The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC,from the Shang dynasty,during the king Wu Ding's reign,who was mentioned as the twenty-first King of Shang by the same. Ancient historical texts such as the Book of Documents,the Bamboo Annals and the Records of the Grand Historian mention and describe a Xia dynasty before the Shang,but no writing is known from the period,and Shang writings do not indicate the existence of the Xia. The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley,which is commonly held to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. However,Neolithic civilizations originated at various cultural centers along both the Yellow River and Yangtze River. These Yellow River and Yangtze civilizations arose millennia before the Shang. With thousands of years of continuous history,China is among the world's oldest civilizations and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization.
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period,from 907 to 979 was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain,and more than a dozen concurrent states were established elsewhere,mainly in South China. It was a prolonged period of multiple political divisions in Chinese imperial history.
The imperial examination,or keju was a civil-service examination system in Imperial China,administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by merit rather than by birth started early in Chinese history,but using written examinations as a tool of selection started in earnest during the Sui dynasty then into the Tang dynasty of 618–907. The system became dominant during the Song dynasty (960–1279) and lasted for almost a millennium until its abolition in the late Qing dynasty reforms in 1905. Aspects of the imperial examination still exist for entry into the civil service of contemporary China,in both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC).
Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms,or modes;traditional genres;and connections with particular historical periods,such as the poetry of the Tang Dynasty. The existence of classical Chinese poetry is documented at least as early as the publication of the Classic of Poetry (Shijing). Various combinations of forms and genres have developed over the ages. Many or most of these poetic forms were developed by the end of the Tang Dynasty,in 907 CE.
Dynasties in Chinese history,or Chinese dynasties,were hereditary monarchical regimes that ruled over China during much of its history. From the inauguration of dynastic rule by Yu the Great in circa 2070 BC to the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor on 12 February 1912 in the wake of the Xinhai Revolution,China was ruled by a series of successive dynasties. Dynasties of China were not limited to those established by ethnic Han—the dominant Chinese ethnic group—and its predecessor,the Huaxia tribal confederation,but also included those founded by non-Han peoples.
Ouyang Xiu,courtesy name Yongshu,also known by his art names Zuiweng and Liu Yi Jushi,was a Chinese essayist,historian,poet,calligrapher,politician,and epigrapher of the Song dynasty. A much celebrated writer,both among his contemporaries and in subsequent centuries,Ouyang Xiu is considered the central figure of the Eight Masters of the Tang and Song. It was he who revived the Classical Prose Movement and promoted it in imperial examinations,paving the way for future masters like Su Shi and Su Zhe.
Wuyue,907–978,was an independent coastal kingdom founded during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960) of Chinese history. It was ruled by the Haiyan Qian clan (海盐钱氏),whose family name remains widespread in the kingdom's former territory.
Southern Tang was a state in Southern China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period,which proclaimed itself to be the successor of the former Tang Dynasty. The capital was located at Nanjing in present-day Jiangsu Province. At its territorial peak in 951,the Southern Tang controlled the whole of modern Jiangxi,and portions of Anhui,Fujian,Hubei,Hunan,and Jiangsu provinces.
The Sixteen Prefectures comprise a historical region in northern China along the Great Wall in present-day Beijing,Tianjin,and northern Hebei and Shanxi.
The Zhongshu Sheng,also known as the Palace Secretariat or Central Secretariat,was one of the departments of the Three Departments and Six Ministries government structure in imperial China from Cao Wei (220–266) until the early Ming dynasty. As one of the Three Departments,the Zhongshu Sheng was primarily a policy-formulating agency responsible for proposing and drafting all imperial decrees,but its actual function varied at different times.
The Three Departments and Six Ministries system was the primary administrative structure in imperial China from the Sui dynasty (581–618) to the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). It was also used by Balhae (698–926) and Goryeo (918–1392) in Manchuria,Korea and Vietnam.
The Khitan people were a historical para-Mongolic nomadic people from Northeast Asia who,from the 4th century,inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern Mongolia,Northeast China and the Russian Far East.
The following is a family tree of Chinese emperors (420–1279),from the Northern and Southern dynasties period,of the first half of the fifth century AD,until the conquest of the Southern Song dynasty in 1279 by the Yuan dynasty.
The Liao dynasty,also known as the Khitan Empire,officially the Great Liao,was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125,ruled by the Yelüclan of the Khitan people. Founded around the time of the collapse of the Tang dynasty,at its greatest extent it ruled over the North China Plain,Northeast China,Southern Dauria,the Mongolian Plateau and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
Qing poetry refers to the poetry of or typical of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Classical Chinese poetry continued to be the major poetic form of the Qing dynasty,during which the debates,trends and widespread literacy of the Ming period began to flourish once again after a transitional period during which the Qing dynasty had established its dominance. Also,popular versions of Classical Chinese poetry were transmitted through Qing dynasty anthologies,such as the collections of Tang poetry known as the Quantangshi and the Three Hundred Tang Poems. The poetry of the Qing Dynasty has an ongoing and growing body of scholarly literature associated with its study. Both the poetry of the Ming dynasty and the poetry of the Qing dynasty are studied for poetry associated with Chinese opera,the developmental trends of Classical Chinese poetry and the transition to the more vernacular type of Modern Chinese poetry,as well as poetry by women in Chinese culture.
Shumishi,or shumi,was an official title in imperial China important in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period,the Liao dynasty,the Song dynasty and the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). Shumishi managed the Bureau of Military Affairs.
Edict attendants or Daizhi,also translated as Rescriptor-in-waiting or Academician-in-waiting,were literari in the Tang dynasty (618–907) and Song dynasty (960–1279),responsible for taking notes on imperial pronouncements during the emperor's meetings with officials.
The Menxia Sheng,sometimes translated as the Chancellery,was one of the departments of the Three Departments and Six Ministries government structure of imperial China. It advised the emperor and the Zhongshu Sheng,and reviewed edicts and commands. As the least important of the three departments,it existed in name only by the Song dynasty while its functions were delegated to the other two departments. In 1129,the Chancellery was merged with the Central Secretariat.
Yunnan under Ming rule saw the continuation of the tusi system instituted during the Yuan dynasty,increasing centralization,and Han migration into Yunnan.
The administration of territory in dynastic China is the history of practices involved in governing the land from the Qin dynasty to the Qing dynasty (1636–1912).
