What are the dynasties in China?

Chinese dynasties are Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, Eastern Zhou, Qin, Western Han, Eastern Han, Three Kingdoms, Three Kingdoms including the three regimes of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu, Jin, Eastern Jin, the Five Hus Sixteen Kingdoms, the Southern Dynasty, the Southern Dynasty including the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, the Northern Dynasty including the Northern Wei, the Eastern Wei, the Northern Qi, the Western Wei, and the Northern Zhou, the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Northern Song, Southern Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing.

The fact that the Song dynasty has the smallest territory seems uncontroversial, and it could even be listed among the minor dynasties. Tang, Han, Ming, Jin, Sui dynasty of the shape of the map is not much difference, that is, since the beginning of the Qin China's "traditional boundaries", but the border areas from time to time, the larger difference is the scope of the potential knife. Yuan and Qing dynasties are special. Yuan is part of the Mongol Empire, and the four major khanates and Tubo side by side.

The main part of the Yuan dynasty was the actual territory it ruled, including both China and Mongolia, more than double the traditional territory of China, but still far less than the area of the Qing dynasty. Almost all of the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty and the Tubo region of the Tang Dynasty, including the Yuan's China and Mongolia, were formally incorporated into the Qing Dynasty.

Ranking of dynasties

The Han Dynasty lasted 410 years (214 years in the Western Han Dynasty and 196 years in the Eastern Han Dynasty), the Tang Dynasty 289 years, the Ming Dynasty 276 years, the Qing Dynasty 268 years, the Song Dynasty 167 years, the Yuan Dynasty - 162 years, the Jin Dynasty 45 years, the Sui Dynasty 37 years, and the Qin Dynasty 15 years. Qin was the founder of China, fifteen years from the time of the First Emperor, and forty years from the time of the Qin Emperor's accession to the throne.

Forty-nine years from the time of the Qin's destruction of the Zhou Dynasty, when the historians counted the years of Qin's replacement of the Zhou Dynasty. With the exception of Qin, all dynasties are counted from the establishment of the "small dynasty" by the founding fathers to the end of their exit from the Central Plains. Thus the Eastern Jin, the Southern Song, the Yuan, and the Southern Ming are excluded: an algorithm that is more consistent with the historians' usual definitions of founding emperors and dead kings.

The two Han dynasties can be divided into two. Because there was a big break in the middle, namely Wang Mang's new dynasty, fifteen years. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, since the first year of Jian'an, it is customary to consider that it has entered the era of Cao Wei and the Three Kingdoms, and thus the Eastern Han Dynasty can actually be counted as only one hundred and seventy-two years.

The Tang dynasty, in which Wu Zetian's "Zhou dynasty" can also be counted as a break, also has fifteen years. The break is an important parameter that should be given a significant demerit. If continuity is taken into account, the Qing dynasty should be at the top of the list.