Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty ({{Zh-tspw|t=漢朝|s=汉朝|p=Hàn cháo|w=}}; 202 BC - AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The dynasty was founded by the Liu family.

Related Topics:
202 BC - 220 - Qin Dynasty - Three Kingdoms - China - Liu

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The Chinese people consider the Han Dynasty to be one of the greatest periods in the entire history of China. As a result, the members of the ethnic majority of Chinese people to this day still call themselves "people of Han," in honor of the Liu family and the dynasty they created.

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During the Han Dynasty, China officially became a Confucian state and prospered domestically: agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished, and the population reached 50 million. Meanwhile, the empire extended its political and cultural influence over Vietnam, Central Asia, Mongolia, and Korea before it finally collapsed under a combination of domestic and external pressures.

Related Topics:
Confucian - Vietnam - Central Asia - Mongolia - Korea

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The first of the two periods of the dynasty, namely the Former Han Dynasty (Qian Han ࠺9;漢) or the Western Han Dynasty (Xi Han ş99;漢) 206 BC - AD 9 seated at Chang'an. The Later Han Dynasty (Hou Han 後漢) or the Eastern Han Dynasty (Dong Han 東漢) 25 - 220 seated at Luoyang. The western-eastern Han convention is used nowadays to avoid confusion with the Later Han Dynasty of the Period of the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms although the former-later nomenclature was used in history texts including Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian.

Related Topics:
206 BC - 9 - Chang'an - 25 - 220 - Luoyang - Period of the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms - Sima Guang - Zizhi Tongjian

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Intellectual, literary, and artistic endeavors revived and flourished during the Han Dynasty. The Han period produced China's most famous historian, Sima Qian (145 -87 BC?), whose Records of the Grand Historian provides a detailed chronicle from the time of legendary Xia emperor to that of the Emperor Wu (141- 87 BC). Technological advances also marked this period. One of the great Chinese inventions, paper, dates from Han times.

Related Topics:
Sima Qian - 145 - 87 BC - Records of the Grand Historian - Xia - Emperor - 141 - Paper

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It is fair enough to state that contemporary empires of the Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire were the two superpowers of the known world. Several Roman embassies to China are recounted in Chinese history, starting with a Hou Hanshu (History of the Later Han) account of a Roman convoy set out by emperor Antoninus Pius that reached the Chinese capital Luoyang in 166 and was greeted by Emperor Huan.

Related Topics:
Roman Empire - Roman embassies to China - Hou Hanshu - Antoninus Pius - Luoyang - 166 - Emperor Huan

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The Han dynasty was notable also for its military prowess. The empire expanded westward as far as the rim of the Tarim Basin (in modern Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region), making possible relatively secure caravan traffic across Central Asia. The paths of caravan traffic are often called the "Silk Road" because the route was used to export Chinese silk. Chinese armies also invaded and annexed parts of northern Vietnam and northern Korea (Wiman Joseon) toward the end of the second century BC. Han control of peripheral regions was generally insecure, however. To ensure peace with non-Chinese local powers, the Han court developed a mutually beneficial "tributary system." Non-Chinese states were allowed to remain autonomous in exchange for symbolic acceptance of Han overlordship. Tributary ties were confirmed and strengthened through intermarriages at the ruling level and periodic exchanges of gifts and goods.

Related Topics:
Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region - Silk Road - Wiman Joseon - Second century BC

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