Most European audiences know this period from Asian pop culture sources such as wuxia movies, or Japanese works such as the Dynasty Warriors series of games and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms anime, though most of these are based on much older Chinese novels, folk-stories and other source material.
Life in Imperial China, according to this view, apparently involved lots of politics and betrayal around the Emperor's solid gold palace, punctuated by battles featuring big hulky brocade-wearing brutes mowing down peasant soldiers by the thousands with their flashy musou attacks. When you met a fair maiden, either she was skilled enough with martial arts to kick your butt, or she was a supernatural creature in disguise.
See Dynasties from Shang to Qing for a history of this series of ages (it's often forgotten just how long that history is; "Imperial China" lasted for over 3,500 years), and No More Emperors for what happened when the last of the Chinese Kingdoms and Empires fell in 1911.
Popular tropes from this time period are:
- Arranged Marriage
- Decadent Court
- The Emperor
- Eunuchs Are Evil
- Evil Chancellor
- Honor Before Reason
- Implausible Fencing Powers
- Improbable Weapon User
- Knight Errant
- Named Weapons
- Old Master
- Red String of Fate
- Reincarnation Romance
- Shapeshifting Lover
- Star-Crossed Lovers
- Supernatural Martial Arts
Chinese works set in this era:
- Most wuxia books, films, TV series etc.
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Films — Live-Action
- The 14 Amazons
- The36th Chamberof Shaolin
- Ashes of Time
- The Assassin
- The Assassin (1967)
- The Avenging Eagle
- The Bells of Death
- The Blade (1995)
- Blood Brothers (1973)
- The Bride With White Hair
- Brothers Five
- The Burning of Red Lotus Temple
- Butterfly and Sword
- Come Drink With Me
- The Crimson Charm
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny
- Curse of the Golden Flower
- Deadful Melody
- Death Duel
- The Deadly Duo
- Delightful Forest
- Detective Dee
- The Dragon Missile''
- Dragon Swamp
- The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter
- The Emperor and the Assassin
- Fearless (2006)
- Fire Dragon
- Five Deadly Venoms
- Five Element Ninjas
- Five Shaolin Masters
- The Flying Dagger
- Flying Guillotine
- Golden Swallow
- The Golden Sword
- The Great Wall
- Green Snake
- Have Sword, Will Travel
- Hero
- The Heroic Ones
- House of Flying Daggers
- The Invincible Sword
- The Iron Bodyguard
- The Jade Raksha
- Judgement of an Assassin
- Killers Five
- The Lady Hermit
- Legend of the Black Scorpion
- The Long Chase
- The Magic Blade
- The Magic Crane
- Marco Polo
- Masked Avengers
- Moon Warriors
- New Dragon Inn
- Once Upon a Time in China
- One-Armed Swordsman
- The Promise (2005)
- Pursuit
- Raw Courage
- Red Cliff
- The Rescue (1971)
- Return of the Deadly Blade
- The Secret of the Dirk
- The Silent Swordsman
- The Supreme Swordsman
- The Sword of Swords
- Shadow Whip
- Shaolin and Wu Tang
- Shaolin Mantis
- Shaolin Temple
- Soul of the Sword
- Swordsman
- Swordswomen Three
- Tai Chi Master
- A Taste Of Cold Steel
- Temple Of The Red Lotus
- That Fiery Girl
- Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon
- The Thrilling Sword
- The Thundering Sword
- A Touch of Zen
- Trail of the Broken Blade
- True Legend (2010)
- Vengeful Beauty
- The Wandering Swordsman
- The Warlords
- Warriors of Heaven and Earth
- A Touch of Zen
- Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain
- For that matter, more Chinese historical dramas than you can shake a stick at, many of them set in the Qing Dynasty. If you see a queue (that distinctive long pigtail combined with shaved forehead), it's Qing.
Manhua
Literature
- Dream of the Red Chamber
- Journey to the West
- The first half of Moment in Peking
- The Nightingale
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms
- Water Margin
- Will of Heaven
- The story A Sword is Drawn in An Instinct for War.
Live-Action TV
- The Advisor's Alliance
- Cinderella Chef
- The Deer and the Cauldron (2014) and Royal Tramp
- The Empress of China
- The Eternal Love
- The Four and The Four (2015)
- General and I
- Goodbye My Princess
- Go Princess Go
- The Great Emperor in Song Dynasty
- Heavenly Sword and Dragon-Slaying Sabre and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre (2009)
- Joy of Life
- Justice Bao
- King's War
- The King's Woman
- All television adaptations of The Legend of the Condor Heroes
- The Legend of Dugu
- The Legend of Xiao Chuo
- The Legend of Zhen Huan
- The Longest Day In Chang'an
- Lost Love In Times
- Men with Sword
- Nirvana in Fire and Nirvana in Fire 2
- Oh! My Emperor
- Palace
- Princess Agents
- Princess Returning Pearl
- Princess Silver
- The Princess Wei Young
- The Qin Empire
- All television adaptations of The Return of the Condor Heroes
- The Rise of Phoenixes
- The Romance of Tiger and Rose
- Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace
- Scarlet Heart
- Singing All Along
- The Story of Minglan
- Story Of Yanxi Palace
- The Three Heroes and Five Gallants
- Three Kingdoms
- Much of Towards The Republic
- Virtues of Harmony
- The Wolf
- Young Sherlock
Theater
- Most Chinese opera
Japanese works set in this era:
Anime & Manga
- Kumo No Yo Ni Kaze No Yo Ni (Like the Clouds, Like the Wind)
- The Tale of the White Serpent (白蛇伝)
- Koutetsu Sangokushi
- Koihime†Musou
- Saiunkoku Monogatari
- Fushigi Yuugi, Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden and Fushigi Yuugi: Byakko Senki
Literature
- The Favorite by Inoue Yasushi is about Yang Guifei.
Live-Action TV
- There have been at least two Japanese TV production of Journey to the West that use a relatively straight fantasy version of the setting. The 1978 version was dubbed by the BBC as Monkey.
Video Games
Korean works set in this era:
Live-Action TV
- Empress Ki
Western Works set in this era:
Films — Animation
- The Kung Fu Panda franchise, given it's a wuxia parody
- Mulan, though it's based on a traditional Chinese folk-story.
The Nostalgia Chick: Sure, let's go ahead and use the word "honor" fifty times.
Films — Live-Action
- The early parts of Bertolucci's The Last Emperor.
- Kung Pow! Enter the Fist.
- Shanghai Noon (the early parts).
- 55 Days at Peking, also set during the Qing Dynasty.
Literature
- The Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, Black Vein Prophecy and The Crimson Tide is set in the FF-verse equivalent to Ming Dynasty China.
- The Judge Dee novels and short stories, though the first is a translation of a Chinese story.
- Several novels by Pearl Buck, including The Good Earth and Peony.
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- Bridge of Birds and its sequels appear in a version where All Myths Are True.
- L'Impératrice de la Soie trilogy by José Frèches.
- Lady of Ch'iao Kuo: Warrior of the South by Lawrence Yep, from The Royal Diaries series.
- Under Heaven and River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay.
- Interesting Times is an Up to Eleven parody of Imperial China (with bits of Japan thrown in) set in a Discworld context.
- Tribulations of a Chinaman in China by Jules Verne.
Live-Action TV
- Some parts of the first Kung Fu TV series.
Theater
- The stage play and later opera, Turandot.
Video Games
- Jade Empire is set in a role-playing-game Fantasy Counterpart Culture.
- Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom
Web Comics
- The Art of Monsters is set in a fantastical Tang dynasty - think Journey to the West but focusing on events on a single mountain.
Web Video
- Season 4 Episode 4 of Escape the Night depicts ancient China as its setting.
Western Animation
- Two episodes of Histeria! are centered around China. Oddly enough, the show's resident Chinese character, Cho-Cho, barely appears in either episode.
- Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, which is set during the Qing Dynasty.
