Traditional Chinese Dynastic Time Chart

(dates for pre-Zhou times are speculative)

 

Xia

~2200 – ~1700 BC

Shang

~1700 – ~1100 BC

 

Western Zhou

~ 1100 – 771 BC

Zhou

Eastern Zhou

770 – 256 BC

 

Spring and Autumn

722 – 481 BC

 

Warring States

403 – 221 BC

Qin

221 – 206 BC

 

Western Han

206 BC – 9 AD

Han

Xin

9 - 25

 

Eastern Han

25 – 220

 

Wei

220 – 265

Three Kingdoms

Shu

221 – 263

 

Wu

222 – 280

Western Jin

265 – 316

Eastern Jin

 

317 – 420

Sixteen Kingdoms

 

304 – 439

 

 

Song

420 – 479

 

Southern

Qi

479 – 502

 

Dynasties

Liang

502 – 557

 

 

Chen

557 – 589

Northern and Southern

 

Northern Wei

386 – 534

Dynasties

 

Eastern Wei

534 – 550

 

Northern

Northern Qi

550 – 577

 

Dynasties

Western Wei

535 – 557

 

 

Northern Zhou

557 – 581

Sui

581 – 618

Tang

618 – 907

 

Later Liang

907 – 923

Five Dynasties

Later Tang

923 – 936

&

Later Jin

936 – 946

Ten Kingdoms

Later Han

947 – 950

 

Later Zhou

951 – 960

 

Ten Kingdoms

902 – 979

 

Liao (Khitan)

907 – 1125

Liao-Jin

Jin (Ruzhen)

1115 – 1234

 

Xixia

1032 – 1227

Song

Northern Song

960 – 1127

 

Southern Song

1127 – 1279

Yuan (Mongol)

1279 – 1368

Ming

1368 – 1644

Qing (Manchu)

1644 – 1911

Republic of China (Nationalist Period)

1912 – 1949

People’s Republic of China

1949 – present

 

 

 

Chinese Pronunciation Guide

 

            I have used the Pinyin alphabet, adopted in the People’s Republic of China and the United Nations as a standard for romanizing Chinese, for transcribing Chinese words on ATARN. The guide below takes Chinese syllable-by-syllable, and then divides each syllable into the initial sounds (consonants and semi-vowels) and final groups (vowels and nasal consonants.) Don’t worry: it’s not as complicated as it sounds. Chinese syllables also have distinctive tones; but they are not necessary for the purposes of this book are I have omitted them.

 

 

Initial sounds

Final groups

b

b

-a

‘father’

-u

‘blue’

p

p

-ai

‘buy’

-ua

‘one-to-one’

m

m

-ao

‘cow’

-uo

‘war’

f

f

-an

‘pen’

-uai

‘why’

d

d

-ang

‘lung’

-ui

‘way’

t

t

-o

‘saw’

-uan

‘one’

n

n

-ou

‘so’

-un

‘soon’

l

l

-ong

‘Mao Tse Tung’

-uang

‘Wang’

g

g

-e

Fr. Monsieu

Fr. ‘Tu’

k

k

-ei

‘pay’

-όe

Fr. ‘T’

h

kh (Scottish ‘loch’)

-er

‘err’

-όan

Yuan

j

jy (‘jeep’)

-en

Zhou Enlai

-όn

Vietnamese: ‘Nguyen’

q

chy (‘cheap’)

-eng

Deng Xiaoping

 

 

x

shy (‘Asia’)

-i

‘see’ (See note)

 

 

zh

jr (‘drain’)

-ia

‘yar

 

 

ch

chr (‘train’)

-ie

‘yeah’

 

 

sh

shr (‘shrink’)

-iao

‘miaow’

 

 

r

r (‘pleasure’)

-iu

‘you’

 

 

z

dz (‘adze’)

-in

‘seen’

 

 

c

ts (‘Tsetse fly’)

-ing

‘Ming’

 

 

s

s

-ian

‘yen’

 

 

y

y

-iang

‘Chiang Kai Shek’

 

 

w

w

-iong

‘Foo yoong’

 

 

 

Note: the final syllable [-i] prolongs the sound of the letters before it. So after z-, c-, s-, it is ‘-zzz’ like a bee, and after zh-, ch-, sh- and r-, it sounds like ‘err’, and after j-, q-, x- and all the others it is ‘-ee’,