Chinese dynasties: Did you mean...?

The English East India Company (EIC) was founded in 1600, and it came to control both trade and territories in India, as well as a trade monopoly with China. Goods the EIC traded included spices, cotton cloth, tea, and opium, all in such...

Gojoseon (Gochoson or Old Choson) was an ancient kingdom which ruled northern Korea in the second half of the first millennium BCE. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean peninsula at that time and was an important marker...

The Jurchen Jin dynasty (meaning “Golden”) ruled parts of China, Mongolia, and northern Korea from 1115 to 1234 CE. The Jurchen originated from Manchuria, but in conquering the neighbouring Liao empire of the Khitan and parts of Song China...

A servant statue, Western Han Period (206 BCE – 9 CE). Cernuschi Museum, Paris, France.

Cao Cao (c. 155-220 CE) was a military dictator in ancient China during the end of the Han dynasty. Something more than a mere warlord, Cao Cao supported a puppet emperor and governed a large area of northern China. His attempts to unify...

Taoism (also known as Daoism) is a Chinese philosophy attributed to Lao Tzu (c. 500 BCE) which developed from the folk religion of the people primarily in the rural areas of China and became the official religion of the country under the...

A detail of a roof from the Forbidden Cty, Beijing. In ancient Chinese architecture the yellow tiles, curved roof, and dragon acroteria were all typical features of imperial buildings.

A Chinese pig-dragon sculpture. China, probably Yunnan Province, Yuan dynasty, 1279-1368. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Artist's impression of the Chinese army marching into battle.

Women in ancient China did not enjoy the status, either social or political, afforded to men. Women were subordinate to first their fathers, then their husbands, and finally, in the case of being left a widow, their sons in a system known...