Late Imperial China refers to the period between the end of Mongol rule and the establishment of the Republic of China and includes the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The use of early/mid and late imperial China is preferred by many economic, cultural, and social historians over the standard dynastic periodization in that it emphasizes social and economic continuities between dynasties. In particular, there is a consensus among historians that unlike the Yuan dynasty, the Manchu invasions did not mark a sharp discontinuity in Chinese history and that most of the cultural and social trends of the period crossed the Ming-Qing division.

At the some time, some historians point out that this periodization tends to regard the periods of stable united dynasties as "normal" and "standard" and the periods in between as "abnormal."

See also:

• History of China
• Chinese historiography