I'm currently doing a diploma study on 'chinese language and culture'. My chinese history teacher taught us a 'dynasty song' , which is quite poetic, for us to more easily learn chinese dynasty history. Here it goes. I suggest all beginners to memorise this dynasty song to learn chinese history (I've provided an english translation of the song).

Chinese Dynasty Song


Chinese:

炎黄尧舜夏商周
yan huang yao shun xia shang zhou

春秋战国决雌雄
chun qiu zhan guo jue ci xiong

秦汉三国到两晋
qin han san guo dao liang jin

南北朝在混战中
nan bei chao zai hun zhan zhong

隋唐五代又十国
sui tang wu dai you shi guo

宋元明清帝制休
song yuan ming qing di zhi xiu



English Translation (Dynasty Song) :

Yan-Huang, Yao-Shun, Xia, Shang, Zhou
Spring, Autumn, Warring-States fight for power,
Qin, Han, 3 kingdoms till two Jin,
North-South Dynasty a state of violent war,
Sui, Tang, 5 dynasties, another 10 kingdoms
Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing ends chinese imperialism



Explanation:

Yan Di and Huang Di are the two legendary chinese clans that united together, becoming the earliest ancestors of chinese. This is followed by Yao and Shun. After Yu created the first Xia dynasty, this was followed by Shang which conquered Xia. The last king Zhou of Shang was corrupted and Shang was conquered by Zhou.

Zhou has two period: Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou. Eastern Zhou was further divided into Spring/Autumn and Warring States period. This was a state of constant warfare where states fought for power and dominance.

Qin finally conquered all 6 states and unified China. But it lasted only for 15 years when an uprising by Liu Bang overthrew Qin and founded Han. Late period of Han was corrupt and disintegrated into 3 kingdoms. The descendents of Sima Yi founded Jin and unified China. The Jin was divided into western and eastern Jin. Western Jin collapsed after the northern nomads invaded China. Eastern Jin was established in Southern China.

North China was divided into 16 kingdoms and after a series of warfare, Xianbei unified North China and establish north Dynasty. Liu Yu, a general of eastern Jin upsurp the throne and established south Dynasty. This was a period of incessant warfare.

Sui unified whole of China, followed by powerful Tang, but later it collapsed and China was disintegrated into 5 dynasties and 10 kingdoms.

Song unified China again, but was conquered by Yuan established by Mongols. Zhu Yuan Zhang, a rebel, led an uprising that overthrew Yuan and established Ming. Late period of Ming was corrupt. From Manchuria, Manchus established Qing and conquered Ming. In 1911, Qing dynasty collapsed and chinese imperialism ended.

(any comments are appreciated)

haha... do you have the music too? I'd like to hear it.

One of my friends just sang it for me today...it's pretty short and monotone.

Well.. the music has to be composed..by someone..unfortunately I don't know much about music..can someone compose it for CHF?

hey.....Gz
do you want your song have raps or chorus?...

if our forum's song has been approved by members?

should we ask someone with good voice to sing it out and we download it?
lol..........

The version I learned was :

唐堯虞舜夏商周 春秋戰國亂悠悠
秦漢三國晉統一 南朝北朝是對頭
隋唐五代又十國 宋元明清帝王休

Lol, I'm in the mood to write music, brb.

http://www.geocities.com/yehzhaofeng/China...l?1122617416249



The song automatically plays in the background once you go to the site.

Please leave feedback so I can fix any problems. The song is made using Noteworthy Composer's Free Trial Software. I then converted it from MIDI to WAV.

Great song.. I wonder how you compose the chinese dynasty song...my first time listening to it.

What do you mean GZ?

The tunes are kind of repeated. I used Noteworthy. Its a software to make midis by typing in the notes. All I did was hymn a tune for every line, making sure that it had 7 beats so that it can go along with the words.

The first line was the main sound, which I used violin I think. Second line I used the, Symphonic Masterpiece feauture, which is like an orchestra playing a note at a time, and I used this as the base. The third line, I used Taiko drums, which gave it a beat without losing the Asian themes in the song.

well done, definitelty has a Chinese feel [ and sound]

great tune!

Efforts appreciated... great tune and link too - plenty of interesting info and emperors' portraits inside.

thanks!

Hmmm... that's pretty good. I'm impressed!

woo..this is so cute haha.
thank u
i think i know wo to remember them now

Sounds very much like the
"Willy Willy Harry Steve
Dick John Harry Three"
poem. No prizes for those who can guess what that is.

Personally, it sounds wicked as a poem without music

Zunjing de China History Forum members,

I would like to thank you other members for taking their time to think of songs to help enable us to keep track of the different dynasties. However, I have personally found these songs harder to learn than to just purely memorize the dynasties chronologically. Well, that is just my own opinion, and we all know that I am very weird! Hehehe!

I kind of agree with you. I do find it easy to remember the dynasties chronologically... that's made two weird ones? nah, unlikely, just different - not one bit weird!

Other Dynasty Songs



第一种

夏商与西周
东周分两段
春秋和战国
一统秦两汉
三分魏楚吴
二晋前后沿
南北朝并立
隋唐五代传
宋元明清后
皇朝至此完


第二种
[香港版本]第一首
炎黄虞夏商，周到战国亡，秦朝并六国，赢政称始皇。
楚汉鸿沟界，最后属刘邦，西汉孕新莽，东汉迁洛阳。
末年黄巾出，三国各称王，西晋变东晋，迁都到建康，
拓跋入中原，国分南北方，北朝十六国，南朝宋齐梁，
南陈被隋灭，杨广输李唐，大唐曾改周，武后则天皇，
残皇有五代，伶官舞后庄，华歆分十国，北宋火南唐，
金国俘二帝，南宋到苏杭，蒙主称大汗，最后被明亡，
明到崇帧帝，大顺立闯王，金田太平国，时适清道光，
九传至光绪，维新有康梁，换位至宣统，民国废末皇，
五四风雨骤，建国存新纲，抗日反内战，五星红旗扬

第三种 [香港版]第二首
唐尧虞舜夏商周，春秋战国乱悠悠，
秦汉三国晋统一，南朝北朝是对头，
隋唐五代又十国，宋元明清帝王休。

第四种 [香港版本]第三首
夏、商、周，
春秋、战国、秦。
西汉、新
公元界线平帝分，
东汉、三国、西东晋，
南、北朝，
隋、唐、五代、宋、辽、金，
元、明、清。
民国寿命短，
社会主义气象新。
以上约计四千二百春。

第五种 [香港版本]第四首
夏后殷商西东周，春秋战国秦皇收，
西汉东汉魏蜀吴，西晋东晋兼五胡。
匈奴羯氏羌慕容，拓跋代北后称雄。
宋齐梁陈是南朝，北魏齐周称北朝。
北周灭齐传於隋，隋又灭陈再统一。
隋灭唐兴称富强，五代十国各称王。
契丹兴起在北方，建号为辽入汴梁。
五代梁唐晋汉周，宋朝建国陈桥头。
女真建金先灭辽，打破汴京北宋消。
南宋偏安在江南，蒙古兴起国号元。
灭金灭宋归一统，元朝统治九十年。
明代共传十六君，满洲初起号后金。
后金国号改为清，入关称帝都北京。
人民觉悟革命起，清帝退位民国立。
人民民主再胜利，齐心奔向共产国。

^^
A lot! I can't remember.

Actually the song General Zhao yun showed is the one we learned at school.

Also there is a simple one:" 夏商两周秦两汉， 三国两晋南北朝。隋唐五代又十国， 宋元明清帝王休。

even useful for Chinese~

hahahaah well this is really great and awesome, im looking forward to hearing it . Now i am in my office so i dont have the headset with me. it is kinda pity but 2night im pretty sure i can hear it when i get back to my apartment.

I am learning Chinese so that song is helpful for me to beginning.

Nice songs you guys have got...seriously, it isn't hard to memorise all the dynasties in chronological order, but you just need a little patience and interest to sit down on the sofa, stare at the list of dynasties in chronological order for 15 minutes and do some slient recitation and there, you have gotten it!

No matter what method you use, be it songs, rap, rhythm or whatever, just be sure to revise it oftenly so that it doesn't slip off your mind. I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard someone saying that if you done 6 times of revision for something that you have learnt, you'll never forget it