It is also famous for opening the Silk Road trade route to Europe which permanently altered the course of Chinese history. The world today still gets influenced by the art and inventions of Han Dynasty which consists the likes of paper.
Emperor Gaozu and The Start of the Han Empire:
Liu Bang seized the title of emperor of the Han Dynasty in 202 B.C. following a mass revolt in the Qin Empire in 210 B.C. and a brief control by warlord Xiang Yu.
One of the few surviving palaces of the Qin Dynasty was Chang’an along the Wei River, it was established as the Han capital by him and latter took the name Emperor Gaozu. The empire is known as the Western Han during the period of time where Chang’an served as the capital which would last until around 23 A.D.
Gaozu systematically replaced many of the kings with members of his own Liu family before his death in 195 B.C. to prevent rebellions though he immediately recognized a number of kingdoms in Ancient China. But in contrast the Liu family kings often tested the stamina of the empire in favor of their own ambitions.
Empress Lu Zhi:
The Empress Lu Zhi made an attempt to take control following Gaozu’s death, by murdering a few of Gaozu’s sons. Lady Qi who was Gaozu's preferred mistress and Lu Zhi's mother, she was also personally your mutilated and murdered by Lu Zhi as she threw her body into a privy and showing it off to visitors.
The power struggle lasted for 15 years when Emperor Wan who was Gaozu’s son, slaughtered Lu Zhi’s family and became emperor.
Confucian Revival:
Around 135 B.C. during the early reign of Emperor Wu confucianism gained popularity among Han royalty. Thanks to the efforts of intellectuals like Fu Sheng Confucianism had stayed alive in China. During the Qin Dynasty and beyond he managed to keep some Confucian literature .
The Qin Dynasty confiscated many Confucian texts and then when the imperial library was burned down in a civil war in 210 B.C. it got permanently lost.
The Book of Documents were saved by Fu Sheng, and a forceful effort to round-up remaining Confucian documents were put up by the Han Dynasty. Some were found in the walls of Confucius’ home, while others were in the possession of kings.
In 136 B.C., to teach the Five Classics of Confucianism a program in the imperial university was created were translated into modern script.
They were called the Book of Changes, the Book of Documents, the Book of Odes, the Book of Rites and the Spring and Autumn Annals. The university had 30,000 students studying Confucianism by the year second century A.D.
Silk Road:
In 138 B.C., Emperor Wu sent a man named Zhang Qian on a mission to make contact with tribes to the west. Zhang Qian escaped and continued west after he and his party got captured by the Xiongnu tribe. He reached in an area known as Bactria which was in Afghanistan, under the Greek control.
Zhang Qian saw bamboo and textiles brought from China in Bactria, and started his query of how they had got it there. The items came from a kingdom in Afghanistan called Shendu according to the people of Bactria.
Zhang Qian made his way back to the Emperor thirteen years after he had left. He then briefed the Emperor about what he had seen and mapped out a route to send an expedition back there. The map developed into the international trade route known as the Silk Road as this route was used more and more.
Han Dynasty Art:
The tombs of ruling families gives away most knowledge of Han Dynasty art. Site in Jiaxiang is one of the most famous site in the Wu Family. The tomb features 70 carved stones and painted ceilings and walls depicting historical figures apart from two underground chambers beneath four shrines.
About 3,000 examples of Han Dynasty art figures, utilizing silver, bronze, gold, jade, silk and pottery is contained by this site. In the tomb two suits with 2,000 pieces of jade in each were discovered.
Models of houses in pottery form with varying degrees of sophistication were often found in Han Dynasty tombs. The tomb's outside areas were not adorned in any special way which is the reason that they have survived with their treasures intact but was marked only by a large pile of dirt.
Wang Mang and the New Dynasty:
9 A.D. when government official Wang Mang took advantage of long-term internal disarray to seize the throne and try to stabilize the empire marked the end of the Western Han. Maternal uncles got the transferred power in the role of commander in chief as the last several emperors had died young.
Wang Mang broke with tradition by declaring “the New Dynasty" after taking power through this method.
The aristocratic estates were broken apart by Wang Mang as he redistributed them among the peasants. By 23 A.D., due to the massive flooding the peasant class became frustrated and they manifested their anger in rebels called the Red Eyebrows.
An uprising ensued, resulting in the beheading of Wang Mang and the destruction of Chang’an. A descendent of Gaozu Liu Xiu took advantage of the moment and grabbed control. A new capital in Luoyang was established and the new dynasty was known as the Eastern Han.
Eastern Han Palace Wars:
The Han Empire was almost exclusively ruled by boys in their early teens following the death of Emperor Zhang in 88 A.D., a circumstance that directly led to its fall as it set up palace intrigue.
The power was in the hand of his mother during the emperor’s early years of rule, who leaned on her own family to keep control.
Eunuchs who became their closest allies and often co-conspirators, helped the young emperors to be kept isolated. To help the emperor maintain control this dynamic lead to several instances of eunuchs slaughtering families.
Invention of Paper:
During the Han Dynasty paper was invented in China. For more than power plays the court eunuchs were good; one of them was Cai Lun who is credited with developing paper as around 105 A.D.
Ingredients like bamboo, hemp, rags, fishing nets and mulberry tree bark were pounded by Cai Lun into a pulp, mixing in water and spreading it flat. Through the empire the use of paper spread very quickly.
Innovations in Writing:
Xu Shen compiled the first Chinese dictionary around the same time, which included Han era characters as well as those from the Shang and Zhou periods. Into the 20th Century in deciphering archaeological inscriptions this dictionary continued to be an invaluable tool.
A boom in the work of historians was also a great feature of this era. The ambitious first history of China was created by Sima Qian through the dynasties, “The Grand Scribe’s Records.” For modern historians it is another book that is still used as a source containing 130 chapters.
Han Dynasty Ends:
Eventually predilections for court intrigue of the Han Dynasty got the best of it. A minor war broke out between the Empress Dowager’s family and the eunuch allies of the young emperor in the palace in 189 A.D.
Also involved was the Yellow Turbans, a religious cult, who tried to start a civil war and usher in their own dynasty. The military marched in to take control in a conflict as the situation deteriorated which lasted until 220 A.D., when the dynasty finished as the last Han emperor was dethroned.
The Han Period was followed by the Six Dynasties Period (220 AD-589), bringing with it a rise in Daoism and Buddhism that would transform China.
Written by: Gourav Chowdhury
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