As the Western Han Dynasty was later weakened by corruption, Liu Xiu, taking advantage of the strength of peasant uprisers, replaced the Western Han Dynasty with the Eastern Han Dynasty founded in AD25. 

From this time onward economy, science and culture continued to progress. However, contradictions within the ruling class flared up later and the uprisings of the Yellow Turbans led by Zhang Jiao hastened the disintegration of the Eastern Han Dynasty. There followed tangled warfare among various separatist regimes until three rival kingdoms Wei, Shu Han and Wu, came to the fore.

In AD265 Sima Yan, an influential official of the Kingdom of Wei, dethroned its ruler and established the Western Jin Dynasty. He annexed the Kingdom of Wu in 280. So, with the Kingdom of Shu Han toppled by the Kingdom of Wei earlier in 263, the Three Kingdoms came to an end. 

Soon afterwards, nevertheless, tangled warfare broke out among various ethnic groups, resulting in the emergence of 16 small kingdoms in northern China and the downfall of the Western Jin Dynasty. In 317, the year that the Western Jin Dynasty was brought down, Sima Rui, a member of the royal house, set up the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south.

In 386 there came into existence two antagonistic regimes-the Southern Dynasty in the south and the Northern Dynasty in the north. At last, in 581, the country was unified under the Sui Dynasty. The nation's economy, however, was later ruined by Emperor Yang Di's extravagance and corruption as well as by his gigantic construction projects and excessive military spending. This brought about peasant uprisings which swept the whole country. Taking advantage of this situation, Li Yuan, a military commander of the dynasty, led his forces to take the capital Chang'an. He became the founder of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

The Tang Dynasty witnessed a period of economic and cultural boom in China. At that time China was powerful and ranked among the most advanced countries in the world. Its foreign relations were broader than ever before. It forged friendly ties with Japan, Korea and many countries in West Asia, Europe and Africa, with its capital Chang'an serving as center of cultural exchange between various countries.

Economically, agriculture and handicraft in Tang times reached a very high level of technology. Literary and artistic creations flourished. It was in the Tang period that most of the frescos in the Dunhuang Grottos, a world-renowned treasure house of art, were done. A host of noted scientists and men of letters came to the fore, such as the high monk Yi Xing(alias Zhang Sui), an astronomer, and Li Bai and Du Fu, poets. Also accredited to the Tang Dynasty are the inventions of gunpowder, block printing and the astronomical clock, which have substantially contributed to the development of world culture.

The rebellion of An Lushan and Shi Siming, generals of the Tang court, marked the beginning of the decline of the Tang Dynasty, which came to an end in 907. 

In the years that followed, constant strifes plagued the country. In a space of 50 years five dynasties(Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han and Later Zhou)rose and fell in the Yellow River Basin. At the same time 10 kingdoms including Qian Shu, Wu, Min, Wuyue and Chu ruled different areas in the south. This period has come to be known as the period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

National unification was achieved again in 960 when Zhao Kuangyin, a general of the Later Zhou Dynasty, founded the Song Dynasty with the capital in Kaifeng, modern Henan Province. This dynasty is known in history as the Northern Song Dynasty.