China Culture::History

Your Position: China History

China, a land of beauty and fascination, tempts adventurous travelers all over the world. She is a massive country, covering 6,000,000 square miles and spanning 60 longitudinal degrees. She has so infinite variety of people, enchanting natural landscape, brilliant history and culture and fascinating destinations that a visitor tends to be as bewildered as bewitched.

The brief Chinese Chronology

Dynasty		Date
Xia		ca. 2000-1500 B.C.
Shang		1700-1027 B.C.
Western Zhou		1027-771 B.C.
Eastern Zhou
Spring and Autumn period		770-476 B.C
Warring States period		475-221 B.C.
Qin		221-207 B.C.
Western Han		206 B.C.-A.D. 9
Xin (Wang Mang interregnum)		A.D. 9-24
Eastern Han		A.D. 25-220
Three Kingdoms		A.D. 220-280
220-265 -- Wei
221-263 -- Shu
229-280 -- Wu
Western Jin		A.D. 265-316
Eastern Jin		A.D. 317-420
Southern and Northern Dynasties
Southern Dynasties	420-588	A.D. 420-588
420-478 -- Song
479-501 -- Qi
502-556 -- Liang
557-588 -- Chen
Northern Dynasties	386-588
386-533 -- Northern Wei
534-549 -- Eastern Wei
535-557 -- Western Wei
550-577 -- Northern Qi
557-588 -- Northern Zhou
A.D. 581-617		Sui
Tang		A.D. 618-907
Five Dynasties		A.D. 907-960
Later Liang	907-923
Later Tang	923-936
Later Jin	936-946
Later Han	947-950
Later Zhou	951-960
Ten Kingdoms		A.D. 907-979
Song		A.D. 960-1279
Northern Song	960-1127
Southern Song	1127-1279
Liao		A.D. 916-1125
Western Xia		A.D. 1038-1227
Jin		A.D. 1115-1234
Yuan		A.D. 1279-1368
Ming		A.D. 1368-1644
Qing		A.D. 1644-1911
Republic of China		A.D. 1911-1949
People's Republic of China		A.D. 1949-

Other Information:

Area: 9,600,000 sq km
Population: 1.24 billion
Capital City: Beijing (pop 12 million)

People: Han Chinese (93%), plus Mongolian, Zhuang, Manchu and Uighur minorities

Language: Putonghua (Beijing dialect mandarin)
Religion: Officially atheist; Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism (no states available); Muslim (14 million), Christian (7 million)

Government: The National People's Congress