Transcript Han Dynasty China

Han Dynasty China
The Golden Age
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
Liu Bang
Empress LÜ
 Liu Bang’s son was a weak leader,
mom seized power
 Retained power by naming infants as
emperor
 When the empress died, Liu Bang’s
supporters executed her relatives
 Palace women and families
competed fiercely for emperor’s
attention
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
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…
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.
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
Commerce
 Trade: Big population=lots of farming
 Government monopolies on salt, iron,
coins, and alcohol
 Silk production was a guarded secret
 Silk roads
The great Silk Roads
Rebellion and Restoration
 Wealth disparity: small farmers went
into debt and were forced to sell.
 Large farm owners didn’t 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