Timeline of Chinese History

Until 1911, China was ruled by a number of dynasties. A dynasty was rule by a series of emperors from the same family.

Xia C.21st-16th century B.C.

Shang C.16th-11th century B.C.

Western Zhou Dynasty C.11th century B.C.-770 B.C.

Eastern Zhou (Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods) 770-221 B.C.

Confucius, a scholar, lived at this time. He developed one of the Chinese religions known as Confucianism.

Qin Dynasty 221-207 B.C.

8000 terracotta warriors are made and put in the tomb of the first Qin emperor.

Building the Great Wall is started

A systen of weights and measures was developed as well as a standardised writing system

Western Han Dynasty 206 B.C.-A.D. 24

Eastern Han Dynasty 25-220

After the Han dynasties, China has a period of great instability. Terrible wars rage between different groups of Chinese.

Three Kingdoms (Wei, Shu and Wu) 220-265

Western Jin Dynasty 265-316

Eastern Jin Dynasty 317-420

Southern and Northern Dynasty 420-589

Sui Dynasty 581-618

The Grand Canal is built. This 1800 kilometre waterway linked many parts of China enabling people to travel and trade with each other.

Tang Dynasty 618-907

Greater contact is made with other countries and China begins to trade with India, Malaysia, Japan.

Buddhism is introduced from India.

Five Dynasties 907-960

Northern Song Dynasty 960-1127

Marco Polo visits China and sees prosperous cities, many more grand than the cities of Europe.

Southern Song 1127-1279

Mongol, Genghis Khan invades China, breaking through the Great Wall. The Yuan dynasty established by his grandson rules the Chinese.

a Mongol warrior on the Great Wall

Yuan Dynasty 1271-1368

Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

Portuguese, Dutch, British and Spanish begin to trade with China. Silk and tea are exported, wool and spices are imported.

In 1840 the Chinese fought a war against the British and lost. France, Japan and Russia took control of Chinese lands. Hong Kong island becomes British land.

Qing (say ching) Dynasty 1644-1911

The last emperor of China was 2 year old Emperor Puyi.

The Qing dynasty was overthrown by a new leader, Sun Yat Sen, who declared China to be a republic.

Republic of China 1912-1949

A civil war was fought for many years between the nationalists who wanted to keep the republic and the communists.

1937 Japan invades China.

The nationalist and the communist Chinese fight together to drive the Japanese out of China. Then they start fighting each other again. The communists, led by Mao Tse-Tung defeat the nationalists and set up a communist government.

People's Republic of China 1949-

1997 Hong Kong becomes part of China again

Acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
China (2001). [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au

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updated May 2001