朝代（Dynasty）

起止时间(Date)

简介
夏
Xia Dynasty		 约公元前21世纪-前16世纪
C. 21th―16th century B.C.		 中国历史上的第一个朝代,系传说中禹的儿子启所建立,奴隶制国家,建都安邑(今山西省夏县北),即夏后氏。共历十三代，十六王。
There are three things to know about the Shang: one, they were the most advanced bronze-working civilization in the world; two, Shang remains provide the earliest and most complete record of Chinese writing (there are a few Neolithic pots that have a few characters scratched on them; however, a few characters do not a complete writing system make), scratched out on the shoulder blades of pigs for oracular purposes.
商
Shang Dynasty 		约公元前16世纪-前11世纪
C. 16th―11th century B.C.		 公元前十六世纪商汤灭夏所建。经几次迁都,盘庚时迁殷(今河南省安阳县小屯),因亦称殷。传至纣,为周武王所灭。共传十七代,三十一王。
Most scholars think that the Zhou were much more "Chinese" than the Shang. For one, they used a father-to-son succession system. Also, they weren't too keen on human sacrifice. However, they weren't as good at working bronze as the Shang. Still, it would be centuries before the West was able to cast bronze as well as the Zhou. Some, though not all, scholars believe that the Xia, the Shang, and the Zhou actually were three different cultures that emerged more or less at the same time in different areas of the Yellow River valley. And the historical record supports this view -- the Shang were conquered from outside by the Zhou, as the Xia had been conquered from the outside by the Shang.

　
周
Zhou Dynasty		 约公元前11世纪-前221年
C. 11th―221 B.C.		 公元前11世纪周武王灭商后建立,建都镐京(今陕西西安市南)。历史上称平王东迁以前为西周,以后为东周。东周又分为春秋、战国两个时期。公元前256年为秦所灭,共历三十四王,八百多年。
秦
Qin Dynasty		 约公元前221年-前206年
221―207 B.C.		 中国历史上第一个专制主义中央集权的封建王朝。公元前221年，秦王赢政灭六国，统一中国，自称始皇帝。建都陕西咸阳东。秦始皇曾推行一系列巩固统一、加强中央集权的政策措施。但赋税繁重，刑政苛暴。秦朝历二世，十五年。
事件：修筑万里长城；焚书坑儒；统一文字、度量和货币。
In 221 BC, the first Emperor of China,Qin Shihuangdi, conquered the rest of China after a few hundred years of disunity. There are two major reasons why he won; the first is that he was a devout Legalist,and did things like execute generals for showing up late for maneuvers.The other reason is because the state of Qin had a lot of iron, and consequently, at the dawn of the iron age, had many more iron weapons than the other armies did. Qin Shihuangdi had a great many accomplishments, not the least of which was the linking together of many of the old packed-earth defensive walls of the old principalities into the Great Wall of China. This is not to say that he built the massive masonry construction that today is called the Great Wall of China
汉
Han Dynasty		 约公元前206年-公元220年
206 B.C.―A.D. 220		 我国历史上强大的封建王朝。公元前206年，刘邦灭秦，称帝，国号汉，建都陕西西安，史称西汉或前汉。公元25年，皇族刘秀重建汉朝，建都洛阳，史称东汉或后汉。汉代共历24帝，四百零六年。
事件：司马迁完成《史记》。发明造纸技术。张衡制成“地动仪”。
The Han dynasty plays a very important role in Chinese history. For starters, they invented Chinese history as we know it today. Additionally, the overwhelmingly predominant ethnic group in China is called the Han; they are named after the dynasty. But, most importantly, they developed (actually, it was invented by Qin Shihuangdi, but perfected by the Han) the administrative model which every successive dynasty would copy, lock, stock, and barrel.
三国(魏、蜀、吴)
Three Kingdoms		 公元220年-公元265年
220-265
 魏：公元220年至256年，曹丕称帝，国号魏，建都洛阳。共历五帝，四十六年。
蜀：公元221年—263年，刘备在成都称帝，国号汉，史称蜀或蜀汉。共历二帝，四十三年。
吴：公元222年至280年，孙权在江苏南京称帝，也称吴王。史称孙吴或东吴。共历四帝，五十九年。
While there was a great deal of political activity occurring during this period, most of it, consisting as it was of various wars between different kingdoms (one of the great novels of China, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, is about this period), was not terribly important to the later development of China. Perhaps its greatest accomplishment was to reinforce in Chinese thought the importance of having "one Emperor over China, like one sun in the sky."
晋
Jin Dynasty		 公元265年-公元420年
265-420		 公元265年，司马炎代魏称帝，国号晋，建都洛阳，史称西晋。太康元年(公元280年)灭吴，统一全国。公元316年被匈奴所灭，共历四帝，五十二年。
西晋之后，公元317年，司马睿在南京重建政权，史称东晋，共历十一帝，一百零四年。
南北朝
Southern and Northerm Dynasty		 公元420年-公元589年
420-589		 自公元420年东晋灭之后，我国历史上形成南北对峙的局面，称南北朝。南朝从420年刘裕代晋到589年陈亡。经历宋、齐、梁、陈四代。北朝从439年北魏统一北方到534年分裂为东、西魏，后北齐代东魏，北周代西魏，北周又灭北齐，共历一百七十年。
事件：祖冲之创大明历。
隋朝
Sui Dynasty		 公元581年-公元618年
581-618		 公元581年，杨坚代北周称帝，国号隋，建都陕西西安。于590年灭陈，统一全国。共历二帝，三十八年。
事件：发明雕板印刷术；修成大运河；创立科举制度。
The most important thing to know about this dynasty is that it was very short (by dynastic standards) and that it did a pretty good job of re-unifying China. Because it had a northern power base, it was part barbarian, as was the Tang. Despite the fact that the royal houses of Sui and succeeding Tang were not entirely Han Chinese, both of these dynasties are considered to be Chinese.
唐朝
Tang Dynasty		 公元618年-公元907年
618-907		 公元618年，李渊在关中称帝，国号唐，建都陕西西安，共历二十帝，二百九十年。
事件：玄藏法师西天取经；鉴真和尚东渡日本。
The Tang are considered to be one of the great dynasties of Chinese history; many historians rank them right behind the Han. They extended the boundaries of China through Siberia in the North, Korea in the east, and were in what is now Vietnam in the South. They even extended a corridor of control along the Silk Road well into modern-day Afghanistan. There are two interesting historical things about the Tang. The first is the Empress Wu, the only woman ever to actually bear the title 'Emperor' .The second was the An Lushan Rebellion, which marked the beginning of the end for the Tang.
宋朝
Song Dynasty		 公元960年-公元1279年
960-1279		 公元960年，赵匡胤代后周称帝，国号宋，建都开封，史称北宋。公元1126年，金兵攻入开封，北宋亡。1127年，赵构在河南商丘称帝，后迁至浙江杭州，史称南宋。共历十八帝，三百二十年。
事件：发明指南针，并用于航海；发明火药，用于战争；毕升发明活字印刷术；司马光撰成《资治通鉴》；沈括撰成《梦溪笔谈》；发明珠算。
The Song (pronounced Soong) dynasty ranks up there with the Tang and the Han as one of the great dynasties. Fifty years after the official end of the Tang, an imperial army re-unified China and established the Song dynasty. A time of remarkable advances in technology, culture, and economics, the Song, despite its political failures, basically set the stage for the rest of the imperial era.
元朝
Yuan Dynasty		 公元1271年-公元1368年
1271-1368		 公元1206年，蒙古族领袖成吉思汗建立蒙古汗国。公元1271年，忽必烈定国号为元，1279年定都北京。疆域东南到海，西到新疆，西南到西藏、云南，北到西伯利亚，东北到鄂霍次克海。历十五帝，一百六十三年。
The Yuan dynasty also featured the famous Khubilai Khan, who, among other things, extended the Grand Canal. While in many ways, the Yuan was a disaster, the reluctance of the Mongols to hire educated Chinese for governmental posts resulted in a remarkable cultural flowering; for example, Beijing Opera was invented during the Yuan.
明朝
Ming Dynasty		 公元1368年-公元1644年
1368-1644		 公元1368年，朱元璋称帝，国号明，建都南京，公元1421年迁都北京。疆城东北抵日本海，西至河套西喇木伦河，北至新疆哈密，西南至西藏，云南，东南到海。1644年，李自成攻入北京，明亡。共历十六帝，二百七十七年。
Then came the Ming. The Ming rulers distinguished themselves by being fatter, lazier, crazier, and nastier than the average Imperial family. After the first Ming Emperor discovered that his prime minister was plotting against him, not only was the prime minister beheaded, but his entire family and anyone even remotely connected with him. Eventually, about 40,000 (no, that is not a misprint) people were executed in connection with this case alone. They were also virulent Neo-Confucianists.
清朝
Qing Dynasty		 公元1644年-公元1911年
1644-1911		 公元1616年，女真贵族努尔哈赤建立后金政权。公元1636年，皇太极即皇帝位，改国号为清。公元1644年，世礼入关，定都北京。逐步统一中国。公元1911年，辛亥革命推翻清王朝，结束了两千多年的封建君主制度。共历十一帝，二百七十六年。
In 1644, the Manchus took over China and founded the Qing dynasty. The Qing weren't the worst rulers; under them the arts flowered. nd culture bloomed. Moreover, they attempted to copy Chinese institutions and philosophy to a much greater extent than then the Mongols of the Yuan..