World History/Ancient China

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 ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty (商朝) have been carbon dated to about 1500 BC. These shells tell us that China began as city-states in the Yellow River valley. Many people say that China became an empire in 221 BC. The Qin (秦) emperor Qin Shi Huang made everyone write the same way. He also had ideas about the state which he based on legalism and fought Confucianism. This began what is called the Chinese civilization. Ancient China fought wars and Civil wars and was also sometimes conquered by other people.

Geography

The geography of China is different than the geography of the other ancient civilisations. It was a river valley civilisation, developing along the Huang He or "Yellow" river. The Yellow river was named for the yellow silt, or rich soil at the bottom of rivers.

The climate of China varies geographically (changes based on place). In the far north during the winter, temperatures can reach to negative 50^oC, and in the south the climate is tropical.

Timeline

3 Sovereigns and 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)
Zhou Dynasty -
- Western Zhou -1046 - 771 BC
- Eastern Zhou-
  - Spring and Autumn period - 771- 481 BC
  - Warring States period - 481- 221 BC
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 Northern Dynasties -
- 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, rebuilt 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, China.)
The People's Republic of China - 1949 AD - now

Some of this page comes from the Simple Wikipedia article on Ancient China

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