The history of China on a map
More than 3,000 years of Chinese history in 13 short chapters, from the first dynasties to today. Each chapter shows on today's map where things happened, with the capitals, battles and wonders pinned. Quick checks along the way, and a 10-question quiz at the end.
Timeline
- Shang dynasty c. 1600–1046 BC
- Zhou dynasty 1046–256 BC
- Qin dynasty 221–206 BC
- Han dynasty 206 BC – AD 220
- Three Kingdoms and the age of division 220–589
- Sui dynasty 581–618
- Tang dynasty 618–907
- Song dynasty 960–1279
- Yuan dynasty 1271–1368
- Ming dynasty 1368–1644
- Qing dynasty 1644–1912
- Republic of China 1912–1949
- People's Republic of China 1949–today
Shang dynasty 商
c. 1600–1046 BC
The Shang are the earliest Chinese dynasty known from their own writing. Their kings ruled the plains of the Yellow River from a series of capitals, the last of them near today's Anyang. Shang craftsmen cast huge bronze vessels, and diviners asked the ancestors questions by cracking turtle shells and ox bones with heat, then carving the answers on them.
Did you know? These "oracle bones" are the oldest Chinese writing known, and many of their characters are the ancestors of ones still used today. Later histories describe an earlier Xia dynasty, but no writing from it has been found.
Places
- Yinxu (Anyang) 殷墟: The ruins of the last Shang capital. Thousands of oracle bones were found here, and the tomb of Fu Hao, a queen who also led armies.
- Zhengzhou 郑州: Walls of an early Shang city still stand in parts of the modern city.
- Sanxingdui 三星堆: A different Bronze Age culture of the same time, famous for its giant bronze masks: the Shang weren't the only civilisation in China.
Zhou dynasty 周
1046–256 BC
The Zhou overthrew the Shang and claimed the "Mandate of Heaven": the idea that Heaven lets a ruler govern only while he rules well. Every later dynasty used it to explain its own rise and the fall of the one before. Over time the Zhou kings lost real power, and China split into rival states, first in the Spring and Autumn period and then in the Warring States period.
Did you know? This troubled age produced China's great thinkers. Confucius, born in Qufu in 551 BC, taught respect, learning and good government; Laozi is honoured as the founder of Daoism; and Sun Tzu's The Art of War is still read today.
Places
- Haojing (near Xi'an) 镐京: The first Zhou capital, in the Wei River valley. This early period is called the Western Zhou.
- Luoyang 洛阳: The Zhou court moved east to Luoyang in 771 BC, beginning the Eastern Zhou.
- Qufu 曲阜: The birthplace of Confucius. His temple, family mansion and cemetery are a World Heritage Site.
Qin dynasty 秦
221–206 BC
In 221 BC the state of Qin conquered the last of its rivals, and its king took the title Qin Shi Huang, the "First Emperor". He gave the whole country one script, one currency, one set of weights and measures, and even one width for cart axles. His dynasty lasted only 15 years, but the empire he united held together, and the word "China" probably comes from "Qin".
Did you know? The First Emperor's tomb near Xi'an is guarded by about 8,000 life-size clay soldiers, each with its own face. Farmers digging a well found them in 1974.
Places
- Xianyang 咸阳: The Qin capital, just west of today's Xi'an.
- Terracotta Army 兵马俑: The pits of clay soldiers beside the First Emperor's burial mound, east of Xi'an.
- Lingqu Canal 灵渠: Dug around 214 BC to carry supplies for Qin's armies in the far south, linking the Yangtze and Pearl river systems. Boats still use it.
Han dynasty 汉
206 BC – AD 220
The Han kept Qin's united empire but ruled it more gently, choosing officials partly for their learning in the Confucian classics. The dynasty lasted four centuries, and China's largest ethnic group is still called the Han. Around 138 BC the envoy Zhang Qian travelled far to the west, opening the trade routes later known as the Silk Road, which carried silk west and horses, grapes and new ideas east.
Did you know? Paper was invented in China under the Han. In AD 105 the court official Cai Lun presented a better way to make it, from tree bark, rags and old fishing nets.
Places
- Chang'an (Xi'an) 长安: The Han capital: "Chang'an" means "lasting peace". About 250,000 people lived inside its walls.
- Luoyang 洛阳: Capital of the Eastern Han from AD 25. Cai Lun made his paper here.
- Dunhuang 敦煌: An oasis at the edge of the desert, where the Silk Road split to pass north and south of the Taklamakan.
Three Kingdoms and the age of division 三国
220–589
When the Han collapsed, three kingdoms fought to replace it: Wei in the north, Shu in the southwest and Wu in the southeast. Their generals and schemers became the heroes of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, one of China's best-loved novels. China then stayed divided for more than three centuries, with many northern dynasties founded by peoples from the steppe and the southern ones ruling from Jiankang, today's Nanjing.
Did you know? Buddhism, carried along the Silk Road from India, spread widely in these unsettled centuries. The giant Buddhas carved into the cliffs at Yungang (near Datong) and Longmen (near Luoyang) were begun at this time.
Places
- Red Cliffs (Chibi) 赤壁: In 208 the southern warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao's great fleet on the Yangtze here, which set up the three-way split.
- Chengdu 成都: Capital of Shu, the kingdom of Liu Bei and his famous adviser Zhuge Liang.
- Jiankang (Nanjing) 建康: Capital of Wu, and later of the southern dynasties.
- Yungang Grottoes 云冈石窟: Buddhist cave temples near Datong, the capital of the Northern Wei, with statues up to 17 metres tall.
Sui dynasty 隋
581–618
The short-lived Sui dynasty reunited north and south in 589, after nearly 400 years of division. Its emperors dug the Grand Canal, linking the Yellow River and the Yangtze so that rice from the rich south could feed the capital and the armies in the north. Giant building projects and failed wars in Korea exhausted the country, and the dynasty fell after just 37 years.
Did you know? The Sui began choosing officials by written examinations. Under later dynasties these imperial exams decided who governed China for some 1,300 years, until they were abolished in 1905.
Places
- Daxing (Xi'an) 大兴: The Sui built a vast new capital here; the Tang renamed it Chang'an.
- Luoyang 洛阳: The eastern capital, at the centre of the canal network.
- Yangzhou 扬州: Where the canal met the Yangtze. Emperor Yang loved the city, and was killed there in 618.
- Hangzhou 杭州: The southern end of the Grand Canal.
Tang dynasty 唐
618–907
The Tang is often called China's golden age. Its capital, Chang'an, was one of the largest cities in the world, full of traders, monks and envoys from Persia, Central Asia, Korea and Japan. Tang poems by Li Bai and Du Fu are still learned by heart, and Tang laws, art and city planning were copied across East Asia.
Did you know? Wu Zetian, who took the throne in 690, is the only woman in Chinese history to rule as emperor in her own name.
Places
- Chang'an (Xi'an) 长安: The Tang capital, laid out on a grid of walled wards. Its Big Wild Goose Pagoda still stands in today's Xi'an.
- Mogao Caves (Dunhuang) 莫高窟: Hundreds of painted cave temples. A sealed library found here held the oldest dated printed book, the Diamond Sutra of 868.
- Guangzhou 广州: A busy port where Arab and Persian merchants settled.
- Lhasa 拉萨: Capital of the Tibetan Empire, the Tang's powerful neighbour, sometimes rival and sometimes ally. In 641 the Tang princess Wencheng married its king, Songtsen Gampo.
Song dynasty 宋
960–1279
After half a century of rival states, the Song reunited most of China. It was an age of booming cities, trade and invention: printing spread books widely, and gunpowder weapons and the magnetic compass came into use. Invaders from the north took the Song's northern half in 1127, and the dynasty carried on in the south, with its capital at Hangzhou, until the Mongols conquered it in 1279.
Did you know? The Song government issued the world's first official paper money, in the 1020s.
Places
- Kaifeng 开封: The Northern Song capital, one of the biggest cities in the world. The famous scroll Along the River During the Qingming Festival is thought to show its busy streets.
- Hangzhou 杭州: The Southern Song capital, then called Lin'an, beside the West Lake.
- Quanzhou 泉州: One of the world's great ports, trading with Southeast Asia, India and Arabia.
- Jingdezhen 景德镇: The porcelain capital. Its name comes from Jingde, the Song emperor Zhenzong's reign title (1004–1007).
Yuan dynasty 元
1271–1368
The Mongols, united under Genghis Khan in 1206, built the largest land empire in history. His grandson Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty in 1271 and finished conquering the Song in 1279, the first time conquerors from outside ruled the whole of China. Kublai built a new capital, Dadu, on the site of today's Beijing, and trade across Asia flourished under Mongol rule.
Did you know? The Venetian Marco Polo said he served at Kublai's court, and his book amazed Europe. "Xanadu", the dream palace of the poet Coleridge, is Kublai's summer capital, Shangdu.
Places
- Dadu (Beijing) 大都: "Great Capital": Kublai's winter capital, on the site of today's Beijing.
- Shangdu (Xanadu) 上都: Kublai's summer capital on the grasslands, in today's Inner Mongolia.
- Karakorum: The earlier Mongol capital, in today's Mongolia.
Ming dynasty 明
1368–1644
Zhu Yuanzhang, a rebel leader born into a poor farming family, drove out the Mongols and founded the Ming, ruling first from Nanjing. His son, the Yongle Emperor, moved the capital to Beijing and built the Forbidden City there. Most of the Great Wall that visitors walk on today, made of brick and stone, is Ming work, built to keep out raiders from the north.
Did you know? Between 1405 and 1433 the admiral Zheng He led seven great voyages with fleets of hundreds of ships, reaching India, Arabia and East Africa, decades before European explorers sailed around Africa.
Places
- Nanjing 南京: The first Ming capital (its name means "southern capital"). Its city wall is one of the longest ever built.
- Forbidden City 紫禁城: The emperors' palace in Beijing ("northern capital") from 1420 until 1912. Today it is the Palace Museum.
- Badaling (Great Wall) 八达岭: The most visited stretch of the Ming Great Wall, north of Beijing.
Qing dynasty 清
1644–1912
The Manchus from the northeast took Beijing in 1644 and founded the Qing, China's last imperial dynasty. Under the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors the empire reached its largest size, taking in Mongolia, Xinjiang and Taiwan and extending its authority over Tibet. In the 1800s it was shaken by huge rebellions and by defeats in wars with Britain, France and Japan, beginning with the Opium Wars.
Did you know? After the First Opium War the Qing ceded Hong Kong Island to Britain, in 1842; Macau had been a Portuguese trading post since 1557. The last emperor, Puyi, gave up the throne in 1912, aged six.
Places
- Shenyang (Mukden) 沈阳: The Manchu capital before 1644, with its own smaller imperial palace.
- Beijing 北京: The Qing ruled from the Forbidden City, like the Ming before them.
- Guangzhou (Canton) 广州: From 1757 to 1842 the only port where Western merchants were allowed to trade.
- Hong Kong 香港: Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain in 1842 by the Treaty of Nanking; Kowloon followed in 1860, and the New Territories were leased in 1898.
- Macau 澳门: A Portuguese trading post from 1557.
- Nanjing 南京: Capital of the Taiping rebels from 1853 to 1864; their war against the Qing cost tens of millions of lives.
Republic of China 中华民国
1912–1949
The 1911 Revolution, which began with an army uprising in Wuchang (today part of Wuhan), ended more than 2,000 years of emperors. Sun Yat-sen, honoured on both sides of the Taiwan Strait as the father of modern China, became the first provisional president. The country soon split among warlords; the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) under Chiang Kai-shek reunited much of it by 1928 while fighting the Communists. Japan invaded in 1937, and millions died before its defeat in 1945.
Did you know? In the Long March of 1934–35 the Communists' Red Army retreated around 10,000 km from Jiangxi to Shaanxi, and Mao Zedong rose to lead the party. After winning the civil war that followed Japan's defeat, the Communists took power in 1949, and the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan.
Places
- Wuchang (Wuhan) 武昌: The Wuchang Uprising of 10 October 1911 started the revolution against the Qing.
- Nanjing 南京: Capital of the Nationalist government from 1927. After capturing the city in December 1937, Japanese troops killed huge numbers of civilians and prisoners in the Nanjing Massacre.
- Chongqing 重庆: The Nationalists' wartime capital during the war with Japan, often bombed from the air.
- Ruijin 瑞金: The Communists' base in the early 1930s, where the Long March began in October 1934.
- Yan'an 延安: The Communist headquarters from 1937 to 1947, after the Long March.
- Taipei 台北: Seat of the Republic of China government since 1949.
People's Republic of China 中华人民共和国
1949–today
On 1 October 1949 Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic in Beijing. The early decades brought land reform and new industry, but also the Great Leap Forward (1958–62), during which a famine killed tens of millions, and the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). In 1989 protests centred on Beijing's Tiananmen Square were ended by the army, with many killed. From 1978, under Deng Xiaoping, "reform and opening up" let markets and foreign investment grow, and China became the world's second-largest economy.
Did you know? Shenzhen was a small border town when it became one of China's first special economic zones in 1980; by 2020 it had more than 17 million people. Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 and Macau in 1999, each as a special administrative region.
Places
- Tiananmen, Beijing 天安门: The gate where Mao proclaimed the People's Republic on 1 October 1949.
- Shenzhen 深圳: One of the first special economic zones (1980), now a giant tech and manufacturing city.
- Hong Kong 香港: Returned to China in 1997 under "one country, two systems".
- Macau 澳门: Returned to China in 1999, also as a special administrative region.
- Three Gorges Dam 三峡大坝: On the Yangtze; finished in the 2000s, it is the world's largest power station.
Test yourself
Ten questions on the story: find places on the map and put the dynasties in order. Send the quiz to friends and see who knows China's history best.
More to explore
Text written for Learn Our World; dates follow common conventions, and borders shown on the map are today's, not historical ones. Map data: Natural Earth (public domain). Map rendering: MapLibre.