Han Dynasty

Rise of the Han Dynasty

(202 BCE)

The Rise of the Han Dynasty

(202 BCE)

202 BCE Liu Bang rose in power in local areas waging a three year war with the warlord Xiang Yu, who had just toppled over the Qin dynasty. Xiang Yu would commit suicide and Liu Bang would rise and claim the title Emperor Gaoza of the Han Dynasty. The new creation of this dynasty would create some of the most important figures, inventions and more in the world. The new emergence of this dynasty would lead into a 400 year reign that would play a pivotal role in making what China is today (“Qin Dynasty”).

The Reign of Emperor Wu (141 BCE - 101 BCE)

Emperor Wu inherited the title and from 141 BCE - 101 BCE he began his military campaign of expanding the empire. “Southern China and northern and central Vietnam were incorporated into the empire. Northern and central Korea, which had slipped from Chinese control in 128 BCE” (Dull and Smith). With all those nations mentioned early, his biggest siege would happen in 133 BCE where he attacked the Xiongnu people. The Xiongnu Confederation were seen as the biggest threat to the Emperor’s quest for expansion (Dull and Smith). The Xiongnu people were considered to be fierce warriors and were a powerful nomadic tribe, controlling most of Central Asia (“Xiongnu”). The expansion of the empire would allow contact with other nations in Asia which would benefit both parties in the future (Dull).

Emperor Wu

(141 BCE - 101 BCE)

The Creation of the Silk Road (138 BCE)

The Silk Road

(138 BCE)

After waging war with the Xiongnu Confederation and taking the southern parts of their land it opened a pathway to other nation’s living in Asia (Animated History of China). This pathway would become the Silk Road in 138 BCE. During this time Emperor Wu sent Zhang Qian to explore the other nations living in Asia (“Silk Road”). The Silk Road was more like a network of different nations all connected, it was seen more as trade routes. The silk road allowed trades with other civilizations which were carried out by middlemen. Exchanges with other nations such as Rome would trade lots of goods and services. The Han dynasty had exchanged with a lot of nations but their most important exchange would come in the form of religion, buddhism. The religion would slowly be adopted into the dynasty later influencing a majority of Asia (Cartwright).

The Reign of Emperor Liu Xiu

(25 CE - 57 CE

The resurrection of the Han dynasty came when Liu Xiu built an army supplied by his wealthy allies to crush the remaining rebellion after Wang Mang was killed in action. Killing the rebellion helped him gain control of China since the Red Eyebrowed rebels were in control at the time. With their defeat by the hands of Liu Xiu, the control was given to him and later Liu Xiu would claim himself as Emperor in 25 CE, ruling until 57 CE (“Guangwudi”).

Emperor Liu Xiu

(25 CE - 57 CE)

The Yellow Turban Rebellion

(184 CE)

Yellow Turban Rebellion

(184 CE)

The people of the lower class were suffering, tax raises, land seizes and lower wages were implemented. This caused lots of people to revolt against the nation once again, this time being called the yellow turban rebellion due to the people wearing yellow turbans (“Rise & Fall of China”). The person in charge of the rebellion was Zhang Jue and in 184 CE he launched attacks all over the country simultaneously. With the government dealing with internal political affairs at the time efforts to stop the attacks were none due to the lack of preparation made for this large rebellious attack. In a last ditch effort, “they were forced to call upon independent warlords from across the empire to help them deal with this situation.”. After the rebellion was stopped the capital had lost all of their power due to all the warlords called upon ruling their own regions respectively, splitting the dynasty into fractions (“Three Kingdoms").

The Fall of the Han Dynasty

(192 CE - 220 CE)

The End of the Han Dynasty

(192 CE - 220 CE)

The fall of the Han dynasty would happen when the dynasty went into complete chaos by 192 CE. The power of the government was almost completely gone, leaving the warlords to have an opportunity to be able to be the true ruler of the dynasty. Every region went into a civil war attacking each other in hopes to come out on top. By the end of it three nations were standing controlled by warlord Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan later naming their dynasties Wei, Shu and Wu ending the Han dynasty and starting a three kingdom period in 220 CE (“Three Kingdoms”).

The Reign of Wang Mang (9 CE - 23 CE)

Wang Mang was born into a family related to the emperor. He slowly gained power by climbing the ranks with the good reputation he earned. When the emperor at the time died, Wang Mang managed to steal the throne by appointing a young child as a figurehead, controlling the child behind the scenes. He would later officially gain the title of emperor in 9 CE and announce the Xin dynasty. Wang Mang tried to reform society by doing things like implementing a different set of confucius philosophy but his dynasty would fall short when the yellow river would change directions for the worse, affecting most of China’s population. The change caused a large famine and epidemic to spread across the dynasty leaving people to create an uproar. The people began to revolt and would be known as the red eyebrows, who grew to be able to defeat Wang Mang’s army. In 23 CE they would quickly later break into his palace killing Wang Mang along with his dynasty (Bielenstein).

This was a major event in the Han dynasty because it was the first fallout that had happened to the dynasty leading to the rise of the Han dynasty under a new reform. In addition the reforms Wang Mang planned to do like banning slavery and trying to implement communism by spreading land more equally left a lasting impact on people back then and now with China being a communist country (“Wang Mang” 102)

The Rise of Xin Dynasty

(9 CE - 23 CE)