Who was in charge in ancient China

You must understand that there are 14 Chinese dynasties,each with many rulers,both legal and illegal. Of these dynasties, Han was the largest- about 600 years long with 24 emperors.the Han Dynasty ended with the”Three Kingdoms”, in which 3 kings fight for the control of the real emperor-Chen-Lio-Wang(he was a weakling).The smallest dynasty was the Xin dynasty which lasted only about 15 years with only one emperor.Here is a list of the dynasties of the Chinese empire:

Xia Dynasty ? xia (H – E) 2100 BC – 1600 BC 470 Shang Dynasty ? shang (H – E) 1600 BC – 1046 BC 554 Western Zhou Dynasty ?? xi zhou (H – E) 1046 BC – 771 BC 275 Qin Dynasty ? qin (H – E) 221 BC – 206 BC 15 Western Han Dynasty ?? xi han (H – E) 206 BC – 220 AD 414 Xin Dynasty ? xin (H – E) 9 – 26 15 Eastern Han Dynasty ?? dong han (H – E) 25 – 220 195 Three Kingdoms ?? san guo (H – E) 220 – 265 45 Western Jin Dynasty ?? xi jin (H – E) 265 – 317 52 Eastern Jin Dynasty ?? dong jin (H – E) 317 – 420 103 Southern and Northern Dynasties ??? nan bei chao (H – E) 420 – 581 161 Sui Dynasty ? sui (H – E) 581 – 618 37 Tang Dynasty ? tang (H – E) 618 – 907 289 Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms ???? wu dai shi guo (H – E) 907 – 960 53 Northern Song Dynasty ?? bei song (H – E) 960 – 1127 167 Southern Song Dynasty ?? nan song (H – E) 1127 – 1279 152 Liao Dynasty ? liao (H – E) 916 – 1125 209 Jin Dynasty ? jin (H – E) 1115 – 1234 119 Yuan Dynasty ? yuan (H – E) 1271 – 1368 97 Ming Dynasty ? ming (H – E) 1368 – 1644 276 Qing Dynasty
Depends on the time frame your asking about since there were Numberous Emporers over the course of China’s History.