Chinese History 历 史
Most countries can look back at a few hundred years of continuous recorded history; China looks back at thousands of years. From earliest times an accurate account of events has been treasured by the Chinese, this is embodied in the character 史 history ’ which also has the meaning ‘impartial’ . Chinese people know their heritage well and have a long tradition of revering their ancestors . A good knowledge of Chinese history is essential to understanding and relating to its people.
We include pages on all the main dynasties as well as significant events in Chinese history, up to the foundation of the Republic separate section Taiping Rebellion railways Imperial system Hanlin Academy Imperial officials kowtow Opium Wars Early contacts with Britain 18th century UK-China contacts Leibniz Treaty port system Chinoiserie Lay-Osborn debacle Chinese coolies
Click on the time chart on the left to go to a particular time period.
The Great Mongol Empire The conquest of China by the Mongols took over 50 years. The north was taken in 1215 and the south held out until 1279. The horde of brutal horsemen from Mongolia swept all before them all the way to Egypt. Their period of rule saw the Mongols take to Chinese ways, using existing administration and traditions rather than imposing their own. It was China's most cosmopolitan era. Read more…
Chinoiserie - the style that conquered the world When the Jesuit mission returned reports of the splendors of China in the early 17th century a fascination for anything of the exotic Chinese style took hold. As tea drinking became very popular, China porcelain came into great demand. In addition the Chinese style of naturalistic rather than regimented order took hold in all the grand gardens Read more…
Chinese Chess The Chinese game of chess is rather different to the version used in the west. There are strong reasons to suppose that the Chinese game 象 棋 Read more…
Relations between Korea and China A history of the long and eventful history of Chinese relations with Korea. Chinese settlement first began two thousand years ago and at times since then China has intervened in Korean affairs, most recently in the Korean War 1950-53. Read more…
Chinese porcelain Together with tea and silk, porcelain from China is its most famous export. Prized the world over, high quality porcelain commands high prices at auction. Like silk the secret of its manufacture was a closely guarded secret for centuries. Read more…
The Qin Dynasty The brief spell of rule by the Qin (only 15 years) defined much of what we now about China. The brutal and centralized rule of Qin Shihuangdi set common standards for all sorts of things across his new vast empire including measurements and the Chinese script. Read more…
What's going on? To keep our visitors informed of what is changing we keep a blog of significant changes to this web site . We add an entry after a major overhaul or reorganization but principally to advertise that a new page has been added to the site - it is hard to keep track now there are over 200 of them. Read more…
China's Ancient Script The discovery of a huge number of 'oracle bones ' has greatly added to the knowledge of the origins of China's written script. It pushes back the written language to at least 3,500 years ago. Careful study of the inscriptions is still revealing information about life in Shang dynasty times. Read more…
Chinese numbers Learning the numbers in Chinese is easier than in many other languages. In our complete guide to the numbers we include the traditions associated them. Do you know why 4 is unlucky but 8 lucky? Read more…
Traditional Chinese calendar The traditional Chinese calendar is still used to determine the date of some festivals, and in particular the most important one - Chinese New Year. Our calendar shows each month with both Chinese and Western calendar information together with all the important anniversaries occurring on each day and the whole year. Read more…
