Chinese Dynasties

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About 2000 BCE - 1800 BCE
(21st to 19th cent BC)

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Xia Dynasty

Hint 1

--been called the first dynasty.
--was said to have ended only when a ruler mistreated his people and was overthrown by his people.
--However, there isn't any archaeological record to prove this story

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1800 BCE - 1000 BCE
(19th to 10th cent BC)

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Shang Dynasty

Hint 2

--an aristocrastic society, with a king ruling over the military nobility.
--Underneath was the priest class.
-- based on ancestor worship and a worship of many gods; the main god was known as ___ Ti, the Lord on High.

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1100 BCE - 300 BCE
(12th to 4th cent BC)

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Zhou Dynasty

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--the territories started off as walled off cities.
--The leader of each of the territories were the lords, each receiving the title through inheritance. Next in the hierarchy were the fighting men, followed by the peasants and the domestic slaves. Soon, these territories became more independent, eventually breaking away from the main dynasty leaders.

--society was based on agricultural production. During that time, the land of the lords was divided among the peasants to grow crops. They were divided up into three by three squares, with the eight outer squares being worked on by the peasants. The center tract of land was worked on by all eight of the peasants for the lord. The extent of this type of land distibution was unclear, but the later dynasties believed that this was the most equitable way of dealing with land distribution and use.

The religious practice of the empire reflected their hierarchical way of life. The kings believed that they were given a mandate from heaven to rule. The kings prayed and sacrificed to Shang Ti, the Lord on High, now called T'ien (Heaven), and to their ancestors. The lords of the territories prayed to the local nature gods and to the gods of agriculture in addition to their ancestors. If any sacrifices or prayers were missed, great ill was predicted to fall on the territory or kingdom of the neglectful leader.

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220 BCE - 200 BCE
(3rd cent BC)

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Qin Dynasty

Hint 4

left a legacy of a centralized and bureaucratic state that would be carried onto successive dynasties. At the height of its power, the Dynasty had a population of about 40 million people.

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200 BCE - 9 AD
(2nd - 1st cent BC)

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Early Han Dynasty

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--commonly considered within China to be one of the greatest periods in the history of China.
--To this day, the ethnic majority of China still refer to themselves as the "[ ] people."
--China officially became a Confucian state and prospered domestically

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9 AD - 23 AD

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Zin Dynasty

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--"dynasty" of one emperor
-- slavery was abolished in this time and the peasants' lives were improved.

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25 AD - 220 AD
(1st-3rd cent AD)

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Later Han Dynasty

Hint 7

--commonly considered within China to be one of the greatest periods in the history of China.
--To this day, the ethnic majority of China still refer to themselves as the "[ ] people."
--China officially became a Confucian state and prospered domestically

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220 AD - 280 AD
(3rd cent AD)

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Period of disunion

Hint 8

--no dynasties

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589 AD - 618 AD
(6th-7th cent AD)

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Sui Dynasty

Hint 9

This dynasty has often been compared to the earlier Qin Dynasty in tenure and the ruthlessness of its accomplishments. The dynasty's early demise was attributed to the government's tyrannical demands on the people, who bore the crushing burden of taxes and compulsory labor. These resources were overstrained in the completion of the Grand Canal--a monumental engineering feat-- and in the undertaking of other construction projects, including the reconstruction of the Great Wall. Weakened by costly and disastrous military campaigns against Goguryeo which ended with defeat of [ ] in the early seventh century, the dynasty disintegrated through a combination of popular revolts, disloyalty, and assassination.

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618 AD - 907 AD
(7th-10th cent AD)

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Tang Dynasty

Hint 10

The [ ] Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), the most populous city in the world at the time, is regarded by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization — equal to or surpassing that of the earlier Han Dynasty — as well as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Its territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, was greater than that of the Han period, and rivaled that of the later Yuan Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. The enormous Grand Canal of China, built during the previous Sui Dynasty, facilitated the rise of new urban settlements along its route, as well as increased trade between mainland Chinese markets. The canal is to this day the longest in the world. It is estimated that the population in that century had grown to the size of about 80 million people.

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AD 907-960
(10th cent AD)

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Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

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an era of political upheaval in China, beginning in the Tang Dynasty and ending in the Song Dynasty. During this period, five dynasties quickly succeeded one another in the north, and more than 12 independent states were established, mainly in the south.

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907-1125 AD
(10th-12th cent AD)

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Liao Dynasty

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an empire in northern China that ruled over the regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, and parts of northern China proper. It was founded by the Yelü (耶律 Yēlǜ) family of the Khitan people in the final years of the Tang Dynasty, even though its first ruler, Yelü Abaoji, did not declare an era name until 916.

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960–1280 AD
(10th-13th cent AD)

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Song Dynasty

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a ruling dynasty in China between 960–1279 CE; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent standing navy.
The population of China doubled in size between the 10th and 11th centuries.

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1270-1370 AD
(13th-14th cent AD)

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Yuan Dynasty

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established by ethnic Mongols under Kublai Khan (the last Great Khan) (although Kublai Khan placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the official record as the founder of the dynasty or Taizu), and he had nominal control over the Mongol Empire (stretching from Eastern Asia to the fertile crescent to Russia and eastern Europe) because of his title of Khagan, which was however unrecognized by all but one of the other khanates. Later successors never attempted to stake claim over the Khagan title and saw themselves as Emperor of China,

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1368-1644 AD
(14th-17th cent AD)

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Ming Dynasty

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[ ] rule saw the construction of a vast navy and a standing army of 1,000,000 troops. Although private maritime trade and official tribute missions from China had taken place in previous dynasties, the tributary fleet under the Muslim eunuch admiral Zheng He in the 15th century surpassed all others in sheer size. There were enormous projects of construction, including the restoration of the Grand Canal and the Great Wall and the establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing during the first quarter of the 15th century. Estimates for the population in the late [ ] era vary from 160 to 200 million.[2]

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1644-1912 AD
(17th-20th cent AD)

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Manchu Dynasty (Qing Dynasty)

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During its reign, the [ ] Dynasty became highly integrated with Chinese culture. However, its military power weakened during the 1800s, and faced with international pressure, massive rebellions and defeats in wars, it declined after the mid-19th century.
--was overthrown following the Xinhai Revolution, when the Empress Dowager Longyu abdicated on behalf of the last emperor, Puyi, on February 12, 1912.