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 recorded as the twenty-first Shang king by the written records of Shang dynasty unearthed. Ancient historical texts such as the Records of the Grand Historian and the Bamboo Annals 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 one of the world's oldest civilizations, and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization.
The Qing dynasty, officially the Great Qing, was the last imperial dynasty of China. It was established in 1636, and ruled China proper from 1644 to 1912. It was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The Qing multi-cultural empire lasted for almost three centuries and formed the territorial base for modern China. It was the fifth largest empire in world history.
The Hongwu Emperor, personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty.
The fourth Chinese domination was a period of the history of Vietnam, from 1407 to 1427 during which the country was invaded and ruled by the Chinese Ming dynasty. It was the result of the conquest of the region in 1406 to 1407. The previous periods of Chinese rules, collectively known as the Bắc thuộc periods in Vietnam, were longer-lasting, constituting much of Vietnam's history from 111 BC to 939 AD. The fourth Chinese occupation of Vietnam was eventually ended with the establishment of the Lê dynasty.
During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Chinese painting progressed further basing on the achievements in painted art during the earlier Song dynasty and Yuan dynasty. The painting techniques which were invented and developed before the Ming period became classical during this period. More colours were used in painting during the Ming dynasty. Seal brown became much more widely used, and even over-used during this period. Many new painting skills/techniques were innovated and developed, calligraphy was much more closely and perfectly combined with the art of painting. Chinese painting reached another climax in the mid and late Ming. The painting was derived in a broad scale, many new schools were born, and many outstanding masters emerged.
The 1642 Yellow River flood or Kaifeng flood was a man-made disaster that principally affected Kaifeng and Xuzhou.
This is a family tree of Chinese emperors from the Mongol conquest of 1279 to the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912.
Yishiha was a Jurchen eunuch in the service of the Ming dynasty emperors who carried out several expeditions down the Songhua and Amur Rivers during the period of Ming rule of Manchuria, and is credited with the construction of the only two Ming dynasty Buddhist temples ever built on the territory of present-day Russia.
The economy of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) of China was the largest in the world during that period. It is regarded as one of China's three golden ages. The period was marked by the increasing political influence of the merchants, the gradual weakening of imperial rule, and technological advances.
The Ming conquest of Yunnan was the final phase in the Chinese Ming dynasty expulsion of Mongol Yuan dynasty rule from China in the 1380s.
Ming poetry refers to the poetry of or typical of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). With over one million specimens of Ming poetry surviving today, the poetry of the Ming dynasty represents one of the major periods of Classical Chinese poetry, as well as an area of active modern academic research. Ming poetry is marked by 2 transitional phases, the transition between the Yuan dynasty which was the predecessor to the Ming, and the Qing-Ming transition which eventually resulted in the succeeding Qing dynasty. Although in politico-dynastic terms, the dynastic leadership of China is historically relatively clear-cut, the poetic periods involved encompass the lifespans and works of poets whose lives and poetic output transcend both the end of one dynasty and the initiatory period of the next.
The 1375 Yellow River flood was a natural disaster affecting the area around Kaifeng, China, during the early Ming dynasty. Contemporary sources mentioned a death toll of between 15000 and 25 people, most of them farmers. The philosopher Wang Yangming mentioned the 1375 Yellow River flood as an example of how even a virtuous man can be destroyed by the power of nature.
The 1384 Yellow River flood was a natural disaster affecting the area around Kaifeng, China, during the early Ming dynasty.
The 1390 Yellow River flood was a natural disaster affecting the area around Kaifeng, China, during the early Ming dynasty.
The 1416 Yellow River flood was a natural disaster affecting the area around Kaifeng, China, during the early Ming dynasty. The flood spilled over into fourteen other counties and seriously disturbed the Huai River.
Hexiwu, formerly known as Ho-Hsi-Wu, was a port city in China along the Grand Canal. As Hexiwuzhen (镇), a locality of about 25,000 people, has now been absorbed by the municipality of Tianjin's Wuqing District.
The 1441 Yangtze flood was a natural disaster affecting the area around Nanjing, China, during the Ming dynasty.
The 1391 Yellow River flood was a major natural disaster during the early Ming dynasty in China.
The 1494 Yellow River flood was a natural disaster in China during the Ming dynasty.
The Lam Sơn uprising was the uprising led by Lê Lợi in Vietnam of 1418-1427 against Ming rule.
