I watch lot of chinese drama and I'm interested in Chinese history, but the problem is I don't know the chronology order of the good/bad king (there's also a female "queen" to the throne).

Is there a place that has a summary of all kingdoms from the start (fire king) until the last one (Manchu Qianlong Emperor's)? I'll be pleased to know where they come and why they take the throne... There's also the story of Liao people that want to take the Ming dynasty, but failed (as stated in drama serie).

Can anyone give me this knowledge, so I can sleep well?

Thanks in advance.

First of all, you have to bear in mind that certain chinese historical dramas are not entirely 'historically accurate'. In fact, alot of the plots have been added or twisted for entertainment effect, such that many of the plots were different from the real history.

Thus, watching chinese historical dramas might give you a quick glimpse of the historical settings, but don't trust 100% of what's shown on the drama as 'historical facts'. To study chinese history and understand the truth, you have to read chinese history books.

I suggest you to have an overview of the chinese dynasty period and the emperors/rulers within each dynasty so as to understand the chronology of chinese history.

For Chinese dynasty and their time period, refer to
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=40

For a list of rulers in each dynasty, refer to
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=384

You can go by dynasty or time period, it would be less confusing this way.

Thanks for the head up!

I want to know 2 things to clear up my mind in the drama (an image worth 1000 words):

By looking at this the "Chinese Dynasties and their Time Period"

1. In the serie (The Conquest (Warlord)). There are 2 KINGs (they are against each other) and one king become the slave of the "Fire King". Later, he will get his throne back, but become a dangerous king because of the lesson he learnt when he worked as a slave for the fire king. At the end, he even kills his wife and all people that know his slave history...

First king is played by Damian Lau as Yue Wang Gou Jian.
Second king (Fire King) is Joe Ma as Wu Wang Fu Chai.

What period time do they belong to and what dynasty? Also, the character (Fan Li) played by Chen Kun is real in the history?

2. In the serie "A Step into the Past", "Raymond Lam" play the role of the "killer" king that seek a cure so he can live for the eternity. What period time do they belong to and what dynasty?

3. In the China history, there's a very bad queen that most of Chinese hate. What's her name? Where does she belong to?

Thanks!

2. Raymond Lam plays Qinshihuang, the First Emperor of China. The dynasty he founded is known as the Qin dynasty.

3. I believe you are referring to Wu Zetian, and that was during the Tang dynasty.

Actually, I think it's Cixi he's referring to.

Wu Zetian is typically remembered as a good empress, though she was ruthless and had a scandalous personal life.

However, more detail would be good.

You're right. Cixi it is.

Thanks for the reply! It clears me lot of thing! I also tried to discuss it with friends and none of them know. Time to show them up!


Yes, it's her. I wikipedia and found this:

"During Cixi's time, she used her power to accumulate vast quantities of money, bullion, antiques and jewelry, using the revenues of the state as her own...". --> This is what I was seeking...

It was hard to decode her name because name change's in other languages.

Between, any clues for the Question 1?

Thanks again for clearing me up!

First emperor? When checking the "Chinese Dynasties and their Time Period", the first from Ancient Times is the "Xia Dynasty", no? So, Xia Dynasty is not a part of China?

Its the time of Spring and Autumn, in 473B.C Yue vanquished Wu. The dynasty technically still belong to the Zhou, as Emperor Yuan of Zhou was still thought of as the true and only Emperor.

Chinese rulers before 221 BC (known as "Pre-Qin period) were called "Kings" while Chinese Rulers from 221 BC till 1911 AD (from Qin dynasty till Qing dynasty) were called "Emperors". In chinese history, an Emperor is considered to be greater and more powerful than a king.

The 1st dynasty (as recorded in chinese historical source) is called "Xia dynasty" (2100 -1600 BC) and it was founded by Yu 禹 through a confederation of various tribes in central China. Western historians currently still discarded this as a 'legendary dynasty' but there are already some archaeological proofs to confirm its existence. Nevertheless, we should assume that this is the 1st dynasty or kingdom (established state) founded in China. Yu is considered to be the king who founded Xia dynasty.

From 770 BC till 221 BC, China was divided into many states and these states fought against each other. By 470 BC, 7 large states emerged after they conquered other smaller states. By 221 BC, Qin state conquered all the other 6 states and unified China into the 1st Imperial Empire. The ruler of Qin was proud of his military achievement. He wanted a title that was different from that of other past rulers , so instead of calling himself a king, he called himself "Shi Huangdi 始皇帝", which means "1st Emperor". Eventually, he became known as "Qinshihuang 秦始皇" and was the 1st Emperor in chinese history.

From 221 BC till 1911 AD, chinese history was a history of ruled by various dynasty (i.e. ruling families) until Sun Yat Sen, who led a chinese revolution, overthrew the last Imperial dynasty, after which China became a republic (i.e. a nation ruled by President).

If Xia Dynasty is the first one, than how was the societies like before that. I assumed that it takes a lot of time into organizing such a system so was more like city/village-states where each place had their own system to rule? Maybe clans...

If Yu was the founder, was he more like a warrior-leader that pretty much control the other tribes through force or used various techniques into uniting them to that confederation?

I've read a few short bios online where it said he claim lineage from the yellow emperor and his authority was solidified by his methods in controlling the floods. I can sort of believe if he was given a lot of respect for those projects or at least given much credit for it. Then, I see some where it seems a lot of rulers tried to claim lineage from the Yellow Emperor as well. I would expect that there are also many different people/whole clans outside Huang di's relations who also wanted power as well so,,,

Before that was 3 sovereigns and 5 emperors; god-kings and sage-rulers. Does anybody wonder how it could have been or imagine what it was like during those times?

Yue wang Gou Jian and Wu wang Fu Chai both belong to the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Spring and Autumn Period, China was in a state of chaos and there are many states during that period of time. Yue and Wu would be examples of two states. Each state was ruled by its own king or lord (depending on how the rulers called themselves) and well, a dynasty didn't exist during the Spring and Autumn Period, as there were many different states and China was not unified yet, so there was no "one ruler above all". Rather, China was governed by many different rulers in their different states, each "running their own business".

The person Fan Li existed (if you're referring to 范蠡). He was advisor to Yue wang Gou Jian.

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women of china

Just a small correction, the last emperor of China was emperor Puyi (溥儀), the Xuantong (宣統皇帝) emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Qianlong was an earlier Qing emperor.