“WESTERN HAN”
(‘206 BCE’ – ‘9 CE’)
“XIN DYNASTY”
(9AD – 23AD)
“EASTERN HAN”
(25AD – 220AD)
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(the han dynasty (chinese: 漢朝; pinyin: Hàn cháo) was the second ‘imperial dynasty’ of ‘china’ (206 BC–220 AD), preceded by the ‘qin dynasty’ (‘221 BCE’ – ‘206 BCE’) and succeeded by the ‘3 kingdoms’ period (‘220–280 AD))
(spanning over 4 centuries, the ‘han’ period is considered a ‘golden age’ in chinese history)
(to this day, china’s majority ethnic group refers to themselves as the “han people” and the ‘chinese script’ is referred to as “han characters”)
(it was founded by the rebel leader ‘liu bang’ (known posthumously as “emperor gaozu of ‘han'”:, and briefly interrupted by the ‘xin’ dynasty (‘9AD’– ’23 AD’) of the former regent ‘wang mang’)
(this ‘interregnum’ separates the ‘han’ dynasty into 2 periods: the western han (or former han) (206 BC – 9 AD) and the eastern han (or later han) (’25AD – ‘220 AD’))
(the ’emperor’ was at the pinnacle of ‘han’ society)
(he presided over the ‘han’ government but shared power with both the ‘nobility’ and ‘appointed ministers’ who came largely from the ‘scholarly gentry class’)
(‘the han empire’ was divided into areas directly controlled by the ‘central government’ using an innovation inherited from the ‘qin’ known as ‘commanderies’, and a number of ‘semi-autonomous kingdoms’)
(these ‘kingdoms’ gradually lost all vestiges of their ‘independence’, particularly following the “rebellion of the 7 states”)
(from the reign of “emperor wu” (r. 141BC – 87 BC) onward, the ‘chinese court’ officially sponsored ‘confucianism’ in ‘education’ and ‘court politics’, synthesized with the ‘cosmology’ of later scholars such as ‘dong zhongshu’)
(this policy endured until the fall of the ‘qing’ dynasty in ‘1911 AD’)
(the ‘han dynasty’ was an age of ‘economic prosperity’ and saw a significant growth of the ‘money economy’ first established during the ‘zhou dynasty’ (c. ‘1050 BC’ – ‘256 BC’))
(the ‘coinage’ issued by the ‘central government mint’ in ‘119 BC’ remained the ‘standard coinage’ of ‘china’ until the ‘tang dynasty’ (‘618 AD’ – ‘907 AD’))
(the period saw a number of ‘limited institutional innovations’)
(to pay for its ‘military campaigns’ and the settlement of newly conquered ‘frontier territories’, the government nationalized the private ‘salt’ and ‘iron’ industries in ‘117 BC’, but these ‘government monopolies’ were repealed during the ‘eastern han’ period)
(‘science’ and ‘technology’ during the ‘han’ period saw significant advances, including ‘papermaking’, the ‘nautical steering rudder’, the use of ‘negative numbers’ in ‘mathematics’, the ‘raised-relief map’, the ‘hydraulic-powered armillary sphere’ for ‘astronomy’, and a ‘seismometer’ employing an ‘inverted pendulum’)
(the ‘xiongnu’ (a ‘nomadic steppe confederation’) defeated the ‘han’ in ‘200 BC’ and forced the ‘han’ to submit as a de facto inferior partner, but continued their raids on the ‘han’ borders)
(’emperor wu’ launched several military campaigns against them)
(the ultimate ‘han’ victory in these wars eventually forced the ‘xiongnu’ to accept ‘vassal status’ as ‘han’ tributaries)
(these campaigns expanded ‘han’ sovereignty into the ‘tarim basin’ of ‘central asia’, divided the ‘xiongnu’ into 2 separate ‘confederations’, and helped establish the vast ‘trade network’ known as the ‘silk road’, which reached as far as the ‘mediterranean world’)
(the territories north of han’s borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic ‘xianbei’ confederation)
(’emperor wu’ also launched successful military expeditions in the south, annexing ‘nanyue’ in ‘111 BC’ and ‘dian’ in ‘109 BC’, and in the ‘korean peninsula’ where the ‘xuantu’ and ‘lelang’ commanderies were established in ‘108 BC’)
(after ’92 AD’, the ‘palace eunuchs’ increasingly involved themselves in ‘court politics’, engaging in ‘violent power struggles’ between the various ‘consort clans’ of the ’empresses’ and ’empresses dowager’, causing the han’s ultimate downfall)
(‘imperial authority’ was also seriously challenged by large ‘daoist’ religious societies which instigated the ‘yellow turban rebellion’ and the ‘5 pecks of rice rebellion’)
(following the death of ’emperor ling’ (r. ‘168 AD’ – ‘189 AD’), the ‘palace eunuchs’ suffered ‘wholesale massacre’ by ‘military officers’, allowing members of the ‘aristocracy’ and ‘military governors’ to become ‘warlords’ and divide the ’empire’)
(when ‘cao pi’ (‘king’ of ‘wei’), usurped the throne from ’emperor xian’, the ‘han’ dynasty ceased to exist)
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👈👈👈☜*“EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA”* ☞ 👉👉👉
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥