Chronologies | Week 3
Moments in Chinese Historiography
221 BCE Unification of "China" (Zhongguo, middle kingdom) under the Qin ruler who took the new title of huangdi, emperor.
3rd cent. BCE Qin emperor orders construction of Great Wall to protect new empire from nomad warriors.
206 BC-220 AD Han dynasty founded; military campaigns conquer vast territories, incl. what is now N. Vietnam, Korea, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang; Consolidate notion of "The Middle Kingdom" surrounded by barbarians.
3rd-6th AD "Period of disunion". Region splinters into a variety of contending polities.
581-617 AD Sui Dynasty. Plains region reunified by shortlived dynasty.
618-907 AD Tang dynasty, new capitals at Chang 'an and Loyang; reunites vast territories previously carved up into competing regimes; claims Tibet as vassal state.
907-960 AD Five Dynasties. Plains region splinters into a variety of contending polities.
960-1279 AD Song dynasty; elite Chinese culture and administrative system flourishes, but territories lost to non-Chinese states.
1279-1368 AD Yuan dynasty; Mongols under Ghenghis Khan conquer whole territory, rule vast empire with Chinese-style administrative system and officials.
1368-1644 AD Ming dynasty; Chinese rebels retake plains region, capital in Nanjing; formalized tribute system with over 40 other "vassal" states.
1644-1911 AD Qing dynasty; Manchus from north conquer plains region, administer empire with Chinese-style system, adopt Chinese elite culture. Great prosperity and expansion of some administrative control into Tibetan and Mongol regions. Imperial court in Beijing administers such outer dependencies differently than plains region.
1911-1949 AD Tumultuous period of nation-building; political control collapses into competing warlords and civil war between GMD (Guomindang, Republican Party) and CCP (Chinese Communist Party). Threats and humiliating defeats from imperialist Japan and western states.
May 4, 1919 May Fourth Movement; Chinese students and merchants protest Japanese interference, new national identities emerge.
1949 CCP wins civil war; establishes the "multinational state" of the People's Republic of China (Zhonghua Renmin Gonghe Guo).
1953 Chinese scholars begin massive effort to investigate and define "minzu" ("nationality," "ethnic") groups. 400 different groups initially claim separate identities; 56 eventually recognized by the state, with "Han" defined as the majority, all others as "minority" minzu. Tibetans called "Zangzu".