Ancient China

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ancient China is a very old civilization. People wrote about the history of China 3500 years ago. China is one of the world's oldest continuous (still alive) civilizations. Turtle shells with writing like ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty (商朝) have been carbon dated to about 1500 BC. They say that China began as city-states in the Yellow River valley. Many people say that China became a big Kingdom or Empire in 221 BC. The Qin (秦) emperor in the 3rd century BC made everyone write the same way. He also had ideas about the state which he based on Confucianism in the 2nd century BC. This began what we call the Chinese civilization. Ancient China fought wars and Civil wars and was sometimes conquered by other people. This means that it has parts of cultures from many places in Asia.

[edit] Timeline

  • 3 Sovereigns & 5 Emperors - 50,000-2000 BC
  • Xia Dynasty - 2000 - 1600 BC (not sure, Xia Dynasty didn't have words)
  • Shang Dynasty ( or Yin Dynasty) - 1600 - 1046 (not sure)
  • Chou Dynasty -
    • Western Chou -1046 - 771 BC
    • Eastern Chou-
      • Spring and Autumn period - 771- 481 BC
      • Warring States period - 481- 221 BC
  • Ch'in (Qin) Dynasty -221-206 BC
  • Han Dynasty -206 BC - AD 220
    • Western Han - 206 BC - AD 8
    • Xin Dynasty - 8 - 23 AD
    • Eastern Han - 25 - 220 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 - 3701 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 aren't 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 Nothern Dyanasties -
    • 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
  • T'ang 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
  • The Republic of China - 1912 AD - now (It only ruled mainland China until 1949. It lost in the Chinese Civil War, so now it only rules Taiwan, Penghu, Kingmen, Mazhu, the Taiping Island and the Dongsha Island. The Republic of China after 1949 is actually Taiwan.)
  • The People's Republic of China - 1949 AD - now
In other languages