Han Dynasty

漢朝
The Han Dynasty
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206 BC – 220 Blank.png
 
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Location of Han
The Han Dynasty in 87 BCE (not shown is the protectorate in the Tarim Basin, and areas of fluctuating control north of the border shown)
Capital Chang'an
(206 BC–9 AD)

Luoyang
(25 AD–220 AD)
Language(s) Chinese
Religion Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese folk religion
Government Monarchy
Emperor
 - 202 BC–195 BC Emperor Gaozu of Han
Chancellor
 - 206 BC–193 BC Xiao He
 - – Cao Can
 - 189AD–192AD Dong Zhuo
 - 208 AD–220 AD Cao Cao
 - 220 AD Cao Pi
History
 - Establishment 206 BC
 - Battle of Gaixia; Han rule of China begins 202 BCE
 - Interruption of Han rule 9–24
 - Abdication to Cao Wei 220
Currency Chinese coin, Chinese Yen

The Han Dynasty (traditional Chinese: 漢朝; simplified Chinese: 汉朝; pinyin: Hàn Cháo; Wade-Giles: Han Ch'ao; 206 BC–220 AD) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The Han Dynasty was ruled by the family known as the Liu clan who had peasant origins. The reign of the Han Dynasty, lasting over 401 years, is commonly considered within China to be one of the greatest periods in the history of China. To this day, the ethnic majority of China still refer to themselves as the "Han people".

During the Han Dynasty, China officially became a Confucian state and prospered domestically: agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished, and the population reached over 56 million people. Meanwhile, the empire extended its political, cultural influence, and territory over much of Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Central Asia before it finally collapsed under a combination of domestic and external pressures.

The first of the two periods of the dynasty was the Former Han Dynasty (traditional Chinese: 前漢; simplified Chinese: 前汉; pinyin: Qiánhàn) or Western Han Dynasty (traditional Chinese: 西漢; simplified Chinese: 西汉; pinyin: Xī Hàn) 206 BC–24AD, seated at Chang'an. The Later Han Dynasty (traditional Chinese: 後漢; simplified Chinese: 后汉; pinyin: Hòu Hàn) or Eastern Han Dynasty (traditional Chinese: 東漢; simplified Chinese: 东汉; pinyin: Dōng Hàn) 25–220 AD was seated at Luoyang. The western-eastern Han convention is currently used to avoid confusion with the Later Han Dynasty of the Period of the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms although the former-later nomenclature was used in history texts including Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian.

The Han Dynasty was notable also for its military prowess. The empire expanded westward to the Tarim Basin (in modern Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region), with military expeditions as far west as beyond the Caspian Sea, making possible a relatively safe and secure caravan and mercantile traffic across Central Asia. The paths of caravan traffic came to be known as the "Silk Road" because the route was used to export Chinese silk. Chinese armies also invaded and annexed parts of northern Korea (Wiman Joseon) (as well as establishing colonies and trading posts that eventually integrated with the locals) and northern Vietnam toward the end of the 2nd century BC. The borders near the peripheral territories were often tense with possible conflict with other states. To ensure peace with non-Chinese powers, the Han court developed a mutually beneficial "tributary system". Non-Chinese states were allowed to remain autonomous in exchange for symbolic acceptance of Han overlordship. Tributary ties were confirmed and strengthened through intermarriages at the ruling level and periodic exchanges of gifts and goods.

Contents

Emergence

History of China
History of China
ANCIENT
3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors
Xia Dynasty 2100–1600 BC
Shang Dynasty 1600–1046 BC
Zhou Dynasty 1122–256 BC
  Western Zhou
  Eastern Zhou
    Spring and Autumn Period
    Warring States Period
IMPERIAL
Qin Dynasty 221 BC–206 BC
Han Dynasty 206 BC–220 AD
  Western Han
  Xin Dynasty
  Eastern Han
Three Kingdoms 220–280
  Wei, Shu & Wu
Jin Dynasty 265–420
  Western Jin 16 Kingdoms 304–439
  Eastern Jin
Southern & Northern Dynasties 420–589
Sui Dynasty 581–618
Tang Dynasty 618–907
  ( Second Zhou 690–705 )
5 Dynasties &
10 Kingdoms

907–960
Liao Dynasty
907–1125
Song Dynasty
960–1279
  Northern Song W. Xia
  Southern Song Jin
Yuan Dynasty 1271–1368
Ming Dynasty 1368–1644
Qing Dynasty 1644–1911
MODERN
Republic of China 1912–1949
People's Republic
of China
(Mainland China) 1949–present

Republic of China
(Taiwan)
1945–present

Western Han painting on silk was found draped over the coffin in the grave of Lady Dai (c. 168 BC) at Mawangdui near Changsha in Hunan province.

Within the first three months after Qin Dynasty Emperor Qin Shi Huang's death at Shaqiu, widespread revolts by peasants, prisoners, soldiers and descendants of the nobles of the six Warring States sprang up all over China. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, two in a group of about 900 soldiers assigned to defend against the Xiongnu, were the leaders of the first rebellion. Continuous insurgence finally toppled the Qin dynasty in 206 BC. The leader of the insurgents was Xiang Yu, an outstanding military commander without political expertise, who divided the country into 19 feudal states to his own satisfaction.

The ensuing war among those states signified the five years of Chu Han Contention with Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, as the eventual winner with the help of Zhang Liang and Han Xin. Initially, "Han" (the principality as created by Xiang Yu's division) consisted merely of modern Sichuan, Chongqing, and southern Shaanxi and was a minor humble principality, but eventually grew into an empire; the Han Dynasty was named after the principality, which was itself named after Hanzhong (traditional Chinese: 漢中; simplified Chinese: 汉中; pinyin: hànzhōng)—modern southern Shaanxi, the region centering the modern city of Hanzhong. The beginning of the Han Dynasty can be dated either from 206 BC when the Qin dynasty crumbled and the Principality of Han was established or 202 BC when Xiang Yu committed suicide.

Taoism and feudal system

A Han Dynasty bronze mirror

The new empire retained much of the Qin administrative structure, but retreated somewhat from centralized rule by establishing vassal principalities in some areas for the sake of political convenience. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gao (Liu Bang) divided the country into several "feudal states" to satisfy some of his wartime allies, though he planned to get rid of them once he had consolidated his power.

After his death, his successors from Emperor Hui to Emperor Jing tried to rule China combining Legalist methods with the Taoist philosophic ideals. During this "pseudo-Taoism era", a stable centralized government over China was established through revival of the agriculture sectors and fragmentations of "feudal states" after the suppression of the Rebellion of the seven states.

Emperor Wu and Confucianism

A Western Han lamp with an adjustable sliding shutter, dated 172 BC, found in the tomb of Dou Wan.

During the "Taoism era", China was able to maintain peace with Xiongnu by paying tribute and marrying princesses to them. During this time, the dynasty's goal was to relieve the society of harsh laws, wars, and conditions from both the Qin Dynasty, external threats from nomads, and early internal conflicts within the Han court. The government reduced taxation and assumed a subservient status to neighboring nomadic tribes. During this era, the government reduced its role in civilian lives (traditional Chinese: 與民休息; simplified Chinese: 与民休息; pinyin: yǔ mín xiūxi) and initiating a period of stability known as the Rule of Wen and Jing (Chinese: 文景之治; pinyin: Wén-Jǐngzhīzhì), named after the two Emperors of this particular era. However, under Emperor Wu, who reigned over one of the most prosperous periods of the Han Dynasty, the Empire was able to reassert its power. At its height, Han China incorporated present day Qinghai, Gansu, and northern Vietnam into its territories. The state mounted military expeditions into Siberian lands beyond Lake Baikal in the northern extremities and established military bases on the shores of the Caspian Sea at its western extremity.

Emperor Wu decided that Taoism was no longer suitable for China and officially declared it a Confucian state; however, like the Emperors of China before him, he combined Legalist methods with the Confucian ideal. This official adoption of Confucianism led not only to a civil service nomination system, but also compulsory knowledge of Confucian classics among candidates for the imperial bureaucracy, a requirement that lasted up to the abolition of the civil service examination system in 1905. Confucian scholars gained prominent status as the core of the civil service.

Government

Main article: Government of the Han Dynasty
Eastern Han Dynasty tomb models of towers with dougong brackets supporting balconies, 1st–2nd century. Zhang Heng (78–139) described the large imperial park in the suburbs of Chang'an as having tall towers where archers would shoot stringed arrows from the top in order to entertain the Western Han emperors.[1]
Han Dynasty commanderies and kingdoms, AD 2

The bureaucratic system of the Han Dynasty can be divided into two systems, the central and the local. As for the central bureaucrats in the capital, it was organized into a head cabinet of officials called the Three Lords and Nine Ministers (三公九卿). This cabinet was led by the Chancellor (丞相), who was included as one of the three lords. Officials were graded by rank and salary, were appointed to posts based on the merit of their skills rather than aristocratic clan affiliation, and were subject to dismissal, demotion, and transfer to different administrative regions.[2] The local official during the former Han Dynasty was different from that of the later Han Dynasty. As for the former Han, there were two administered levels, the county (郡) and the xian (縣). In the former Han Dynasty the xian was a subdivision or sub-prefecture of a county. During the Han period, there were about 1,180 of these xian, or sub-prefectures.[3] The entire Han Empire was heavily dependent upon its county governors (郡太守), as they could decide military policy, economic regulations, and legal matters in the county they presided over. According to historians Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais:

They collected taxes, judged lawsuits, commanded troops to suppress uprisings, undertook public works such as flood control, chose their own subordinates, and recommended local men to the central government for appointments.[2]

The main tax exacted on the population during Han times was a poll tax, fixed at a rate of 120 government-issued coins for adults.[2] For adults there was also the addition of mandatory labor service for one month out of the year. Besides the poll tax, there was also the land tax administered by county and commandeer officials. This was set by the government at a relatively low rate of one-thirtieth of the collected harvest.[2]

With a large amount of revenue in stable times, the Han government was able to fund various public works projects and state infrastructure. In the year 3 AD, a formalized nationwide government school system was established under Emperor Ping of Han, with a central school located in the capital Chang'an and local schools in the prefectures and counties.[4]

As a result of the recorded debate The Discourses on Salt and Iron (Chinese: Yan Tie Lun) about state control over non-renewable resources in China, the state decided to impose government monopolies on salt and iron in the 1st century BC.[5] The government monopoly on salt remained a distinctive feature of the Chinese bureaucracy in subsequent dynasties,[6] although it fell out of use at certain times when merchants were allowed to mine it, refine it, and sell it in free trade.[7]

Culture, society, and technology

Eastern Han tomb figurines playing the liubo gambling board game
Western Han lacquerwares and chopsticks

The intellectual, literary, and artistic endeavors revived and flourished during the Han Dynasty. The Han period produced by birth China's most famous historian, Sima Qian (145–90 BC), whose Records of the Grand Historian provides a detailed chronicle from the time of legendary Xia emperor to that of the Emperor Wu (141–87 BC). Technological advances also marked this period. One of the great Chinese inventions, paper, dates from the Han Dynasty, largely attributed to the court eunuch Cai Lun (50 - 121 AD). By the first (1st) century BC, the Chinese had discovered how to forge the highly durable metal of steel, by melting together wrought iron with cast iron. There were great mathematicians, astronomers, statesmen, and technological inventors such as Zhang Heng (78 - 139 AD), who invented the world's first hydraulic-powered armillary sphere.[8][9] He was also largely responsible for the early development of the shi poetry style in China. Zhang Heng's work in mechanical gear systems influenced countless numbers of inventors and engineers to follow, such as Ma Jun, Yi Xing, Zhang Sixun, Su Song, etc. Zhang Heng's most famous invention was a seismometer with a swinging pendulum that signified the cardinal direction of earthquakes that struck locations hundreds of kilometres away from the positioned device.[8][10][11] There was also continuing development in Chinese philosophy, with figures such as Wang Chong (27 - 97 AD), whose written work represented in part the great intellectual atmosphere of the day. Among his various written achievements, Wang Chong accurately described the water cycle in meteorology.[12] Zhang Heng argued that light emanating from the moon was merely the reflected light that came originally from the sun, and accurately described the reasons for solar eclipse and lunar eclipse as path obstructions of light by the celestial bodies of the earth, sun, and moon.[13]

Han era bronze horse statue with saddle and plume, Freer Gallery of Art.

Military technology in the Han period was advanced by the use of cast iron and steel, which the 1st century engineer Du Shi had made easier by applying the hydraulic power of waterwheels in working the bellows of the blast furnace.[14] The military of the Han Dynasty also engaged in chemical warfare, as written in the Hou Han Shu for the governor of Ling-ling, Yang Xuan, who fought against a peasant revolt near Guiyang in 178 AD:

The bandits were numerous, and Yang's forces very weak, so his men were filled with alarm and despondency. But he organized several dozen horse-drawn vehicles carrying bellows to blow powdered lime strongly forth, he caused incendiary rags to be tied to the tails of a number of horses, and he prepared other vehicles full of bowmen and crossbowmen. The lime chariots went forward first, and as the bellows were plied the smoke was blown forwards according to the wind, then the rags were kindled and the frightened horses rushed forwards throwing the enemy lines into confusion, after which the bowmen and crossbowmen opened fire, the drums and gongs were sounded, and the terrified enemy was utterly destroyed and dispersed.[15]

There were other notable technological advancements during the Han period. This includes the hydraulic-powered trip hammer for agriculture and iron industry,[16] the winnowing machine for agriculture,[17] and the rotary fan and Cardan suspension of Ding Huan (fl. 180 AD).[18]

Beginning of the Silk Road

The 138–126 BC travels of Zhang Qian to the West, Mogao Caves, 618–712 AD mural.
A Western Han cylindrical bronze container with lacquer-painted decoration.
Main article: Silk Road
Further information: Protectorate of the Western Regions and Chief Official of the Western Regions

From 138 BC, Emperor Wu also dispatched Zhang Qian twice as his envoy to the Western Regions, and in the process pioneered the route known as the Silk Road from Chang'an (today's Xi'an, Shaanxi Province), through Xinjiang and Central Asia, and on to the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Following Zhang Qian's embassy and report, commercial relations between China and Central as well as Western Asia flourished, as many Chinese missions were sent throughout the 1st century BC, initiating the development of the Silk Road:

"The largest of these embassies to foreign states numbered several hundred persons, while even the smaller parties included over 100 members... In the course of one year anywhere from five to six to over ten parties would be sent out." (Shiji, trans. Burton Watson).

China also sent missions to Parthia, which were followed up by reciprocal missions from Parthian envoys around 100 BC:

"When the Han envoy first visited the kingdom of Anxi (Parthia), the king of Anxi dispatched a party of 20,000 horsemen to meet them on the eastern border of the kingdom... When the Han envoys set out again to return to China, the king of Anxi dispatched envoys of his own to accompany them... The emperor was delighted at this." (Shiji, 123, trans. Burton Watson).
The Han Dynasty in 2 CE, with military garrisons and dependent states and tribute cities as far as the Tarim Basin in the West

By AD 97 the Chinese general Ban Chao had embarked on a military expedition as far west as the landmass encompassed by present-day Ukraine in pursuit of fleeing Xiongnu insurgents, and returned eastward to establish base on the shores of the Caspian Sea with 70,000 men and established direct military contacts with the Parthian Empire, also dispatching an envoy to Rome in the person of Gan Ying.

Several Roman embassies to China are recounted in Chinese history, starting with a Hou Hanshu (History of the Later Han) account of a Roman convoy set out by emperor Antoninus Pius that reached the Chinese capital Luoyang in 166 and was greeted by Emperor Huan. Good exchanges such as Chinese silk, African ivory, and Roman incense increased the contacts between the East and West.

Contacts with the Kushan Empire led to the introduction of Buddhism to China from India in the first century.

Rise of landholding class

A terracotta horse head from the Late Han Dynasty (2nd century).

To secure funding for his triumphant campaigns against the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu relinquished land control to merchants and the rich, and in effect legalized the privatization of lands. Land taxes were based on the sizes of fields instead of on income. The harvest could not always pay the taxes completely as incomes from selling harvest were often market-driven and a stable amount could not be guaranteed, especially not after harvest-reducing natural disasters. Merchants and prominent families then lured peasants to sell their lands since land accumulation guaranteed living standards of theirs and their descendants' in the agricultural society of China. Lands were hence accumulating into a new class of landholding families. The Han government in turn imposed more taxes on the remaining independent servants in order to make up the tax losses, therefore encouraging more peasants to come under the landholding elite or the landlords. This could be seen through such examples as the written evidence in the Yan Tie Lun (Discourses on Salt and Iron), written about 80 BC, where the Lord Grand Secretary is quoted in this passage in his support of nationalizing the salt and iron industries:

Formerly the overbearing and powerful great families, obtaining control of the profits of the mountains and lakes, mined iron ore and smelted it with great bellows, and evaporated brine for salt. A single family would assemble a multitude, sometimes as many as a thousand men or more, for the most part wandering unattached plebeians (fang liu ren min) who had traveled far from their own villages, abandoning the tombs (of their ancestors). Thus attaching themselves to the great families, they came together in the midst of mountain fastnesses or desolate marshes, bringing about thereby the fruition of business based on selfish intrigue (for profit) and intended to aggrandise the power of particular firms and factions.[19]
A bronze coin of the Han Dynasty—circa 1st century BC.

Ideally the peasants pay the landlords certain periodic (usually annual) amount of income, who in turn provide protection against crimes and other hazards. In fact an increasing number of peasant population in the prosperous Han society and limited amount of lands provided the elite to elevate their standards for any new subordinate peasants. The inadequate education and often complete illiteracy of peasants forced them into a living of providing physical services, which were mostly farming in an agricultural society. The peasants, without other professions for their better living, compromised to the lowered standard and sold their harvest to pay their landlords. In fact they often had to delay the payment or borrow money from their landlords in the aftermath of natural disasters that reduced harvests. To make the situation worse, some Han rulers double-taxed the peasants. Eventually the living conditions of the peasants worsened as they solely depended on the harvest of the land they once owned.

The landholding elite and landlords, for their part, provided inaccurate information of subordinate peasants and lands to avoid paying taxes; to this very end corruption and incompetence of the Confucian scholar gentry on economics would play a vital part. Han court officials who attempted to strip lands out of the landlords faced such enormous resistance that their policies would never be put in to place. In fact only a member of the landholding families, for instance Wang Mang, was able to put his reforming ideals into effect despite failures of his "turning the clock back" policies.

A Western Han bronze lamp in a depiction of a fenghuang (phoenix)

The Han government kept records on people's property to assess taxes. Yet government officials and secretaries weren't the only ones documenting property. In the Han period the prototype of contractual language and privately signed contracts appear for those wishing to keep their own private documents on their property for later use in court if necessary.[20] However, creating signed contracts with documented witnesses and scribes was not in common use until the Tang period (618–907), while contractual language did not "permeate Chinese life" until the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), according to historians Valerie Hansen and Timothy Brook.[20]

Interruption of Han rule

After 200 years, Han rule was interrupted briefly during AD 9–24 by Wang Mang, a reformer and a member of the landholding families. The economic situation deteriorated at the end of Western Han Dynasty. Wang Mang, believing the Liu family had lost the Mandate of Heaven, took power and turned the clock back with vigorous monetary and land reforms, which damaged the economy even further.

Restoration and new golden age

Han dynasty provinces AD 189 (on the verge of collapsing)
Tombs of the Han Dynasty

A distant relative of Liu royalty, Liu Xiu, prevailed after a number of agrarian rebellions had overthrown Wang Mang's Xin Dynasty, and he reestablished the Han Dynasty (commonly referred to as the Eastern Han Dynasty, as his capital was at Luoyang, east of the old Han Dynasty capital at Chang'an) in AD 25. He and his son Emperor Ming of Han and grandson Emperor Zhang of Han were generally considered able emperors whose reigns were the prime of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Military speaking, a new golden age also reappeared. In 97, Ban Chao and his troops went as far to reach the Caspian Sea, while this family also provide notorious generals and historians.

Decrease of administrative fairness and fall of Eastern Han Dynasty

Main article: End of Han Dynasty

After Emperor Zhang, however, the dynasty fell into states of corruption and political power struggles among three groups of powerful individuals -- eunuchs, empresses' clans, and Confucian scholar-officials. None of these three parties was able to improve the harsh livelihood of peasants under the landholding families. Land privatizations and accumulations on the hands of the elite affected the societies of the Three Kingdoms and the Southern and Northern Dynasties that the landholding elite held the actual driving and ruling power of the country. Successful ruling entities worked with these families, and consequently their policies favored the elite. Adverse effects of the Nine grade controller system or the Nine rank system were brilliant examples.

Taiping Taoist ideals of equal rights and equal land distribution quickly spread throughout the peasantry. As a result, the peasant insurgents of the Yellow Turban Rebellion swarmed the North China Plain, the main agricultural sector of the country. Power of the Liu royalty then fell into the hands of local governors and warlords, despite suppression of the main upraising of Zhang Jiao and his brothers. Three overlords eventually succeeded in control of the whole of China proper, ushering in the period of the Three Kingdoms. The figurehead Emperor Xian reigned until 220 when Cao Pi forced his abdication.

Emperor Liu Bei of Shu Han, one of the three successor states to the Han dynasty, was a direct descendant of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty. He claimed to be the legitimate successor to the Han throne, a claim that had been contested by both contemporaries and later historians.

Gallery of art

Emperors of Han Dynasty

Han Dynasty Sovereigns
Posthumous Name Personal Name Period of Reign Era Name Range of years
Convention: "Han" + posthumous name, excepting Liu Gong, Liu Hong, Ruzi Ying, the Prince of Changyi, the Marquess of Beixiang, and the Prince of Hongnong.
Western Han Dynasty 206 – 9 AD
Gao Zu
高帝
Liu Bang
劉邦
206 – 195 BC Did not exist
Hui Di
惠帝
Liu Ying
劉盈
194 – 188 BC Did not exist
Shao Di (Shao Di Gong)
少帝
Liu Gong
劉恭
188 – 184 BC Did not exist
Shao Di (Shao Di Hong)
少帝
Liu Hong
劉弘
184 – 180 BC Did not exist
Wen Di
文帝
Liu Heng
劉恆
179 – 157 BC Hòuyuán (後元) 163 – 156 BC
Jing Di
景帝
Liu Qi
劉啟
156 – 141 BC Zhōngyuán (中元)

Hòuyuán (後元)
149 – 143 BC

143 – 141 BC
Wu Di
武帝
Liu Che
劉徹
140 – 87 BC Jiànyuán (建元)

Yuánguāng(元光)

Yuánshuò (元朔)

Yuánshòu (元狩)

Yuándǐng (元鼎)

Yuánfēng (元封)

Tàichū (太初)

Tiānhàn (天漢)

Tàishǐ (太始)

Zhēnghé (征和)

Hòuyuán (後元)
140 – 135 BC

134 – 129 BC

128 – 123 BC

122 – 117 BC

116 – 111 BC

110 – 105 BC

104 – 101 BC

100 – 97 BC

96 – 93 BC

92 BC – 89 BC

88 – 87 BC
Zhao Di
昭帝
Liu Fuling
劉弗陵
86 – 74 BC Shǐyuán (始元)

Yuánfèng (元鳳)

Yuánpíng (元平)
86 – 80 BC

80 – 75 BC

74 BC
The Prince of Changyi
昌邑王 or 海昏侯
Liu He
劉賀
74 BC Yuánpíng (元平) 74 BC
Xuan Di
宣帝
Liu Xun
劉詢
73 – 49 BC Běnshǐ (本始)

Dìjié (地節)

Yuánkāng (元康)

Shénjué (神爵)

Wǔfèng (五鳳)

Gānlù (甘露)

Huánglóng (黃龍)
73 BC – 70 BC

69 – 66 BC

65 – 61 BC

61 – 58 BC

57 – 54 BC

53 – 50 BC

49 BC
Yuan Di
元帝
Liu Shi
劉奭
48 – 33 BC Chūyuán (初元)

Yǒngguāng (永光)

Jiànzhāo (建昭)

Jìngníng (竟寧)
48 – 44 BC

43 – 39 BC

38 – 34 BC

33 BC
Cheng Di
成帝
Liu Ao
劉驁
32 – 7 BC Jiànshǐ (建始)

Hépíng (河平)

Yángshuò (陽朔)

Hóngjiā (鴻嘉)

Yǒngshǐ (永始)

Yuányán (元延n2)

Suīhé (綏和)
32 – 28 BC

28 – 25 BC

24 – 21 BC

20 – 17 BC

16 – 13 BC

12 – 9 BC

8 – 7 BC
Ai Di
哀帝
Liu Xin
劉欣
6 – 1 BC Jiànpíng (建平)

Yuánshòu (元壽)
6 – 3 BC

2 – 1 BC
Ping Di
平帝
Liu Kan
劉衎
1 BC – 5 AD Yuánshǐ (元始) 1 BC – 5 AD
Ruzi Ying
孺子嬰
Liu Ying
劉嬰
6 – 8 Jùshè (居攝)

Chūshǐ (初始)
6 – October 8

November 8 – December 8
Xin Dynasty (AD 9–23)
Xin Dynasty of Wang Mang (王莽) 9 – 23 Shǐjiànguó (始建國)

Tiānfēng (天鳳)

Dìhuáng (地皇)
9 – 13

14 – 19

20 – 23
Continuation of Han Dynasty
Geng Shi Di
更始帝
Liu Xuan
劉玄
23 – 25 Gēngshǐ (更始) 23 – 25
Eastern Han Dynasty 25 – 220
Guang Wu Di
光武帝
Liu Xiu
劉秀
25 – 57 Jiànwǔ (建武)

Jiànwǔzhongōyuán (建武中元)
25 – 56

56 – 57
Ming Di
明帝
Liu Zhuang
劉莊
58 – 75 Yǒngpíng (永平) 58 – 75
Zhang Di
章帝
Liu Da
劉炟
76 – 88 Jiànchū (建初)

Yuánhé (元和)

Zhānghé (章和)
76 – 84

84 – 87

87 – 88
He Di
和帝
Liu Zhao
劉肇
89 – 105 Yǒngyuán (永元)

Yuánxīng (元興)
89 – 105

105
Shang Di
殤帝
Liu Long
劉隆
106 Yánpíng (延平) 9 months in 106
An Di
安帝
Liu Hu
劉祜
106 – 125 Yǒngchū (永初)

Yuánchū (元初)

Yǒngníng (永寧)

Jiànguāng (建光)

Yánguāng (延光)
107 – 113

114 – 120

120 – 121

121 – 122

122 – 125
Shao Di, the Marquess of Beixiang
少帝 or 北鄉侯
Liu Yi
劉懿
125 Yánguāng (延光) 125
Shun Di
順帝
Liu Bao
劉保
125 – 144 Yǒngjiàn (永建)

Yángjiā (陽嘉)

Yǒnghé (永和)

Hàn'ān (漢安)

Jiànkāng (建康)
126 – 132

132 – 135

136 – 141

142 – 144

144
Chong Di
沖帝
Liu Bing
劉炳
144 – 145 Yōngxī (永嘉) 145
Zhi Di
質帝
Liu Zuan
劉纘
145 – 146 Běnchū (本初) 146
Huan Di
桓帝
Liu Zhi
劉志
146 – 168 Jiànhé (建和)

Hépíng (和平)

Yuánjiā (元嘉)

Yǒngxīng (永興)

Yǒngshòu (永壽)

Yánxī (延熹)

Yǒngkāng (永康)
147 – 149

150

151 – 153

153 – 154

155 – 158

158 – 167

167
Ling Di
靈帝
Liu Hong
劉宏
168 – 189 Jiànníng (建寧)

Xīpíng (熹平)

Guānghé (光和)

Zhōngpíng (中平)
168 – 172

172 – 178

178 – 184

184 – 189
Shao Di, the Prince of Hongnong
少帝 or 弘農王
Liu Bian
劉辯
189 Guīngxī (光熹)

Zhàoníng (昭寧)
189

189
Xian Di
獻帝
Liu Xie (liú xié)
劉協
189 – 220 Yǒnghàn (永漢)

(中平}

Chūpíng (初平)

Xīngpíng (興平)

Jiàn'ān (建安)

Yánkāng (延康)
189

189

190 – 193

194 – 195

196 – 220

220

See also

Notes

  1. Bulling, 312.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Ebrey, 49.
  3. Fairbank, 106.
  4. Yuan, 193.
  5. Menzies, 721.
  6. Menzies, 721–722.
  7. Ebrey et al. (2006), 164.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 30.
  9. Morton, 70.
  10. Wright, 66.
  11. Huang, 64.
  12. Needham, Volume 3, 468.
  13. Needham, Volume 3, 414.
  14. Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 370
  15. Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 167.
  16. Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 184.
  17. Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 118.
  18. Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 233.
  19. Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 22.
  20. 20.0 20.1 Brook, 59.

Further reading

External links

Preceded by
Qin Dynasty
Dynasties in Chinese history
206 BC – AD 220
Succeeded by
Three Kingdoms