East Han

Han dynasty
漢朝
206 BC – 220 AD
A map of the Western Han Dynasty in 2 AD: 1) the territory shaded in dark blue represents the principalities and centrally-administered commanderies of the Han Empire; 2) the light blue area shows the extent of the Tarim Basin protectorate of the Western Regions.
Capital		Chang'an (206 BC – 9 AD, 190–195 AD) Luoyang (25–190 AD, 196 AD) Xuchang (196–220 AD)
Languages		Old Chinese
Religion		Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese folk religion
Government		Monarchy
Emperor
•	202–195 BC	Emperor Gaozu
•	25–57 AD	Emperor Guangwu
Chancellor
•	206–193 BC	Xiao He
•	193–190 BC	Cao Can
•	189–192 AD	Dong Zhuo
•	208–220 AD	Cao Cao
•	220 AD	Cao Pi
History
•	Establishment	206 BC
•	Battle of Gaixia; Han rule of China begins	202 BC
•	Interruption of Han rule	9–23
•	Abdication to Cao Wei	220 AD
Area
•	50 BC est. (Western Han peak)	6,000,000 km2 (2,300,000 sq mi)
•	100 AD est. (Eastern Han peak)	6,500,000 km2 (2,500,000 sq mi)
Population
•	2 AD est.	57,671,400
Currency		Ban liang coins and wu zhu coins
Preceded by Succeeded by Qin dynasty Cao Wei Shu Han Eastern Wu
Today part of		North Korea  China  Vietnam  Mongolia

Han dynasty
"Han" in ancient seal script (top left), Han-era clerical script (top right), modern Traditional (bottom left), and Simplified (bottom right) Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese	漢朝
Simplified Chinese	汉朝
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hàn cháo Gwoyeu Romatzyh Hann chaur Wade–Giles Han4 ch'ao2 IPA [xân ʈʂʰǎu] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Hon3 chiu4 IPA [hɔ̄ːn tsʰȉːu] Jyutping Hon3 ciu4 Southern Min Tâi-lô Hàn tiâu Middle Chinese Middle Chinese xàn ɖjew Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *n̥ˤar-s m-t<r>aw

Coordinates: 34°09′21″N 108°56′47″E / 34.15583°N 108.94639°E / 34.15583; 108.94639

The Han dynasty (Chinese: 漢朝; pinyin: Hàn cháo) was the second imperial dynasty of China (206 BC–220 AD), preceded by the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered a golden age in Chinese history. To this day, China's majority ethnic group refers to themselves as the "Han people" and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters". It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han, and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods: the Western Han or Former Han (206 BC – 9 AD) and the Eastern Han or Later Han (25–220 AD).

The emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the scholarly gentry class. The Han Empire was divided into areas directly controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies, and a number of semi-autonomous kingdoms. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States. From the reign of Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC) onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 AD.