End of the Han Dynasty
| End of the Han dynasty | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 漢朝末年 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 汉朝末年 | ||||||
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| End of the Eastern Han dynasty | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 東漢末年 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 东汉末年 | ||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Hàncháo Mònián |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Dōnghàn Mònián |
The end of the Han dynasty refers to the period of Chinese history from 189 to 220 AD, which roughly coincides with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynasty's last ruler, Emperor Xian. During this period, the country was thrown into turmoil by the Yellow Turban Rebellion (184-205). Meanwhile, the Han Empire's institutions were destroyed by the warlord Dong Zhuo, and fractured into regional regimes ruled by various warlords, some of whom were nobles and officials of the Han imperial court. Eventually, one of those warlords, Cao Cao, was able to gradually reunify the empire, ostensibly under Emperor Xian's rule, but the empire was actually controlled by Cao Cao himself. Cao Cao's efforts to completely reunite the Han empire were rebuffed at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 / 209, when his armies were defeated by the allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei. The Han dynasty formally ended in 220 when Cao Cao's son and heir, Cao Pi, pressured Emperor Xian into abdicating in his favour. Cao Pi became the emperor of a new state, Cao Wei. A year later, in response to Cao Pi's usurpation of the Han throne, Liu Bei declared himself emperor of Shu Han; and in 229, Sun Quan followed suit, declaring himself emperor of Eastern Wu. The period from Emperor Xian's abdication in 220 to the partial reunification of China under the Jin dynasty in 265 was known as the Three Kingdoms era in Chinese history.
Towards the end of the reign of Emperor Ling of Han (r. 168–189), many officials in the imperial court foresaw chaos in the political scene as soon as Emperor Ling died. One of those officials, Liu Yan, suggested to Emperor Ling in 188 that the root of the agrarian revolts during that time, including the most serious Yellow Turban Rebellion of 184, was that Inspectors (刺史) lacked substantial administrative powers. Emperor Ling, convinced by Liu Yan, changed the Inspectors' titles to "Governor" (牧) and granted them the authority to levy taxes and command armed forces within the borders. Liu Yan was commissioned as the Governor of Yi Province (益州; covering the Sichuan Basin), while several other important officials also became Governors, including Liu Yu, who was appointed Governor of You Province (幽州; covering present-day northern Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin and Liaoning). The increased influence of these provincial governors formed the basis on which later warlords would control large regions of the Han empire.
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