Wang Mang's reign and civil war[edit]

Main articles: Wang Mang and Xin dynasty

These rammed earth ruins of a granary in Hecang Fortress (Chinese: 河仓城; pinyin: Hécāng chéng), located

~11 km (7 miles) northeast of the Western-Han-era Yumen Pass, were built during the Western Han (202 BC –
9 AD) and significantly rebuilt during the Western Jin (280–316 AD).[67]

Left image: A Western-Han painted ceramic mounted cavalryman from the tomb of a military general
at Xianyang, Shaanxi
Right image: A Western or Eastern Han bronze horse statuette with a lead saddle

Wang Zhengjun (71 BC – 13 AD) was first empress, then empress dowager, and

finally grand empress dowager during the reigns of the Emperors Yuan (r. 49–
33 BC), Cheng (r. 33–7 BC), and Ai (r. 7–1 BC), respectively. During this time, a
succession of her male relatives held the title of regent.[68][69] Following the death of Ai,
Wang Zhengjun's nephew Wang Mang (45 BC – 23 AD) was appointed regent as
Marshall of State on 16 August under Emperor Ping (r. 1 BC – 6 AD).[70]
When Ping died on 3 February 6 AD, Ruzi Ying (d. 25 AD) was chosen as the heir and
Wang Mang was appointed to serve as acting emperor for the child.[70] Wang promised
to relinquish his control to Liu Ying once he came of age.[70] Despite this promise, and
against protest and revolts from the nobility, Wang Mang claimed on 10 January that the
divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the Han dynasty and the beginning of
his own: the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD).[71][72][73]
Wang Mang initiated a series of major reforms that were ultimately unsuccessful. These
reforms included outlawing slavery, nationalizing land to equally distribute between
households, and introducing new currencies, a change which debased the value of
coinage.[74][75][76][77] 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 Yellow River had raised its water level and overwhelmed the flood
control works. The Yellow River split into two new branches: one emptying to the north
and the other to the south of the Shandong Peninsula, though Han engineers managed
to dam the southern branch by 70 AD.[78][79][80]
The flood dislodged thousands of peasant farmers, many of whom joined roving bandit
and rebel groups such as the Red Eyebrows to survive.[78][79][80] Wang Mang's armies were
incapable of quelling these enlarged rebel groups. Eventually, an insurgent mob forced
their way into the Weiyang Palace and killed Wang Mang.[81][82]
The Gengshi Emperor (r. 23–25 AD), a descendant of Emperor Jing (r. 157–141 BC),
attempted to restore the Han dynasty and occupied Chang'an as his capital. However,
he was overwhelmed by the Red Eyebrow rebels who deposed, assassinated, and
replaced him with the puppet monarch Liu Penzi.[83][84] Gengshi's distant cousin Liu Xiu,
known posthumously as Emperor Guangwu (r. 25–57 AD), after distinguishing himself
at the Battle of Kunyang in 23 AD, was urged to succeed Gengshi as emperor.[85][86]
Under Guangwu's rule the Han Empire was restored. Guangwu made Luoyang his
capital in 25 AD, and by 27 AD his officers Deng Yu and Feng Yi had forced the Red
Eyebrows to surrender and executed their leaders for treason.[86][87] From 26 until 36 AD,
Emperor Guangwu had to wage war against other regional warlords who claimed the
title of emperor; when these warlords were defeated, China reunified under the Han.[88][89]
The period between the foundation of the Han dynasty and Wang Mang's reign is
known as the Western Han (traditional Chinese: 西漢; simplified Chinese: 西
汉; pinyin: Xīhàn) or Former Han (traditional Chinese: 前漢; simplified Chinese: 前
汉; pinyin: Qiánhàn) (206 BC – 9 AD). During this period the capital was
at Chang'an (modern Xi'an). From the reign of Guangwu the capital was moved
eastward to Luoyang. The era from his reign until the fall of Han is known as the
Eastern Han or Later Han (25–220 AD).[90]
Eastern Han[edit]
Situation of warlords and peasant forces at the beginning of Eastern Han dynasty

The Eastern Han (traditional Chinese: 東漢; simplified Chinese: 东汉; pinyin: Dōnghàn),

also known as the Later Han (traditional Chinese: 後漢; simplified Chinese: 后
汉; pinyin: Hòuhàn), formally began on 5 August AD 25, when Liu Xiu became Emperor
Guangwu of Han.[91] During the widespread rebellion against Wang Mang, the state
of Goguryeo was free to raid Han's Korean commanderies; Han did not reaffirm its
control over the region until AD 30.[92]
The Trưng Sisters of Vietnam rebelled against Han in AD 40. Their rebellion was
crushed by Han general Ma Yuan (d. AD 49) in a campaign from AD 42–43.[93][94] Wang
Mang renewed hostilities against the Xiongnu, who were estranged from Han until their
leader Bi (比), a rival claimant to the throne against his cousin Punu (蒲奴), submitted to
Han as a tributary vassal in AD 50. This created two rival Xiongnu states: the Southern
Xiongnu led by Bi, an ally of Han, and the Northern Xiongnu led by Punu, an enemy of
Han.[95][96]
During the turbulent reign of Wang Mang, China lost control over the Tarim Basin, which
was conquered by the Northern Xiongnu in AD 63 and used as a base to invade the
Hexi Corridor in Gansu.[97] Dou Gu (d. 88 AD) defeated the Northern Xiongnu at
the Battle of Yiwulu in AD 73, evicting them from Turpan and chasing them as far
as Lake Barkol before establishing a garrison at Hami.[98] After the new Protector
General of the Western Regions Chen Mu (d. AD 75) was killed by allies of the Xiongnu
in Karasahr and Kucha, the garrison at Hami was withdrawn.[98][99]
At the Battle of Ikh Bayan in AD 89, Dou Xian (d. AD 92) defeated the Northern Xiongnu
chanyu who then retreated into the Altai Mountains.[98][100] After the Northern Xiongnu fled
into the Ili River valley in AD 91, the nomadic Xianbei occupied the area from the
borders of the Buyeo Kingdom in Manchuria to the Ili River of the Wusun people.[101] The
Xianbei reached their apogee under Tanshihuai (檀石槐) (d. AD 180), who consistently
defeated Chinese armies. However, Tanshihuai's confederation disintegrated after his
death.[102]
Ban Chao (d. AD 102) enlisted the aid of the Kushan Empire, occupying the area of
modern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, to subdue Kashgar and its ally
Sogdiana.[103][104] When a request by Kushan ruler Vima Kadphises (r. c. 90 – c. 100 AD)
for a marriage alliance with the Han was rejected in AD 90, he sent his forces
to Wakhan (Afghanistan) to attack Ban Chao. The conflict ended with the Kushans
withdrawing because of lack of supplies.[103][104] In AD 91, the office of Protector General of
the Western Regions was reinstated when it was bestowed on Ban Chao.[105]

Eastern Han inscriptions on a lead ingot, using barbarous Greek alphabet in the style of the Kushans,
excavated in Shaanxi, 1st–2nd century AD[106]

Preserved arrow, Western Han

Foreign travelers to Eastern-Han China include Buddhist monks who translated works

into Chinese, such as An Shigao from Parthia, and Lokaksema from Kushan-
era Gandhara, India.[107][108] In addition to tributary relations with the Kushans, the Han
Empire received gifts from the Parthian Empire, from a king in modern Burma, from a
ruler in Japan, and initiated an unsuccessful mission to Daqin (Rome) in AD 97
with Gan Ying as emissary.[109][110]
A Roman embassy of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180 AD) is recorded in
the Weilüe and Hou Hanshu to have reached the court of Emperor Huan of Han (r. 146–
168 AD) in AD 166,[111][112] yet Rafe de Crespigny asserts that this was most likely a group
of Roman merchants.[113][114] In addition to Roman glasswares and coins found in China,[115]
[116]
 Roman medallions from the reign of Antoninus Pius and his adopted son Marcus
Aurelius have been found at Óc Eo in Vietnam.[116][117] This was near the commandery
of Rinan (also Jiaozhi) where Chinese sources claim the Romans first landed, as well
as embassies from Tianzhu (in northern India) in the years 159 and 161.[118][112] Óc Eo is
also thought to be the port city "Cattigara" described by Ptolemy in his Geography (c. 
150 AD) as lying east of the Golden Chersonese (Malay Peninsula) along the Magnus
Sinus (i.e. Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea), where a Greek sailor had visited.[119][120]
[121][122]

Emperor Zhang's (r. 75–88 AD) reign came to be viewed by later Eastern Han scholars

as the high point of the dynastic house.[123] Subsequent reigns were increasingly marked
by eunuch intervention in court politics and their involvement in the violent power
struggles of the imperial consort clans.[124][125] In 92 AD, with the aid of the eunuch Zheng
Zhong (d. 107 AD), Emperor He (r. 88–105 AD) had Empress Dowager Dou (d. 97 AD)
put under house arrest and her clan stripped of power. This was in revenge for Dou's
purging of the clan of his natural mother—Consort Liang—and then concealing her
identity from him.[126][127] After Emperor He's death, his wife Empress Deng Sui (d. 121 AD)
managed state affairs as the regent empress dowager during a turbulent financial crisis
and widespread Qiang rebellion that lasted from 107 to 118 AD.[128][129]
When Empress Dowager Deng died, Emperor An (r. 106–125 AD) was convinced by
the accusations of the eunuchs Li Run (李閏) and Jiang Jing (江京) that Deng and her
family had planned to depose him. An dismissed Deng's clan members from office,
exiled them and forced many to commit suicide.[130][131] After An's death, his wife, Empress
Dowager Yan (d. 126 AD) placed the child Marquess of Beixiang on the throne in an
attempt to retain power within her family. However, palace eunuch Sun Cheng (d. 132
AD) masterminded a successful overthrow of her regime to enthrone Emperor Shun of
Han (r. 125–144 AD). Yan was placed under house arrest, her relatives were either
killed or exiled, and her eunuch allies were slaughtered.[132][133] The regent Liang Ji (d. 159
AD), brother of Empress Liang Na (d. 150 AD), had the brother-in-law of Consort Deng
Mengnü (later empress) (d. 165 AD) killed after Deng Mengnü resisted Liang Ji's
attempts to control her. Afterward, Emperor Huan employed eunuchs to depose Liang
Ji, who was then forced to commit suicide.[134][135]
Students from the Imperial University organized a widespread student protest against
the eunuchs of Emperor Huan's court.[136] Huan further alienated the bureaucracy when
he initiated grandiose construction projects and hosted thousands of concubines in
his harem at a time of economic crisis.[137][138] Palace eunuchs imprisoned the official Li
Ying (李膺) and his associates from the Imperial University on a dubious charge of
treason. In 167 AD, the Grand Commandant Dou Wu (d. 168 AD) convinced his son-in-
law, Emperor Huan, to release them.[139] However the emperor permanently barred Li
Ying and his associates from serving in office, marking the beginning of the Partisan
Prohibitions.[139]
Following Huan's death, Dou Wu and the Grand Tutor Chen Fan (d. 168 AD) attempted
a coup d'état against the eunuchs Hou Lan (d. 172 AD), Cao Jie (d. 181 AD), and Wang
Fu (王甫). When the plot was uncovered, the eunuchs arrested Empress Dowager
Dou (d. 172 AD) and Chen Fan. General Zhang Huan (張奐) favored the eunuchs. He
and his troops confronted Dou Wu and his retainers at the palace gate where each side
shouted accusations of treason against the other. When the retainers gradually
deserted Dou Wu, he was forced to commit suicide.[140]
Under Emperor Ling (r. 168–189 AD) the eunuchs had the partisan prohibitions
renewed and expanded, while also auctioning off top government offices.[141][142] Many
affairs of state were entrusted to the eunuchs Zhao Zhong (d. 189 AD) and Zhang
Rang (d. 189 AD) while Emperor Ling spent much of his time roleplaying with
concubines and participating in military parades.[143]
End of the Han dynasty[edit]
Main article: End of the Han dynasty
The Partisan Prohibitions were repealed during the Yellow Turban Rebellion and Five
Pecks of Rice Rebellion in 184 AD, largely because the court did not want to continue to
alienate a significant portion of the gentry class who might otherwise join the rebellions.
[141]
 The Yellow Turbans and Five-Pecks-of-Rice adherents belonged to two different
hierarchical Daoist religious societies led by faith healers Zhang Jue (d. 184 AD)
and Zhang Lu (d. 216 AD), respectively.

Provinces and commanderies in 219 AD, the penultimate year of the Han dynasty

Zhang Lu's rebellion, in modern northern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi, was not

quelled until 215 AD.[144] Zhang Jue's massive rebellion across eight provinces was
annihilated by Han forces within a year, however the following decades saw much
smaller recurrent uprisings.[145] Although the Yellow Turbans were defeated, many
generals appointed during the crisis never disbanded their assembled militia forces and
used these troops to amass power outside of the collapsing imperial authority.[146]
General-in-Chief He Jin (d. 189 AD), half-brother to Empress He (d. 189 AD), plotted
with Yuan Shao (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.[147] 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.[148][149] The eunuchs assassinated He Jin on September 22, 189
AD.
Yuan Shao then besieged Luoyang's Northern Palace while his brother Yuan
Shu (d. 199 AD) besieged the Southern Palace. On September 25 both palaces were
breached and approximately two thousand eunuchs were killed.[150][151] Zhang Rang had
previously fled with Emperor Shao (r. 189–  AD) and his brother Liu Xie—the
future Emperor Xian of Han (r. 189–220 AD). While being pursued by the Yuan
brothers, Zhang committed suicide by jumping into the Yellow River.[152]
General Dong Zhuo (d. 192 AD) found the young emperor and his brother wandering in
the countryside. He escorted them safely back to the capital and was made Minister of
Works, taking control of Luoyang and forcing Yuan Shao to flee.[153] After Dong Zhuo
demoted Emperor Shao and promoted his brother Liu Xie as Emperor Xian, Yuan Shao
led a coalition of former officials and officers against Dong, who burned Luoyang to the
ground and resettled the court at Chang'an in May 191 AD. Dong Zhuo later poisoned
Emperor Shao.[154]
Dong was killed by his adopted son Lü Bu (d. 198 AD) in a plot hatched by Wang
Yun (d. 192 AD).[155] Emperor Xian fled from Chang'an in 195 AD to the ruins of Luoyang.
Xian was persuaded by Cao Cao (155–220 AD), then Governor of Yan Province in
modern western Shandong and eastern Henan, to move the capital to Xuchang in 196
AD.[156][157]
Yuan Shao challenged Cao Cao for control over the emperor. Yuan's power was greatly
diminished after Cao defeated him at the Battle of Guandu in 200 AD. After Yuan died,
Cao killed Yuan Shao's son Yuan Tan (173–205 AD), who had fought with his brothers
over the family inheritance.[158][159] His brothers Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi were killed in 207
AD by Gongsun Kang (d. 221 AD), who sent their heads to Cao Cao.[158][159]
After Cao's defeat at the naval Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD, China was divided into
three spheres of influence, with Cao Cao dominating the north, Sun Quan (182–252
AD) dominating the south, and Liu Bei (161–223 AD) dominating the west.[160][161] Cao Cao
died in March 220 AD. By December his son Cao Pi (187–226 AD) had Emperor Xian
relinquish the throne to him and is known posthumously as Emperor Wen of Wei. This
formally ended the Han dynasty and initiated an age of conflict between three
states: Cao Wei, Eastern Wu, and Shu Han.[162][163]

Culture and society[edit]

Main article: Society and culture of the Han dynasty

A late Eastern Han (25–220 CE) Chinese tomb mural showing lively scenes of a banquet (yanyin 宴飲), dance
and music (wuyue 舞樂), acrobatics (baixi 百戲), and wrestling (xiangbu 相撲), from the Dahuting Tomb (打虎亭
漢墓; Dáhǔtíng hànmù), on the southern bank of the Siuhe River in Zhengzhou, Henan province (just west of Xi
County)

Social class[edit]
See also: Chinese nobility, Marquis Baocheng, and Four occupations
A mural from an Eastern Han tomb at Zhucun (朱村), Luoyang, Henan province; the two figures in the
foreground are playing liubo, with the playing mat between them, and the liubo game board to the side of the
mat.

In the hierarchical social order, the emperor was at the apex of Han society and
government. However the emperor was often a minor, ruled over by a regent such as
the empress dowager or one of her male relatives.[164] Ranked immediately below the
emperor were the kings who were of the same Liu family clan.[15][165] The rest of society,
including nobles lower than kings and all commoners excluding slaves belonged to one
of twenty ranks (ershi gongcheng 二十公乘).
Each successive rank gave its holder greater pensions and legal privileges. The highest
rank, of full marquess, came with a state pension and a territorial fiefdom. Holders of the
rank immediately below, that of ordinary marquess, received a pension, but had no
territorial rule.[166][167] Officials who served in government belonged to the wider commoner
social class and were ranked just below nobles in social prestige. The highest
government officials could be enfeoffed as marquesses.[168]
By the Eastern Han period, local elites of unattached scholars, teachers, students, and
government officials began to identify themselves as members of a larger,
nationwide gentry class with shared values and a commitment to mainstream
scholarship.[169][170] When the government became noticeably corrupt in mid-to-late
Eastern Han, many gentrymen even considered the cultivation of morally grounded
personal relationships more important than serving in public office.[138][171]
The farmer, or specifically the small landowner-cultivator, was ranked just below
scholars and officials in the social hierarchy. Other agricultural cultivators were of a
lower status, such as tenants, wage laborers, and slaves.[172][173][174][175] The Han dynasty
made adjustments to slavery in China and saw an increase in agricultural
slaves. Artisans, technicians, tradespeople and craftsmen had a legal
and socioeconomic status between that of owner-cultivator farmers and
common merchants.[176]
State-registered merchants, who were forced by law to wear white-colored clothes and
pay high commercial taxes, were considered by the gentry as social parasites with a
contemptible status.[177][178] These were often petty shopkeepers of urban marketplaces;
merchants such as industrialists and itinerant traders working between a network of
cities could avoid registering as merchants and were often wealthier and more powerful
than the vast majority of government officials.[178][179]
Wealthy landowners, such as nobles and officials, often provided lodging for retainers
who provided valuable work or duties, sometimes including fighting bandits or riding into
battle. Unlike slaves, retainers could come and go from their master's home as they
pleased.[180] Medical physicians, pig breeders, and butchers had a fairly high social
status, while occultist diviners, runners, and messengers had low status.[181][182]

Brick Relief with Acrobatic Performance, Han Dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE)

Marriage, gender, and kinship[edit]

See also: Women in Han China

Detail of a mural showing two women wearing Hanfu silk robes, from the Dahuting Tomb (打虎亭汉

墓; Dáhǔtíng hànmù) of the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 CE), located in Zhengzhou, Henan
Left: a Chinese ceramic statue of a seated woman holding a bronze mirror, Eastern Han period (25–220
CE), Sichuan Provincial Museum, Chengdu
Right: a pottery dog found in a Han tomb wearing a decorative dog collar, indicating their domestication as
pets,[183] while it is known from written sources that the emperor's imperial parks had kennels for keeping hunting
dogs.[184]

Late Western Han (202 BCE – 9 CE) or Xin Dynasty (9–25 CE) wall murals showing men and women dressed
in hanfu, with the Queen Mother of the West dressed in shenyi, from a tomb in Dongping County, Shandong
province, China

The Han-era family was patrilineal and typically had four to five nuclear family members

living in one household. Multiple generations of extended family members did not
occupy the same house, unlike families of later dynasties.[185][186] According to Confucian
family norms, 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.[187]
Marriages were highly ritualized, particularly for the wealthy, and included many
important steps. The giving of betrothal gifts, known as bridewealth and dowry, were
especially important. A lack of either was considered dishonorable and the woman
would have been seen not as a wife, but as a