Han Dynasty China

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Han Dynasty China

• The Golden Age

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The Han Restore Unity

• China was in civil war
• In 202 CE Liu Bang, a military general declared
  himself emperor
• centralized government
• lowered taxes
• eased punishments
• Han dynasty rules China for over 400 years

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Liu Bang
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Empress LÜ

• Liu Bangs son was a weak leader, mom seized
  power
• Retained power by naming infants as emperor
• When the empress died, Liu Bangs supporters
  executed her relatives
• Palace women and families competed fiercely for
  emperors attention

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Wudi the Martial Emperor

• Expanded the empire through war
• Fought a nomadic tribe in the north (had
  previously been bribed)
• Colonized areas to the northeast Manchuria and
  Korea
• Sent armies south modern Vietnam

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Highly Structured Government

• Emperor Semidivine
• Complex bureaucracy (people and procedures that
  do not enact law but carry it out
• collected taxes, labor, built roads, canals,
  irrigation
• 18 different ranks of civil service
• Filled government posts with Confucian scholars
• Wudi set up a Confucian school history, law,
  literature
• In theory, anyone could take the exams, but in
  reality

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Jade as a heavenly stone was used to demonstrate
the nobility's relationship with the heaven
during life and after death. The dead of the Han
dynasty wear clothes made of jade like this
princess.
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Technology and Culture

• Inventions paper, horse collar, wheelbarrow,
  watermills, and perfected the plow
• Society expansion introduced new cultural items
• Assimilation encouraged farmers to move and
  marry
• Recorded Chinese history

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Commerce

• Trade Big populationlots of farming
• Government monopolies on salt, iron, coins, and
  alcohol
• Silk production was a guarded secret
• Silk roads

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The great Silk Roads
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Rebellion and Restoration

• Wealth disparity small farmers went into debt
  and were forced to sell.
• Large farm owners didnt have to pay taxes
• Political instability plots and rivalries
  within the court slowed government
• Wang Mang overthrew the government and
  redistributed land to restore peace

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