Han dynasty
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Han Dynasty (漢 202 BC - ─ 220 AD) followed Qin Dynasty and preceeded Three Kingdoms in China.
Summary
During the Han Dynasty, China officially became a Confucian state and prospered domestically: extending its political and cultural influence over Vietnam, Central Asia, Mongolia, and Korea before it finally collapsed under a mixture of domestic and external pressures. First of the two periods of the dynasty, namely the Former Han Dynasty (Qian Han 前漢) or the Western Han Dynasty (Xi Han 西漢) 206 BC - 23 AD seated at Changan. The Later Han Dynasty (Hou Han 後漢) or the Eastern Han Dynasty (Dong Han 東漢) 25 AD - 220 A.D. seated at Luoyang. The royal family was the Liu's (劉).
The Birth
Endless labor in the later years of reign of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (Qin Shi Huangdi) (including the linking up of the Great Wall of China and constructing the fist canal in today GuangDong Province (Lingqu), inconclusive campaign against Xiongnu (sometimes identified with the Huns), widening and paving of countless roads all over China) started to provocate widespread discontentment. The emperor was still able to barely maintain the stability by tight grip on every aspect of the living of the Chinese. He also travelled frequently to large cities in Northern China to inspect the effciency of bureaucarcy and symbolize the presence of Qin's prestige. Nevertheless his trip provided chances for assasins, the most famous of whom was Zhang Liang. Within the first 3 months of the emperor's death at Shaqiu, widespread revolts by peaseants, prisoners, soldiers and descendants of the nobles of the Six Warring States were all over China. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, two in a group of about 30 soldiers assigned to defend against the Xiongnu, were the leaders of the first rebellion. Continuous insurgence toppled the Qin dynasty in 206 BC. Leader of all insurgents at the time was Xiang yu, an outstanding army commander without political expertise, who divided the country into 26 feudal states to his own satisfaction. Ensuring war among those states signified the 5 years of Chu Han Contention with Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, as the eventual winner. Establishment of the Han Dynasty could be dated 206 B.C. when the Qin dynasty crumbled or 202 B.C. when Liu Bang exterminated Xiang yu.