When the last Chinese dynasty—the Qing dynasty—fell in 1911–1912, it marked the end of the nation's incredibly long imperial history. That history stretched back at least as far as 221 BCE when Qin Shi Huangdi first united China into a single empire. During much of that time, China was the single, undisputed superpower in East Asia, with neighboring lands such as Korea, Vietnam, and an often-reluctant Japan trailing in its cultural wake. After more than 2,000 years, though, the Chinese imperial power under the last Chinese dynasty was about to collapse for good.
