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The Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220)

The Han Dynasty can be separated into two sections of time , Former and Later Han (or Western and Eastern Han respectively). These markers occur when shifting Emperors, or during rebellious uprisings.

The dynasty was founded by a peasant warrior, Liu Bang (or Liu Qi), who rebelled against the Qin dynasty and, after defeating the other rebels, assumed the title of emperor and established his capital at Chang'an . Liu Bang and his successors set up a central government system and a bureaucracy recruited by examination, giving rise to a new class of gentry-officials (meritocracy).

In 140 BC the most illustrious of the dynasty's emperors, Han Wudi, began a reign of over five decades that saw great territorial expansion and a burst of economic and cultural activity. His armies pushed north and west into central Asia, east to Korea, and south to the coast. Trade with the states of western Asia grew, silk became a major export, and inventors found ways to make paper and porcelain. In the intellectual sphere, Confucianism began to replace Legalism as the orthodox philosophy, scholars labored to find or reconstruct the Zhou classics banned during the Qin dynasty, and Sima Qian wrote Shiqi ("The Records of the Historians"), the prototype for the official histories of successive dynasties.

Han rule was interrupted when an imperial minister, Wang Mang, seized the throne and established the Xin (Hsin) dynasty. Wang Mang's autocratic rule was ended by his death (AD 23) at the hands of peasant rebels called the Red Eyebrows; a descendant of the Han rulers, Liu Xiu (Liu Hsiu), then effected a restoration of the old dynasty.

The Later Han ruled China for another two centuries, but financial and administrative weaknesses developed, and the empire disintegrated into the so-called Three Kingdoms.

Han dealings with barbarian neighbors, as well as subsequent Chinese relations with these peoples, were conducted within the tribute system. Under this system China granted diplomatic recognition and trading privileges only to those states and peoples acknowledging its superiority, symbolized by a payment of tribute. If Qin saw the triumph of Legalism, Han saw the advancement of Confucian doctrine to preeminence in the state. Bureaucratic candidates were examined in Confucian wisdom, fulfilling the "Confucian dictum" that only morally superior men were fit for office. Under the Han, China began to outstrip other world civilizations in technology, developing the first true paper, protoporcelain, and a primitive seismograph.

The end of the Han came largely as the result of economic woes - powerful landlords had shifted too much land from the tax rolls, thereby making unbearable the increased burden on the poorer farmers - and intense political factionalism at the imperial court. The resulting economic hardships and governmental disintegration led to massive peasant rebellion and the dissolution of the empire. Then commenced 300 years of political fragmentation known as the Period of Disunion (220-589), during which North China was ruled by a series of Semi-Sinicized barbarian peoples and the South was settled by Chinese colonial regimes. With the breakdown of the Han order came a disillusionment with Confucian emphasis on the selection of morally upright men for office and a return to aristocratic domination of government.

Although the period was one of deteriorating administrative quality, fierce racial tensions, and considerable physical destruction, it was also notable for institutional and cultural developments, especially the transformation of Indian Buddhism into a Chinese religion. Technological innovations included the invention of the wheel barrow and gunpowder.

• Former, or Western, Han Dynasty (202 BC- AD 9)
  • 200 BC: Hsiung-nu lay siege to the emperor.
  • 191 BC: End of the prohibition against books.
  • 155-130 BC: Liu Teh develops a library of old, especially Toaist, texts.
  • 140-87 BC: Reign of Emperor Wu Ti.
          Beginnings of the Chinese Civil Service.
  • 136 BC: Doctors of the Five Classics established.
          Expansion of the empire:
  • 121-119 BC: Hsiung-nu are driven north of the Gobi desert.
          The Great Wall is extended to the Jade Gate.
          Colonists are sent to Kansu.
          Silk Road opens between China and the Parthian Empire.
  • 111-110 BC: Eastern and Southern Yueh are brought under Chinese control.
  • 108: Ch'ao Hsien (Korea) conquered.
  • c. 87 BC: Ssu-ma Ch'ien writes the first general history of China.
• The Later, or Eastern, Han Dynasty (AD 25-220)
  • c. 25: Buddhisn is introduced to China.
  • 25-57: Kuang Wu Ti founds the Later Han Dynasty.
  • 43: Tonkin and Annam are conquered.
  • 32-92: Pan Ku, author of History of the Former Han.
  • 74-94: The states of Turkestan submit to Chinese suzreignty.
  • 89: Hsiung-Nu submit to Chinese authroity.
  • 105-121: Reign of Empress Teng.
  • 105: Paper is introduced at court by Ts'ai Lun.
  • 156: Death of Chang Ling, one of the founders of religious Taoism.
  • 166: Traders from the Roman Empire arrive in Tonkin
  • 190-220: Reign of Emperor Hsein.