Timeline of Chinese history
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The following is a timeline of the history of China. Between the changing of the dynasties, most dates overlap as ruling periods do not transfer immediately. Dates prior to 841 BC are provisional and subject to dispute. In May 2007 the Rhombos-Verlag ([1]) of Berlin published a book entitled "Absolute dates for Ancient China by astronomy." It has good material on the Chinese calendar, the solar and lunar eclipse records, and a detailed timetable from 2646 to 298 BC. For example, it places the famous solar eclipse of Hsi and Ho (the executed astronomers) to 2137 BC, while claims that Wu Wang, or Fa, departed for his punishing expedition against the last ruler of the Shang dynasty on December 18, 1119 BC. (The reign of King Li-Wang is dated to 878-827 BC that agrees with the data of the related Wikipedia page.)
[edit] Pre-Ancient China
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 400,000 BC | Peking Man of Zhoukoudian (est.) | ||
| 7000 BC | Peiligang Culture | ||
| 5000 BC | Yangshao Culture | ||
| 3000 BC | Longshan Culture |
[edit] Ancient China
[edit] Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
| Date | Ruler | Events | Other people/events |
| 2852 BC | This period is part of the Chinese mythology | ||
| 2650 BC | Legend of Cangjie, inventor of Chinese Character | ||
| 2205 BC |
[edit] Xia Dynasty
| Date | Ruler | Events | Other people/events |
| 2070 BC | Erlitou Culture | ||
| 1600 BC |
[edit] Shang Dynasty
| Date | Ruler | Events | Other people/events |
| 1523 BC | |||
| 1400 BC | Erligang Culture | ||
| 1122 BC |
[edit] Western Zhou Dynasty
| Date | Ruler | Events | Other people/events |
| 1050 BC | King Wu of Zhou | Oracle Bone Script | |
| 1027 BC | Mandate of Heaven | ||
| 781 BC | You | ||
| 771 BC |
[edit] Eastern Zhou Dynasty
| Date | Ruler | Events | Other people/events |
| 770 BC | Ping | ||
| 722 BC | Spring and Autumn Period | ||
| 720 BC | |||
| 619 BC | Xiang | ||
| 632 BC | Battle of Chengpu | ||
| 651 BC | |||
| 551 BC | Lao Zi, Confucius | ||
| 515 BC | The Art of War | ||
| 486 BC | Grand Canal of China | ||
| 481 BC | |||
| 475 BC | Warring States Period | ||
| 400 BC | Gan De and Shi Shen Star catalogue compilation (est.) | ||
| 314 BC | Nan | ||
| 300 BC | Erya first dictionary | ||
| 260 BC | Battle of Changping | ||
| 256 BC |
[edit] Imperial China
[edit] Qin Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 255 BC | Warring States Period | ||
| 246 BC | Qin Shi Huang (First Emperor) | ||
| 221 BC | Unification of China | Imperial Seal of China | |
| 220 BC | Great Wall construction begins | Li Si standardize on Small Seal Script characters | |
| 213 BC | Start of the Book Burning policy | ||
| 210 BC | Burial of the Terracotta Army | ||
| 209 BC | Qin Er Shi | ||
| 207 BC | Ziying |
[edit] Western Han Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 206 BC | Chu-Han contention | ||
| 205 BC | Battle of Jingxing | ||
| 202 BC | Han Gao Zu | ||
| 200 BC | The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art | ||
| 195 BC | |||
| 190 BC | Hui | Chang'an became eastern end of the silk road connecting to Europe | |
| 180 BC | Jing | Rule of Wen and Jing | |
| 130 BC | Wu | Sino-Roman relations | |
| 6 AD |
[edit] Xin Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 9 | Wang Mang | ||
| 23 |
[edit] Eastern Han Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 25 | Gengshi | ||
| 88 | He | ||
| 105 | Cai Lun invents paper | ||
| 106 | Shang | ||
| 142 | Shun | The Kinship of the Three | |
| 168 | Ling | ||
| 184 | Yellow Turban Rebellion | ||
| 189 | Prince of Hongnong | ||
| 190 | Xian | ||
| 191 | Battle of Jieqiao | ||
| 200 | Battle of Guandu | ||
| 208 | Battle of Changban | Battle of Red Cliffs | |
| 220 | Woodblock printing (est.) |
[edit] Three Kingdoms
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 221 | (Cao Pi-Wei) (Liu Bei-Shu) (Sun Quan-Wu) | ||
| 222 | Battle of Yiling | ||
| 225 | Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign | ||
| 228 | Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions | ||
| 234 | Battle of Wuzhang Plain | ||
| 250 | Introduction of Buddhism in China | ||
| 252 | |||
| 265 | Nine-rank system |
[edit] Western Jin Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 265 | Wu | ||
| 271 | First record of Compass | ||
| 280 | Unificaion of China, defeat of Wu | ||
| 290 | Hui | ||
| 291 | War of the Eight Princes | ||
| 304 | Sixteen Kingdoms (Han Zhao, Later Zhao, Cheng Han, Former Liang, Later Liang, Northern Liang, Western Liáng, Southern Liang, Former Yan, Later Yan, Northern Yan, Southern Yan, Former Qin, Later Qin, Western Qin, Xia) | ||
| 306 | |||
| 307 | |||
| 316 |
[edit] Eastern Jin Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 317 | Sixteen Kingdoms (cont.) | ||
| 372 | Xiaowu | ||
| 383 | Battle of Fei River | ||
| 396 | |||
| 419 | Gong | ||
| 420 |
[edit] Southern and Northern Dynasties
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 386 | Sixteen Kingdoms (cont.) | ||
| 439 | |||
| 475 | Bodhidharma arrives in China | ||
| 496 | Change of Xianbei names to Han names | ||
| 589 |
[edit] Sui Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 581 | Wendi | Goguryeo-Sui Wars | |
| 605 | Imperial examination | ||
| 619 |
[edit] Tang Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 618 | |||
| 627 | Li Shi Min | ||
| 635 | First Christian missionaries arrive in China: Nestorian monks from Asia Minor and Persia, building Daqin Pagoda | ||
| 649 | Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar (est.) | ||
| 650 | The Records of the Tang Dynasty describes a landmark visit to China by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas, one of the sahaba, in 650 C.E. This event is considered to be the birth of Islam in China. | ||
| 684 | Wu Ze Tian | ||
| 705 | |||
| 712 | Xuanzong | ||
| 751 | Battle of Talas | ||
| 756 | An Lushan Rebellion | ||
| 763 | |||
| 781 | Nestorian Stone | ||
| 845 | |||
| 868 | Printing of Diamond Sutra | ||
| 907 | Ten thousand years (est.) |
[edit] Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
| Date | 5 Dynasties | 10 Kingdoms | Events |
| 907 | Later Liang Dynasty | Wu Wuyue Min Chu Southern Han Former Shu Later Shu Jingnan Southern Tang Northern Han | |
| 923 | Later Tang Dynasty | ||
| 936 | Later Jin Dynasty | ||
| 947 | Later Han Dynasty | ||
| 951 | Later Zhou Dynasty | ||
| 960 | |||
| 979 |
[edit] Liao Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 907 | |||
| 1127 |
[edit] Northern Song Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 960 | Neo-Confucianism (est.) | Hundred Family Surnames (est.) | |
| 1044 | Wujing Zongyao, first book with written formula to gunpowder | ||
| 1127 | Jingkang Incident |
[edit] Southern Song Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 1128 | |||
| 1214 | Battle of Beijing | ||
| 1271 | Voyage of Marco Polo begins | ||
| 1279 | Kublai Khan | Battle of Yamen |
[edit] Yuan Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 1271 | Kublai Khan | ||
| 1273 | Battle of Xiangyang | ||
| 1279 | Battle of Yamen | ||
| 1289 | Franciscan friars begin mission work in China | ||
| 1294 | Chengzong | ||
| 1295 | |||
| 1308 | Wuzong | ||
| 1333 | Huizong | ||
| 1363 | Battle of Lake Poyang | ||
| 1368 |
[edit] Ming Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 1368 | Hongwu | ||
| 1371 | Hai Jin maritime ban | ||
| 1398 | |||
| 1399 | Jianwen | ||
| 1402 | |||
| 1403 | Yongle | ||
| 1405 | Voyages of Zheng He | ||
| 1406 | Construction of the Forbidden City begins | ||
| 1426 | Xuande | ||
| 1449 | Battle of Tumu Fortress | ||
| 1506 | Zhengde | ||
| 1516 | First Portuguese settlement with Jorge Álvares in Macau | ||
| 1521 | |||
| 1522 | Jiajing | ||
| 1556 | Shaanxi Earthquake. 850,000 casualties | ||
| 1573 | Wanli | ||
| 1582 | Jesuits begin mission work in China | ||
| 1590 | Journey to the West | ||
| 1616 | Nurhaci found the Qing Dynasty in Manchuria | ||
| 1619 | Battle of Sarhu | ||
| 1627 | First Manchu invasion of Korea | ||
| 1637 | Second Manchu invasion of Korea | ||
| 1644 |
[edit] Shun Dynasty
| Date | Emperor | Events | Other people/events |
| 1644 | Li Zicheng |
[edit] Qing Dynasty
[edit] Modern China
[edit] Republic of China
[edit] PRC/ROC
[edit] See also
[edit] By sources
[edit] By era
- List of Palaeolithic sites in China
- List of Neolithic cultures of China
- List of Chalcolithic cultures in China
- History of China
[edit] By individual categories
- Chinese sovereign
- Dynasties in Chinese history
- Historical capitals of China
- History of the political divisions of China
- Table of Chinese monarchs (very long)
- List of recipients of tribute from China
- List of tributaries of Imperial China
- Unequal Treaties
[edit] External links
- Comparative timeline of Chinese, Japanese and Korean historical events (in Japanese)
- Chinese History and Dynasties
da:Tidslinje for Kina de:Zeittafel China eo:Cxinaj dinastioj fr:Chronologie de la Chine nl:Chinese dynastie fi:Kiinan dynastiat zh:中国历史年表
