Dynasties of China
221 BCE O.S. – 12 Feb 191258 items
chinadynastiesTwo thousand years of dynasties
From the day the king of Qin made himself First Emperor in 221 BCE to the abdication of the last emperor, the six-year-old Puyi, on 12 February 1912: 2,132 years of imperial rule, told through the dynasties that held it, and the rival states that shared it.
How to read it
Every band is a dynasty or an age of division. Where two or more states ruled parts of China at once, their bands run side by side: the Sixteen Kingdoms beside Eastern Jin, the Northern beside the Southern Dynasties, Liao, Western Xia and Jin beside the two Songs, the Southern Ming beside the Qing.
Each band sits at its capital, so the map shows the seat of power moving: Xianyang and Chang’an in the Wei valley, Luoyang, Jiankang (Nanjing), Kaifeng, Hangzhou, the steppe capitals of the Khitan, Tangut and Jurchen, and at last Beijing.
Events sit inside the dynasty they belong to: founding moments, rebellions, conquests and a few books that changed how knowledge travelled.
Filter by tag to follow one thread: unification, uprising, war, conquest dynasties, women, books.
The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been. — the opening of Three Kingdoms, translated by Moss Roberts
Dates
Imperial China counted years by reign and kept a lunisolar calendar the app does not have, so every date here is converted. Before 1582 exact dates are shown in the Julian calendar, as Western histories of the period give them; from 1582 they are Gregorian. Most dynasty boundaries are given to the year only, since a dynasty can be counted from a proclamation, a change of name or a final conquest; the notes say which. A day is given only where the conversion is well established.
Items
King Zheng of Qin becomes the First Emperor
Meng Tian’s long walls
The burning of the books
Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rise at Dazexiang
Liu Bang proclaimed emperor
Empress Dowager Lü takes charge
Zhang Qian sets out for the west
Cai Lun presents paper to the throne
Yellow Turban Rebellion
Battle of Red Cliffs
The last Han emperor abdicates to Cao Pi
Jin conquers Wu
Luoyang falls to the Xiongnu
Battle of the Fei River
Emperor Xiaowen moves the capital to Luoyang
Sui conquers Chen
The Grand Canal
An Lushan rebels
The Diamond Sutra is printed
The Chenqiao mutiny
Treaty of Chanyuan
The fall of Kaifeng
Kublai proclaims the Yuan
Battle of Yamen
Red Turban Rebellion
Zheng He’s first voyage
Beijing becomes the capital
The Chongzhen Emperor dies as Li Zicheng takes Beijing
Battle of Shanhai Pass
The Four Treasuries completed
Treaty of Nanjing
The Taiping Rebellion begins at Jintian
Cixi takes power
Wuchang Uprising
Puyi abdicates