Chinese dynasties timeline
This chart puts 40 Chinese dynasties on one timeline in order, from Xia dynasty (traditional) (c. 2070 to 1600 BCE) to People's Republic of China (1949 CE to the present). On these dates, Zhou dynasty (Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou together) lasted longest, about 790 years.
See it on the interactive chart
- Xia dynasty (traditional)c. 2070 to 1600 BCE
- Shang dynastyc. 1600 to 1046 BCE
- Western Zhou1046 to 771 BCE
- Eastern Zhou770 to 256 BCE
- Qin dynasty221 to 206 BCE
- Western Han202 BCE to 9 CE
- Xin dynasty9 to 23 CE
- Eastern Han25 to 220 CE
- Cao Wei220 to 266 CE
- Shu Han221 to 263 CE
- Eastern Wu229 to 280 CE
- Western Jin266 to 316 CE
- Eastern Jin317 to 420 CE
- Northern Wei386 to 535 CE
- Liu Song dynasty420 to 479 CE
- Southern Qi479 to 502 CE
- Liang dynasty502 to 557 CE
- Eastern Wei534 to 550 CE
- Western Wei535 to 557 CE
- Northern Qi550 to 577 CE
- Northern Zhou557 to 581 CE
- Chen dynasty557 to 589 CE
- Sui dynasty581 to 618 CE
- Tang dynasty618 to 907 CE
- Wu Zhou690 to 705 CE
- Later Liang907 to 923 CE
- Liao dynasty916 to 1125 CE
- Later Tang923 to 937 CE
- Later Jin (Five Dynasties)936 to 947 CE
- Later Han (Five Dynasties)947 to 951 CE
- Later Zhou951 to 960 CE
- Northern Song960 to 1127 CE
- Western Xia1038 to 1227 CE
- Jin dynasty (Jurchen)1115 to 1234 CE
- Southern Song1127 to 1279 CE
- Yuan dynasty1271 to 1368 CE
- Ming dynasty1368 to 1644 CE
- Qing dynasty1636 to 1912 CE
- Republic of China (mainland)1912 to 1949 CE
- People's Republic of China1949 CE to the present
- Chinese
- Mongolic
- Turkic
- Tibeto-Burman
- Tungusic
- People or culture without a state
In order
Xia dynasty (traditional)
The first dynasty of traditional Chinese history, said to have been founded by Yu the Great. Its existence is unproven: most Chinese archaeologists identify it with the Erlitou culture, while many Western scholars doubt it. Dates follow a 1996 Chinese state project.
Shang dynasty
The earliest traditional Chinese dynasty firmly supported by archaeology, whose oracle bones carry the earliest known Chinese writing. It cast bronze ritual items and made human sacrifices in state rituals until the Zhou overthrew it.
Western Zhou
The Zhou overthrew the Shang at Muye and justified it with the Mandate of Heaven. They ruled through regional polities usually headed by royal relatives, until nomads and rebels sacked the capital in 771 BCE.
Eastern Zhou
The Zhou kings at Luoyi (Luoyang), reduced to figureheads as rival states fought through the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought. Qin deposed the last king in 256 BCE.
Qin dynasty
Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor, standardized script, coins, weights and axle widths, linked the northern walls and was buried with the Terracotta Army. Revolts broke out after his death and the dynasty fell within four years.
Western Han
Founded by the commoner Liu Bang. Emperor Wu sponsored Confucianism at court, fought the Xiongnu and pushed into Central Asia, Korea and Vietnam; the regent Wang Mang usurped the throne in 9 CE.
Xin dynasty
Wang Mang's dynasty, which nationalized farmland and banned the sale of slaves. Yellow River floods, the Red Eyebrows and other rebels brought it down, and Wang Mang was killed in 23.
Eastern Han
Liu Xiu restored the Han with its capital at Luoyang. Cai Lun refined papermaking in 105 and Buddhism first entered China in this era; court eunuchs, the Yellow Turban revolt and warlords tore it apart.
Cao Wei
The northern state of the Three Kingdoms, founded when Cao Cao's son Cao Pi forced the last Han emperor to abdicate. The Sima family took control and replaced it with the Jin in 266.
Shu Han
The Three Kingdoms state of Liu Bei and his chancellor Zhuge Liang in Sichuan, which claimed to continue the Han. Cao Wei conquered it in 263.
Eastern Wu
The Three Kingdoms state of Sun Quan on the lower Yangtze, which with Liu Bei stopped Cao Cao at Red Cliffs in 208. It opened the south to settlement and fell to the Jin in 280.
Western Jin
Sima Yan reunited China in 280, but the War of the Eight Princes exhausted the dynasty. Xiongnu forces sacked Luoyang in 311 and Chang'an in 316.
Eastern Jin
The Jin court in exile south of the Yangtze after the north fell to the Sixteen Kingdoms. It beat Former Qin at the Fei river in 383, and its age produced the calligrapher Wang Xizhi and the poet Tao Yuanming.
Northern Wei
The Tuoba Xianbei dynasty that reunited north China in 439. It carved the Buddhist caves of Yungang and Longmen, and Emperor Xiaowen moved the court to Luoyang and adopted Chinese dress and names. The Tuoba language is debated, often linked to Mongolic or Turkic.
Liu Song dynasty
The first of the Southern Dynasties, founded by the general Liu Yu. Its reign of Emperor Wen was a period of order in the south before palace killings weakened the dynasty.
Southern Qi
A short southern dynasty under the Xiao family, overthrown by a relative who founded the Liang.
Liang dynasty
Emperor Wu of Liang reigned for 47 years and became a devout Buddhist patron. The rebellion of Hou Jing in 548 wrecked Jiankang and the dynasty.
Eastern Wei
The eastern half of the divided Northern Wei, controlled by the general Gao Huan, whose son replaced it with the Northern Qi.
Western Wei
The western half of the Northern Wei, run by the Xianbei general Yuwen Tai, under whom the fubing militia system began, later adopted by the Sui and Tang.
Northern Qi
A dynasty founded by Gao Yang, son of Gao Huan, which ruled the east of north China and asserted a Xianbei identity. Violent purges marked its later reigns, and the Northern Zhou conquered it in 577.
Northern Zhou
The Yuwen family's dynasty, which reunited the north by conquering the Northern Qi. Its regent Yang Jian took the throne in 581 as founder of the Sui.
Chen dynasty
The last of the Southern Dynasties. The Sui crossed the Yangtze in 589 and captured its last emperor, reuniting China after nearly three centuries of division.
Sui dynasty
Reunited China in 589 after nearly three centuries of division and built the Grand Canal linking the Yellow River and the Yangtze. Failed invasions of Goguryeo set off the revolts that ended it.
Tang dynasty
A cosmopolitan empire whose capital Chang'an was the world's most populous city for much of the era, the age of the poets Li Bai and Du Fu and of woodblock printing. The An Lushan rebellion of 755 began a long decline, and the warlord Zhu Wen ended it in 907.
Wu Zhou
The dynasty proclaimed by Wu Zetian, the only undisputed female sovereign in Chinese history. She expanded the civil service examinations and patronized Buddhism, and the Tang was restored when the Shenlong Coup removed her in 705.
Later Liang
The first of the Five Dynasties, founded by the rebel turned warlord Zhu Wen, who forced the last Tang emperor to abdicate.
Liao dynasty
The Khitan empire founded by Abaoji, which ruled Manchuria, Mongolia and sixteen prefectures of north China with separate systems for nomads and Chinese. The Song paid it tribute, and the Jurchens destroyed it in 1125.
Later Tang
A dynasty of Shatuo Turkic origin that destroyed the Later Liang and conquered the Former Shu, before internal rebellions and a Khitan-backed revolt ended it.
Later Jin (Five Dynasties)
Founded by the Shatuo general Shi Jingtang with Khitan help, for which he ceded the Sixteen Prefectures around Beijing to the Liao. When his successor defied the Liao, the Khitans seized Kaifeng and ended it.
Later Han (Five Dynasties)
A Shatuo-led dynasty founded by Liu Zhiyuan, though some sources say its emperors claimed Han Chinese ancestry. One of the shortest-lived Chinese regimes, it fell to a coup by Guo Wei, and its remnants founded the Northern Han.
Later Zhou
The last of the Five Dynasties, whose Emperor Shizong won victories against the Southern Tang in 956. After his death, his general Zhao Kuangyin took the throne in 960 and founded the Song.
Northern Song
A state run by examination-trained scholar officials, with paper money, movable type, gunpowder weapons and a commercial boom. It paid tribute to the Liao, and the Jurchens captured Kaifeng and two emperors in 1127.
Western Xia
The Tangut empire of Ningxia and Gansu, which created its own script of nearly 5,900 characters and printed Buddhist sutras in it. Genghis Khan died during his final campaign against it, and the Mongols destroyed the Tangut state in 1227.
Jin dynasty (Jurchen)
Founded by the Jurchen chief Aguda in Manchuria. It destroyed the Liao, took north China from the Song in 1127 and made Beijing a capital, until the Mongols conquered it in 1234.
Southern Song
The Song court re-established at Lin'an (Hangzhou) after the Jurchens took the north. It founded China's first permanent navy and had some of the world's largest cities, and the Mongols ended it at the sea battle of Yamen in 1279.
Yuan dynasty
Kublai Khan's dynasty, the first founded by a non-Han people to rule all of China proper. It welcomed visitors such as Marco Polo and twice failed to invade Japan; famines and the Red Turban Rebellion drove it north from Khanbaliq in 1368.
Ming dynasty
Founded by the peasant rebel Zhu Yuanzhang. The Yongle Emperor built the Forbidden City and sent Zheng He's fleets as far as East Africa, the Great Wall was fortified into its modern form, and the rebel Li Zicheng took Beijing in 1644.
Qing dynasty
The Manchu dynasty that took Beijing in 1644 and ruled the most territory of any Chinese dynasty, peaking in the High Qing era that began under the Kangxi Emperor. The Opium Wars, unequal treaties and the Taiping Rebellion weakened it, and the 1911 revolution ended it.
Republic of China (mainland)
Proclaimed with Sun Yat-sen as provisional president after the 1911 revolution. Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists reunified much of the country from Nanjing in 1928, fought Japan from 1937 and lost the civil war to the Communists.
People's Republic of China
Proclaimed by Mao Zedong in 1949 after the Communist victory in the civil war. The Great Leap Forward famine and the Cultural Revolution were followed by market reforms from 1978, and China now has the world's second-largest economy by nominal GDP.
Major events
- Oracle bone writing at Anyang. Diviners of the Shang king Wu Ding carve questions to the ancestors on turtle shells and ox bones, the earliest known significant body of Chinese writing.
- Battle of Muye. King Wu of Zhou defeats the last Shang king, Di Xin, ending the Shang. Later Zhou histories present the conquest as a transfer of the Mandate of Heaven.
- Birth of Confucius. Kong Qiu is born in the state of Lu, by tradition in 551 BCE. His teachings on morality, social harmony and rule by virtue become a source of much of East Asia's shared cultural heritage.
- Qin unifies China. King Zheng of Qin conquers the last of the Warring States and takes the new title Huangdi, emperor.
- First Emperor buried with the Terracotta Army. Qin Shi Huang dies on tour and is buried near Xi'an, guarded by more than 8,000 life-size clay soldiers that farmers digging a well found in 1974.
- Cai Lun presents paper. The court eunuch Cai Lun reports a method of making paper from bark, hemp and rags to the Han emperor, and paper spreads across Asia.
- Yellow Turban rebellion. Followers of the Daoist Way of Supreme Peace revolt across the Han empire. The regional commanders who suppress it gain power, opening the way to warlord rule and the Three Kingdoms.
- Battle of Red Cliffs. The allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei defeat the larger northern army of Cao Cao on the Yangtze in the winter of 208 to 209. The result blocks Cao Cao from the south and lays the ground for the states of Shu Han and Eastern Wu.
- Grand Canal completed. The Sui finish a network of canals linking Hangzhou, the Yangtze, the Yellow River and the north, carrying southern grain to the capitals for over a thousand years.
- An Lushan rebellion. The frontier general An Lushan rebels and takes both Tang capitals. Eight years of war bring famine and mass displacement and leave much of the empire under autonomous regional military governors.
- Diamond Sutra printed. A woodblock-printed copy of the Diamond Sutra, later found in the Dunhuang Library Cave, is the oldest known dated printed book in the world.
- Gunpowder formula recorded. The Song military manual Wujing Zongyao, compiled from 1040 to 1044, gives the earliest known written formulas for gunpowder, used in fire arrows and bombs.
- Mongols complete the conquest of the Song. At the Battle of Yamen on 19 March the Mongol-led Yuan destroy the last Song forces in southern China. The boy emperor Zhao Bing drowns, ending the dynasty and leaving Kublai Khan's Yuan in control of all China.
- Kamikaze wreck the Mongol fleet. A typhoon devastates Kublai Khan's second invasion fleet off Kyushu, the storm remembered in Japan as kamikaze, the divine wind.
- Zheng He's first voyage. The eunuch admiral sails with 317 ships and nearly 28,000 men, the first of seven voyages that reached India, Arabia and East Africa.
- Japanese invasion of Korea. Toyotomi Hideyoshi sends some 150,000 troops into Korea. Ming armies, Korean militias and Admiral Yi Sun-sin's fleet fight them to a stalemate, and Japan withdraws in 1598 after Hideyoshi dies.
- Fall of Beijing. Li Zicheng's rebels take Beijing and the last Ming emperor hangs himself. The general Wu Sangui lets the Manchus through the Great Wall and they seize the capital.
- First Opium War. After Lin Zexu destroys British opium at Canton, Britain goes to war and forces the Treaty of Nanjing, opening ports and taking Hong Kong.
- Boxer Rebellion. An uprising in North China against foreign influence lasts from 1899 to 1901. Boxers besiege Beijing's Legation Quarter for 55 days until an Eight-Nation Alliance relieves it; the 1901 Boxer Protocol imposes a 450 million tael indemnity.
- Xinhai Revolution. An army mutiny at Wuchang spreads across the provinces, and the last Qing emperor Puyi abdicates in February 1912.
- Long March. About 100,000 Communist troops retreat from the Jiangxi Soviet and other bases ahead of the Kuomintang, travelling about 10,000 kilometres to a new headquarters at Yan'an. About 8,000 survive to reach it in October 1935.
- War with Japan and the Nanjing massacre. Fighting at the Marco Polo Bridge in July grows into full-scale war. Japanese troops take Nanjing in December and massacre civilians and prisoners; most estimates put the dead at 100,000 to over 200,000.
- People's Republic proclaimed. Mao Zedong declares the People's Republic from Tiananmen on 1 October, and the Nationalist government retreats to Taiwan.
- Korean War. North Korea invades the south. UN forces led by the United States and Chinese armies fight to a stalemate, and the 1953 armistice leaves Korea divided.
- Great Leap Forward famine. Policies of the Great Leap Forward launched by Mao Zedong are major factors in a famine from 1959 to 1961. Estimates of the dead range from 15 to 46 million, with newer estimates concentrated around 30 to 46 million.
- Cultural Revolution begins. Mao Zedong launches a movement with the stated goal of purging capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society; it lasts until his death in 1976. Tens of millions are persecuted, and estimates of the dead range from 1 to 2 million.
- Reform and opening. Deng Xiaoping's leadership begins decollectivizing farms and opening China to foreign investment, starting four decades of rapid growth.
- Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Troops sent to occupy the square on the night of 3 June open fire on protesters in Beijing as they advance. Estimates of the dead range from several hundreds to the low thousands. China terms it political turmoil and censors the subject.
- COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic begins with an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and the WHO assesses it as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. By November 2026 it had caused about 7.1 million confirmed deaths and an estimated 18.5 to 35.2 million deaths.
Questions
What is the order of Chinese dynasties?
By start date: Xia dynasty (traditional), Shang dynasty, Western Zhou, Eastern Zhou, Qin dynasty, Western Han, Xin dynasty, Eastern Han, Cao Wei, Shu Han, Eastern Wu, Western Jin, Eastern Jin, Northern Wei, Liu Song dynasty, Southern Qi, Liang dynasty, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Chen dynasty, Sui dynasty, Tang dynasty, Wu Zhou, Later Liang, Liao dynasty, Later Tang, Later Jin (Five Dynasties), Later Han (Five Dynasties), Later Zhou, Northern Song, Western Xia, Jin dynasty (Jurchen), Southern Song, Yuan dynasty, Ming dynasty, Qing dynasty, Republic of China (mainland) and People's Republic of China.
Which of the Chinese dynasties lasted longest?
On this timeline, Zhou dynasty (Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou together), at about 790 years (1046 to 256 BCE).
How many Chinese dynasties were there?
This timeline shows 40. Other lists count differently, depending on how they treat rival states and periods of division.
Which came first?
Xia dynasty (traditional), c. 2070 to 1600 BCE, is the earliest on this timeline.
Where do these dates come from?
Each row's dates were checked against the sources listed on that row's own page, mostly English Wikipedia articles, which cite the underlying scholarship. Dates that are uncertain are marked c.