Timeline: All China's Dynasties

Today's video shall explore the 13 dynasties that ruled the ancient China with other transition periods marked by chaotic and bloody wars.

It all started with the Xia Dynasty in 2070 BC (approximately) which very little info could be found about as there was not any form of records at the time. In the subsequent dynasties: Shang (c. 1600 - 1050 BC) and Zhou (c.1046 - 256 BC), ancient Chinese civilization grew gradually in terms of language, technology, philosophy and literature. The peaceful period ended with the Seven Warring States, a chaotic era of infighting. The whole China was only unified during the reign of Qin Shi Huang who then established the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, the shortest dynasty in Chinese history. Despite its short existence, many changes were observed during this reign including the Great Wall of China, standardizing currency, writing and legal code. Qin Shi Huang also ordered the destruction of all Confucius records accumulated during the Zhou Dynasty and Seven Warring States and the burial of 460 Confucius scholars alive. He even built a mausoleum for himself filled with life-sized Terracotta army.

Upon the fall of the Qin dynasty, a civil war between Xiang Yu of Chu and Liu Bang of Han, the two former rebel leaders, lasted for 50 years before the defeat of Xiang Yu and the ascension of Liu Bang founding the Han dynasty in 202 BC. The rule of Han dynasty led to a golden age in China with centuries of stability and prosperity. Trading flourished with the Silk Road being opened up to bring in goods and culture from the West. Confucianism and poetry experienced a glory age once more while Buddhism was introduced to the ancient China. This period is where the phrase Han people is used to refer to Chinese people in general.

The subsequent era saw continuous civil wars with the rise and fall of 6 dynasties. The first part of Six Dynasties era was the bloody war of Three Kingdoms which was romanticized with the famous novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. It is very famous in East Asia, especially China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The Three Kingdoms came to an end when the Sima family took control of the Wei court and invaded Shu and Wu unifying the entire China by 280 AD. The peaceful period did not last long due to the infighting of the Jin princes and the invasion of Five Barbarians, the non-Han people who destroyed the Jin dynasty's rule and settled down in Northern and Western China leading to the Sixteen Kingdoms era. Meanwhile, in Southern China, the remnants of Jin court fled to south to establish Eastern Jin after their tragic defeat by the Five Barbarians.

China stayed divided between the North and the South till 581 AD when the Sui dynasty was founded. Despite being short-lived, the contribution of the Sui dynasty was not minor as it established the foundation for the subsequent Tang dynasty to bring China to its peak of its civilization. Under the rule of the Tang dynasty, China was the largest and most populous country in the world. The prosperous period lasted for almost 300 years before internal strife and chaos plagued the country once again marked by the appearance of five dynasties and ten kingdoms. The Song Dynasty unified the country afterwards but it soon fell under the control of the Mongols who then established the Yuan dynasty, the most important dynasty among the vast land ruled by the Mongols. The Yuan dynasty did not last as famine, floods, plagues and peasant uprisings happened one after another. The Ming dynasty, the last dynasty ruled by Han people, was then founded. China's population grew significantly during this period. The last dynasty, the Qing dynasty, was set up by Manchus people who invaded and took control of the entire China for almost 300 years. China under the rule of Qing dynasty was subjected to aggressive foreign power, rural unrest and military weakness leading to its eventual downfall in 1912 before the establishment of the Republic of China.

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Featured Comment by: Wenzyl (channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PhdVQPS9Arby2kB5TmtLg)

Music: Love's Amble - Placidic
Rice and Wine - Sight of Wonders
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Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Keyword: timeline comparison, history comparison, Chinese dynasties

Disclaimers: data use in this video may not be up to date due to the use of various secondary sources to collect data.