To understand Chinese dynasties you first have to know what dynasty means. Dynasty means a line of hereditary rulers meaning that you can not be the ruler of the land unless you are genetically connected with the previous ruler or you overthrew them meaning that you defeated them in battle ( invasion ). The Xia dynasty is the first dynasty in Chinese history and there is no Shaw dynasty in Chinese history but there was a Shah dynasty ( pronounced same has Shaw ) in the country known as Nepal which ruled from 1768 to May 28th, 2008.
