Han period
| Han dynasty | ||||||||||||||
| 漢朝 | ||||||||||||||
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 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.
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| Capital |
Chang'an (206 BC – 9 AD, 190–195 AD) Luoyang (25–190 AD, 196 AD) Xuchang (196–220 AD) |
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| 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 (2,316,613 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| • | 100 AD est. (Eastern Han peak) | 6,500,000 km² (2,509,664 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | ||||||||||||||
| • | 2 AD est. | 57,671,400 | ||||||||||||
| Currency | Ban liang coins and wu zhu coins | |||||||||||||
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| Han dynasty | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg)
"Han dynasty" in Han-era clerical script (top), modern Traditional (middle), and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
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| Traditional Chinese | 漢朝 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 汉朝 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Hàn cháo |
| Gwoyeu Romatzyh | Hann chaur |
| Wade–Giles | Han4 ch'ao2 |
| IPA | [xân ʈʂʰǎu] |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Hon chìuh |
| Jyutping | Hon3 ciu4 |
| Southern Min | |
| Tâi-lô | Hàn tiâu |
| Middle Chinese | |
| Middle Chinese | xàn ɖjew |
| Old Chinese | |
| Baxter-Sagart | *n̥ˤar-s m-t<r>aw |
Coordinates: 34°09′21″N 108°56′47″E / 34.15583°N 108.94639°E
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 itself 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 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.
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