Han dynasty

The Han dynasty came to power in 202 BC. They followed the laws of Confucianism and legalism. This was called 'the Han synthesis'.

Under this dynasty, China made progress in arts and science. The empire also became larger and larger. China started trading with a number of other countries. They started the Silk Road. Merchants used the Silk Road to reach China. During this dynasty Buddhism was introduced in China. Today, the dominant ethnic group of China calls themselves the Han Chinese since this was the dynasty where many of the features of Chinese culture found a firm foundation, including Confucianism and Chinese characters. The first emperor of the Han dynasty is Liu Bang, known in Chinese as Emperor Gaozu of Han. The Han dynasty was considered the golden age of early China.

The Han dynasty ruled China from 206 B.C. to 220 A.D. The new emperor maintained a legalist ideology just like the Qin dynasty but also had ideas of Confucianism to have a centralized system showing benevolence. After eighty years, Emperor Wu of Han launched a period of military expansion. The Han armies controlled many territories, including Silk Road in Mongolia and Xinjiang. The Silk Road  helped make a political, economic, military, and culture center, but it was very expensive to manage and further expansion was cut off. Several factors contributed to the fall of the Han dynasty, including uprisings of desperate and hungry people, the spread of attacks by nomadic groups, and official corruption.

Literature

Fairbank, John King and Merle Goldman 1992. China: a new history. 2nd enlarged edition 2006. Cambridge: MA; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01828-1

Han Dynasty Media

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  This 漢-seal.svg image depicting the character 漢 in the Shuowen seal script. (see wiktionary : en, fr,

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  Thirteen direct-controlled commanderies including the capital region (yellow) and ten semi-autonomous kingdoms, 195 BC

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  Statue of a horse trampling a Xiongnu warrior, at the mausoleum of Western Han general Huo Qubing (Template:Died-in), who fought in the Han–Xiongnu War. This is the first known monumental stone statue in China.

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  The ruins of a Han dynasty watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, located at the eastern edge of the Silk Road

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  These rammed earth ruins of a granary in Hecang Fortress (Template:Zhi), located approximately northeast of the Western Han-era Yumen Pass, were built during the Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD) and was significantly rebuilt during the Western Jin (280–316 AD).

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  A Western Han period arrow from Inner Mongolia, now in the Gansu Provincial Museum, Lanzhou

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  Bronze seal of a Xiongnu chieftain with impression and transcription, conferred by the Eastern Han government and inscribed with the following text: Template:Lzh ("The Chief of the Han Xiongnu, who have returned to righteousness and embraced the Han")

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  Eastern Han inscriptions on a lead ingot, using the Greek alphabet in the style of the Kushans, excavated in Shaanxi, 1st–2nd century AD – Gansu Provincial Museum

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  Eastern Han tombs sometimes have depiction of battles between Hu barbarians, with bows and arrows and wearing pointed hats (left), against Han troops – Eastern Han-era, Tsangshan tomb, Linyi. Also visible in the Yinan tombs.

Other websites

• Han Dynasty by Minnesota State University Archived 2009-07-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Han Dynasty art with video commentary, Minneapolis Institute of Arts Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine