Chinese Empire

The imperial Chinese state governed by successive dynasties from the Qin unification in 221 BCE until the monarchy’s abolition in 1912.

Chinese imperial examination: A system of competitive examinations that selected officials for China’s imperial bureaucracy, based largely on Confucian texts. Examinations recruited officials beyond hereditary aristocratic families and helped sustain a learned governing class.
Qin dynasty: The dynasty that unified China in 221 BCE and established the first centralized imperial state. Qin rule marks the beginning of the imperial era in the conventional chronology.
Empress Wu Zetian: The only woman in Chinese history to rule as emperor in her own name, governing from 690 to 705. Her reign shows how imperial authority could be claimed and exercised beyond conventional male succession.
Chinese historiography: The traditions and methods through which Chinese historians recorded and interpreted the past. Dynastic histories shaped how later governments understood succession, legitimacy, and political failure.
Republic of China: A republic founded in 1912 after the Qing dynasty fell, claiming to govern China without an emperor. Its founding formally replaced dynastic monarchy with republican government.
Chinese bureaucracy: The administrative institutions and officials through which the Chinese state carried out governance. A centralized bureaucracy linked the emperor and court to provincial and local administration.
Qin Shi Huang: The first emperor of a unified China, who ruled from 221 to 210 BCE. His conquests and centralizing reforms established the first imperial regime.
Emperor Taizong of Tang: The second emperor of the Tang dynasty, whose reign from 626 to 649 strengthened the dynasty’s institutions and influence. His rule became a model of effective emperorship in later historical writing.
Silk Road: A network of overland routes that connected China with Central Asia and regions farther west. Imperial security and diplomacy helped sustain exchanges across China’s western frontiers.
Chinese tributary system: A diplomatic order in which foreign rulers exchanged tribute and recognition with the Chinese court. It framed some foreign relations but was not the same as direct imperial administration.

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Tributary system of ChinaNarrower topic: Tributary relations outside imperial borders differed from direct administration within them.