Which ended when the Qin Emperor was able to extend his power over most of the heretofore warring states, but the Qin were replaced by the Han, which was the dynasty that really set the pattern for most of China's history and lasted for almost 400 years, after which China fell again into political chaos, which only means there was no dynasty that ruled over all of China. And out of this chaos rose the Sui, who were followed quickly by the Tang, who in turn were replaced after a short period of no dynasty by the Song, who saw a huge growth in China's commerce that was still not enough to prevent them from being conquered by the Yuan, who were both unpopular and unusual, because they were Mongols. Which sparked rebellions resulting in the rise of the Ming, which was the dynasty that built the Great Wall and made amazing vases, but didn't save them from falling to the Manchus, who founded a dynasty that was called the Qing, which was the last dynasty because in 1911 there was a rebellion like the ones in, say, America, France, or Russia, and the whole dynastic system, which at that point had lasted for a long-ass time, came to an end. And breathe. So that's what happened, but what's interesting as far as Capital H history is concerned is why it happened, and especially why the people who were writing history at the time said it happened, which leads us to the Mandate of Heaven. So the concept of the Mandate of Heaven dates from the Zhou Dynasty, and current historians think that they invented it to get rid of the Shang. Before the Zhou, China didn't even have a concept of heaven, or Tian, but they did have a high god called Shengdi.