| Period of Five Legendary 五帝 Rules Yellow Emperor 黄帝 Zhuan Xu 颛顼 Emperor Ku 帝喾 Yao 尧帝 Shun 舜帝 | About 2600 BC –2200 BC |
| Xia Dynasty 夏朝 | About 2100 BC – 1600 BC |
| Shang Dynasty 商朝 | About 1600 BC – 1100 BC |
| Zhou Dynasty 周朝 Western Zhou Dynasty 西周 Eastern Zhou Dynasty 东周 Spring & Autumn Period 春秋 Warring States Period 战国 | 1066 BC – 221 BC 1066 BC – 771 BC 770 BC – 256 BC 770 BC – 476 BC 475 BC – 221 BC |
| Qin Dynasty 秦朝 | 221 BC – 206 BC |
| Han Dynasty 汉朝 Western Han 西汉 Eastern Han 东汉 | 206 BC – 220 AD 206BC – 25 AD 25 AD – 220 AD |
| Three Kingdoms Period 三国时期 Wei 魏 Shu 蜀 Wu 吴 | 220 – 280 221 – 263 222 – 280 |
| Jin Dynasty 晋 Western Jin 西晋 Eastern Jin 东晋 | 265 – 420 265 – 316 317 – 420 |
| Southern & Northern Dynasties 南北朝 Southern Dynasties 南朝 Song 宋 Qi 齐 Liang 梁 Chen 陈 Northern Dynasties 北朝 Northern Wei 北魏 Eastern Wei 东魏 Western Wei 西魏 Northern Qi 北齐 Northern Zhou 北周 | 386 – 589 420 – 479 479 – 502 502 – 557 557 – 589 386 – 534 534 – 550 535 – 556 550 – 577 557 – 581 |
| Sui Dynasty 隋朝 | 581 – 618 |
| Tang Dynasty 唐朝 | 618 – 907 |
| Five Dynasties 五代 Later Liang 后梁 Later Tang 后唐 Later Jin 后晋 Later Han 后汉 Later Zhou 后周 Ten Kingdoms 十国 | 907 – 960 907 – 923 923 – 936 936 – 946 947 – 950 951 – 960 902 – 979 |
| Song Dynasty 宋朝 Northern Song 北宋 Southern Song 南宋 Liao Dynasty 辽 Western Xia Dynasty 西夏 Jin Dynasty 金朝 | 960 – 1279 960 – 1127 1127 – 1279 907-1125 1038 – 1227 1115 – 1234 |
| Yuan Dynasty 元朝 | 1279-1368 |
| Ming Dynasty 明朝 | 1368-1644 |
| Qing Dynasty 清朝 | 1644-1911 |
| The Republic of China (Continued in Taiwan since 1949) 民国 | 1912-1949 |
| People’s Republic ofChina 中华人民共和国 | 1949- |