Reference
- Han dynasty(206 bc–ad 220) Second great Chinese imperial dynasty. In contrast to the preceding Qin dynasty, the Han was a period of cultural flowering. One of the greatest of the early histories, the Shiji by Sima Qian, was composed, and the fu, a poetic form that became the norm for creative writing, began to flourish. The Yuefu, or Music Bureau, collected and recorded not only ceremonial chants but also the songs and ballads of ordinary people. Lacquerware, first developed during the Shang dynasty, reached a level of great mastery, and silk was woven for export trade, which reached as far as Europe. Buddhism entered China during the Han. Paper was invented, time was measured with water clocks and sundials, and calendars were published frequently. So thoroughly did the Han dynasty establish what was thereafter considered Chinese culture that the Mandarin Chinese word for Chinese people is Han.
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Perspectives
Fire over Luoyang : a history of the later Han dynasty, 23-220 AD
Winner of the 2017 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award The Later Han dynasty, also known as Eastern Han, ruled China for the first two centuries of the Christian era. Comparable in extent and power to the early Roman empire, it dominated east Asia from present-day Vietnam to the Mongolian steppe. Rafe de Crespigny presents here the first full account of this period in Chinese history to be found in a Western language. Commencing with a detailed account of the imperial capital, the history describes the nature of government, the expansion of the Chinese people to the south, the conflicts of scholars and officials with eunuchs at court, and the final collapse which followed the rebellion of the Yellow Turbans and the rise of regional warlords.
Savage Exchange
Savage Exchange explores the politics of representation during the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) at a pivotal moment when China was asserting imperialist power on the Eurasian continent and expanding its local and long-distance ("Silk Road") markets. Tamara T. Chin explains why rival political groups introduced new literary forms with which to represent these expanded markets. To promote a radically quantitative approach to the market, some thinkers developed innovative forms of fiction and genre. In opposition, traditionalists reasserted the authority of classical texts and advocated a return to the historical, ethics-centered, marriage-based, agricultural economy that these texts described. The discussion of frontiers and markets thus became part of a larger debate over the relationship between the world and the written word. These Han debates helped to shape the ways in which we now define and appreciate early Chinese literature and produced the foundational texts of Chinese economic thought. Each chapter in the book examines a key genre or symbolic practice (philosophy, fu-rhapsody, historiography, money, kinship) through which different groups sought to reshape the political economy. By juxtaposing well-known texts with recently excavated literary and visual materials, Chin elaborates a new literary and cultural approach to Chinese economic thought.
The Collapse of China's Later Han Dynasty, 25-220 CE
In the Later Han period the region covering the modern provinces of Gansu, southern Ningxia, eastern Qinghai, northern Sichuan, and western Shaanxi, was a porous frontier zone between the Chinese regimes and their Central Asian neighbours, not fully incorporated into the Chinese realm until the first century BCE. Not surprisingly the region had a large concentration of men of martial background, from which a regional culture characterized by warrior spirit and skills prevailed. This military elite was generally honoured by the imperial centre, but during the Later Han period the ascendancy of eastern-based scholar-officials and the consequent increased emphasis on civil values and de-militarization fundamentally transformed the attitude of the imperial state towards the northwestern frontiersmen, leaving them struggling to achieve high political and social status. From the ensuing tensions and resentment followed the capture of the imperial capital by a northwestern military force, the deposing of the emperor and the installation of a new one, which triggered the disintegration of the empire. Based on extensive original research, and combining cultural, military and political history, this book examines fully the forging of military regional identity in the northwest borderlands and the consequences of this for the early Chinese empires.¿
Kingly Splendor: Court Art and Materiality in Han China
Many of the finest objects of the Western Han dynasty have been excavated from the tombs of kings, who administered local provinces on behalf of the emperors. Allison R. Miller paints a new picture of elite art production by revealing the contributions of the kings to Western Han artistic culture.
The Political Economy of the Han Dynasty and Its Legacy
This book contains original essays on various aspect of the Han's political economy and its legacy, written by leading Chinese and Western scholars whose collective expertise spans Economic History, History of Economic Thought and Sinology.
The Trung Sisters of Vietnam Fight the Han
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Turn from the Mediterranean to China under the Han Dynasty, as its imperial expansion threatened the strongly matriarchal culture of Vietnam. Two of the most famous Vietnamese rebels of this era were the Trung sisters, who led tribal armies against the powerful invaders. See how their story has become a touchstone of Vietnamese culture and pride into the 21st century.
Triumph and Tragedy - The Later Han
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowIn this second lecture on the Han, you explore the dynasty's deep and vibrant cultural legacy, from its system of education to its porcelain pottery and jade burial suits. You'll also look at the Han's extraordinary innovations in science and technology, including the iron industry and the invention of paper.
The Great Empire of the Han Dynasty
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowMuch of the world in 200 B.C. was entering nearly 600 years of instability: but something different was happening in China and Rome. Focus on the first of these two powers, each of which would shape a stable empire for the next four centuries.
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- China, imperial: 2. Han dynasty, 206 bce–220 ceThe Han Empire ruled China from 202 bce to 220 ce, except for a brief interregnum from 9 to 23 ce when the “usurper” Wang Mang held power. The emperor had a spiritual position, but ultimate authority was based upon military power, supported by a sophisticated civil service of well-educated officials...
- History of the Former Han DynastyTo a considerable degree, History of the Former Han Dynasty is modeled on the Shihji (Shi-chi) (Records of the Grand Historian) of Sima Qian (Ss-ma Ch’ien). Just as Sima had continued his father's history, Ban Gu's (Pan Ku's) book continues work begun by Ban Gu's father, Ban Biao (Pan Piao)...
Contact with the West - The Early Han
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowTo this day, the Chinese still refer to themselves as "the Han people." What made the Han dynasty such an enduring part of Chinese history? How did it lay down important foundations for Eastern civilization? Witness the age of imperial expansion and see how Han dynasty emperors consolidated China under a strong central government - and how that government eventually unraveled.