HAN DYNASTY (206 B.C.-A.D. 220)
Bronze horse
The Han dynasty ruled China after the Qin dynasty was overthrown in 207 B.C. The Hans expanded the Chinese empire westward during their four centuries in power. [Source: Mike Edwards, National Geographic, February 2004]
The Han dynasty is broken into two eras: the Western Han period (206 B.C.-A.D. 9) and the Eastern Han period (A.D. 25- 220 B.C.). When the Western Han dynasty collapsed the same family behind it regrouped and established a new dynasty in a new capital as the Eastern Han dynasty.
The Han dynasty is regarded as one of the greatest and most successful Chinese dynasties. The Han emperors ruled with an emphasis on tradition and order, setting the tone for more than 2000 years of imperial rule. They were also pragmatic and ruled with a lighter touch than heavy-handed rulers like Emperor Qin. The Chinese people call themselves Han in honor of the Han dynasty, which in turn is named after a river.
The Hans were contemporaries of the Romans. Their empire was just as powerful, embraced as many people and was nearly as large as the Roman empire. The world population was around 180 million in A.D. 100 Four fifths of the world's population at that time lived under the Roman, Chinese Han and Indian Gupta empires.
Websites and Resources
Good Websites and Sources: Wikipedia ; Early Imperial China e-asia.uoregon.edu ; National Geographic article nationalgeographic.com ; Battle of Red Cliff China Page ;Wikipedia
Links in this Website: IMPERIAL CHINA factsanddetails.com ; CHINESE ART FROM THE GREAT DYNASTIES factsanddetails.com/china ; CHINESE DYNASTIES Factsanddetails.com/China ; COURT LIFE AND EMPERORS Factsanddetails.com/China ; MANDARINS IN CHINA Factsanddetails.com/China ; EUNUCHS IN CHINA Factsanddetails.com/China ; SHANG DYNASTY (2200-1700 B.C.) AND XIA DYNASTY Factsanddetails.com/China ; ZHOU (CHOU) DYNASTY (1100-221 B.C.) Factsanddetails.com/China ; EMPEROR QIN AND THE QIN DYNASTY (221-206 B.C.) Factsanddetails.com/China ; HAN DYNASTY (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) Factsanddetails.com/China ;
TANG DYNASTY (A.D. 690-907) Factsanddetails.com/China ; SONG DYNASTY (960-1279) Factsanddetails.com/China ; YUAN (MONGOL) DYNASTY (1215-1368) ;
MING DYNASTY (1368-1644) Factsanddetails.com/China ; QING (MANCHU) DYNASTY (1644-1911) Factsanddetails.com/China ; THEMES IN CHINESE HISTORY Factsanddetails.com/China ; CHINESE FIRSTS--GUNPOWDER, MACHINES, FOODS AND CHAIRS Factsanddetails.com/China ; CHINESE FIRSTS--PAPER, MONEY, ASTRONOMY, CLOCKS Factsanddetails.com/China ; GREAT WALL OF CHINA Factsanddetails.com/China
Good Websites and Sources on Early Chinese History: 1) Ancient China Life ancientchinalife.com ; 2) Ancient China for School Kids elibrary.sd71.bc.ca/subject_resources ; 3) Oriental Style ourorient.com ; 4) Chinese Text Project chinese.dsturgeon.net ; 5) Minnesota State University site mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory ; 6) ChinaVoc.com ChinaVoc.com ; 7) Early Medieval China Journal languages.ufl.edu/EMC ; 8) History of China history-of-china.com ; 9) U.S.C. Education usc.edu/libraries/archives Books: Cambridge History of Ancient China edited by Michael Loewe and Edward Shaughnessy (1999, Cambridge University Press); The Culture and Civilization of China, a massive, multi-volume series, (Yale University Press); Mysteries of Ancient China: New Discoveries from the Early Dynasties by Jessica Rawson (British Museum, 1996)
Good Chinese History Websites: 1) Chaos Group of University of Maryland chaos.umd.edu/history/toc ; 2) Brooklyn College site academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu ; 3) Wikipedia article on the History of China Wikipedia 4) China Knowledge chinaknowledge.de ; 5) China History Forum chinahistoryforum.com ; 6) Gutenberg.org e-book gutenberg.org/files ; 7 ) WWW VL: History China vlib.iue.it/history/asia
Emperor Liu Bang
Han Founder Liu Bang
Liu Bang founded the Han dynasty and was the dynasties first emperor. He seized power with the help of military leaders who had been dog butchers and proclaimed “at last the whole world is mine” after took the throne. He was the first of 27 Lius to hold power.
Liu Bang was a rather crude man who had been a minor official in a previous dynasty. He was known for his hatred for Confucians and other members of his family. The Han historian Sima Qian wrote that he once met a Confucian and “immediately snatched the hat from the visitor’s head and pissed in it.” When Liu Bang’s father was kidnaped with the ultimatum: “Surrender or I’ll boil your venerable alive”—Liu Bang responded: “Send me a cup of the soup.” (His dad survived and the kidnapper committed suicide with his concubine to avoid capture).
Liu Bang established his capital in Changan (present-day Xian). After Liu Bang’s death, his empress, Lu Zhi, murdered several of his sons and mutilated his favorite concubine and tossed her into a privy, in her attempt to claim the dynasty for her family. After replacing key generals and officials with her relatives, her family held power for about 15 years before they were ousted by Liu’s relatives with Liu Bang’s son, Emperor Wen, taking the throne. After that relatives and people connected with Lu Zhi were rounded up and disposed of.
Emperors Han Jing Di and Wu Di
Emperor Wu di
Han Jing Di (ruled from 157 to 141 B.C.) was the forth emperor of the Western Han dynasty. Regarded as one of the greatest early Chinese emperors, he ruled cautiously and relied “on Taoist discretion” to solidify his power and paved the way for a long and glorious rule by his son Emperor Wu and the domination of his clan, who reigned for more than four centuries.
Han Jing Di governed by the Taoist saying: "Do nothing in order to govern." No major building projects took place under his rule, mandatory service was greatly reduced and peasants were only taxed 3 percent of their harvest (compared to 50 percent under Emperor Qin).
Han Jing Di's Terra Cotta Army, See Xian, Places
Emperor Wu Di (140-87 B.C.) was known as the “martial emperor.” Ruling for 54 years beginning at the age of 15, he elevated Confucianism to a cultural philosophy, royal religion and state cult. He was also known for having a terrible temper. He once killed his cousin with a board game after a quarrel. On another occasion, he ordered that a historian be castrated after he stood up for a disgraced general.
Under Emperor Wu Di (Wu-ti), China was stable and secure, harvests were good, Confucian academies were established all over China and the treasury was full. One historian wrote “every family had enough to get along on.”
Colorful characters who left their mark after Wu Di’s death included Wu Di’s daughter who tried to take the throne with witchcraft but ended up getting hundreds executed; and Flying Swallow, a beautiful commoner who ruthlessly seized power and ushered in period of chaos that led to the ouster of the Liu family.
Expansion Under Emperor Wu Di
Under Emperor Wu Di, the boundaries of China expanded north into Mongolia, west into Turkestan, east into Korea and south into Indochina. In many cases the Han expanded to head off threats and create a buffer zone around the Han heartland. After lands were conquered settlers were encouraged to move there to firm up China’s claim on the land. Today "Han" Chinese make up 92 percent of China's 1.2 billion people.
Emperor Wu Di sent his emissary Zhang Qian on a westwards journey along the Silk Road to forge diplomatic and military ties in Central Asia. Among the treasures he brought back were the famed “heavenly horses” of the Fergana Valley.
The Chinese empire was expanded to an area more or less the same as present-day China by establishing command districts in Korea and much of Central Asia. Expansion to the south and west helped establish land and sea trade routes to India, southeast Asia and the Middle East.
"Expansion beyond the gate," a term referring to growth of the Chinese empire beyond the western end of the Great Wall, helped the Han secure power over a caravan route through Central Asia which developed into the Silk Road. To defend their vast territories in presen-day western China the Han built chains of earthen watchtowers that were used to send signals of approaching invaders. The tallest of these towers was 45 feet high.
The greatest challenge to the Han dynasty came from the Xiongu, a Mongol-like nomadic people in the northwest of teh Han empire. The Chinese beefed up the Great Wall to keep them out; presented them with Han princesses as gifts to appease them—but to no avail. In 133 B.C. there was a great battle between Han and Xiongu in which “the men and horses killed on the Han side amounted to over a hundred thousand.”
See Yellow River Floods
Chaos and the Establishment of Eastern Han Dynasty
Towards the end of Wu Di’s rule the treasury was running low as a result of resources spent on military campaigns and expansion and money embezzled by corrupt officials. In the meantime local aristocrats were bleeding the peasantry dry with high taxes, creating conditions ripe for revolt and chaos.
In A.D. 9, Wang Mang usurped the throne from the Liu family. To this day Liu men are reluctant to marry women from the Wang family because it is believed they bring disaster. In any case, Wang Mang tried to right some of the wrongs committed against the peasantry but was ultimately driven from power in riots that occurred after terrible Yellow River floods and had his head chopped off by a group who splashed paint on their foreheads and called themselves the Red Eyebrows.
While the Red Eyebrows were sacking Changsan, a new member of the Liu clan, Liu Xui, established a new capital in Luoyang, ushering in the Eastern Han dynasty. The Liu’s remained in power for another 195 years in Luoyang.
Battle of Red Cliff
The Battle of Red Cliff took place in the A.D. 3rd century during the Han dynasty. The film on the battle is based on one episode from the 13th century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a work that remains popular throughout Asia today and is the inspiration for scores of manga and video games. What made the book so popular is not so much the battle itself but the personalities involved and their interactions.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms takes place when the China was divided into many warring and focuses on three kingdoms—Wei, Wu and Shu.
The most powerful leader in the Battle at Red Cliff is the warlord Cao Cao, the de facto leader of the Wei kingdom. He commands an 800,000-strong army and wanted to expand his kingdom to the south and west.
Sub Quan is the King of the southern state Wu. Liu Bei is the leader of a western state. Zhiu Yu, the viceroy of Wu and Zhuge Liang, a military advisor for Liu Bei, form a friendship and convince the leader of Wu and Shu to form an alliance to battle Cao Cao and ultimately prevail with a force of only 50,000 men. .
There are a number if warriors such as Zhoa Yun, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu. At first it takes some time to become familiar with all the characters and their relationships to one another—particularly for Western audiences who are not familiar with the story.
See Film
Other Han Emperors
Under the 32-year rule of strongman Guangwu Di, Luoynag grew into a city of around a half million people and the upper classes became quite wealthy and built extravagant palaces.
Emperor Chao had a reputation for cruelty. Once the keeper of the crown placed his coat on the Emperor Chao to keep him warm after he fell asleep in a drunken stupor. When the Emperor awoke he decreed that the crown keeper had overstepped his authority and had him executed.
Emperor Ai was gay. According to legend he said he would rather cut off the sleeve of his robe than disturb his male lover who had fallen asleep on it. Some still refer to homosexuality as “the passion of the sleeve.”
Longdi (168-189) was a ruler “fond of foreign dress, foreign hangings, foreign beds, foreign harps, foreign flutes, foreign dances.”
Imperial Bureaucracy During the Han Dynasty
Under the Han, government became more centralized, a large bureaucracy with a rigid hierarchy was established, and Confucianism was adopted as a state ideology, a moral guide and model for government. Administrators and local officials were selected on their performance on an exam that measured their knowledge of Confucian classics and then trained at provincial schools and the imperial university.
The Imperial Chinese bureaucracy, launched during the Han Dynasty, remained virtually intact as an institution until the 19th century. Local officials reported to central officials in the capital and they in turn reported to the Emperor. A postal system and network of roads was set up to speed communications and tax collections.
The invention of paper in the 2nd century A.D. helped the bureaucratic system to grow. The world's first recorded census was taken in China during the Han dynasty in A.D. 2. It counted 57,671,400 people. The ancient Chinese took censuses to determine revenues and access military strength in each region.
Religion During the Han Dynasty
In the Han period, Confucianism was established as the state orthodoxy; Buddhism was introduced in China by monks traveling from India; and Taoism merged with popular superstitions and increased its following. Taoists and Buddhist monasteries multiplied in the turbulent centuries after the collapse of Han dynasty.
See Religion
Confucians were first brought in by the Han court to clear up unresolved matters concerning rites and ceremonies. Later they began educating the children
in royal household as well as students at the Imperial University. Emperor Wu (140-87 B.C.) elevated Confucianism to a cultural philosophy, royal religion and state cult. Within the Han dynasty, the Mandate of Heaven became state ideology.
Han Tombs
Tomb of Liu Sheng
By the Han Dynasty it was common for emperors and other noblemen to decorate their tombs with pottery replicas of warriors, concubines, servants, horses, domestic animals, trees, plants, furniture, models of towers, granaries, mortars and pestles, stoves and toilets—almost everything found in the real world so the deceased could have them in the next world.
Han Jing Di's Terra Cotta Army, See Xian, Places
Even people outside the Imperial court had elaborate tombs. A relatively modest tomb that probably belonged a high military officer yielded 2,000 figures. In 2002, a terra-cotta army comprised of hundreds of foot-tall soldiers was found near the Weishan mountains in Shandong Province, about 300 miles south of Beijing. The soldiers were part of a massive tomb believed to belong to a nobleman closely connected to the ruling family in the first half of the Han Dynasty. The figures were well organized. At the front were cavalrymen on red horses, followed by ranks of infantrymen with some brightly-painted musicians thrown in. The site was discovered by tree planters. Only a small portion of the site has been excavated thus far. Archeologists believe there could be thousands of clay soldiers at the site.
Arts During the Han Dynasty
Han bronze
The Han era is known for its rich cultural, intellectual and political achievements. Some Chinese consider anything after the Han dynasty to be modern history. Musicians composed with lyres and flutes and landscape painters perfected their skills.
The Hans believed that writing was “a manifestation of one’s moral character.” The wrote a lot—on paper, bamboo strips, wooden tablets. The Book of Odes was a collection of songs and poems etched on lapis lazuli.
See Literature, Dance
Art During the Han Dynasty
Objects unearthed from Han-era tombs include gilded silkworms; stones with humans battling bears; golden belt buckles with a bear and a tiger devouring a horse; bronze incense burners held by an image of an immortal; horned terra cotta heads used to ward off evil; and pear ornaments with girls holding lamps that would show the way to the afterlife.
Perhaps the greatest testimony of Han dynasty artistic achievement and skill was the "Flying horse," an A.D. second century bronze sculpture of an entire horse supported on the hoof of one leg found in the grave of a Han general. A famous gilded bronze horse is another treasure. It is thought to have been given as gift from Emperor Wu to his sister. Horses were valued for practical and spiritual reason. They carried the Han to Central Asia and were believed to carry the emperor to heaven.
Art from India and Central Asia made its way into China in great amounts between the 1st and 5th centuries. During this period Buddhist art was created on the cave walls of Yungang and many Buddhist scriptures were translated into Chinese. Great works were created by the painter Gu Kazhi and the calligrapher Wang Xizhi and the poet Tao Yuanmung,
Many great works of pottery and ceramic art came from the Han Dynasty. Lovely vessels and objects were buried with the dead and have been excavated by archeologists and looters. The first use of glazes on Chinese pottery dates back to this period. Han emperors and noblemen commonly decorated their tombs with pottery replicas of warriors, concubines, servants, horses, domestic animals, trees, plants, furniture, models of towers, granaries, mortars and pestles, stoves and toilets, and almost everything found in the real world so the deceased would have everything he needed in the next world.
Pictorial art during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) took the from of stone engraving, wall painting, and paintings on silk. Paintings mentioned in the Han period texts include Picture of Riding the Dragon to Ascend the Clouds, Picture of the Eastern Wall and Picture of the Western Wall, and Scripture of Grand Harmony. None of these remain today and we have no clue what they looked like. Han painting is thought to have had a solemn style and didactic function. The main objective of painting during this period was to educate people.
Jade Suits and Pieces from Han Dynasties
During the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), the imperial family held jade in great esteem. While alive they wore jade pendants and ingested jade powder. When they died were covered and stuffed with jade. Banners and tomb tiles were imprinted the round pi disk, which was believed to assist the deceased reach the next world quicker.
In the Han period, jade objects were believed to possess auspicious meaning, their uses and functions multiplied. Circular jades—often containing images of twin-bodied animals, mask patterns, grain seeds, rush mat designs, curling chih dragons, and round tipped nipples—decorate buildings. Engraved dragon and phoenix patterns were popular in the Han imperial court.
The greatest expressions of the quest for immortality were the jade suits that appeared around the 2nd century B.C. About 40 of these jade suits have been unearthed. The jade suit of the 2nd century B.C. Prince Liu Sheng unearthed near Chengdu, Sichuan province was made of 2,498 jade plates sewn together with silk and gold wire. Liu Shen was buried with his consort who was equally well clad in a jade suit. Sufficient room was made for the prince's pot belly.
Jade suits were believed to slow decomposition and effectively preserve the body after death. A jade suit unearth in Jiangxi Province was made of roughly 4,000 translucent pieces of jade held together with gold wire. Designed to form fit and cover the body, it has the shape of a robot from 1950s B science fiction movie.
Life During the Han Dynasty
Looking good and wearing make up appears to have been highly valued based on the number of cosmetic boxes found in the graves of Han women. Small vessels featured acrobats doing stunts; figures playing the board game Liud;, and tomb murals depicting partygoers, jugglers, musicians and dancers seems indicate entertainment was also valued. In A.D. 2, a rhinoceros from an unidentified country was delivered to China. It was a bit hit in the court of the emperor. Eight years later an ostrich was delivered. It too was a big hit.
Han musicians
Confucian customs like respect towards elders were strictly enforced while women’s rights were ignored. There was one law that stated that any wife who beat a grandfather was to be chopped to death in the marketplace. Slandering an old person was also a serious offense, but beating a wife wasn’t even a crime.
Accupuncture needles and figurines with meridian lines drawn on them have been found, indicating that some form of acupuncture was practiced.
Clasped hands was a sign of greeting. People who addressed the emperor were allowed to do so only after their breath has been sweetened with “odoriferous pistols”—Javanese cloves.
The rich clearly lived a privileged life, enjoying concubines, servants, slaves, pearls, jade and fine clothes One observer wrote that people in Luoyang “are extravagant in clothing, excessive in food and drink.’. Rich men convicted of a crime could hire peasants to fulfill their sentences. Over time, peasants were squeezed off their land and many became unhappy indentured servants, increasing the likelihood of a rebellion,
Han Dynasty Scholarship and Technology
Emperor Qin Shihuang is usually given credit fot unifing the Chinese writing system but a careful look reveals the system was largely standardized in the Han dynasty. The Han produced the first Chinese dictionary, the first official history, gave names to the dynasties that preceded them and made a concerted effort to unify China’s diverse ethnic groups with a single writing system.
Accupuntcure needles found in
the Tomb of Liu Sheng
Water clocks and sundials were used; paper was invented; astronomy flourished; and complex mathematical problems were solved. Han scholars wrote detailed histories and collected statistics.
Centuries before they were used in the West, the Han were using pulleys and wheelbarrows to transport goods. Water-powered trip hammers were used to crush ores and grain. Bellows pumped air into furnaces; umbrellas collapsed using a designs that remains in use today.
See Earthquake Devise.
Han Dynasty Economy
The Han period was a time of economic expansion. Agriculture and irrigation were improved. Advanced ironworking created strong tools and weapons.
Unlike Rome, which relied heavily on slavery, the Han dynasty built its economy on the labor of free peasants that were forced to give up their surpluses as taxes.
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The silk trade was vital to the economy. Garments made with silk, brocades, damasks and gauze found in tombs indicates that Han weaving was done with elaborate looms.
The Silk Road opened up under the Han. The Hans traded with Rome through Central Asian middlemen. see Silk Road
End of the Han Dynasty
After four centuries the Han dynasty was on the verge of collapse. The Xiongnu people in the north created a tribal federation and weakened the Han empire with repeated raids. Corruption and competition destroyed the Han court from within.
In the A.D. 1st century the Xianbei replaced the Xiongnu as the dominate horseman group in Mongolia. They raided and intermingled with the Han Chinese in China. The origin of the Xianbei is not known. They are thought to a mix of Turkic and Iranian clans.
Towards the end of the A.D. 1st century, the Liu emperors repeatedly died young without male heirs. Figurehead power was passed on to child cousins while corrupt regents pulled the strings behind the scenes. Eunuchs became increasingly powerful and increasingly corrupt.
Confucian scholars and students staged demonstrations. Peasant uprisings spread “like a billowing sea” and threatened the capital. In A.D. 197, a general seized power, executed the eunuchs and placed a child Liu puppet, Liu Xie, on the throne. Warlords began battling one another. Luoyang was burned to the ground
In A.D. 220, the Han dynasty formally ended when Liu Xie abdicated and dynasty generals clashed with each other. China was divided into the Three Kingdoms and would not be unified again until three and half centuries later. But the Han Dynasty did not die completely; it lived on like Greece and Rome did in the legacy of its government, ideas and art.
Bloody Years Between the Han and Sui Dynasties
The four centuries after Han dynasty collapsed (the 3rd to 7th centuries) were characterized by disunity and bloodshed. This was a period in which competing warlords fought over territory and the masses found religion in the form of Taoism and Buddhism in what was later called the "Chinese Age of Faith." China was not united again until the Sui Dynasty.
During the Age of Faith, Taoism flourished, Confusion became a philosophy of the wealthy and Buddhism took root among the masses. Taoists and Buddhists fought over souls for salvation. Many Buddhist converts were formerly Taoists.
SUI DYNASTY (A.D. 589-618)
China was reunified in A.D. 589 and commerce, the arts and science all flourished during the short-lived but influential Sui Dynasty. Under the "Cultivated Emperor," Yang Jian, a former general who launched the dynasty, land reform was undertaken, Han institutions were resurrected, the imperial bureaucracy was strengthened and warlords and aristocrats were stripped of their wealth. The Sui dynasty fell apart in 618 after massive public works projects and three unsuccessful incursions into Korea overextended the empire's resources.
The last Sui emperor, Sui Yang To (A.D. 581-618), took the throne after murdering his father and older brother. He had a queen, two deputy queens, 6 royal consorts, 72 madames and 3,000 palace maidens but even that wasn't enough to satisfy him sexually. He had a particular thing for teenage virgins and reportedly used a "virgin wheelchair" to capture them. According to a palace historian after the girl was seated "clamps would automatically spring up to hold arms and spread her legs apart, while the mechanized cushion would place her body in the right position to receive the royal favor." [Source: People's Almanac]
Image Sources: 1, 2) Bronze horse and Han founder, Brooklyn College; 3) Wu Di China Page website; 4) Han dynasty map, St Marin edu; 5) Han tomb, University of Washington; 6) Musicians, All Posters.com http://www.allposters.com/?lang=1 Search Chinese Art ; 7) Accupuntcure needle, University of Washington
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
© 2008 Jeffrey Hays
Last updated March 2010