Late Imperial China refers to the period between the end of
Mongol rule in
1368 and the establishment of the
Republic of China in
1912 and includes the
Ming and
Qing Dynasties.
The use of
early/
mid and late Imperial
China is preferred by many economic, cultural, and social historians over the standard dynastic
periodization in that it emphasizes social and economic continuities between dynasties. In particular, there is a consensus among historians that unlike the
Yuan Dynasty, the Manchu invasions did not mark a sharp discontinuity in Chinese history and that most of the cultural and social trends of the period crossed the Ming-Qing division.
At the same time, some historians point out that this periodization tends to regard the periods of stable united dynasties as "normal" and "standard" and the periods in between as "abnormal."
See also
Category:History of Imperial China
