Chinese Empire
Two thousand years of imperial China — its dynasties, emperors, institutions, culture and fall, from the Qin unification of 221 BCE to the abdication of the last emperor in 1912.
Explore the EmpireExplore Imperial China
Ten in-depth guides, each opening onto detailed surveys and focused articles — 90 pages in all.
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History of Imperial China: From the Qin Unification to the Fall of the Qing
The history of imperial China spans more than two millennia, from the moment in 221 BCE when the king of Qin completed the conquest of the…
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Chinese Dynasties: A Complete Chronological Survey
Few civilisations in human history have left a documentary record as long, as detailed, and as continuous as China. For more than three…
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Chinese Emperors and Imperial Power: The Son of Heaven, 221 BCE – 1912 CE
For more than two thousand years, the political life of the Chinese world revolved around a single figure: the emperor (皇帝, huángdì). From…
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Chinese Government and Bureaucracy: The Machinery of Imperial Rule
For more than two thousand years, the Chinese empire was governed not by a feudal aristocracy, a city-state league, or a theocratic…
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Chinese Military and Warfare: From the Warring States to the Qing
For more than two thousand years, the Chinese empire was held together — and torn apart — by force of arms. The Qin state that unified…
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The Imperial Chinese Economy: Agriculture, Trade, and the Rise of a Market Society
For more than two thousand years, the imperial Chinese economy was the largest, most populous, and most sophisticated in the world. At its…
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Chinese Philosophy and Religion in the Imperial Era: From Confucius to the Syncretic Traditions of Late Imperial China
For more than two thousand years, the philosophical and religious traditions of imperial China shaped the way the Chinese understood the…
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Chinese Art, Culture, and Society Through the Imperial Era
For more than two thousand years, the imperial period shaped the daily lives, mental world, and creative output of the Chinese people.…
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Chinese Architecture and Engineering: From Timber Frames to the Great Wall
For more than three thousand years, the builders of imperial China raised palaces, temples, tombs, walls, canals, bridges, and pagodas…
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The Fall of Imperial China: From Qing Decline to the Republic of 1912
The fall of imperial China was a long, slow, painful process that stretched from the late eighteenth century to the abdication of the…