Changing Territories · HistoryAtlas

A living map of China's changing territory on real terrain, from the Qin unification to the high Qing: 16 key years show the dynasties and their neighbours on the real topography of East Asia, with borders morphing continuously between periods. Drag the timeline or play the narrated tour, watch the area figures and curve update live, and see capitals, the Great Wall, protectorates and provinces; battle markers open the matching WarTable battle.

Subject: History · Level: Middle school, High school · Topics: Changing territories, Coexisting states, Protectorates & provinces, Territory area

Chapters

Qin territory

In 221 BC Qin conquered the other six states and founded the first unified, centralized empire in Chinese history. Qin drove back the Xiongnu in the north and built the Great Wall, and in the south conquered the Baiyue and set up the Guilin, Nanhai and Xiang commanderies. Its territory reached the sea in the east, Longxi in the west, the line of the Great Wall in the north and the South China Sea in the south.

Qin built the Great Wall mainly to stop which people from raiding southward?

The First Emperor sent Meng Tian north against the Xiongnu and joined up the walls of the Warring States Qin, Zhao and Yan, from Lintao in the west to Liaodong in the east.

Western Han territory

Emperor Wu of Han sent Wei Qing and Huo Qubing north against the Xiongnu, took the Hexi Corridor and set up four commanderies there; he also sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions, opening the Silk Road. In 60 BC the Western Han created the Protectorate of the Western Regions, and today's Xinjiang formally came under central government rule.

In 60 BC, what office did the Western Han set up to govern the Western Regions?

The Protectorate was based at Wulei (east of today's Luntai in Xinjiang); it marks the start of central rule over what is now Xinjiang.

Eastern Han territory

Early in the Eastern Han the Western Regions were cut off from the Central Plains. Ban Chao spent more than thirty years there and brought them back under Han rule; in 91 the Eastern Han restored the Protector-General. By then the Northern Xiongnu had moved west and the Xianbei were spreading across the Mongolian Plateau.

Under the Eastern Han, who spent more than thirty years in the Western Regions and won them back?

Ban Chao "threw down his writing brush to join the army": he went to the Western Regions in 73 and stayed active there for over thirty years, and even sent Gan Ying toward Daqin (the Roman Empire).

The Three Kingdoms

At the end of the Eastern Han warlords carved up the country, and after the Battle of Red Cliffs three kingdoms took shape: Wei held the north, Shu the southwest and Wu the lower Yangtze. Wei kept a chief official in the Western Regions; Zhuge Liang of Shu developed the Nanzhong region in the southwest; Wu's fleets reached Yizhou (today's Taiwan).

During the Three Kingdoms, where was the capital of Shu?

Cao Pi took the throne in 220 with Luoyang as his capital; Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor at Chengdu in 221; Sun Quan did so in 229 and later made Jianye his capital.

Western Jin reunification

Sima Yan founded the Western Jin in 266 and conquered Wu in 280, ending the division of the Three Kingdoms. But unity lasted only some thirty years: after the War of the Eight Princes peoples across the north rose up, and the Western Jin fell in 316.

In which year did the Western Jin conquer Wu and end the division of the Three Kingdoms?

Sima Yan replaced Wei in 265 (many histories date the founding to 266) and conquered Wu in 280; the Western Jin fell in 316.

Eastern Jin and the Sixteen Kingdoms

After the fall of the Western Jin, Sima Rui founded the Eastern Jin at Jiankang, while a series of states rose in the north, known as the Sixteen Kingdoms. Former Qin unified the north in 376; in 383 Fu Jian led a huge army south against Jin, was routed at the Battle of the Fei River, and the north split apart again.

After unifying the north, Former Qin attacked Jin in the south. In which battle was it crushed?

At the Battle of the Fei River in 383 the Eastern Jin defeated a far larger army, leaving idioms such as "enough whips to dam the river" and "every bush and tree looks like a soldier".

Northern and Southern Dynasties

Northern Wei unified the north in 439 and long faced the southern Song, Qi, Liang and Chen dynasties: the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In 494 Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved the capital to Luoyang and pushed sinicizing reforms that drew peoples together. The Rouran on the northern steppe and the Tuyuhun in Qinghai stood alongside the two courts.

Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved the capital from Pingcheng to where?

In 494 Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, then had the Xianbei adopt Han surnames, dress and language and intermarry with the Han: the Xiaowen reforms.

Sui territory

Yang Jian founded the Sui in 581 and conquered Chen in 589, reuniting the country. Emperor Yang dug the Grand Canal centered on Luoyang, reaching Zhuo Commandery in the north and Yuhang in the south; in 609 he defeated the Tuyuhun and set up four commanderies (Xihai, Heyuan, Shanshan and Qiemo) in today's Qinghai and southeastern Xinjiang.

What was the hub of the Sui Grand Canal?

The Grand Canal centered on Luoyang, running north to Zhuo Commandery and south to Yuhang in four sections: the Yongji, Tongji, Hangou and Jiangnan canals.

Early Tang territory

The early Tang was powerful. Emperors Taizong and Gaozong defeated the Eastern and Western Turks and set up protectorates such as Anxi, Anbei, Chanyu and Andong. Around 669 the Tang reached an unprecedented extent: from the north of the Korean Peninsula in the east to the Aral Sea region in the west, beyond Lake Baikal in the north and central Vietnam in the south. Most of the land under these protectorates was made up of loose-rein (jimi) prefectures, run by the chiefs of submitted tribes rather than like the prefectures and counties of the heartland.

Which office did the Tang set up in today's Xinjiang, as shown on the map?

In 640 the Tang set up the Anxi Protectorate at Xizhou, later moving it to Kucha; in 702 it added the Beiting Protectorate, the two sharing the lands north and south of the Tianshan.

Late Tang situation

The An Lushan Rebellion broke out in 755 and the Tang went into decline. Tibet seized Hexi and Longyou, the Uyghurs dominated the northern steppe, Nanzhao rose in Yunnan, and Balhae in the northeast was called "the flourishing land east of the sea". The area the Tang actually controlled shrank sharply, and military governors carved up the interior.

After the An Lushan Rebellion, which power occupied Hexi and Longyou?

The Tang pulled its northwestern frontier troops in to fight the rebels; Tibet moved into the emptied Hexi and Longyou and even briefly took Chang'an in 763.

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

The Tang fell in 907. In the north five dynasties followed one another (Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han and Later Zhou), while ten separate states rose in the south and in Shanxi. In 936 Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun to the Khitan, and the Central Plains lost their natural northern barrier.

Which region did Shi Jingtang of Later Jin cede to the Khitan?

In 936 Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun in return for Khitan troops, destroyed Later Tang and founded Later Jin.

Northern Song, Liao and Western Xia

Zhao Kuangyin founded the Northern Song in 960, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, but never recovered the Sixteen Prefectures. The Northern Song long coexisted with Liao and Western Xia: the Treaty of Chanyuan with Liao in 1005 and peace with Xia in 1044 brought lasting peace. Dali lay to the southwest, and Uyghur and Tibetan tribes to the northwest.

What was the treaty the Northern Song signed with Liao in 1005?

After the Treaty of Chanyuan the Song paid Liao silver and silk every year, with the border around the Baigou River; for more than a century there were few major wars.

Southern Song, Jin and Western Xia

In 1115 the Jurchen leader Aguda founded the Jin, which destroyed Liao and then the Northern Song. Emperor Gaozong founded the Southern Song in 1127; in 1142 Song and Jin agreed the Treaty of Shaoxing, with the border on the Huai River in the east and at Dasan Pass in the west. Western Xia and Dali carried on, and the Khitan noble Yelü Dashi founded the Western Liao in Central Asia.

After the Treaty of Shaoxing, roughly where was the border between Song and Jin?

The 1142 Treaty of Shaoxing: the Southern Song declared itself a vassal of Jin and paid annual tribute, with the border on the Huai River in the east and at Dasan Pass in the west.

Yuan territory

Temüjin unified the Mongols in 1206 and was hailed as Genghis Khan. Kublai named his dynasty Yuan in 1271 and conquered the Southern Song in 1279. The Yuan reached an unprecedented size and governed through provinces: the Xuanzheng Yuan administered Tibet, a patrol office was set up on Penghu, and Lingbei Province stretched into Siberia.

Which central office did the Yuan use to govern Tibet?

The Yuan set up the Xuanzheng Yuan to run Buddhist affairs nationwide and the military and civil affairs of Tibet; from then on Tibet was formally an administrative region of China.

Ming territory

Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming in 1368, and the Yongle Emperor moved the capital to Beijing in 1421. In the northeast the Ming set up the Nurgan Regional Military Commission over the lower Amur and Sakhalin; in Tibet it set up the U-Tsang and Do-Kham commissions and granted titles to local religious and secular leaders. Like the Hami Garrison, these frontier regions were under loose-rein (jimi) rule: local chiefs governed them by hereditary right, and control was far looser than over the prefectures and counties of the heartland. The Tatars and Oirats kept raiding from the north, and the Ming built the Great Wall we see today.

Which office did the Ming set up on the lower Amur (Heilong) River?

In 1409 the Ming set up the Nurgan Regional Military Commission at Tyr on the lower Amur; its jurisdiction included Sakhalin.

Qing territory

The Qing took Taiwan, crushed the Dzungars and the revolt of the Khoja brothers, set up the General of Ili to govern Xinjiang, and had Imperial Residents govern Tibet together with the Dalai and Panchen Lamas. By the mid-18th century the Qing had settled China's territory: across the Pamirs in the west, to Lake Balkhash in the northwest, bordering Siberia in the north, to the Stanovoy Range and Sakhalin in the northeast, the Pacific in the east and the South China Sea islands in the south.

What office did the Qing set up to govern Xinjiang?

In 1762 the Qing created the General of Ili, who governed the vast lands north and south of the Tianshan, including the Lake Balkhash area.

More labs

Back to home