🎓 4 picks
A Harvard MOOC that runs the whole dynastic arc, a narrated survey course, and a landmark documentary series — free and paid ways to actually learn the dynasties in order.
The big one: a multi-part Harvard series running from early China through the last dynasty, taught by William Kirby and Peter Bol.
A single narrated survey that marches through every major dynasty in order — the closest thing to the “one Chinese history course.”
Not a lecture course but the best filmed introduction — a historian walking the actual sites, dynasty by dynasty.
Ten-minute episodes that lay the dynasties and the big turning points down fast — the free starting point before you commit to a full course.