368-1644	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  1644-1912	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.

Author not available, CHINESE DYNASTIES., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press