ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Chinese emperors family tree (late)

Imagine that a long time ago, a very important and powerful person ruled over a big country called China. This important person was called an Emperor, and he had lots of children, just like you may have siblings.

Over time, the Emperor's children grew up and had children of their own. This created a big family with lots of brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, and aunts.

Now, if you think about your family, you may have a family tree that shows how everyone is related to each other. For example, your mom and dad may be at the top of the tree, and then you and your siblings are underneath them. Then, your grandparents and cousins would be on the branches of the tree.

The Chinese Emperors also had a family tree that showed how everyone was related to each other. But, because they were Emperors, their family tree was huge! It had lots and lots of branches that showed how all the different Emperors and their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on were related to each other.

This family tree was very important because it helped people understand who should become the next Emperor. Just like in your family tree, if something happened to your parents, you would look to see who was next in line to take care of you. In the same way, if something happened to an Emperor, the family tree would show who was next in line to become the new Emperor.

As time went on, the family tree became more and more complicated because there were so many people in the family. But, it was still very important because it helped the Chinese people follow a system for selecting Emperors that had been in place for thousands of years.