Emperor Throne in Forbidden City, Beijing

China, one of the countries that can boast of an ancient civilization, has a long and mysterious history - almost 5,000 years of it! Like most other great civilizations of the world, China can trace her culture back to a blend of small original tribes which have expanded till they became the great country we have today.

It is recorded that Yuanmou man is the oldest hominoid in China and the oldest dynasty is Xia Dynasty. From the long history of China, there emerge many eminent people that have contributed a lot to the development of the whole country and to the enrichment of her history. Among them, there are emperors like Li Shimin (emperor Taizong of the Tang), philosophers like Confucius, great patriotic poets like Qu Yuan and so on.

Chinese society has progressed through five major stages - Primitive Society, Slave Society, Feudal Society, Semi-feudal and Semi-colonial Society, and Socialist Society. The rise and fall of the great dynasties forms a thread that runs through Chinese history, almost from the beginning. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st, 1949, China has become a socialist society and become stronger and stronger.

List of Chinese Dynasties

Chinese Dynasties	Period
Prehistoric Times	1.7 million years - the 21st century BC
Xia Dynasty	21st - 17th century BC
Shang Dynasty	17th - 11th century BC
Zhou Dynasty	Western Zhou (11th century BC - 771 BC)
	Eastern Zhou ---- Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC) ---- Warring States Period (476 BC - 221 BC)
Qin Dynasty	221 BC - 207 BC
Han Dynasty	Western Han (206 BC - 24 AD)
	Eastern Han (25 - 220)
Three Kingdoms Period	220 - 280
Jin Dynasty	Western Jin (265 - 316)
	Eastern Jin (317 - 420)
Northern and Southern Dynasties	Northern Dynasties (386 - 581)
	Southern Dynasties (420 - 589)
Sui Dynasty	581 - 618
Tang Dynasty	618 - 907
Five Dynasties and Ten States	Five Dynasties ---- Later Liang (907 - 923) ---- Later Tang (923 - 936) ---- Later Jin (936 - 946) ---- Later Han (947 - 951) ---- Later Zhou (951 - 960)
	Ten States (902 - 979)
Song Dynasty	Northern Song (960 - 1127)
	Southern Song (1127 - 1279)
Liao Dynasty	916 --- 1125
Jin Dynasty	1115 --- 1234
Yuan Dynasty	1271 --- 1368
Ming Dynasty	1368 --- 1644
Qing Dynasty	1644 --- 1911