Eras (Nien hao)
of Chinese History

This is the list of Chinese Eras, the Nien-hao [Niánhào], from the early Han and continuing until the Yüan. In this period, a reign consisted of one or more Eras. In the Ming and Ch'ing, each reign corresponds to only one Era. These latter are given on the main Sangoku page, with the other chronology.

This chart is first of all based on O.L. Harvey, The Chinese Calendar and the Julian Day Number [1977], which in turn was based on Tung Tso-pin, Chronological Tables of Chinese History [Hong Kong University Press, 1960]. Harvey is used because the Era names are already transcribed. However, Harvey (or Tung) leaves out some Eras, especially duplicate ones. Thus, the deficiencies, and some other inconsistencies, are corrected with Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary [Harvard University Press, 1972, pp. 1165-1175], where the Eras are only given in characters. Note that the Minor Han and the Wei of the Three Dynasties cover the same time. Only the Minor Han is given by Harvey, but this left a gap before the Western Chin/Tsin, which was filled with the Hsien-hsi era from the Wei. Here the entire Wei is given.

Exit this page by closing its window. There are no off-page links here.

Copyright (c) 2005 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved