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Left image: Western-Han painted ceramic jar garnished with raised of, andRight image: Reverse side of a Western-Han with painted designs of a flower motif's first was the (221–207 BC). The Qin united the Chinese by conquest, but their regime became unstable after the death of the first emperor.

Within four years, the dynasty's authority had collapsed in the face of rebellion. Two former rebel leaders, (d. 202 BC) of and (d. 195 BC) of, engaged to decide who would become of China, which had fissured into, each claiming allegiance to either Xiang Yu or Liu Bang.

Although Xiang Yu proved to be an effective commander, Liu Bang defeated him at (202 BC), in modern-day. Liu Bang assumed the title ( huangdi) at the urging of his followers and is known posthumously as (r. 202–195 BC).

(known today as Xi'an) was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han. A bronze in the shape of a kneeling female servant, dated 2nd century BC, found in the tomb of, wife of the Han prince; its sliding shutter allows for adjustments in the direction and brightness in light while it also traps smoke within the body.To the north of, the nomadic chieftain (r. 209–174 BC) conquered various tribes inhabiting the eastern portion of the. By the end of his reign, he controlled, and the, subjugating over twenty states east of. Emperor Gaozu was troubled about the abundant Han-manufactured iron weapons traded to the Xiongnu along the northern borders, and he established a trade against the group. In retaliation, the Xiongnu invaded what is now province, where they in 200 BC. After negotiations, the agreement in 198 BC nominally held the leaders of the Xiongnu and the Han as equal partners in a royal marriage alliance, but the Han were forced to send large amounts of tribute items such as clothes, food, and wine to the Xiongnu. A from, province.

It was draped over the coffin of (d. 168 BC), wife of the Marquess Li Cang (利蒼) (d. 186 BC), chancellor for the.Despite the tribute and a negotiation between (r. 174–160 BC) and (r. 180–157 BC) to reopen border markets, many of the 's Xiongnu subordinates chose not to obey the treaty and periodically raided Han territories south of the for additional goods. In a court conference assembled by (r. 141–87 BC) in 135 BC, the of the ministers was to retain the heqin agreement. Emperor Wu accepted this, despite continuing Xiongnu raids.

However, a court conference the following year convinced the majority that a involving the assassination of the Chanyu would throw the Xiongnu realm into chaos and benefit the Han. When this plot failed in 133 BC, Emperor Wu launched a series of into Xiongnu territory.

Han Dynasty Thirteen General Subtitle Movie

The assault culminated in 119 BC at the, where the Han commanders (d. 117 BC) and (d. 106 BC) forced the Xiongnu court to flee north of the.After Wu's reign, Han forces continued to prevail against the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu leader Huhanye Chanyu (呼韓邪) (r. 58–31 BC) finally submitted to Han as a tributary vassal in 51 BC.

His rival claimant to the throne, (r. 56–36 BC), was killed by and Gan Yanshou (甘延壽/甘延寿) at the, in modern,.In 121 BC, Han forces expelled the Xiongnu from a vast territory spanning the to. They repelled a joint Xiongnu- invasion of this northwestern territory in 111 BC. In that year, the Han court established four new frontier commanderies in this region:,. The majority of people on the frontier were soldiers.

On occasion, the court forcibly moved peasant farmers to new frontier settlements, along with government-owned slaves and convicts who performed hard labor. The court also encouraged, such as farmers, merchants, landowners, and hired laborers, to voluntarily migrate to the frontier.Even before Han's expansion into Central Asia, diplomat 's travels from 139 to 125 BC had established Chinese contacts with many surrounding civilizations. Zhang encountered , , and (, formerly the ); he also gathered information on Shendu ( valley of ) and Anxi (the ).

All of these countries eventually received Han embassies. These connections marked the beginning of the trade network that extended to the, bringing to Rome and to China.From roughly 115 to 60 BC, Han forces fought the Xiongnu over control of the oasis in the Tarim Basin. Han was eventually victorious and established the in 60 BC, which dealt with the region's defense and foreign affairs. The Han also. The in 111 BC expanded the Han realm into what are now modern,.

Was brought into the Han realm with the of the in 109 BC, followed by parts of the with the and colonial establishments of and in 108 BC. In China's first known nationwide taken in 2 AD, the population was registered as having 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households.To pay for his military campaigns and colonial expansion, Emperor Wu several private industries.

He created central government administered largely. These monopolies included salt, and production, as well as.

The liquor monopoly lasted only from 98 to 81 BC, and the salt and iron monopolies were eventually abolished in early Eastern Han. The issuing of coinage remained a central government monopoly throughout the rest of the Han dynasty. The government monopolies were eventually repealed when a political faction known as the Reformists gained greater influence in the court. The Reformists opposed the Modernist faction that had dominated court politics in Emperor Wu's reign and during the subsequent of (d. 68 BC). The Modernists argued for an aggressive and expansionary foreign policy supported by revenues from heavy government intervention in the private economy. The Reformists, however, overturned these policies, favoring a cautious, non-expansionary approach to foreign policy, frugal reform, and lower tax-rates imposed on private entrepreneurs. Wang Mang's reign and civil war.

Left image: A Western-Han painted ceramic mounted cavalryman from the tomb of a military general at,Right image: A Western or Eastern Han horse statuette with a lead saddle(71 BC–13 AD) was first empress, then, and finally during the reigns of the Emperors (r. 49–33 BC), (r. 33–7 BC), and (r. 7–1 BC), respectively. During this time, a succession of her male relatives held the title of regent. Following the death of Ai, Wang Zhengjun's nephew (45 BC–23 AD) was appointed regent as Marshall of State on 16 August under (r. When Ping died on 3 February 6 AD, (d. 25 AD) was chosen as the heir and Wang Mang was appointed to serve as acting emperor for the child. Wang promised to relinquish his control to Liu Ying once he came of age. Despite this promise, and against protest and revolts from the nobility, Wang Mang claimed on 10 January that the divine called for the end of the Han dynasty and the beginning of his own: the (9–23 AD).Wang Mang initiated a series of major reforms that were ultimately unsuccessful.

These reforms included, land to between households, and introducing new currencies, a change which debased the value of coinage. Although these reforms provoked considerable opposition, Wang's regime met its ultimate downfall with the massive floods of c.

3 AD and 11 AD. Gradual silt buildup in the had raised its water level and overwhelmed the. The Yellow River split into two new branches: one emptying to the north and the other to the south of the, though Han engineers managed to dam the southern branch by 70 AD.The flood dislodged thousands of peasant farmers, many of whom joined roving bandit and rebel groups such as the to survive. Wang Mang's armies were incapable of quelling these enlarged rebel groups. Eventually, an insurgent mob forced their way into the and killed Wang Mang. A Chinese mechanism with a buttplate from either the late Warring States Period or the early Han dynasty; made of bronze and inlaid with silverThe Partisan Prohibitions were repealed during the and in 184 AD, largely because the court did not want to continue to alienate a significant portion of the who might otherwise join the rebellions. The Yellow Turbans and Five-Pecks-of-Rice adherents belonged to two different hierarchical religious societies led by (d. 184 AD) and (d. 216 AD), respectively.

Zhang Lu's rebellion, in modern northern and southern, was not quelled until 215 AD. Zhang Jue's massive rebellion across eight was annihilated by Han forces within a year, however the following decades saw much smaller recurrent uprisings. Although the Yellow Turbans were defeated, many generals appointed during the crisis never disbanded their assembled forces and used these troops to amass power outside of the collapsing imperial authority.General-in-Chief (d. 189 AD), half-brother to (d. 189 AD), plotted with (d. 202 AD) to overthrow the eunuchs by having several generals march to the outskirts of the capital. There, in a written petition to Empress He, they demanded the eunuchs' execution.

After a period of hesitation, Empress He consented. When the eunuchs discovered this, however, they had her brother He Miao ( 何苗) rescind the order. The eunuchs assassinated He Jin on September 22, 189 AD. Yuan Shao then besieged Luoyang's Northern Palace while his brother (d. 199 AD) besieged the Southern Palace. On September 25 both palaces were breached and approximately two thousand eunuchs were killed.

Zhang Rang had previously fled with (r. 189 AD) and his brother Liu Xie—the future (r. While being pursued by the Yuan brothers, Zhang committed suicide by jumping into the Yellow River. See also:The Han-era family was and typically had four to five members living in one household. Multiple generations of members did not occupy the same house, unlike families of later dynasties.

According to, various family members were treated with different levels of respect and intimacy. For example, there were different accepted time frames for mourning the death of a father versus a paternal uncle.Marriages were highly ritualized, particularly for the wealthy, and included many important steps. The giving of betrothal gifts, known as and, were especially important. A lack of either was considered dishonorable and the woman would have been seen not as a wife, but as a. Were normal, with the father's input on his offspring's spouse being considered more important than the mother's. Were also normal, although nobles and high officials were wealthy enough to afford and support concubines as additional lovers. Under certain conditions dictated by custom, not law, both men and women were able to their spouses and remarry.

However, a woman who had been widowed continued to belong to her husband's family after his death. In order to remarry, the widow would have to be returned to her family in exchange for a ransom fee. Her children would not be allowed to go with her. Left image: A female servant inRight image: A Han pottery female dancer in silk robesApart from the passing of noble titles or ranks, practices did not involve; each son received an equal share of the family property.

Unlike the practice in later dynasties, the father usually sent his adult married sons away with their portions of the family fortune. Daughters received a portion of the family fortune through their, though this was usually much less than the shares of sons. A different distribution of the remainder could be specified in a, but it is unclear how common this was.Women were expected to obey the will of their father, then their husband, and then their adult son in old age. However, it is known from contemporary sources that there were many deviations to this rule, especially in regard to mothers over their sons, and empresses who ordered around and openly humiliated their fathers and brothers. Women were exempt from the annual labor duties, but often engaged in a range of income-earning occupations aside from their domestic chores of cooking and cleaning.The most common occupation for women was weaving clothes for the family, sale at market or for large textile enterprises that employed hundreds of women. Other women helped on their brothers' farms or became singers, dancers, respected medical physicians, and successful merchants who could afford their own silk clothes.

Some women formed spinning collectives, aggregating the resources of several different families. Education, literature, and philosophy. A fragment of the 'Stone Classics' (熹平石經); these stone-carved installed during reign along the roadside of the (right outside ) were made at the instigation of (132–192 AD), who feared the Classics housed in the imperial library were being by University Academicians.Some important texts were created and studied by scholars. Philosophical works written by (53 BC–18 AD), (43 BC–28 AD), (27–100 AD), and (78–163 AD) questioned whether human nature was innately good or evil and posed challenges to Dong's universal order. 110 BC) and his son (145–86 BC) for all of imperial China's, such as the written by (3–54 AD), his son (32–92 AD), and his daughter (45–116 AD).

There were such as the by (c. 147 AD) and the by Yang Xiong. On important figures were written by various gentrymen.

Han dynasty poetry was dominated by the, which achieved its greatest prominence during the reign of Emperor Wu. Law and order Han scholars such as (201–169 BC) portrayed the previous as a brutal regime. However, archaeological evidence from and reveal that many of the in the Han compiled by Chancellor (d. 193 BC) were derived from Qin law.Various cases for, physical abuse and were prosecuted in court. Women, although usually having fewer rights by custom, were allowed to level civil and criminal charges against men. While suspects were jailed, convicted criminals were never imprisoned.

Han dynasty thirteen general subtitle english

Instead, punishments were commonly monetary fines, periods of forced hard labor for convicts, and the penalty of death by beheading. Early Han punishments of were borrowed from Qin law. A series of reforms abolished mutilation punishments with progressively less-severe beatings by the.Acting as a judge in lawsuits was one of many duties of the and Administrators of commanderies. Complex, high-profile or unresolved cases were often deferred to the Minister of Justice in the capital or even the emperor.

In each Han county was several districts, each overseen by a. Order in the cities was maintained by government officers in the marketplaces and in the neighborhoods. Food The most common staple crops consumed during Han were, rice,. Commonly eaten fruits and vegetables included chestnuts, pears, plums, peaches, melons, apricots, strawberries,.

Domesticated animals that were also eaten included chickens, geese, cows, sheep, pigs, camels and dogs (various types were bred specifically for food, while most were used as pets). Turtles and fish were taken from streams and lakes.

Commonly hunted game, such as owl, pheasant, magpie, and were consumed. Seasonings included sugar, honey, salt. Were regularly consumed. Clothing. An Eastern-Han bronze statuette of a ( qilin), 1st century ADFamilies throughout Han China made ritual sacrifices of animals and food to deities, spirits, and at. They believed that these items could be utilized by those in the spiritual realm. It was thought that each person had a: the spirit-soul ( hun 魂) which journeyed to the afterlife paradise of immortals ( ), and the body-soul ( po 魄) which remained in its grave or tomb on earth and was only reunited with the spirit-soul through a ritual ceremony.In addition to his many other roles, the emperor acted as the highest priest in the land who made sacrifices to, the main deities known as the, and the ( shen 神) of mountains and rivers.

It was believed that the three realms of Heaven, Earth, and Mankind were linked by natural cycles of and the. If the emperor did not behave according to proper ritual, ethics, and morals, he could disrupt the fine balance of these cosmological cycles and cause calamities such as earthquakes, floods, droughts, epidemics, and swarms of locusts.

A rubbing of a Han pictorial stone showing an ( citang 祠堂)It was believed that could be achieved if one reached the lands of the. Han-era assembled into small groups of hermits who attempted to achieve immortality through breathing exercises, sexual techniques and use of. By the 2nd century AD, Daoists formed large hierarchical religious societies such as the.

Its followers believed that the sage-philosopher (fl. 6th century BC) was a holy who would offer and good health if his devout followers would, ban the worship of unclean gods who accepted meat sacrifices and chant sections of the.first entered China during the Eastern Han and was first mentioned in 65 AD. (d. 71 AD), a half-brother to (r. 57–75 AD), was one of its earliest Chinese adherents, although at this point was heavily associated with. China's first known Buddhist temple, the, was constructed outside the wall of the capital, during Emperor Ming's reign. Important Buddhist canons were translated into Chinese during the 2nd century AD, including the,. A pottery model of a palace from a Han-dynasty tomb; the entrances to the emperor's palaces were strictly guarded by the Minister of the Guards; if it was found that a commoner, official, or noble entered without explicit permission via a tally system, the intruder was subject to execution.In Han government, the emperor was the supreme judge and lawgiver, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and sole designator of official nominees appointed to the top posts in central and local administrations; those who earned a.

Theoretically, there were no limits to his power. However, state organs with competing interests and institutions such as the court conference ( tingyi 廷議)—where ministers were convened to reach on an issue—pressured the emperor to accept the advice of his ministers on policy decisions. If the emperor rejected a court conference decision, he risked alienating his high ministers. Nevertheless, emperors sometimes did reject the majority opinion reached at court conferences.Below the emperor were his members known as the ( San gong 三公). These were the or ( Chengxiang 丞相 or Da situ 大司徒), the Imperial Counselor or Excellency of Works ( Yushi dafu 御史大夫 or Da sikong 大司空), and Grand Commandant or Grand Marshal ( Taiwei 太尉 or Da sima 大司馬).The Chancellor, whose title was changed to 'Minister over the Masses' in 8 BC, was chiefly responsible for drafting the. The Chancellor's other duties included managing provincial registers for land and population, leading court conferences, acting as judge in lawsuits and recommending nominees for high office. He could appoint officials below the salary-rank of 600 bushels.The Imperial Counselor's chief duty was to conduct disciplinary procedures for officials.

He shared similar duties with the Chancellor, such as receiving annual provincial reports. However, when his title was changed to Minister of Works in 8 BC, his chief duty became oversight of public works projects.

A scene of historic paragons of filial piety conversing with one another, Chinese painted artwork on a basketwork box, excavated from an Eastern-Han tomb of what was the Chinese in modernThe Grand Commandant, whose title was changed to Grand Marshal in 119 BC before reverting to Grand Commandant in 51 AD, was the irregularly posted commander of the military and then during the Western Han period. In the Eastern Han era he was chiefly a civil official who shared many of the same censorial powers as the other two Councillors of State.Ranked below the Three Councillors of State were the ( Jiu qing 九卿), who each headed a specialized ministry. The Minister of Ceremonies ( Taichang 太常) was the chief official in charge of religious rites, rituals, prayers and the maintenance of ancestral temples and altars. The Minister of the Household ( Guang lu xun 光祿勳) was in charge of the emperor's security within the palace grounds, external imperial parks and wherever the emperor made an outing by chariot. The Minister of the Guards ( Weiwei 衛尉) was responsible for securing and patrolling the walls, towers, and gates of the imperial palaces. The Minister Coachman ( Taipu 太僕) was responsible for the maintenance of imperial stables, horses, carriages and coach-houses for the emperor and his palace attendants, as well as the supply of horses for the armed forces.

The Minister of Justice ( Tingwei 廷尉) was the chief official in charge of upholding, administering, and interpreting the law. The Minister Herald ( Da honglu 大鴻臚) was the chief official in charge of receiving honored guests at the imperial court, such as nobles. The Minister of the Imperial Clan ( Zongzheng 宗正) oversaw the imperial court's interactions with the empire's nobility and extended imperial family, such as granting fiefs and titles. The Minister of Finance ( Da sinong 大司農) was the for the official bureaucracy and the armed forces who handled tax revenues and set standards for. The Minister Steward ( Shaofu 少府) served the emperor exclusively, providing him with entertainment and amusements, proper food and clothing, medicine and physical care, valuables and equipment.

Local government. Left: a statue of a seated woman holding a, (25–220 AD),Right: a pottery dog found in a Han tomb wearing a decorative, indicating their, while it is known from written sources that the emperor's imperial parks had kennels for keeping.In the Han dynasty, excluding kingdoms and marquessates, was divided, in descending order of size, into political units of ( zhou), ( jun), and ( xian). A county was divided into several, the latter composed of a group of, each containing about a hundred families.The heads of provinces, whose official title was changed from Inspector to Governor and vice versa several times during Han, were responsible for inspecting several commandery-level and kingdom-level administrations. On the basis of their reports, the officials in these local administrations would be promoted, demoted, dismissed or prosecuted by the imperial court.A governor could take various actions without permission from the imperial court. The lower-ranked inspector had executive powers only during times of crisis, such as raising militias across the commanderies under his jurisdiction to suppress a rebellion.A commandery consisted of a group of counties, and was headed by an Administrator. He was the top civil and military leader of the commandery and handled defense, lawsuits, seasonal instructions to farmers and recommendations of nominees for office sent annually to the capital in a quota system first established by Emperor Wu.

The head of a large county of about 10,000 households was called a Prefect, while the heads of smaller counties were called Chiefs, and both could be referred to as. A Magistrate maintained law and order in his county, registered the populace for taxation, mobilized commoners for annual duties, repaired schools and supervised public works. Kingdoms and marquessates. (202 BC–9 AD) or (9–25 AD) wall showing men and women dressed in, with the dressed in, from a tomb in, ChinaKingdoms—roughly the size of —were ruled exclusively by the emperor's male relatives as semi-autonomous. Before 157 BC some kingdoms were ruled by non-relatives, granted to them in return for their services to Emperor Gaozu. The administration of each kingdom was very similar to that of the central government. Although the emperor appointed the Chancellor of each kingdom, kings appointed all the remaining civil officials in their fiefs.However, in 145 BC, after several insurrections by the kings, Emperor Jing removed the kings' rights to appoint officials whose.

The Imperial Counselors and Nine Ministers (excluding the Minister Coachman) of every kingdom were abolished, although the Chancellor was still appointed by the central government.With these reforms, kings were reduced to being nominal heads of their fiefs, gaining a personal income from only a portion of the taxes collected in their kingdom. Similarly, the officials in the administrative staff of a full marquess's fief were appointed by the central government.

A marquess's Chancellor was ranked as the equivalent of a county Prefect. Like a king, the marquess collected a portion of the tax revenues in his fief as personal income. Main article:At the beginning of the Han dynasty, every male commoner aged twenty-three was liable for into the military. The minimum age for the military draft was reduced to twenty after (r. 87–74 BC) reign. Conscripted soldiers underwent one year of training and one year of service as non-professional soldiers.

The year of training was served in one of three branches of the armed forces:,. The year of active service was served either on the frontier, in a king's court or under the Minister of the Guards in the capital. A small professional (paid) standing army was stationed near the capital.During the Eastern Han, conscription could be avoided if one paid a commutable tax. The Eastern Han court favored the recruitment of a. The volunteer army comprised the Southern Army ( Nanjun 南軍), while the stationed in and near the capital was the Northern Army ( Beijun 北軍). Led by Colonels ( Xiaowei 校尉), the Northern Army consisted of five regiments, each composed of several thousand soldiers.

When central authority collapsed after 189 AD, wealthy landowners, members of the aristocracy/nobility, and regional military-governors relied upon their retainers to act as their own personal troops ( buqu 部曲).During times of war, the volunteer army was increased, and a much larger was raised across the country to supplement the Northern Army. In these circumstances, a General ( Jiangjun 將軍) led a, which was divided into led by Colonels and sometimes Majors ( Sima 司馬). Regiments were divided into and led by Captains. Were the smallest units of soldiers. Left image: Eastern-Han tomb models of towers with brackets supporting balconies, 1st–2nd century AD. A Han-dynasty iron andIn the early Western Han, a wealthy salt or iron industrialist, whether a semi-autonomous king or wealthy merchant, could boast funds that rivaled the imperial and amass a peasant workforce of over a thousand. This kept many peasants away from their farms and denied the government a significant portion of its land tax revenue.

To eliminate the influence of such private entrepreneurs, Emperor Wu nationalized the salt and iron industries in 117 BC and allowed many of the former industrialists to become officials administering the state monopolies. By Eastern Han times, the central government monopolies were repealed in favor of production by commandery and county administrations, as well as private businessmen.was another profitable private industry nationalized by the central government in 98 BC. However, this was repealed in 81 BC and a property tax rate of two coins for every 0.2 L (0.05 gallons) was levied for those who traded it privately. By 110 BC Emperor Wu also interfered with the profitable trade in grain when he eliminated by selling government-stored grain at a lower price than demanded by merchants. Apart from Emperor Ming's creation of a short-lived Office for Price Adjustment and Stabilization, which was abolished in 68 AD, central-government price control regulations were largely absent during the Eastern Han. Science and technology.

The ruins of a Han-dynasty made of at, Gansu province, the eastern edge of theThe Han dynasty was a unique period in the development of premodern Chinese science and technology, comparable to the level of during the (960–1279). Writing materials In the 1st millennium BC, typical ancient Chinese writing materials were, and or wooden boards. By the beginning of the Han dynasty, the chief writing materials were, silk cloth, hemp, and rolled scrolls made from bamboo strips sewn together with hempen string; these were passed through drilled holes and secured with clay stamps.The oldest known Chinese piece of hempen paper dates to the 2nd century B.C. The standard papermaking process was invented by (AD 50–121) in 105.

The oldest known surviving piece of paper with writing on it was found in the ruins of a Han that had been abandoned in AD 110, in. Metallurgy and agriculture Evidence suggests that, that convert raw into, which can be remelted in a to produce by means of a and, were operational in China by the late (722–481 BC). The was nonexistent in ancient China; however, the Han-era Chinese produced by injecting excess into a furnace and causing. Cast iron and pig iron could be converted into wrought iron and using a process.

A pair of Eastern-Han ironThe Han dynasty Chinese used bronze and iron to make a range of weapons, culinary tools, carpenters' tools and domestic wares. A significant product of these improved iron-smelting techniques was the manufacture of new agricultural tools.

The three-legged iron, invented by the 2nd century BC, enabled farmers to carefully plant crops in rows instead of. The heavy moldboard iron, also invented during the Han dynasty, required only one man to control it, two oxen to pull it.

It had three, a seed box for the drills, a tool which turned down the soil and could sow roughly 45,730 m 2 (11.3 acres) of land in a single day.To protect crops from wind and drought, the grain intendant Zhao Guo (趙過) created the alternating fields system ( daitianfa 代田法) during Emperor Wu's reign. This system switched the positions of between growing seasons. Once experiments with this system yielded successful results, the government officially sponsored it and encouraged peasants to use it. Han farmers also used the pit field system ( aotian 凹田) for growing crops, which involved heavily fertilized pits that did not require plows or oxen and could be placed on sloping terrain.

In southern and small parts of central Han-era China, were chiefly used to grow rice, while farmers along the used methods of rice production. Structural and geotechnical engineering.

Further information:was the chief building material during the Han dynasty; it was used to build palace halls, multi-story residential towers and halls and single-story houses. Because wood decays rapidly, the only remaining evidence of Han wooden architecture is a collection of scattered ceramic roof tiles. The oldest surviving wooden halls in China date to the (AD 618–907). Architectural historian Robert L.

Thorp points out the scarcity of Han-era archaeological remains, and claims that often unreliable Han-era literary and artistic sources are used by historians for clues about lost Han architecture.Though Han wooden structures decayed, some Han-dynasty ruins made of brick, stone, and remain intact. This includes stone pillar-gates, brick tomb chambers, rammed-earth, rammed-earth and brick towers, rammed-earth sections of the, rammed-earth platforms where elevated halls once stood, and two rammed-earth in.

The ruins of rammed-earth walls that once surrounded the capitals Chang'an and Luoyang still stand, along with their of brick arches, ditches, and ceramic., twenty-nine of which survive from the Han period, formed entrances of walled enclosures at shrine and tomb sites. These pillars feature artistic imitations of wooden and ceramic building components such as roof tiles, eaves, and.The is the most common type of home portrayed in Han artwork. Ceramic architectural, like houses and towers, were found in Han tombs, perhaps to provide lodging for the dead in the afterlife.

These provide valuable clues about lost wooden architecture. The artistic designs found on ceramic roof tiles of tower models are in some cases exact matches to Han roof tiles found at archaeological sites. An Eastern-Han tomb chamber at made of small bricksOver ten Han-era underground tombs have been found, many of them featuring, chambers, and roofs. Underground vaults and domes did not require buttress supports since they were held in place by earthen pits.

The use of brick vaults and domes in aboveground Han structures is unknown.From Han literary sources, it is known that wooden-trestle, and floating existed in Han China. However, there are only two known references to arch bridges in Han literature, and only a single Han relief sculpture in Sichuan depicts an arch bridge., some reaching depths over 100 metres (330 ft), were created for the extraction of metal ores. Drilling and were used to lift to iron pans where it was distilled into salt. The distillation furnaces were heated by funneled to the surface through. Dangerous amounts of additional gas were siphoned off via chambers.

Mechanical and hydraulic engineering. A Han-dynasty pottery model of two men operating a with a and a used to pound grain.Han-era mechanical engineering comes largely from the choice observational writings of sometimes-disinterested Confucian scholars who generally considered scientific and engineering endeavors to be far beneath them. Professional artisan-engineers ( jiang 匠) did not leave behind detailed records of their work.

Han scholars, who often had little or no expertise in mechanical engineering, sometimes provided insufficient information on the various technologies they described. Nevertheless, some Han literary sources provide crucial information. For example, in 15 BC the philosopher and writer described the invention of the for a machine, which was of great importance to early textile manufacturing.

The inventions of mechanical engineer and craftsman (丁緩) are mentioned in the Miscellaneous Notes on the Western Capital. Around AD 180, Ding created a manually operated rotary fan used for within palace buildings. Ding also used as pivotal supports for one of his incense burners and invented the world's first known lamp.Modern archaeology has led to the discovery of Han artwork portraying inventions which were otherwise absent in Han literary sources. As observed in Han miniature tomb models, but not in literary sources, the was used to operate the of machines that separated grain from. The cart, invented during Han, measured journey lengths, using mechanical figures banging drums and gongs to indicate each distance traveled.

This invention is depicted in Han artwork by the 2nd century, yet detailed written descriptions were not offered until the 3rd century. Modern archaeologists have also unearthed specimens of devices used during the Han dynasty, for example a pair of sliding metal used by craftsmen for making minute measurements. These calipers contain inscriptions of the exact day and year they were manufactured. These tools are not mentioned in any Han literary sources. A modern replica of 'sThe appeared in Chinese records during the Han. As mentioned by about AD 20, they were used to turn gears that lifted iron, and were used in pounding, and polishing grain.

However, there is no sufficient evidence for the in China until about the 5th century. The Nanyang Commandery Administrator and mechanical engineer (d. 38 AD) created a waterwheel-powered that worked the for the smelting of iron. Waterwheels were also used to power that lifted water to raised ditches. The chain pump was first mentioned in China by the philosopher Wang Chong in his 1st-century.The, a three-dimensional representation of the movements in the, was invented in Han China by the 1st century BC.

Using a, waterwheel and a series of gears, the Court Astronomer (AD 78–139) was able to mechanically rotate his metal-ringed armillary sphere. To address the problem of slowed in the of the inflow water clock, Zhang was the first in China to install an additional tank between the reservoir and inflow vessel. Zhang also invented a device he termed an 'earthquake weathervane' ( houfeng didong yi 候風地動儀), which the British scientist and historian described as 'the ancestor of all '. This device was able to detect the exact or ordinal direction of from hundreds of kilometers away. It employed an that, when disturbed by ground tremors, would trigger a set of gears that dropped a metal ball from one of eight dragon mouths (representing all eight directions) into a metal toad's mouth. The account of this device in the describes how, on one occasion, one of the metal balls was triggered without any of the observers feeling a disturbance. Several days later, a messenger arrived bearing news that an earthquake had struck in Longxi Commandery (in modern ), the direction the device had indicated, which forced the officials at court to admit the efficacy of Zhang's device.

Mathematics Three Han mathematical treatises still exist. These are the, the and the. Han-era mathematical achievements include solving problems with, and, finding more accurate, providing of the, use of the, to solve, and continued fractions to find the.One of the Han's greatest mathematical advancements was the world's first use of. Negative numbers first appeared in the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art as black, where positive numbers were represented by red counting rods. Negative numbers were also used by the mathematician around AD 275, and in the 7th-century of, South Asia, but were not widely accepted in Europe until the 16th century. A Han-dynasty era for making bronze wheels The Han applied mathematics to various diverse disciplines.

In, (78–37 BC) realized that 53 was approximate to 31 while creating a of 60 tones, calculating the difference at 177147⁄ 176776 (the same value of discovered by the German mathematician 1620–1687, i.e. Astronomy Mathematics were essential in drafting the, a that used the Sun and Moon as time-markers throughout the year.

Use of the ancient Sifen calendar (古四分曆), which measured the at 365 1⁄ 4 days, was replaced in 104 BC with the Taichu calendar (太初曆) that measured the tropical year at 365 385⁄ 1539 days and the at 29 43⁄ 81 days. However, Emperor Zhang later reinstated the Sifen calendar.Han Chinese astronomers made and detailed records of comets that appeared in the night sky, including recording the 12 BC appearance of the comet now known as.Han dynasty astronomers adopted a of the universe, theorizing that it was surrounding the earth in the center. They assumed that the Sun, Moon, and planets were spherical and not disc-shaped. They also thought that the illumination of the Moon and planets was caused by, that occurred when the Earth obstructed sunlight falling onto the Moon, and that a occurred when the Moon obstructed sunlight from reaching the Earth.

Although others disagreed with his model, Wang Chong accurately described the of the of water into clouds. Cartography, ships, and vehicles. An Eastern Han dynasty pottery ship model with a steering at the stern and at the bowEvidence found in Chinese literature, and archaeological evidence, show that existed in China before the Han.

Some of the earliest Han maps discovered were ink-penned silk maps found amongst the in a 2nd-century-BC tomb. The general created the world's first known from rice in the 1st century. This date could be revised if the tomb of Emperor is excavated and the account in the Records of the Grand Historian concerning a model map of the empire is proven to be true.Although the use of the and for maps was not thoroughly described until the published work of (AD 224–271), there is evidence that in the early 2nd century, cartographer Zhang Heng was the first to use scales and grids for maps.Han dynasty Chinese sailed in a variety of ships differing from those of previous eras, such as the.

The was developed and realized during the Han era. Junk ships featured a square-ended and, a flat-bottomed or hull with no or, and in the place of found in Western vessels. Moreover, Han ships were the first in the world to be steered using a at the stern, in contrast to the simpler used for riverine transport, allowing them to sail on the high seas.Although ox-carts and chariots were previously used in China, the was first used in Han China in the 1st century BC. Han artwork of horse-drawn chariots shows that the Warring-States-Era heavy wooden yoke placed around a horse's chest was replaced by the softer breast strap.

Later, during the (386–534), the fully developed was invented. Medicine. The physical exercise chart; a painting on silk depicting the practice of Taiji; unearthed in 1973 in Province, China, from the 2nd-century BC burial site of, Tomb Number 3.Han-era medical physicians believed that the human body was subject to the same forces of nature that governed the greater universe, namely the cycles of yin and yang and the.

Each was associated with a particular phase. Illness was viewed as a sign that or 'vital energy' channels leading to a certain organ had been disrupted. Thus, Han-era physicians prescribed medicine that was believed to counteract this imbalance. For example, since the wood phase was believed to promote the fire phase, medicinal ingredients associated with the wood phase could be used to heal an organ associated with the fire phase. Besides dieting, Han physicians also prescribed, and as methods of maintaining one's health. When was performed by the Chinese physician (d. AD 208), he used to numb his patients' pain and prescribed a rubbing ointment that allegedly sped the process of healing surgical wounds.

Whereas the physician (c. 219) is known to have written the ('Dissertation on Typhoid Fever'), it is thought that both he and Hua Tuo collaborated in compiling the medical text. See also.

TheThe was founded by Liu Bang (best known by his temple name, ), who assumed the title of emperor in 202 bce. Eleven members of the Liu family followed in his place as effective emperors until 6 ce (a 12th briefly occupied the throne as a puppet).

In 9 ce the dynastic line was challenged by, who established his own regime under the title of Xin. In 25 ce the authority of the Han was reaffirmed by Liu Xiu (posthumous name ), who reigned as Han emperor until 57. Thirteen of his descendants maintained the dynastic succession until 220, when the rule of a single empire was replaced by that of three separate kingdoms. While the entire period from 206 (or 202) bce to 220 ce is generally described as that of the Han dynasty, the terms Xi (Western) Han (also called Former Han) and Dong (Eastern) Han (also called Later Han) are used to denote the two subperiods. During the first period, from 206 bce to 25 ce, the capital city was situated at (modern ), in the west; in the second period, from 25 to 220 ce, it lay farther east at.The four centuries in question may be treated as a single historical period by virtue of dynastic, for, apart from the short interval of 9–25, imperial authority was unquestionably vested in successive members of the same family. The period, however, was one of considerable changes in imperial, political,.

Organs of government were established, tried, modified, or replaced, and new social distinctions were brought into being. Chinese among other peoples varied with the political stability and military strength of the Han house, and the extent of territory that was subject to the of Han officials varied with the success of Han arms. At the same time, the example of the palace, the activities of government, and the growing luxuries of city life gave rise to new standards of cultural and technological achievement.China’s first imperial dynasty, that of Qin, had lasted barely 15 years before its dissolution in the face of rebellion and civil war. By contrast, Han formed the first long-lasting regime that could successfully claim to be the sole authority entitled to wield administrative power. The Han forms of government, however, were derived in the first instance from the, and these in turn incorporated a number of features of the government that had been practiced by earlier kingdoms.

Han Dynasty Thirteen General Subtitle English

The Han empire left as a heritage a practical example of imperial government and an ideal of dynastic authority to which its successors aspired. But the Han period has been credited with more success than is its due; it has been represented as a period of 400 years of effective dynastic rule, punctuated by a short period in which a pretender to power usurped authority, and it has been assumed that imperial unity and effective administration advanced steadily with each decade. In fact, there were only a few short periods marked by dynastic strength, stable government, and intensive administration. Several reigns were characterized by palace intrigue and corrupt influences at court, and on a number of occasions the future of the dynasty was seriously endangered by outbreaks of violence, seizure of political power, or a crisis in the imperial succession. Dynastic authority and the succession of emperorsSince at least as early as the, the Chinese had been accustomed to acknowledging the temporal and spiritual authority of a single leader and its transmission within a family, at first from brother to brother and later from father to son. Some of the early kings had been military commanders, and they may have organized the corporate work of the, such as the manufacture of bronze tools and vessels.

Han Dynasty Thirteen General Subtitle Trailer

In addition, they acted as religious leaders, appointing scribes or priests to consult the oracles and thus to assist in making major decisions covering communal activities, such as warfare and hunting expeditions. In succeeding centuries the growing sophistication of Chinese was accompanied by demands for more-intensive political organization and for more-regular administration; as kings came to delegate tasks to more officials, so was their own authority and the obedience that they commanded the more widely acknowledged.

Under the kingdoms of, an association was deliberately fostered between the authority of the king and the dispensation exercised over the universe by heaven, with the result that the kings of Zhou and, later, the emperors of Chinese were regarded as being the sons of heaven.