History of Government in China

The history of government in China spans thousands of years, beginning with early dynasties like the Shang and Zhou, which established centralized rule and bureaucracies. The Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC) first unified China under imperial rule, introducing legalistic governance. Subsequent dynasties such as the Han, Tang, and Ming expanded and refined these systems, balancing bureaucracy, Confucian values, and territorial control. The late Qing Dynasty faced modernization pressures, leading to the 1912 revolution that ended imperial rule and established the Republic of China. In 1949, the Communist Party took power, creating the current People’s Republic of China with a socialist government structure.