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Period: 1766 BCE to 1111 BCE
Shang Dynasty
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Period: 1111 BCE to 221 BCE
Chou Dynasty
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Period: 221 BCE to 206 BCE
Ch'in Dynasty
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Period: 217 to 580
Era of Division
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Period: 219 to 316
Western Chin
Southern Dynasty -
Period: 386 to 532
Northern Wei
Northern Dynasty -
Period: 535 to 554
Western Wei
Northern Dynasty -
Period: 581 to 618
Sui Dynasty
Yang Jian (581-604) reigned as Wendi
Yang Guang (605-617) reigned as Yangdi -
583
Wendi moved the capital
Wendi moved the capital to the newly built Changan named for a previous Han capital city to the northwest. It became the largest city in the world for its day as well as the largest in are of any walled Chinese city. Under the Tang Dynasty it was the most cosmopolitan city.
Sui Dynasty -
Period: 584 to 589
The Grand Canal
The Grand Canal was built from Changan eastward to the Tong Pass
Sui Dynasty -
Period: 586 to 587
Wendi repaired portions of the Great Wall
Sui Dynasty -
589
China is reunified
Wendi established the :Three Department" system with Six Ministries: Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Public Works.
Sui Dynasty -
605
Grand Canal
Yangdi began building the Grand anal from Luoyang to Huai River, there to Jiangdu on the Yangtze River.
Sui Dynasty -
607
Yangdi repaired and added portions to the Great Wall
Yangdi repaired and added portions to the Great Wall. Over a million men undertook the construction. Working at an exhausting pace, it was complete in 20 days costing many lives.
Both Wendi and Yangdi extended control portions of the Silk Road.
Sui Dynasty -
Period: 608 to 609
Grand Canal
The Grand Canal was built from the Yellow River to Beijing by many thousands of men and, for the first time, of women. The canal was 40 paces across and 2000 km long creating an interconnecting transportation system which aided administrative tasks, defense movements and movement of agricultural and trade goods. It also established a link between northern and southern China making the two territories economically independent.
Sui Dynasty -
Period: 618 to 906
Tang Dynasty
Gaozu(616-618) born and know as Li Yuan in his lifetime; name Gaozu given after his death
Taizong(626-649) born Li Shimin
Gaozong(649-683)
Zhongzong and Ruizong(683-690 sequentially)
Wu Zhao(Empress Wu)(690-700)
Xuanzong(712-756) called Ming Huan, brilliant Monarch -
Period: 630 to 645
Xuangzong and Gaozong
Xuangzong traveled across Central Asia and India collecting Buddhist texts to be translated into Chinese
Gaozong brought Lady Wu out of retirement from a Buddhist nunnery. Through ruthless scheming, she became Empress Wu.
Tang Dynasty -
635
Taizong
Taizong welcomed Nestorian Christians and allowed a church to be built.
Tang Dynasty -
660
Gaozong
Gaozong suffered a stroke. Empress Wu was given informal power as regent
Tang Dynasty -
683
Empress Wu
Gaozong died. Empress Wu held power as regent through the reigns of her two sons: Zhongzong and Ruizong.
Tang Dynasty -
690
Empress Wu
Empress Wu usurped power for herself and became the only female emperor in Chinese history.
Tang Dynasty -
705
Empress Wu
Empress Wu was forced to abdicate at the age of 80
Chan Buddhism introduced and became popular, known as Zen Buddhism in Japan.
Tang Dynasty -
Period: 712 to 745
Xuangzong
Xuangzong ruled very ably:strengthened prestige of court by reducing corruption, abolished the death penalty, pursued vigorous foreign policy established the Hanlin Academy for the arts which long survived his dynasty some of the greatest poets (Li Bao and Du Fu) and greatest painters (Wan Wei and Wu Tao-tzu) flourished during his reign, and invited teachers of newly introduced Tantric school of Buddhism.
tang Dynasty -
Period: 755 to 763
Lu-shan rebellion
An Lu-shan rebellion forcing Zuanzong to flee with Yang Guifei. Palace troops strangle Yang Guifei as source of their troubles and Xuanzong abdicated to his son. This story became the subject of poems, paintings, and plays.
Tang Dynasty -
Period: 841 to 845
Massive suppression of religion
Massive suppression of Buddhism and other foreign religions occurred: many temples and monasteries were closed, their wealth confiscated by the government, a quarter of a million monks and nuns returned to secular life. This persecution cut China off from contact with Central Asia and India where Buddhism then declined in favor of Islam and other religions. Only Pure land and Chan schools continued; the other schools did not survive.
Tang Dynasty -
Period: 875 to 884
Rebellion destroyed the Tang Dynasty
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Period: 907 to 960
Five Dynasties
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Period: 907 to 1128
Liao Dynasty
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Period: 960 to 1297
Sung Dynasty
Zhao Kuangyin (960-976) reigned as Taizu
Zhou Kuangyi (976-997) reigned as Taizong
Zhao Ji (1101-1162) reigned as Huizong
Gaozong (1127-1162) -
Period: 1235 to 1279
Song Dynasty resisted Mongol invaders
Song Dynasty resisted Mongol invaders. Explosive weapons are used for the first time, initially by the defending armies of the Song and later adapted by the Mongols. -
Period: 1260 to 1368
Yuan Dynasty
Kublai (1260-1294) known posthumously as Shizu
Toghun Temur (1333-1368) reigned as Shundi -
1274
Kublai attacks Japan
Kublai sent fleets against Japan.
Yuan Dynasty -
1281
Kublai attacks Japan again
The second attempt was aborted by a typhoon's destruction of the fleet which the Japanese regarded as the godly intervention of the Kamikaze or divine wind.
Mongol rule was throughout was maintained by military occupation. The Mongols resisted assimilation into Chinese culture by retaining the Mongol language and yearly summer visits to Mongolia.
Yuan Dynasty -
1292
Kublai
Kublai sent a fleet to java to rebuke the reluctant leader, asserted Mongol control
Yuan Dynasty -
1315
Civil Service Examination reinstated
The civil service examination was reinstated, but it required that half the degrees be awarded to Mongols and other non-Chinese regardless of their qualification.
The Mongols rebuilt the Grand Canal and extended it to Beijing.
Yuan Dynasty -
1344
Taizu
Taizu became a monk at the age of 16 and was sent from his monastery to beg, wandering throughout east-central China. -
1368
Taizu favored the poor over the rich
Taizu had policies that favored the poor over t he rich: he confiscated great estates, and then the state rented these lands to the landless. He abolished slavery and heavily taxed the rich.
Ming Dynasty -
Period: 1368 to
Ming Dynasty
Zhu Yuanzhang (1368-1398) reigned as Hongwu
Zhu Di (1402-1424) reigned as Yongle
Zhe Qizhen ( 1436-1450; restored in 1457-1465) reigned as Zhentong, then as Tianshun
Guangzong (1537-1620) reigned as Wanli -
Period: to
Ching Dynasty
Kangxi (1662-1722)
yongzheng (1722-1736)
Qianlong (1736- 1795)
Guangxu (1898) from 1898-1909 Empress Dowager Cizi ruled, having imprisoned her nephew -
Period: to
Opium War
Opium War occurred ending with the Nanjing Treaty which gave Hong Kong to Great Britain
Qing Dynasty -
Period: to
Taiping Rebellion
Taiping Rebellion was a peasant uprising in which a Christian convert called himself the Son of Heaven, identified himself as the younger brother of Christ, collecting a huge following, and attempted to overthrow the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty -
Sino-French War
Qing Dynasty -
Sino-Japanese War
Qing Dynasty
