Imperial China (also called the Empire of China or the Chinese Empire) may refer to the history of China from 221 BC to AD 1912, or to the government of China in that period. See:
- Imperial era of Chinese history
- Early Imperial China
- Mid-Imperial China
- Late Imperial China
- Empire of China (1915–1916), the short-lived dynasty proclaimed by Yuan Shikai
Famous quotes containing the words imperial and/or china:
“Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.
“Consider the China pride and stagnant self-complacency of mankind. This generation inclines a little to congratulate itself on being the last of an illustrious line; and in Boston and London and Paris and Rome, thinking of its long descent, it speaks of its progress in art and science and literature with satisfaction.... It is the good Adam contemplating his own virtue.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)