Chinese History Timeline
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
The Three Sovereigns, sometimes known as the Three August Ones, were said to be god-kings.
 
Xia Dynasty
The Xia Dynasty of China.
 
Shang Dynasty
Because Ji was overthrown for his selfish rule, the first ruler of the Shang Dynasty, Tang, started off with a strong, fair system of governing. The Shang Dynasty, also called the Yin Dynasty, began around 1600 BC and lasted until approximately 1100 BC.  After Emperor Tang, the Shang Dynasty experienced a period of consolidation and further development until the grandson of Tang, Tai Jia, took over and treated his people poorly, breaking his own laws. The Shang Dynasty was known for divination using oracle-bone inscriptions. Being superstitious, many daily events were discovered by supernatural means, including weather, health and crop growth. The bones were also used to record activities.
 
West Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou Dynasty was the longest lasting dynasty in ancient Chinese history. In the early times of the previous dynasty known as the Shang Dynasty, Zhou grew stronger and stronger in what is today’s Binxian County of Shanxi Province. When Ji and later Ji Yijiu took the governance, the area enjoyed prosperity. Soon the Shang Empire was overthrown in the Muye War and the Zhou Dynasty, later called West Zhou, was founded.
 
Spring and Autumn Periods
From 770 BC when the family members of the West Zhou Empire moved to Luoyi in the first ruling year of Pingwang Emperor to the 44th ruling year of Jingwang Emperor in 476 BC, the history in this period generally coincides with what was recorded (from 772 BC to 481 BC) in Spring and Autumn Annals emended by Confucius. Therefore history in this period is known as Spring and Autumn.
 
Warring States
Warring States refers to the historical period when the seven states were fighting with each other. It was an era of turmoil. During the Warring States period, the seven fighting states were in fact only the larger ones among all the states. There were still smaller states including Zhou, Lu, Wei, and Zheng, and many ethnic groups such as Hun and Donghu in the north, Baiyue in the south, and Bashu in the southwest. But later they were gradually conquered and annexed by those larger states.

Qin Dynasty
After the unification of China Proper by Ying Zheng, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, the system of fiefdom was abolished. A new system of Prefecture and County was proposed by Li Si, a Chief of Councilor in the Qin Dynasty. Under the new system, the power of positioning officials was concentrated in the central empire. This helped to overcome the division of power, and to avoid the similar turmoil as that in Spring and Autumn. It adopted an assessment system, the operation of which was similar to today's annual report by officials. Furthermore, the Qin Dynasty standardized the form of writing and measurement, largely facilitating the development of social economy and culture. However, the practice of unifying all ideas, putting to death many dissenting Confucian scholars, as well as confiscating and burning their books posed serious destruction to human civilization, inhibited the development of various ideas, and gave an and end to the booming condition of "Hundred Schools of thought contended". Many emperors of later dynasties followed the similar practices as those of Ying Zheng. That largely blocked the development of ancient ideas. In order to defeat the possible invasion of Hun, the then emperor of the Qin Dynasty ordered the completion of the Great Wall on the basis of what had been built up by the Yan and Zhao Empires.
 
Western Han Dynasty
The Western Han Dynasty is the first stage of the Han Dynasty, lasting form 207 BC to 25 BC. In the whole Han Dynasty, the Western Han was more prosperous than other periods. Thanks to the Enlightened Governance during the reign of Emperor Wen Di and Jing Di and Rehabilitation Policy by Emperor Wu Di, the development of politics, economy, and culture entered a boom in this stage.
 
Eastern Han Dynasty
Compared with that of Western Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty was more tyrranical. Guangwu Di, the then emperor, conducted reforms on governance and distributed more power to the Department of State Affairs. Diplomacy in the EasternHan Dynasty reached long term development. Ban Chao, a famous general, managed to persuade more than 50 countries in the west to submit to the empire of the Eastern Han Dynasty and send their hostages to worship the then emperor. At the same time, an ambassador called Gan Ying was assigned by Ban Chao to visit the Ancient Roman Empire, but unfortunately was cheated by an Arab on the road so he only reached the Mediterranean instead of his destination.

Three Kingdoms Period
At the end of Eastern Han Dynasty, the empire was seriously shaken by the Yellow Turban’s Uprising led by Zhang Jiao. Divisions of power in different places gradually broke away from the central empire and became local dominions. The three kingdoms came into being in such a situation and they were respectively Wei, Shu, and Wu.

Eastern Jin Dynasty
After the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Shi founded a new regime known as the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the south of Yangtze River. In more than 130 years from Emperor Liu Yuan to the unification of North China, various ethnic groups in the ranks of nobles and bureaucratic landlords founded their own regimes. It was the period of Sixteen States in history.
 
The Southern and Northern Dynasties
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the economy in the south was more developed than that in other parts. That was because a large population migrated to the south to avoid the turmoil of war in the north. Therefore the labor force in the south was largely strengthened together with advanced technologies in production. It greatly promoted the growth of local economy and gave birth to many developed economic areas such as Yangzhou.

Tang Dynasty
The whole Tang Dynasty comprised of two stages: the early stage and the late stage. With the An-shi Rebellion as the watershed, the early stage enjoyed prosperity while the late stage was in decline. It was Emperor Gao Zu who founded the empire, and Li Shi Min, the Tai Zong Emperor, who unified the whole of China through a ten year expedition. After the Palace Coup at Xuanwu Gate, Li Shimin ascended the throne and led feudal China into an unprecedented period of prosperity and peace. There was the famous Enlightened Administration in the Zhenguan Reign under Emperor Tai Zong of the Tang Dynasty during which politics, economy, and culture had achieved rapid progress and ranked first in the world. Later times witnessed another ruling period of stability and prosperity, and that was the Enlightened Administration in the Kaiyuan Reign under Emperor Xuan Zong by Emperor Xuan Zong. The country again boasted a strong capacity of national defense and the rich spiritual and material life of its people. Unfortunately, there happened the An-shi Rebellion, leading the Tang Dynasty to degradation. In the late stage of the Tang Dynasty, the political life of the country fell into turmoil. There were fights among eunuchs and divisions of power. Revolts of peasants broke out continuously, including the Uprising led by Huang Chao against the rule of Tang Empire. Zhu Wen, one of leaders of that uprising, later surrendered to the emperor of then Tang regime and finally overthrew it by crowning himself the new emperor. He founded the first dynasty in the period of Five Dynasties and Ten States- the Late Liang Dynasty.
 
Five Dynasties and Ten States
The period of the Five Dynasties and Ten States was a time of chaos. There were cruel emperors, irresponsible officials, heavy taxes, as well as fights and wars all through the years. 
The Song Dynasty covered a longer time than the Tang Dynasty but exerted less influence than the Tang Dynasty. In fact, the Song Dynasty was composed of two periods: the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. The former referred to the ruling and confronting years of Liao, Xia, and Jin, while the latter was the declining period of the empire.
The Northern Song Dynasty achieved long-term development in terms of domestic economy, foreign trade, and culture after the unification of North China. There were also Wang Anshi Reforms and New Policies proposed by Fan Zhongyan in the ruling year of Emperor Qing Li, hoping to improve the governance of the then empire. Although they failed to guarantee the long time prosperity of the Northern Song Dynasty, they successfully solved some social contradictions. However, insurgences of Fang La and Song Jiang respectively in the south and north reflected that domestic conflicts and contradictions were deepening.
When the Northern Song Dynasty was overthrown by Jin, the Southern Song Dynasty decided to settle to the south of the Yangtze River rather than unifying the north. The northern expedition by Yue Fei, a great general and master of war, was considered as a measure of consolidating the rule of the empire. The corrupted ideas and misleading policies of Jia Sidao hastened the ruin of the Southern Dynasty. Although there were upright and patriotic officials such as Wen Tianxiang who made vigorous efforts to improve the situation, the decline of the dynasty failed to be held up. The great poem of Wen Tianxiang, which can be interpreted as "Everyone must die, but let me leave a loyal heart shining in the pages of history", expressed the complicated emotions and sorrows of valiants in that period.
 
Yuan Dynasty
China was unified for the second time, laying the foundation for long term stability and unification in the Qing Dynasty. Economy and culture achieved rapid development in the Yuan Dynasty. Today’s Hui Nationality came into being at the same period. The empire of Yuan boasted a huge land area, which was the primary form of the territory of China today
The Yuan Dynasty can be divided into three stages: the early, the mid, and the late stage. The early stage began from the ruling years of Kublai Khan to that of Tiemu'er. The Yuan Empire in this stage followed the system of laws and regulations of the Han Dynasty and invented various policies on politics, economy, and culture. The early stage was the demonstration of progress. However, starting from the mid stage, the Yuan Dynasty went into decline. There were intense social conflicts, disputes for imperial power, and frequent insurgences of peasants all over the country. The Ying Zong Reform in this stage had little effect. It was just like a flash in the pan, unable to save the empire from decline. Finally the reform failed to achieve its target and its initiator, Ying Zong, died an unnatural death. From Emperor Ming Zong to Emperor Shun Di was the late stage of the Yuan Dynasty. The continuous break out of peasant insurgences hastened the ruin of the Yuan Regime. Later Zhu Yuanzhang became the peasant leader, cleared away other separatist military commissioner regimes, and founded the new dynasty— the Ming Dynasty. This was the end of the Yuan Dynasty.
 
Ming Dynasty
Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Tai Zu of the Ming Dynasty, carried out reforms on various social aspects such as politics and military affairs. He won back the right of making decisions on political, military, and judicatory affairs into his hands. Therefore, the concentration of state power reached an unprecedented level which was inherited of course by the Qing Dynasty. Economic development in the early period of the Ming Dynasty recovered rapidly and soon reached its most advanced level in history. Zhu Yuanzhang therefore was remembered as an intelligent and enlightened emperor as was Emperor Wu Di in the Han Dynasty and Emperor Tai Zong in the Tang Dynasty, in feudal times.
The booming period of the Ming Dynasty happened in the ruling years of Yong Le, Emperor Cheng Zu. During these times, Admiral Zheng established diplomatic relations with the neighboring nations, and thus facilitated economic and cultural exchanges them.
However, due to eunuch tyranny, the Ming Dynasty began to decline after Emperor Ying Zong ascended the throne. The society suffered a lot from the corrupt administration of irresponsible officials and heavy taxes. Peasant insurgences broke out here and there, and national defense was very weak. In the Tumu Fortress War, Ying Zong was captured. Although he was released later, it clearly reflected the empire was in crisis. When Emperor Jia Jing ascended the throne, he appointed Zhang Ju to conduct a national reform involving politics, economy, and military force. The situation turned better for a period of time, but the cruel tyranny of Wei Zhongxian accelerated the dying out of the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, the Nuzhen of the Kingdom of Jin in Northeast China grew strong. It swept south, and overthrew the Northern Song Dynasty when the late Ming Dynasty was deeply weakened by peasant uprisings. Emperor Chong Zhen of the Ming Regime finally hung himself on Meishan Mountain near Beijing.
 
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was reduced to a semi-colonized and semi-feudal society after the first Opium War. Normally the history of the Qing Dynasty is divided into two stages.
The political system of the Qing Dynasty was basically inherited from the Ming Dynasty. But the central department for government affairs was the Grand Secretariat with the Chief Secretary functioning as the Grand Councilor. Six Boards were the executive organ. Later the Grand Minister of State in Privy Council received the same power of the Grand Secretariat. The Privy Council was very efficient; it reflected that the concentrated state power under emperor autarchy was strengthened.
The Qing Dynasty reached the zenith of its power during the reigns of emperors Kang Xi, Yong Zheng and Qian Long. That period was reputed as the Booing Times of Emperor Kang Xi during which Taiwan Island was returned to the Chinese motherland and rebellions were successfully pacified. Its territory was extensive and production boomed.
In the ruling period of Emperor Qian Long in the late Qing Dynasty, social contradictions and conflicts escalated together with continuous peasant uprisings. The serious malpractice of corruption by He Shen, the Grand Councilor at late the Qing Dynasty, was an epitome of imperial administration. That was the major cause to the failure of Opium War.