Dynasties of China
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For most of its history until the 20th century, China consisted of one or several dynastic kingdoms or states under the rule of hereditary monarchs. Beginning with the establishment of a system of dyn
A depiction of Yu, the initiator of dynastic rule in China, by the Southern Song court painter Ma Lin
A photograph of the Xuantong Emperor, widely considered to be the last legitimate monarch of China, taken in AD 1922
Han Guangwu Di
Liu Bei Tang
Xia dynasty
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The Xia dynasty is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, it was established by the likely legendary figure Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emp
Dynasties of China
…皇朝 (huángcháo; 'imperial dynasty') As the founder of China's first orthodox dynasty, the Xia dynasty, Yu the Great is conventionally regarded as the inaugurator of dynastic rule in China. In the Chinese dynastic system, sovereign rulers theoretically…
Han dynasty stone relief rendering of Yu the Great
The geography of the Nine Provinces according to traditional analysis of literary sources before modern archaeological discoveries, which show them to have been greatly inflated
Erlitou jue vessel