Empire of China

Empire of China at the time of the Qing Dynasty , 1820

The Chinese Empire was founded in 221 BC. Founded by Emperor Qin Shihuangdi . He formed it from several kingdoms which he had gradually conquered. In its long history, the empire split up into numerous partial states several times and was reunified three times: in 280 by the Jin dynasty , in 589 by the Sui dynasty and in 1279 by the Mongolian Yuan dynasty .

The empire existed (with interruptions) for 2132 years until the proclamation of the Chinese republic by Sun Yat-sen on January 1, 1912; the last emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi abdicated on February 12, 1912. Yuan Shikai , the first President of the Republic of China, made himself "Emperor of China" in 1915. This “Kaiserreich”, which was abolished in 1916, and later restoration attempts are of little historical significance.

The partly mythical rulers of the early days (see Chinese mythology ) have gone down in history and are sometimes referred to as “ primordial emperors ”, especially in Western representations ( Chinese partly as huang ,皇, partly as di ,帝). ^¹ In the narrower historical sense, they were not emperors ( huangdi ,皇帝). The rulers of the pre-imperial Zhou dynasty are considered kings ( wang ,王).

Traditional chronology of the ruling dynasties

There have been different dynasties in Chinese history . The partly mythological "dynasties" before the emergence of China as a unitary state - i.e. before the establishment of the Chinese Empire - were:

dynasty	中文	Pinyin	Period of time	Ruler
The three exalted ones and the five great emperors	三皇五帝	Sān Huáng Wǔ Dì	? -2184 BC Chr.	Ruler list
Xia Dynasty	夏朝	Xìa Cháo	approx. 2200–1800 BC Chr.	Ruler list
Shang dynasty	商朝	Shang Chao	approx. 1500–1100 BC Chr.	Ruler list
Zhou Dynasty	周朝	Zhou Cháo	1122 / 1045-770 BC BC Western Zhou dynasty	Ruler list
Zhou Dynasty	周朝	Zhou Cháo	770-256 BC Chr. Eastern Zhou Dynasty	Ruler list
Time of spring and autumn annals	春秋时代	Chūnqiū Shídài	722-481 BC Chr.	-
Warring States Period	戰國時代	Zhànguó Shídài	475-221 BC Chr.	-

The dynasties of the Chinese Empire that began in 221 BC BC was founded by the ruler of the then Kingdom of Qin (秦國) and for the first time united the whole empire, were:


dynasty	中文	Pinyin	Period of time	Ruler
Qin Dynasty	秦朝	Qin Cháo	221-207 BC Chr.	Ruler list
Han dynasty	漢朝	Hàn Cháo	206 BC BC – 9 AD (First Reign)	Ruler list
Han dynasty	漢朝	Hàn Cháo	23 AD – 220 AD (Second Reign)	Ruler list
Xin Dynasty	新朝	Xin Cháo	9-23 ( Interregnum )	Ruler list
Three Kingdoms Era	三國	Sān Guo	220-280	List of rulers ^²
Jin Dynasty	晉朝	Jìn Cháo	265-420	Ruler list
Sixteen realms	十六國	Shíliù Guó	304-439	List of rulers ^³
Southern and Northern Dynasties	南北朝	Nán Běi Cháo	420-581	List of rulers ^⁴
Sui dynasty	隋朝	Suí Cháo	581-618	Ruler list
Tang Dynasty	唐朝	Táng Cháo	618-907	Ruler list
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms	五代十國	Wǔdài Shíguó	907-979	Ruler list
Liao Dynasty	遼朝	Liáo Cháo	916-1125	Ruler list
Song Dynasty	宋朝	Sing Cháo	960-1279	Ruler list
Jin Dynasty	金朝	Jīn Cháo	1125-1234	Ruler list
Western Xia Dynasty	西夏	Xī Xià	1038-1227	Ruler list
Yuan Dynasty	元朝	Yuán Cháo	1279-1368	Ruler list
Ming Dynasty	明朝	Míng Cháo	1368-1644	Ruler list
Qing Dynasty	清朝	Qīng Cháo	1644-1912	Ruler list

Restoration attempts

General Zhang Xun tried to reestablish the monarchy in Beijing in 1917

In the first half of the 20th century there were several attempts to restore the monarchy in China:

1915–1916, Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor of the Hongxian dynasty .

In July 1917, the last Manchu emperor, Puyi, was re -appointed emperor for two weeks during the fighting between the northern militarists of the Beijing Army .

In 1921, the " white " Russian generals Grigori Michailowitsch Semjonow and Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, who fled to Mongolia and Manchuria, tried to reestablish both the Russian and Chinese monarchies.

In 1928, the warlord Zhang Zuolin is said to have prepared his own coronation (as noted in Puyi's autobiography), but fell victim to a Japanese attack.

1934-1945 Puyi was nominally emperor ("by the grace of Japan") of the Japanese occupied and dependent, but formally independent Manchukuo .

literature

Timothy Brook (Ed.): History of Imperial China. 6 vols.Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.)
- Mark Lewis: The Early Chinese Empires. 2007.
- Mark Lewis: China between Empires. The Northern and Southern Dynasties. 2009.
- Mark Lewis: China's Cosmopolitan Empire. The Tang Dynasty. 2009.
- Dieter Kuhn: The Age of Confucian Rule. The Song Transformation of China. 2009.
- Timothy Brook: The Troubled Empire. China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. 2010.
- William T. Rowe: China's Last Empire. The Great Qing. 2012.
Jacques Gernet : The Chinese World. The history of China from the beginning to the present day . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1988, ISBN 3-518-38005-2 .
Rainer Hoffmann, Qiuhua Hu: China. Its history from the beginning to the end of the imperial era . Freiburg 2007.
Herbert Franke , Rolf Wedding slip : The Chinese Empire (= Fischer World History . Volume 19). Fischer paperback, Frankfurt am Main 1968.
Charles Hucker: Official Titles in Imperial China. Stanford 1985.
Frederick W. Mote: Imperial China 900–1800. HUP, Cambridge (Mass.) 1999 (several NDe).

Remarks

¹Compare article三皇五帝- Chinese Wikipedia

² Rulers in the Three Kingdoms Period:

Wei (魏, Wèi )
Shu-Han ( 蜀汉, Shǔ Hàn )
Eastern Wu, also Sun Wu (东吴, Dōng Wú , also孙吴, Sūn Wú )

³ See individual lists in the Articles on the Sixteen Dynasties:

Han-Zhao (汉赵, Hàn Zhào )
Cheng-Han (成汉, Chéng Hàn )
Later Zhao (后赵, Hòu Zhào )
Former Liang (前凉, Qián Liáng )
Former Yan (前燕, Qián Yàn )
Former Qin (前秦, Qián Qín )
Later Qin (后秦, Hòu Qín )
Later Yan (后燕, Hòu Yàn )
Western Qin (西秦, Xī Qín )
Later Liang (后凉, Hòu Liáng )
Southern Liang (南凉, Nán Liáng )
Southern Yan (南燕, Nán Yàn )
Western Liang (西凉, Xī Liáng )
Northern Liang (北凉, Běi Liáng )
Xia (夏, Xià )
Northern Yan (北燕, Běi Yàn )

^4th See individual lists in the articles on the southern ...

Earlier song - (前宋, Qián Sòng )
Southern Qi - (南齐, Nán Qí )
Liang - (梁, Liáng )
Chen Dynasty (陈, Chén )

... and northern dynasties:

Northern (北魏, Běi Wèi )
Eastern (东魏, Dōng Wèi )
Western Wei - (西魏, Xī Wèi )
Northern Qi - (北齐, Běi Qí )
Northern Zhou Dynasty (北周, Běi Zhōu )

Web links

Commons : Empire of China - collection of images

31.5 114.65Coordinates: 32 ° N , 115 ° E

Empire of China

Table of Contents

Traditional chronology of the ruling dynasties

Restoration attempts

literature

See also

Web links