[1] It sees a continuity in Chinese history from early times to the present by looking at the succession of empires or dynasties, implying that there is little basic development or change in social or economic structures.
[2] John K. Fairbank expressed the doubts of many historians when he wrote that "the concept of the dynastic cycle... has been a major block to the understanding of the fundamental dynamics of Chinese history.
According to the Zhou, Yu the Great established the Xia dynasty because Heaven had given him the authority ages earlier.
While the Qin rejected the dynastic cycle model, some Han-period historians like Ban Gu re-embraced the dynastic model with works like the Book of Han, which were regarded as adhering to the correct historical framework established by Confucius, in contrast to Sima Qian's Shiji.
Despite being an empire, the Tang chose to institutionalize a historical perspective based on the Book of Documents and the Spring and Autumn Annals.
Han and Tang, as well as other long, stable dynasties, were followed by periods of disorder and the break-up of China into small regimes.
Although this well-known dynastic periodization of China is more or less based on traditional Sinocentric ideology, it also applies to non-native rulers who sought to gain the Mandate of Heaven.