Timeline of Chinese Dynasties Dynasty – a line of rulers who belong to the same family. China’s dynasties ran from about 2000 BC (Shang Dynasty) to AD 1368 (Ming Dynasty) Beginning after the time of Three Sovereigns, sometimes known as the Three August Ones, there were about 24 dynasties. We will only learn about some of them. In the beginning the Three Sovereigns were said to be god-kings or demigods. They used their magical powers to improve the lives of their people. They all lived to a very old age and ruled over a period of great peace.

Shang Dynasty (c. 2000 BC) By about 1800 BC (the traditional date is 1766 BC), the Shang dynasty had become the first to unite a big part of China under one king. Its capital is in Anyang - northern China. People had already begun to divide up into the rich and the poor. We know that some people were slaves under the Shang Dynasty. Many men were in the king's armies. During the Shang Dynasty, people also began to use horse-drawn chariots. This is about the same time as in West Asia. People also used jade (a green stone) for jewelry and decoration. The Shang Dynasty lasted for about 700 years. But finally they were conquered by the Chou, about 1100 BC.

Chou (Zhou) Dynasty (c. 1100BC) The Chou (Zhou) said that the reason they were able to conquer the Shang was that Heaven (Mandate of Heaven) was on their side. The first period of Chou (Zhou) rule is called the Western Chou (Zhou) , because at this time the Chou (Zhou) only ruled the western part of modern China. China was divided up into about 200 little kingdoms, and then each of these kings was under the Chou (Zhou) emperor.

ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD This is the same time when the Aryans were settling in India. Farther away, the kingdoms of West Asia, Egypt, and Greece were collapsing at the end of the Bronze Age. In terms of the Bible, Moses would probably be leaving Egypt about this time.

Eastern Chou (Zhou) Dynasty (c. 600 BC) In 771 BC, China was invaded by skillful fighters from the northwest. The first three hundred years of the Eastern Chou (Zhou) period is called the Spring and Autumn period because it was a good time for China. Iron began to be used for tools in China at this time. But iron also made good weapons, and the 200 little states began to fight each other all the time. The period from 481 to 221 BC is called the Warring States period.

Chin (Qin) Dynasty (c. 220 BC) The Ch'in Dynasty is the one which gave its name to China – its capital city was Xianyang. The first Ch'in emperor, in 221 BC, called himself Shihuangdi or “First Grand Emperor.” He is remembered for the big palaces he built, as well as the treasure-filled tomb he had constructed with an 8,000 soldier clay army! To show that China was all one empire now, Ch'in made everyone use the same letters to write with and use the same kinds of weights to measure things with, all over the empire.

Han Dynasty (c. 200 BC to AD 200) In 141 BC, the emperor Wu Ti was called the Martial Emperor, because he led many campaigns against the Huns who tried to invade all the time. Wu Ti was able to set up a safe and peaceful trade route for sending Chinese silk and other things across Central Asia to West Asia, Egypt, and the Roman Empire, in exchange for Roman gold. Wu Ti also set up the first university in China, in 124 BC. Young men – Only! Students at the school mainly studied Confucian philosophy, which Wu also made the official state philosophy. Now men who wanted to become governors and judges had to pass a very difficult examination to see if they were smart and well educated enough.

Three Kingdoms (c. AD 500) The Three Kingdoms part of an era of disunity called the Six Dynasties. Although relatively short, this historical period has been greatly romanticized in the cultures of China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The Three Kingdoms period is one of the bloodiest in Chinese history. To illustrate this: A census taken in late Eastern Han dynasty reported a population of approximately 56 million. The reported population during the Three Kingdoms was approximately 16 million!

Arts It was in the time of the Three Kingdoms that the first artists appear whose names we still know today. One of the earliest Chinese artists whose name we know is Ku K'ai-chih, who lived in the AD 300's (when Constantine was first building Constantinople in West Asia). Beginning in the AD 400's, they began to paint the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas near Dunhuang. The earliest paintings in these caves were simple pictures of Buddha and his boddhisatvas. Religion Around AD 500, in the period of the Three Kingdoms. Buddhism first came to China from India - where the Buddha had lived and where Buddhism got started.

T’ang Dynasty (c. AD 618 –AD 907) The Tang Dynasty is regarded by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization — surpassing that of the Han Dynasty. The Tang period was the golden age of Chinese literature and art. Under this period the Silk Road, the most important premodern trade route, reached its golden age, where Persian and Sogdian merchants benefited from the trade between the East and the West.

Sung or Song Dynasty (c. AD 1000) Its founding marked the reunification of China for the first time since the fall of the Tang dynasty in AD 907. However, the Sung/Song Dynasty never controlled as large an empire as the T'ang had. By about AD1100, under the Sung/Song Dynasty, people had begun to use paper money in China.