I Ranked Every Chinese Dynasty
DaveeyG Does Chinese
3,391 views
From the rise of the Han to the collapse of the Qing, I ranked every major Chinese dynasty in a full historical tier list.
Which dynasty truly deserves S tier? Which ones are overrated? And which periods nearly destroyed Chinese civilization entirely?
In this video I rank the:
Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, Qin, Sui, Zhou, Shang, Jin, Northern & Southern Dynasties, and more.
Check out my merch store if you want to support the channel.
http://jaderelics.com
Expect:
imperial collapses
Mongol conquest
golden ages
peasant rebellions
philosophical revolutions
massive wars
and some extremely controversial rankings.
Let me know your own dynasty rankings in the comments.
20 Comments
@YuYuBunnyVTuber 4 months ago
Got this in my recommended page and I really enjoyed it! I was surprised this video isn’t at 300k views after I finished the video and double checked, this video definitely deserves 300k and more views!!!
@John_AnthonySN 4 months ago
Hey my man! Your videos telling the story of the three kingdoms is masterpiece! I've been a fan of the three kingdoms history since 2010 and your videos are the best i ever seen! Congratulations for your amazing work! I believe i already re-watch twelve times! Because of you I bought the I Ching (the book of changes) and also thanks to you I started to learn more about Zhuge liang, Cao Cao etc. I'm from Brazil 🇧🇷! Thanks once again! You are the one youtubers that made this platform so good!
@AGS363 4 months ago
Sui should be a bit higher. Not because they were that great, but they ended the disgusting mess called the Northern and Southern Dynasties. That alone deserves some praise.
@conho4898 4 months ago
The Song is the standard culture for how modern Chinese view ancient China. Song poetry is still pretty popular.
@sengyeongong1666 4 months ago
I thought you were going to glance over the insane emperors during the Northern and Southern dynasties in Northern Qi and Liu Song
@muditlakhmani 4 months ago
Hey man! Love your videos, which really display how much knowledge you have and how adept you are at sharing it.
Shame you have so few views.
Shame you have so few views.
@Xxander745 4 months ago
You alive!
I'm learned so much about China thanks to you, good that you comeback
I'm learned so much about China thanks to you, good that you comeback
@ChinawithZhuGe 4 months ago
I agree with you to rank Sui at this F level. Actually, the reunification of China in 589 AD wasn’t just the achievement of one man—it was the result of several generations of groundwork. If we break it down, multiple figures played crucial roles:
1. The Sinicization reforms of Northern Wei (≈30%)
Led by Empress Dowager Feng and Emperor Xiaowen in the late 5th century, this was absolutely foundational.
Before them, several non-Han rulers—like Fu Jian or Tuoba Tao—had the military strength to unify China, but they couldn’t resolve internal ethnic tensions. That made their regimes unstable.
What Feng and Xiaowen did was different: they pushed deep integration between Xianbei elites and Han institutions. This solved a long-term structural problem and made sustained rule possible. Without this step, later unification would have been much harder.
2. Yuwen Tai and the Guanzhong military-political bloc (≈20%)
After the Northern Wei split in the 530s into Western Wei (later Northern Zhou) and Eastern Wei (later Northern Qi), Yuwen Tai built something very important in the northwest.
He fused the military aristocracy of Guanzhong and Longxi into a cohesive elite group—the so-called Guanlong Group. This group later became the backbone of both the Sui and Tang dynasties (the Yang and Li families both came from it).
More importantly, Yuwen Tai created a hybrid system combining Xianbei traditions with Han-style bureaucracy. Militarily, this bloc was arguably the strongest force in China at the time.
3. Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou (Yuwen Yong) (≈20%)
Yuwen Tai built the system, but his son Yuwen Yong made it work.
He stabilized internal politics and, crucially, defeated Northern Qi—finally unifying northern China. At that point, given the North’s overwhelming advantage in population, economy, and military strength, full reunification of China became almost inevitable.
4. Yang Jian (Emperor Wen of Sui) (≈30%)
Yang Jian took the final step.
After Yuwen Yong’s death, Yang Jian—already deeply embedded in the Guanlong elite network (his father Yang Zhong was a top general under Yuwen Tai, and his father-in-law Dugu Xin was one of the most powerful figures in the group)—managed to consolidate support within this bloc, seize power, and found the Sui dynasty.
He then conquered the Chen dynasty in the south and completed the reunification.
But here’s the key point:
Compared to Yuwen Tai and Yuwen Yong, Yang Jian didn’t really stand out militarily during the unification process. His strengths were more political—especially in elite coalition-building and power consolidation.
As a ruler, his governance after founding the Sui was actually quite solid. However, his failure in choosing a successor (Yang Guang) led to rapid collapse and massive unrest.
Because of that, it’s hard to call the Sui dynasty “great” in a long-term sense.
If not for Li Yuan and Li Shimin quickly reunifying the country again, Yang Guang’s reign might have simply marked the beginning of another prolonged age of chaos—which would further damage the historical evaluation of Yang Jian and the Sui.
1. The Sinicization reforms of Northern Wei (≈30%)
Led by Empress Dowager Feng and Emperor Xiaowen in the late 5th century, this was absolutely foundational.
Before them, several non-Han rulers—like Fu Jian or Tuoba Tao—had the military strength to unify China, but they couldn’t resolve internal ethnic tensions. That made their regimes unstable.
What Feng and Xiaowen did was different: they pushed deep integration between Xianbei elites and Han institutions. This solved a long-term structural problem and made sustained rule possible. Without this step, later unification would have been much harder.
2. Yuwen Tai and the Guanzhong military-political bloc (≈20%)
After the Northern Wei split in the 530s into Western Wei (later Northern Zhou) and Eastern Wei (later Northern Qi), Yuwen Tai built something very important in the northwest.
He fused the military aristocracy of Guanzhong and Longxi into a cohesive elite group—the so-called Guanlong Group. This group later became the backbone of both the Sui and Tang dynasties (the Yang and Li families both came from it).
More importantly, Yuwen Tai created a hybrid system combining Xianbei traditions with Han-style bureaucracy. Militarily, this bloc was arguably the strongest force in China at the time.
3. Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou (Yuwen Yong) (≈20%)
Yuwen Tai built the system, but his son Yuwen Yong made it work.
He stabilized internal politics and, crucially, defeated Northern Qi—finally unifying northern China. At that point, given the North’s overwhelming advantage in population, economy, and military strength, full reunification of China became almost inevitable.
4. Yang Jian (Emperor Wen of Sui) (≈30%)
Yang Jian took the final step.
After Yuwen Yong’s death, Yang Jian—already deeply embedded in the Guanlong elite network (his father Yang Zhong was a top general under Yuwen Tai, and his father-in-law Dugu Xin was one of the most powerful figures in the group)—managed to consolidate support within this bloc, seize power, and found the Sui dynasty.
He then conquered the Chen dynasty in the south and completed the reunification.
But here’s the key point:
Compared to Yuwen Tai and Yuwen Yong, Yang Jian didn’t really stand out militarily during the unification process. His strengths were more political—especially in elite coalition-building and power consolidation.
As a ruler, his governance after founding the Sui was actually quite solid. However, his failure in choosing a successor (Yang Guang) led to rapid collapse and massive unrest.
Because of that, it’s hard to call the Sui dynasty “great” in a long-term sense.
If not for Li Yuan and Li Shimin quickly reunifying the country again, Yang Guang’s reign might have simply marked the beginning of another prolonged age of chaos—which would further damage the historical evaluation of Yang Jian and the Sui.
@turbolynn 4 months ago
you forgot the second jin dynasty rivaling the song dynasty and liao dynasty
@conho4898 4 months ago
"to a lesser extent, Vietnam" is an understatement when Vietnam at the time was part of the Tang. Vietnam WAS Tang. And it influenced Vietnam in terms of everything. Heck, there's still a region in Vietnam named after Chang'an....
@APBWhiteRabbit 4 months ago
1. The term "Han Chinese" did not emerge in the Han Dynasty, but under Mongol rule in the Yuan as a catch-all classifier for Chinese ethnic groups.
2. The Xia Dynasty is very much real. Archeologists call it the "Erlitou Culture". The city of Erlitou matches with the location and time of the Xia according to Sima Qian's records. The Erlitou/Xia didn't have a written record though, only proto-writing, but this doesn't invalidate their existence as the Xia.
2. The Xia Dynasty is very much real. Archeologists call it the "Erlitou Culture". The city of Erlitou matches with the location and time of the Xia according to Sima Qian's records. The Erlitou/Xia didn't have a written record though, only proto-writing, but this doesn't invalidate their existence as the Xia.
@henrytziteang7345 4 months ago
Yo Qing didn't conquer the Ming. Lee Zhi Cheng conquered Ming and Wu San gui opened the door for the Qing
@Rahmatow 4 months ago
Davee, what's your opinion on games based on the three kingdoma period (rotk series and TW3k particularly)?
I Ranked Every Chinese Dynasty
DaveeyG Does Chinese
3,391 views
From the rise of the Han to the collapse of the Qing, I ranked every major Chinese dynasty in a full historical tier list.
Which dynasty truly deserves S tier? Which ones are overrated? And which periods nearly destroyed Chinese civilization entirely?
In this video I rank the:
Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, Qin, Sui, Zhou, Shang, Jin, Northern & Southern Dynasties, and more.
Check out my merch store if you want to support the channel.
http://jaderelics.com
Expect:
imperial collapses
Mongol conquest
golden ages
peasant rebellions
philosophical revolutions
massive wars
and some extremely controversial rankings.
Let me know your own dynasty rankings in the comments.
After disappearing from YouTube for way too long, I finally put together a small Chinese history inspired merch store for anyone interested. Appreciate the support. http://jaderelics.com