Chinese Age of Faith Art Geographical Map Tang Dynasty

The Han Dynasty ruled China from 206 B.C. to 220 A.D. and was the 2nd imperial dynasty of China. Though tainted by deadly dramas within the royal court, it is too known for its promotion of Confucianism as the state faith and opening the Silk Road trade route to Europe, permanently altering the class of Chinese history. Han Dynasty fine art and inventions like newspaper still influence the globe today.

Emperor Gaozu and the Beginning of the Han Empire

Following a mass defection in the Qin Empire in 210 B.C. and brief control past warlord Xiang Yu, Liu Bang seized the title of emperor of the Han Dynasty in 202 B.C.

He established the Han uppercase of Chang'an along the Wei River in one of the few surviving palaces of the Qin Dynasty and took the proper name Emperor Gaozu. The menses of time where Chang'an served as the majuscule of the empire is known as the Western Han. It would last until effectually 23 A.D.

Gaozu immediately recognized a number of kingdoms in Ancient Cathay merely systematically replaced many of the kings with members of his own Liu family unit earlier his death in 195 B.C. The idea was to prevent rebellions, but the Liu family kings oftentimes tested the stamina of the empire in favor of their ain ambitions.

Empress Lu Zhi

Following Gaozu'south death, the Empress Lu Zhi fabricated an attempt to take control by murdering a few of Gaozu'southward sons. Lu Zhi also personally mutilated and murdered her female parent and Gaozu'due south preferred mistress, Lady Qi, before throwing her body into a privy and showing it off to visitors.

The power struggle lasted for 15 years, ending when Gaozu's son, Emperor Wan, slaughtered Lu Zhi'south family and became emperor.

Confucian Revival

Confucianism gained popularity among Han royalty around 135 B.C. during the early reign of Emperor Wu. Confucianism had stayed alive in Red china thanks to the efforts of intellectuals like Fu Sheng, who managed to keep some Confucian literature during the Qin Dynasty and beyond.

Many Confucian texts had been confiscated by the Qin Dynasty and then permanently lost when the regal library was burned down in a civil war in 210 B.C.

Fu Sheng had saved The Volume of Documents, and the Han Dynasty put forth a forceful effort to round-upward remaining Confucian documents. Some were in the possession of kings, while others were constitute in the walls of Confucius' home.

In 136 B.C., a program in the imperial university was created for pedagogy the Five Classics of Confucianism—v books called the Book of Changes, the Book of Documents, the Book of Odes, the Book of Rites and the Spring and Fall Register— translated into modernistic script. Past the twelvemonth second century A.D., the university had 30,000 students studying Confucianism.

Silk Route

In 138 B.C., a human named Zhang Qian was sent on a mission by Emperor Wu to make contact with tribes to the west. He and his political party were captured by the Xiognu tribe, but Zhang Qian escaped and continued westward. He reached Transitional islamic state of afghanistan, in an area known every bit Bactria, which was under Greek control.

In Bactria, Zhang Qian saw bamboo and textiles brought from China and asked how they had gotten there. He was told that the items came from a kingdom in Afghanistan called Shendu.

Thirteen years after he had left, Zhang Qian made his way back to the Emperor, told him of what he had seen and mapped out a route to send an expedition back there. The map and this route was used more and more, and developed into the international trade road known as the Silk Route.

Map showing the expansion of Han dynasty in second century BC. The orange line marks Zhang Qians travels.

SY/Wikimedia Commons/CC By-SA 4.0

Han Dynasty Art

Almost knowledge of Han Dynasty fine art comes from the tombs of ruling families. The Wu Family unit site in Jiaxiang is one of the most famous. With 2 underground chambers beneath iv shrines, the tomb features seventy carved stones and painted ceilings and walls depicting historical figures.

The site contained nearly 3,000 examples of Han Dynasty art figures, utilizing silver, statuary, gilt, jade, silk and pottery. Two suits with 2,000 pieces of jade in each were discovered in the tomb.

Plant often in Han Dynasty tombs are models of houses in pottery form, with varying degrees of composure.

The tomb are believed to accept survived with their treasures intact because their outside areas were not adorned in any special way, just marked only by a large pile of dirt.

Wang Mang and the New Dynasty

The Western Han ended in 9 A.D. when government official Wang Mang took reward of long-term internal disarray to seize the throne and try to stabilize the empire. The last several emperors had died young and their ability had consistently transferred to their maternal uncles in the role of commander in chief.

Wang Mang took power through this method, but broke with tradition by declaring "the New Dynasty."

Wang Mang broke apart the aristocratic estates and redistributed them among the peasants. The peasant class became frustrated by massive flooding and by 23 A.D., their acrimony manifested in rebels called the Ruby Eyebrows.

An uprising ensued, resulting in the destruction of Chang'an and the beheading of Wang Mang.

Liu Xiu, a descendent of Gaozu, took advantage of the moment and grabbed control, establishing a new capital in Luoyang and the new dynasty known as the Eastern Han.

Eastern Han Palace Wars

Following the decease of Emperor Zhang in 88 A.D., the Han Empire was nearly exclusively ruled by boys in their early teens, a circumstance that gear up palace intrigue and direct led to its fall.

Gyre to Continue

During the emperor's early years of dominion, the power was in the hand of his mother, who leaned on her own family to proceed control.

The immature emperors were kept isolated with eunuchs, who became their closest allies and frequently co-conspirators. This dynamic lead to several instances of eunuchs slaughtering families to assistance the emperor maintain control.

Invention of Paper

Paper was invented in Prc during the Han Dynasty. The courtroom eunuchs were good for more than than power plays; one of them, Cai Lun, is credited with developing newspaper as around 105 A.D.

Cai Lun pounded ingredients like bamboo, hemp, rags, angling nets and mulberry tree bark into a pulp, mixing in water and spreading information technology flat. The utilise of paper is said to have spread rapidly through the empire.

READ MORE: 10 Inventions From China's Han Dynasty That Changed the World

Innovations in Writing

Around the same fourth dimension, Xu Shen compiled the first Chinese dictionary, which included Han era characters likewise as those from the Zhou and Shang periods. This dictionary continued to be an invaluable tool into the 20th Century in deciphering archaeological inscriptions.

This same era also featured a nail in the work of historians. Sima Qian created the ambitious start history of China through the dynasties, "The Grand Scribe's Records." Containing 130 chapters, it is another book that is all the same used every bit a source for mod historians.

Han Dynasty Ends

The Han Dynasty's predilection for court intrigue eventually got the best of it. In 189 A.D., a small-scale state of war in the palace broke out between the Empress Dowager's family and the eunuch allies of the immature emperor.

Also involved was a religious cult chosen the Yellowish Turbans who had tried to beginning a civil war and usher in their ain dynasty.

As the situation deteriorated, the military marched in to accept control in a disharmonize that would last until 220 A.D., when the last Han emperor was dethroned and the dynasty finished.

The Vi Dynasties Catamenia (220 AD-589) followed the Han Menstruum, bringing with it a rise in Daoism and Buddhism that would transform Prc.

Han Dynasty Timeline:

206 B.C. – Han Dynasty founded

206-24 A.D. – Western Han Dynasty rules Mainland china

202 B.C. – Liu Bang seizes the title of emperor of the Han Dynasty

195 B.C. – Liu Band dies and Empress Lu Zhi, tries to take power in a struggle that will last fifteen years.

141 B.C.-87 B.C. – Reign of Emperor Wu, breaking records for the longest reign at 54 years.

141-86 B.C. – Emperor Wu adopts Confucianism

9 A.D. – Wang Mang declares the "New Dynasty." It will final until 25 A.D.

25-220 A.D. – Eastern Han Dynasty rules Communist china

100 A.D. – Xu Shen completes first Chinese lexicon

105 A.D. – Cai Lun invents paper in China

130 B.C. – The Han Dynasty opens up trade with the West

184 A.D. – The Yellowish Turban Rebellion breaks out

220 A.D. – Fall of Han Dynasty

Sources

The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han. Mark Edward Lewis.
The Dynasties of Red china. Bamber Gascoigne.
Early China: A Social and Cultural History. Li Feng.

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Source: https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-china/han-dynasty

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