TheHan dynasty[a] was animperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD) established byLiu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-livedQin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warringinterregnum known as theChu–Han Contention (206–202 BC), and it was succeeded by theThree Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). The dynasty was briefly interrupted by theXin dynasty (9–23 AD) established by the usurping regentWang Mang, and is thus separated into two periods—theWestern Han (202 BC – 9 AD) and theEastern Han (25–220 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han dynasty is considered agolden age in Chinese history, and had a permanent impact on Chinese identity in later periods.[5] The majority ethnic group of modern China refer to themselves as the "Han people" or "Han Chinese". Thespoken Chinese andwritten Chinese are referred to respectively as the "Han language" and "Han characters".[6]
The Han dynasty had many conflicts with theXiongnu, a nomadic confederation centred in the easternEurasian steppe.[7] The Xiongnudefeated the Han in 200 BC, prompting the Han to appease the Xiongnu with a policy of marriage alliance and payments of tribute, though the Xiongnu continued to raid the Han's northern borders. Han policy changed in 133 BC, underEmperor Wu, when Han forces began aseries of military campaigns to quell the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu were eventually defeated and forced to accept a status asHan vassals, and the Xiongnu confederation fragmented. The Han conquered theHexi Corridor andInner Asian territory of theTarim Basin from the Xiongnu, helping to establish theSilk Road. The lands north of the Han's borders were later overrun by the nomadicXianbei confederation. Emperor Wu also launched successfulconquests in the south, annexingNanyue in 111 BC andDian in 109 BC. He further expanded Han territory into the northernKorean Peninsula, where Han forcesconquered Gojoseon and established theXuantu andLelang commanderies in 108 BC.
Reverse side of a Western Hanbronze mirror with a painted flower motif
China's firstimperial dynasty was theQin dynasty (221–206 BC). The Qin united the ChineseWarring States by conquest, but their regime became unstable after the death of the first emperorQin Shi Huang. Within four years, the dynasty's authority had collapsed in a rebellion.[9] Two former rebel leaders,Xiang Yu (d. 202 BC) ofChu andLiu Bang (d. 195 BC) ofHan, engagedin a war to determine who would have hegemony over China, which had fissured intoEighteen Kingdoms, each claiming allegiance to either Xiang Yu or Liu Bang.[10] Although Xiang Yu proved to be an effective commander, Liu Bang defeated him at theBattle of Gaixia (202 BC) in modern-dayAnhui. Liu Bang assumedthe title of Emperor at the urging of his followers and is known posthumously asEmperor Gaozu (r. 202–195 BC).[11]Chang'an (modern Xi'an) was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han.[12]
Thirteen direct-controlledcommanderies including the capital region (yellow) and ten semi-autonomous kingdoms, 195 BC
At the beginning of theWestern Han (traditional Chinese:西漢;simplified Chinese:西汉;pinyin:Xīhàn), also known as theFormer Han (前漢;前汉;Qiánhàn), thirteen centrally-controlledcommanderies—including the capital region—existed in the western third of the empire, while the eastern two-thirds were divided into tensemi-autonomous kingdoms.[13] To placate his prominent commanders from the war with Chu, Emperor Gaozuenfeoffed some of them as kings.
By 196, the Han court had replaced all of these kings with royalLiu family members, with the lone exception ofChangsha. The loyalty of non-relatives to the emperor was questioned,[13] and after several insurrections by Han kings—with the largest being theRebellion of the Seven States in 154—the imperial court began enacting a series of reforms that limited the power of these kingdoms in 145, dividing their former territories into new commanderies under central control.[14] Kings were no longer able to appoint their own staff; this duty was assumed by the imperial court.[15][16] Kings became nominal heads of theirfiefs and collected a portion of tax revenues as their personal incomes.[15][16] The kingdoms were never entirely abolished and existed throughout the remainder of Western and Eastern Han.[17]
In retaliation, the Xiongnu invaded what is nowShanxi, where theydefeated the Han forces at Baideng in 200 BC.[21][22] After negotiations, theheqin 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 silk clothes, food, and wine to the Xiongnu.[23][24][25]
Statue of a horse trampling aXiongnu warrior, at the mausoleum of Western Han generalHuo Qubing (d. 117 BC), who fought in theHan–Xiongnu War. This is the first known monumental stone statue in China.[26]
After Wu's reign, Han forces continued to fight the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu leaderHuhanye (r. 58–31 BC) finally submitted to the Han as a tributary vassal in 51 BC. Huhanye's rival claimant to the throne,Zhizhi Chanyu (r. 56–36 BC), was killed by Han forces underChen Tang and Gan Yanshou (甘延壽) at theBattle of Zhizhi, in modernTaraz, Kazakhstan.[37][38]
In 121 BC, Han forces expelled the Xiongnu from a vast territory spanning theHexi Corridor toLop Nur. They repelled a joint Xiongnu-Qiang invasion of this northwestern territory in 111 BC. In that same year, the Han court established four new frontier commanderies in this region to consolidate their control:Jiuquan,Zhangyi,Dunhuang, andWuwei.[39][40][41] The majority of people on the frontier were soldiers.[42] On occasion, the court forcibly moved peasant farmers to new frontier settlements, along with government-owned slaves and convicts who performed hard labour.[43] The court also encouraged commoners, such as farmers, merchants, landowners, and hired labourers, to voluntarily migrate to the frontier.[44]
Even before the Han's expansion into Central Asia, diplomatZhang Qian's travels from 139 to 125 BC had established Chinese contacts with many surrounding civilizations. Zhang encounteredDayuan (Fergana),Kangju (Sogdiana), andDaxia (Bactria, formerly theGreco-Bactrian Kingdom); he also gathered information on Shendu (theIndus River valley) and Anxi (theParthian Empire). All of these countries eventually received Han embassies.[45][46][47][48][49] These connections marked the beginning of theSilk Road trade network that extended to theRoman Empire, bringing goods like Chinese silk and Roman glasswares between the two.[50][51]
To pay for his military campaigns and colonial expansion, Emperor Wunationalised several private industries. He created central governmentmonopolies administered largely byformer merchants. These monopolies included salt, iron, and liquor production, as well asbronze coinage. The liquor monopoly lasted only from 98 to 81 BC, and the salt and iron monopolies were eventually abolished in the early Eastern Han. The issuing of coinage remained a central government monopoly throughout the rest of the Han dynasty.[59][60][61][62][63][b]
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 subsequentregency ofHuo Guang (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, favouring a cautious, non-expansionary approach to foreign policy, frugalbudget reform, and lower tax-rates imposed on private entrepreneurs.[64][65][66]
Theserammed earth ruins of agranary in Hecang Fortress (河仓城;Hécāng chéng), located approximately 11 km (7 mi) northeast of the Western Han-eraYumen Pass, were built during the Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD) and was significantly rebuilt during theWestern Jin (280–316 AD).[67]
A Western Han painted ceramic mounted cavalryman from a general's tomb atXianyang, Shaanxi
A Western or Eastern Han bronze horse statuette with a lead saddle
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 divineMandate of Heaven called for the end of the Han dynasty and the beginning of his own: theXin 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 andequally distributing land 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 ofc. 3 AD and 11 AD. Gradual silt build-up in theYellow River had raised its water level and overwhelmed theflood control works. The Yellow River split into two new branches: one emptying to the north and the other to the south of theShandong 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 theRed 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 theWeiyang Palace and killed Wang Mang.[81][82]
TheGengshi Emperor (r. 23–25 AD), a descendant ofEmperor 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 monarchLiu Penzi.[83][84] Gengshi's distant cousin Liu Xiu, known posthumously asEmperor Guangwu (r. 25–57 AD), after distinguishing himself at theBattle of Kunyang in 23 AD, was urged to succeed Gengshi as emperor.[85][86]
Under Guangwu's rule, the Han Empire was restored. Guangwu madeLuoyang his capital in 25 AD, and by 27 his officersDeng Yu andFeng Yi had forced the Red Eyebrows to surrender and executed their leaders fortreason.[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 (西漢;西汉;Xīhàn) or Former Han (前漢;前汉;Qiánhàn) (206 BC – 9 AD). During this period the capital was atChang'an (modernXi'an). From the reign of Guangwu the capital was moved eastward to Luoyang. The era from his reign untilthe fall of Han is known as the Eastern Han or Later Han (25–220 AD).[90]
TheTrưng Sisters ofVietnam rebelled against Han in AD 40. Their rebellion was crushed by Han generalMa Yuan (d. AD 49) in a campaign from AD 42 to 43.[93][94] Wang Mang renewed hostilities against theXiongnu, 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]
Bronze seal of a Xiongnu chieftain with impression and transcription, conferred by the Eastern Han government and inscribed with the following text:漢匈奴，歸義親，漢長 ("The Chief of the Han Xiongnu, who have returned to righteousness and embraced the Han")[97]
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 inGansu.[98]Dou Gu (d. 88 AD) defeated the Northern Xiongnu at theBattle of Yiwulu in AD 73, evicting them fromTurpan and chasing them as far asLake Barkol before establishing a garrison at Hami.[99] After the new Protector General of the Western RegionsChen Mu (d. AD 75) was killed by allies of the Xiongnu inKarasahr andKucha, the garrison at Hami was withdrawn.[99][100]
Ban Chao (d. AD 102) enlisted the aid of theKushan Empire, which controlled territory across South and Central Asia, to subdueKashgar and its ally Sogdiana.[105][106] When a request by Kushan rulerVima Kadphises (r. c. 90 – c. 100 AD– ) for a marriage alliance with the Han was rejected in AD 90, he sent his forces toWakhan (modern-day Afghanistan) to attack Ban Chao. The conflict ended with the Kushans withdrawing because of lack of supplies.[105][106] In AD 91, the office of Protector General of the Western Regions was reinstated when it was bestowed on Ban Chao.[107]
Eastern Han tombs sometimes have depiction of battles betweenHu barbarians, with bows and arrows and wearing pointed hats (left), against Han troops – Eastern Han-era, Tsangshan tomb, Linyi. Also visible in theYinan tombs.[124]
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.[125] Subsequent reigns were increasingly marked byeunuch intervention in court politics and their involvement in the violent power struggles of the imperialconsort clans.[126][127] In 92 AD, with the aid of the eunuchZheng Zhong (d. 107 AD),Emperor He (r. 88–105 AD) hadEmpress Dowager Dou (d. 97 AD) put underhouse 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.[128][129] After Emperor He's death, his wifeEmpress 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.[130][131]
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.[132][133] After An's death, his wife,Empress Dowager Yan (d. 126 AD) placed the childMarquess of Beixiang on the throne in an attempt to retain power within her family. However, palace eunuchSun Cheng (d. 132 AD) masterminded a successful overthrow of her regime to enthroneEmperor 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.[134][135] The regentLiang Ji (d. 159 AD), brother ofEmpress Liang Na (d. 150 AD), had the brother-in-law ofConsort Deng Mengnü (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.[136][137]
A mural showing women dressed in traditionalhanfu from the late Eastern Han-era Dahuting Tomb inZhengzhou, Henan
Students from theimperial university organized a widespreadstudent protest against the eunuchs of Emperor Huan's court.[138] 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.[139][140] 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 CommandantDou Wu (d. 168 AD) convinced his son-in-law, Emperor Huan, to release them.[141] However, the emperor permanently barred Li Ying and his associates from serving in office, marking the beginning of thePartisan Prohibitions.[141]
Following Huan's death, Dou Wu and the Grand TutorChen Fan (d. 168 AD) attempted a coup against the eunuchsHou Lan (d. 172 AD),Cao Jie (d. 181 AD), and Wang Fu (王甫). When the plot was uncovered, the eunuchs arrestedEmpress Dowager Dou (d. 172 AD) and Chen Fan. General Zhang Huan (張奐) favoured 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.[142]
UnderEmperor Ling (r. 168–189 AD) the eunuchs had the partisan prohibitions renewed and expanded, while also auctioning off top government offices.[143][144] Many affairs of state were entrusted to the eunuchsZhao Zhong (d. 189 AD) andZhang Rang (d. 189 AD) while Emperor Ling spent much of his timeroleplaying with concubines and participating in military parades.[145]
The Partisan Prohibitions were repealed during theYellow Turban Rebellion andFive Pecks of Rice Rebellion in 184 AD, largely because the court did not want to continue to alienate a significant portion of thegentry class who might otherwise join the rebellions.[143] The Yellow Turbans and Five-Pecks-of-Rice adherents belonged to two different hierarchicalTaoist religious societies led by faith healersZhang Jue (d. 184 AD) andZhang Lu (d. 216 AD), respectively.
Zhang Lu's rebellion, in what is now northernSichuan and southernShaanxi, was not quelled until 215 AD.[146] Zhang Jue's massive rebellion across eightprovinces was annihilated by Han forces within a year; however, the following decades saw much smaller recurrent uprisings.[147] Although the Yellow Turbans were defeated, many generals appointed during the crisis never disbanded their assembled militias and used these troops to amass power outside of the collapsing imperial authority.[148]
General-in-chiefHe Jin (d. 189 AD), half-brother toEmpress He (d. 189 AD), plotted withYuan 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.[149] 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.[150] The eunuchs assassinated He Jin on 22 September 189.
Yuan Shao then besieged Luoyang's Northern Palace while his brotherYuan Shu (d. 199 AD) besieged the Southern Palace. On September 25 both palaces were breached and approximately two thousand eunuchs were killed.[151][152] Zhang Rang had previously fled withEmperor Shao (r. 189 AD) and his brother Liu Xie—the futureEmperor Xian of Han (r. 189–220 AD). While being pursued by the Yuan brothers, Zhang committed suicide by jumping into the Yellow River.[153]
GeneralDong 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 madeMinister of Works, taking control of Luoyang and forcing Yuan Shao to flee.[154] 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.[155]
Dong was killed by his adopted sonLü Bu (d. 198 AD) in a plot hatched byWang Yun (d. 192 AD).[156] Emperor Xian fled from Chang'an in 195 AD to the ruins of Luoyang. Xian was persuaded byCao Cao (155–220 AD), then Governor of Yan Province in modern westernShandong and easternHenan, to move the capital toXuchang in 196 AD.[157][158]
Yuan Shao challenged Cao Cao for control over the emperor. Yuan's power was greatly diminished after Cao defeated him at theBattle of Guandu in 200 AD. After Yuan died, Cao killed Yuan Shao's sonYuan Tan (173–205 AD), who had fought with his brothers over the family inheritance.[159][160] His brothersYuan Shang andYuan Xi were killed in 207 AD byGongsun Kang (d. 221 AD), who sent their heads to Cao Cao.[159][160]
After Cao's defeat at the navalBattle 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, andLiu Bei (161–223 AD) dominating the west.[161][162] Cao Cao died in March 220 AD. By December his sonCao Pi (187–226 AD) had Emperor Xian relinquish the throne to him and is known posthumously asEmperor Wen of Wei. This formally ended the Han dynasty and initiated an age of conflict between theThree Kingdoms:Cao Wei,Eastern Wu, andShu Han.[163][164]
A late Eastern Han mural in a tomb, 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 theDahuting tomb inZhengzhou, Henan
A mural from an Eastern Han tomb at Zhucun (朱村), Luoyang; the two figures in the foreground are playingliubo, with the playing mat between them, and theliubo game board to the side of the mat.Museum restoration of a household's lacquered furniture and furbishing. Lacquerware became a common luxury item in the Han dynasty.
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 theempress dowager or one of her male relatives.[165] Ranked immediately below the emperor werethe kings who were of the sameLiu family clan.[16][166] The rest of society, includingnobles 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 fullmarquess, came with a state pension and a territorialfiefdom. Holders of the rank immediately below, that of ordinary marquess, received a pension, but had no territorial rule.[167][168]Scholar-bureaucrats 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.[169]
By the Eastern Han, local elites of unattached scholars, teachers, students, and government officials began to identify themselves as members of a nationwidegentry class with shared values and a commitment to mainstream scholarship.[170][171] When the government became noticeably corrupt in mid-to-late Eastern Han, many gentry even considered the cultivation of morally-grounded personal relationships more important than serving in public office.[140][172]
Farmers, namely small landowner–cultivators, were ranked just below scholars and officials in the social hierarchy. Other agricultural cultivators were of a lower status, such as tenants, wage labourers, and slaves.[173][174][175][176] The Han dynasty made adjustments toslavery 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.[177]
State-registered merchants, who were forced by law to wear white-coloured clothes and pay high commercial taxes, were considered by the gentry as social parasites with a contemptible status.[178][179] 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.[179][180]
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.[181] Physicians, pig breeders, and butchers had fairly high social status, while occultist diviners, runners, and messengers had low status.[182][183]
Detail of a mural showing two women wearingHanfu robes, from Dahuting
Left: aceramic statue of a seated woman holding abronze mirror, Eastern Han – Sichuan Provincial MuseumChengdu Right: a dog figurine found in a Han tomb wearing a decorative dog collar, indicating their domestication as pets.[184] Dog figurines are a common archaeological find in Han tombs,[185] while it is also known from written sources that the emperor's imperial parks had kennels for keeping hunting dogs.[186]
The Han-era family waspatrilineal and typically had four to fivenuclear family members living in one household. Multiple generations ofextended family members did not occupy the same house, unlike families of later dynasties.[187][188] 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.[189]
Marriages were highly ritualized, particularly for the wealthy, and included many important steps. The giving of betrothal gifts, known asbride price anddowry, were especially important. A lack of either was considered dishonourable and the woman would have been seen not as a wife, but as a concubine.[190]Arranged marriages were typical, with the father's input on his offspring's spouse being considered more important than the mother's.[191][192]
Monogamous marriages were also normal, although nobles and high officials were wealthy enough to afford and support concubines as additional lovers.[193][194] Under certain conditions dictated by custom, not law, both men and women were able to divorce their spouses and remarry.[195][196] 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.[190]
Left image: A ceramic female servant in silk robes Right image: A Han pottery female dancer in silk robes
Apart from the passing of noble titles or ranks,inheritance practices did not involveprimogeniture; each son received an equal share of the family property.[197] Unlike the practice in later dynasties, the father usually sent his adult married sons away with their portions of the family fortune.[198] Daughters received a portion of the family fortune through their dowries, though this was usually much less than the shares of sons.[199] A different distribution of the remainder could be specified in awill, but it is unclear how common this was.[200]
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.[201] Women were exempt from the annualcorvée labour duties, but often engaged in a range of income-earning occupations aside from their domestic chores of cooking and cleaning.[202]
The most common occupation for women was weaving clothes for the family, for sale at market, or for large textile enterprises that employed hundreds of women. Other women helped on their brothers' farms or became singers, dancers, sorceresses, respected medical physicians, and successful merchants who could afford their own silk clothes.[203][204] Some women formed spinning collectives, aggregating the resources of several different families.[205]
The early Western Han court simultaneously accepted the philosophical teachings ofLegalism,Huang-Lao Taoism, andConfucianism in making state decisions and shaping government policy.[206][207] However, the Han court underEmperor Wu gave Confucianism exclusive patronage. In 136 BC, he abolished all academic chairs not concerned with theFive Classics, and in 124 BC he established theImperial University, at which he encouraged nominees for office to receive a Confucian education.[208][209][210][211]
Unlike the original ideology espoused byConfucius (551–479 BC), Han Confucianism in Emperor Wu's reign was the creation ofDong Zhongshu (179–104 BC). Dong was a scholar and minor official who aggregated the ethical Confucian ideas ofritual,filial piety, andharmonious relationships withfive phases andyin-yang cosmologies.[212][213] Dong's synthesis justified the imperial system of government within the natural order of the universe.[214]
The Imperial University grew in importance as the student body grew to over 30,000 by the 2nd century AD.[215][216] A Confucian-based education was also made available at commandery-level schools andprivate schools opened in small towns, where teachers earned respectable incomes from tuition payments.[217] Schools were established in far southern regions where standard Chinese texts were used to assimilate the local populace.[218]
Han scholars such asJia Yi (201–169 BC) portrayed the Qin as a brutal regime. However, archaeological evidence fromZhangjiashan andShuihudi reveal that many of the statutes in the Han law code compiled by ChancellorXiao He (d. 193 BC) were derived from Qin law.[233][234][235]
Various cases for rape, physical abuse, and murder were prosecuted in court. Women, although usually having fewer rights by custom, were allowed to level civil and criminal charges against men.[236][237] While suspects were jailed, convicted criminals were never imprisoned. Instead, punishments were commonly monetary fines, periods of forced hard labour for convicts, and the penalty of death by beheading.[238] Early Han punishments of torturous mutilation were borrowed from Qin law. A series of reforms abolished mutilation punishments with progressively less-severe beatings by thebastinado.[239]
Acting as a judge in lawsuits was one of the many duties of thecounty magistrate 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.[240] In each Han county was several districts, each overseen by a chief of police. Order in the cities was maintained by government officers in the marketplaces andconstables in the neighbourhoods.[241][242]
Two Han dynasty red-and-blacklacquerwares, one a bowl, the other a tray; usually only wealthy officials, nobles, and merchants could afford domestic luxury items like lacquerwares, which were common commodities produced by skilled artisans and craftsmen.[243][244]
The most common staple crops consumed during Han werewheat,barley,foxtail millet,proso millet, rice, andbeans.[245] Commonly eaten fruits and vegetables included chestnuts, pears, plums, peaches, melons, apricots, strawberries,red bayberries,jujubes,calabash,bamboo shoots,mustard plant, andtaro.[246] Domesticated animals that were also eaten included chickens,Mandarin ducks, 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,sika deer, andChinese bamboo partridge were consumed.[247] Seasoning included sugar, honey, salt, andsoy sauce.[248] Beer and wine were regularly consumed.[249][250]
Carved reliefs on stone tomb doors showing men dressed inhanfu, with one holding a shield, the other a broom, Eastern Han Dynasty, from Lanjia Yard,Pi County, Sichuan – Sichuan Provincial Museum,Chengdu.
The types of clothing worn and the materials used during the Han period depended upon social class. Wealthy folk could afford silk robes, skirts, socks, and mittens, coats made of badger or fox fur, duck plumes, andslippers with inlaid leather, pearls, and silk lining. Peasants commonly wore clothes made ofhemp,wool, andferret skins.[251][252][253]
Han dynastyfulu talisman, part of the Wucheng bamboo slips (烏程漢簡)A fragmentary Daoist manuscript from the 2nd century BC, ink on silk,Mawangdui tomb #3
Families throughout Han China made ritual sacrifices of animals and food to deities, spirits, and ancestors attemples and shrines. They believed that these items could be used by those in the spiritual realm.[254] It was thought that each person had atwo-part soul: the spirit-soul which journeyed to the afterlife paradise of immortals (xian), and the body-soul which remained in its grave or tomb on earth and was only reunited with the spirit-soul through a ritual ceremony.[250][255]
An Eastern Han bronze statuette of aqilin, 1st century AD
In addition to his many other roles, the emperor acted as the highest priest in the land who made sacrifices to Heaven, themain deities known as theFive Powers, and spirits of mountains and rivers known asshen.[256] It was believed that the three realms of Heaven, Earth, and Mankind were linked by natural cycles ofyin and yang and thefive phases.[257][258][259][260] 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.[260][261][262]
It was believed that immortality could be achieved if one reached the lands of theQueen Mother of the West orMount Penglai.[263][264] Han-era Taoists assembled into small groups of hermits who attempted to achieve immortality through breathing exercises, sexual techniques, and the use of medical elixirs.[265]
A scene of historic paragons of filial piety conversing with one another, Chinese painted artwork on alacquerware basketwork box, excavated from a tomb of theLelang Commandery on theKorean Peninsula dating to the Eastern Han.
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 a600-bushel salary-rank or higher.[271][272] 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 a majority consensus on an issue—pressured the emperor to accept the advice of his ministers on policy decisions.[273][274] 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.[275]
The Chancellor, whose title had changed in 8 BC to Minister over the Masses, was chiefly responsible for drafting thegovernment budget. 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.[278][279]
The Imperial Counsellor'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 the oversight of public works projects.[280][281]
The 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 regent 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.[282][283]
A rubbing of a Han pictorial stone showing anancestor worship hall (cítang祠堂)
Ranked below the Three Councillors of State were theNine Ministers, 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.[284][285][286] 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.[284][287]
Animalistic guardian spirits of day and night wearingHan-era robes, Han-era paintings on ceramic tile;Michael Loewe writes that thehybrid of man and beast in art and religious beliefs predated the Han and remained popular during the first half of Western Han and the Eastern Han.[288]
The Minister of the Guards (Weiwei衛尉) was responsible for securing and patrolling the walls, towers, and gates of the imperial palaces.[289][290] 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.[289][291] The Minister of Justice (Tingwei廷尉) was the chief official in charge of upholding, administering, and interpreting the law.[292][293] The Minister Herald (Da honglu大鴻臚) was the chief official in charge of receiving honoured guests like nobles andforeign ambassadors at court.[294][295]
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.[296][297] The Minister of Finance (da sìnong大司農) was thetreasurer for the official bureaucracy and the armed forces who handled tax revenues and set standards for units of measurement.[298][299] 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.[298][300]
The Han empire, excluding kingdoms and marquessates, was divided, in descending order of size, into political units ofprovinces,commanderies, andcounties.[301] A county was divided into several districts (xiang鄉), the latter composed of a group ofhamlets (li里), each containing about a hundred families.[302][303]
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.[304][305] On the basis of their reports, the officials in these local administrations would be promoted, demoted, dismissed, or prosecuted by the imperial court.[306]
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.[301]
A commandery consisted of a group of counties, and was headed by an administrator.[301] He was the top civil and military leader of the commandery and handled defence, 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.[307][308][309] 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 asmagistrates.[310][311] A Magistrate maintained law and order in his county, registered the populace for taxation, mobilized commoners for annualcorvée duties, repaired schools, and supervised public works.[311]
Kingdoms—roughly the size ofcommanderies—were ruled exclusively by the emperor's male relatives as semi-autonomousfiefdoms. 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.[312][313][314] Although the emperor appointed the Chancellor of each kingdom, kings appointed all the remaining civil officials in their fiefs.[312][313]
However, in 145 BC, after several insurrections by the kings, Emperor Jing removed the kings' rights to appoint officials whosesalaries were higher than 400 bushels.[313] The Imperial Counsellors and Nine Ministers (excluding the Minister Coachman) of every kingdom were abolished, although the Chancellor was still appointed by the central government.[313]
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.[16] 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.[310][315]
Until the reign ofEmperor Jing of Han, the Han emperors had great difficulties controlling their vassal kings, who often switched allegiances to theXiongnu whenever they felt threatened by imperial centralization of power. The seven years of Gaozu's reign featured defections by three vassal kings and one marquess, who then aligned themselves with the Xiongnu. Even imperial princes controlling fiefdoms would sometimes invite a Xiongnu invasion in response to the Emperor's threats. The Han moved to secure a treaty with the Xiongnu, aiming to clearly divide authority between them. The Han and Xiongnu now held one another out as the "two masters" with sole dominion over their respective peoples; they cemented this agreement with a marriage alliance (heqin), before eliminating the rebellious vassal kings in 154 BC. This prompted some of the Xiongnu vassals to swap allegiances to the Han, starting in 147. Han court officials were initially hostile to the idea of disrupting the status quo by expanding into Xiongnu territory in the steppe. The surrendered Xiongnu were integrated into a parallel military and political structures loyal to the Han emperor, a step toward a potential Han challenge to the superiority of Xiongnu cavalry in steppe warfare. This also brought the Han into contact with the interstate trade networks through the Tarim Basin in the far northwest, allowing for the Han's expansion from a regional state to a universalist, cosmopolitan empire achieved in part through further marriage alliances with theWusun, another steppe power.[316]
A Chinese crossbow mechanism with a buttplate from either the late Warring States period or the early Han dynasty; made of bronze and inlaid with silver
At the beginning of the Han, every male commoner aged twenty-three was liable forconscription into the military. The minimum age was reduced to twenty following the reign ofEmperor Zhao (r. 87–74).[317] Conscripted soldiers underwent one year of training and one year of service as non-professional soldiers. The year of training was spent in one of three branches of the armed forces:infantry,cavalry, ornavy. Prior to the abolition of much of the conscription system after 30 AD, soldiers could be called up for future service following the completion of their terms. They had to continue training regularly to maintain their skills, and were subject to annual inspections of their military readiness.[318][319] The year of active service was served either on the frontier, in a king's court, or in the capital under the Minister of the Guards. A small professional army was stationed near the capital.[318][319]
During the Eastern Han, conscription could be avoided if one paid a commutable tax. The Eastern Han court favoured the recruitment of a volunteer army.[320] The volunteer army comprised the Southern Army (Nanjun南軍), while thestanding army stationed in and near the capital was the Northern Army (Beijun北軍).[321] Led by Colonels (Xiaowei校尉), the Northern Army consisted of five regiments, each composed of several thousand soldiers.[322][323] 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.[324]
During times of war, the volunteer army was increased, and a much larger militia was raised across the country to supplement the Northern Army. In these circumstances, a general (jiangjun將軍) led adivision, which was divided intoregiments led by a colonel or major (sima司馬). Regiments were divided intocompanies and led by captains.Platoons were the smallest units.[322][325]
Awuzhu (五銖) coin issued during the reign ofEmperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC), 25.5 mm in diameter
Gold coins from the Eastern Han
The Han dynasty inherited theban liang coin type from the Qin. In the beginning of the Han, Emperor Gaozu closed thegovernment mint in favour of private minting of coins. This decision was reversed in 186 BC by his widowGrand Empress Dowager Lü Zhi (d. 180 BC), who abolished private minting.[326] In 182 BC, Lü Zhi issued a bronze coin that was much lighter in weight than previous coins. This caused widespreadinflation that was not reduced until 175 BC, when Emperor Wen allowed private minters to manufacture coins that were precisely 2.6 g (0.092 oz) in weight.[326]
In 144 BC, Emperor Jing abolished private minting in favour of central-government and commandery-level minting; he also introduced a new coin.[327] Emperor Wu introduced another in 120 BC, but a year later he abandoned theban liangs entirely in favour of thewuzhu coin, weighing 3.2 g (0.11 oz).[328] Thewuzhu became China's standard coin until theTang dynasty (618–907). Its use was interrupted briefly by several new currencies introduced during Wang Mang's regime until it was reinstated in 40 AD by Emperor Guangwu.[329][330][331]
Since commandery-issued coins were often of inferior quality and lighter weight, the central government closed commandery mints and monopolized the issue of coinage in 113 BC. This central government issuance of coinage was overseen by theSuperintendent of Waterways and Parks, this duty being transferred to the Minister of Finance during the Eastern Han.[331][332]
Aside from the landowner'sland tax paid in a portion of theircrop yield, thepoll tax andproperty taxes were paid in coin cash.[333] The annual poll tax rate for adult men and women was 120 coins and 20 coins for minors. Merchants were required to pay a higher rate of 240 coins.[334] The poll tax stimulated a money economy that necessitated the minting of over 28,000,000,000 coins from 118 BC to 5 AD, an average of 220,000,000 coins a year.[335]
The widespread circulation of coin cash allowed successful merchants to invest money in land, empowering the very social class the government attempted to suppress through heavy commercial and property taxes.[336] Emperor Wu even enacted laws which banned registered merchants from owning land, yet powerful merchants were able to avoid registration and own large tracts of land.[337][338]
The small landowner-cultivators formed the majority of the Han tax base; this revenue was threatened during the latter half of Eastern Han when many peasants fell into debt and were forced to work as farming tenants for wealthy landlords.[339][340][341] The Han government enacted reforms in order to keep small landowner-cultivators out of debt and on their own farms. These reforms included reducing taxes, temporary remissions of taxes, granting loans, and providing landless peasants temporary lodging and work inagricultural colonies until they could recover from their debts.[62][342]
In 168 BC, the land tax rate was reduced from one-fifteenth of a farming household's crop yield to one-thirtieth,[343][344] and later to one-hundredth of a crop yield for the last decades of the dynasty. The consequent loss of government revenue was compensated for by increasing property taxes.[344]
The labour tax took the form of conscripted labour for one month per year, which was imposed upon male commoners aged fifteen to fifty-six. This could be avoided in Eastern Han with a commutable tax, since hired labour became more popular.[318][345]
In the early Western Han, a wealthy salt or iron industrialist, whether a semi-autonomous king or wealthy merchant, could boast funds that rivalled the imperial treasury and amass a peasant workforce numbering in the thousands. This kept many peasants away from their farms and denied the government a significant portion of its land tax revenue.[346][347] 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.[348][349][350] By the Eastern Han, the central government monopolies were repealed in favour of production by commandery and county administrations, as well as private businessmen.[348][351]
Liquor 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 litres (0.053 US gal) was levied for those who traded it privately.[352][353] By 110 BC, Emperor Wu also interfered with the profitable trade in grain when he eliminated speculation by selling government stores of grain at a lower price than that demanded by merchants.[62] 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.[354]
A gilded bronzeoil lamp in the shape of a kneeling female servant, dated to the 2nd century BC, found in the tomb ofDou Wan, wife ofLiu Sheng, Prince of Zhongshan; its sliding shutter allows for adjustments in the direction and brightness in light while it also traps smoke within the body.[73][355]
In the 1st millennium BC, typical ancient Chinese writing materials werebronzeware,oracle bones, andbamboo slips or wooden boards. By the beginning of the Han, the chief writing materials wereclay tablets, silk cloth, hemppaper,[358][359] and rolled scrolls made from bamboo strips sewn together with hempen string; these were passed through drilled holes and secured with clay stamps.[360][361][362]
The oldest known Chinese piece of hempen paper dates to the 2nd century BC.[363][358] The standard papermaking process was invented byCai Lun (AD 50–121) in 105.[364][365] The oldest known surviving piece of paper with writing on it was found in the ruins of a Hanwatchtower that had been abandoned in AD 110, inInner Mongolia.[366]
An array of bronze bells from the Western HanAn ornamental belt buckle from the late Han, made of chiselled and hammered gold and decorated withmythical creatures
Left: Amould for making bronze gear wheels – Shanghai Museum Right: A pair of iron scissors from the Eastern Han
The Han dynasty Chinese used bronze and iron to make a range of weapons, culinary tools, carpenters' tools, and domestic wares.[372][373] A significant product of these improved iron-smelting techniques was the manufacture of new agricultural tools. The three-legged ironseed drill, invented by the 2nd century BC, enabled farmers to carefully plant crops in rows instead ofsowing seeds by hand.[374][375][376] The heavy mouldboard iron plough, also invented during the Han, required only one man to control it with two oxen to pull it. It had threeploughshares, a seed box for the drills, a tool which turned down the soil and could sow roughly 45,730 m2 (492,200 sq ft) of land in a single day.[377][378]
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 furrows and ridges between growing seasons.[379] Once experiments with this system yielded successful results, the government officially sponsored it and encouraged peasants to use it.[379] Han farmers also used the pit field system (aotian凹田) for growing crops, which involved heavily fertilized pits that did not require ploughs or oxen and could be placed on sloping terrain.[380][381] In the southern and small parts of central Han-era China,paddy fields were chiefly used to grow rice, while farmers along theHuai River usedtransplantation methods of rice production.[382]
Left: 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.[383] Right: A painted ceramic architectural model depicting a fortified manor with towers, a courtyard,verandas, tiled rooftops,dougong support brackets, and acovered bridge extending from the third floor of the main tower to the smaller watchtower, found in an Eastern Han tomb at Jiazuo, Henan[384]
Left: A ceramic architectural model of a grain storage tower with five layers of tiled rooftops and columns supporting the roofs of balconies on the first two floors, dated from the mid-Western Han to early Eastern Han Right: A Han pottery model of a granary tower with windows and balcony placed several stories above the first-floor courtyard;Zhang Heng (78–139 AD) described the large imperial park in the suburbs of Chang'an as having tall towers where archers would shoot stringed arrows from the top in order to entertain the Western Han emperors.[385]
Timber was the chief building material during the Han; it was used to build palace halls, multi-story residential towers and halls, and single-story houses.[386] Because wood decays rapidly, the only remaining evidence of Han wooden architecture is a collection of scattered ceramic roof tiles.[386][387] The oldest surviving wooden halls in China date to the Tang dynasty.[388] 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 as clues concerning lost Han architecture.[389]
Though Han wooden structures decayed, some Han dynasty ruins made of brick, stone, andrammed earth remain intact. This includes stone pillar-gates, brick tomb chambers, rammed-earthcity walls, rammed-earth and brickbeacon towers, rammed-earth sections of theGreat Wall, rammed-earth platforms where elevated halls once stood, and two rammed-earth castles inGansu.[390][391][392][d] The ruins of rammed-earth walls that once surrounded the capitals Chang'an and Luoyang still stand, along with theirdrainage systems of brick arches, ditches, and ceramicwater pipes.[393] Monumental stone pillar-gates calledque, of which 29 dated to the Han survive, formed entrances of walled enclosures at shrine and tomb sites.[394][395] These pillars feature artistic imitations of wooden and ceramic building components such as roof tiles, eaves, andbalustrades.[396][395]
Thecourtyard house is the most common type of home portrayed in Han artwork.[386] Ceramic architecturalmodels of buildings, 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.[397]
Over ten Han-era underground tombs have been found, many of them featuring archways,vaulted chambers, and domed roofs.[398] Underground vaults and domes did not require buttress supports since they were held in place by earthen pits.[399] The use of brick vaults and domes in aboveground Han structures is unknown.[399]
From Han literary sources, it is known that wooden-trestlebeam bridges,arch bridges,simple suspension bridges, and floatingpontoon bridges existed during the Han.[400] However, there are only two known references to arch bridges in Han literature.[401] There is only one Han-era relief sculpture, located in Sichuan, that depicts an arch bridge.[402]
Undergroundmine shafts were dug to extract metal ores, with some reaching depths of more than 100 m (330 ft).[403][404]Borehole drilling andderricks were used to liftbrine to iron pans where it was distilled into salt. The distillation furnaces were heated bynatural gas funnelled to the surface throughbamboo pipelines.[403][405][406] It is possible that these boreholes reached a total depth of 600 m (2,000 ft).[407]
A pair of stone-carvedque from the Eastern Han, at the temple ofMount Song inDengfeng, Henan
A pair ofque from the Eastern Han in Babaoshan, Beijing
A stone-carvedque 6 m (20 ft) in height from the Eastern Han, at the tomb of Gao Yi inYa'an, Sichuan[395]
Avaulted tomb chamber made of small bricks from the Eastern Han, at Luoyang
Han-era mechanical engineering comes largely from the choice observational writings of sometimes-disinterested Confucian scholars who generally considered scientific and engineering endeavours to be far beneath them.[408] Professional artisan-engineers (jiang匠) did not leave behind detailed records of their work.[409][e] Han scholars, who often had little or no expertise in mechanical engineering, sometimes provided insufficient information on the various technologies they described.[410]
Nevertheless, some literary sources provide crucial information. For example, in 15 BC the philosopher and poetYang Xiong described the invention of thebelt drive for aquilling machine, which was of great importance to early textile manufacturing.[411] The inventions of mechanical engineer and craftsmanDing Huan are mentioned in theMiscellaneous Notes on the Western Capital.[412] Around AD 180, Ding created a manually operated rotary fan used for air conditioning within palace buildings.[413] Ding also usedgimbals as pivotal supports for one of his incense burners and invented the world's first knownzoetrope lamp.[414]
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, thecrank handle was used to operate thefans ofwinnowing machines that separated grain fromchaff.[415] Theodometer cart, invented during the Han period, measured journey lengths, using mechanical figures banging drums and gongs to indicate each distance travelled.[416] This invention is depicted in Han artwork by the 2nd century, yet detailed written descriptions were not offered until the 3rd century.[417]
Modern archaeologists have also unearthed specimens of devices used during the Han dynasty, for example a pair of sliding metalcalipers 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.[418]
Thewaterwheel appeared in Chinese records during the Han. As mentioned by Huan Tanc. 20 AD, they were used to turn gears that lifted irontrip hammers, and were used in pounding,threshing, and polishing grain.[419] However, there is no sufficient evidence for thewatermill in China until around the 5th century.[420] The administrator, mechanical engineer, and metallurgistDu Shi (d. 38 AD) created a waterwheel-poweredreciprocator that worked thebellows for the smelting of iron.[421][422] Waterwheels were also used to powerchain pumps that lifted water to raised irrigation ditches. The chain pump was first mentioned in China by the philosopher Wang Chong in his 1st-centuryLunheng.[423]
Thearmillary sphere, a three-dimensional representation of the movements in thecelestial sphere, was invented by the Han during the 1st century BC.[424] Using awater clock, waterwheel, and a series of gears, the Court AstronomerZhang Heng (78–139 AD) was able to mechanically rotate his metal-ringed armillary sphere.[425][426][427][428] To address the problem of slowed timekeeping in thepressure head of the inflow water clock, Zhang was the first in China to install an additional tank between the reservoir and inflow vessel.[425][429]
Zhang also invented a device he termed an "earthquake weathervane" (houfeng didong yi候風地動儀), which the British sinologist and historianJoseph Needham described as "the ancestor of allseismographs".[430] This device was able to detect the exactcardinal or ordinal direction of earthquakes from hundreds of kilometres away.[425][431][427] It employed aninverted pendulum 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.[432] The account of this device in theBook of the Later Han 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 (modern Gansu), the direction the device had indicated, which forced the officials at court to admit the efficacy of Zhang's device.[433]
One of the Han's greatest mathematical advancements was the world's first use ofnegative numbers. Negative numbers first appeared in theNine Chapters on the Mathematical Art as blackcounting rods, where positive numbers were represented by red counting rods.[435] Negative numbers were also used by the Greek mathematicianDiophantus around AD 275, and in the 7th-centuryBakhshali manuscript ofGandhara, South Asia,[445] but were not widely accepted in Europe until the 16th century.[435]
Mathematics were essential in drafting theastronomical calendar, alunisolar calendar that used the Sun and Moon as time-markers throughout the year.[448][449] In the 5th century BC, during theSpring and Autumn period, the Chinese established the Sifen calendar (古四分歷), which measured thetropical year at 365.25 days. This was replaced in 104 BC with the Taichu calendar (太初曆) that measured the tropical year at365+385⁄1539 (~ 365.25016) days and thelunar month at29+43⁄81 days.[450] However, Emperor Zhang later reinstated the Sifen calendar.[451]
Han dynasty astronomers madestar catalogues and detailed records of comets that appeared in the night sky, including recording the appearance of the comet now known asHalley's Comet in 12 BC.[452][453][454][455] They adopted ageocentric model of the universe, theorizing that it was a sphere surrounding the Earth in the centre.[456][457][458] 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 sunlight, thatlunar eclipses occurred when the Earth obstructed sunlight falling onto the Moon, and that asolar eclipse occurred when the Moon obstructed sunlight from reaching the Earth.[459] Although others disagreed with his model, Wang Chong accurately described thewater cycle of the evaporation of water into clouds.[460]
A silk map from the early Western Han depicting the kingdoms ofChangsha andNanyue in southern China, with the southern direction oriented at the top – Mawangdui tomb No. 3An Eastern Han pottery boat model with a steeringrudder at the stern and anchor at the bow
Both literary and archaeological evidence has demonstrated thatcartography in China predated the Han.[461][462] Some of the oldest Han-era maps that have been discovered were written using ink on silk, and were found amongst theMawangdui Silk Texts in a 2nd-century BC tomb in Hunan.[461][463] The generalMa Yuan created the world's first knownraised-relief map from rice in the 1st century.[464] This date could be revised if the tomb ofQin Shi Huang is excavated and theShiji's account of a model map of the empire is proven to be true.[465]
Although the use ofgraduated scales andgrid references in maps was not thoroughly described prior to the work ofPei Xiu (AD 224–271), there is evidence that their use was introduced in the early 2nd century by the cartographer Zhang Heng.[425][461][466][467]
The Han sailed in various types of ships that differed from those used in previous eras, such as thetower ship. Thejunk design was developed and realized during the Han era. Junk ships featured a square-endedbow andstern, a flat-bottomedhull orcarvel-shaped hull with nokeel orsternpost, andsolid transverse bulkheads in the place of [structural ribs found in Western vessels.[468][469] Moreover, Han ships were the first in the world to be steered using arudder at the stern, in contrast to the simplersteering oar used for riverine transport, allowing them to sail on the high seas.[470][471][472][473][474][475]
Although ox carts and chariots were previously used in China, the wheelbarrow was first used in Han China in the 1st century BC.[476][477] 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 softerbreast strap.[478] Later, during theNorthern Wei (386–534), the fully developedhorse collar was invented.[478]
The physical exercise chart; apainting on silk depicting the practice ofDaoyin – Mawangdui tomb No. 3
Han-era medical physicians believed that the human body was subject to the same forces of nature that governed the greater universe, namely thecosmological cycles of yin and yang and thefive phases. Each organ of the body was associated with a particular phase. Illness was viewed as a sign thatqi, 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.[479][480][481]
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.[479] Besides dieting, Han physicians also prescribedmoxibustion,acupuncture, andcallisthenics as methods of maintaining one's health.[482][483][484][485] When surgery was performed by the Chinese physicianHua Tuo (d. AD 208), he usedanaesthesia to numb his patients' pain and prescribed a rubbing ointment that allegedly sped up the healing process for surgical wounds.[482] The physicianZhang Zhongjing (c. 150 – c. 219 AD) is known to have written theShanghan Lun ("Dissertation on Typhoid Fever"), and it is thought that he and Hua Tuo collaborated to compile theShennong Bencaojing medical text.[486]
^See alsoEbrey (1999), p. 76; seeNeedham (1972), Plate V, Fig. 15, for a photo of a Han-era fortress in Dunhuang, Gansu that has rammed earth ramparts with defensive crenellations at the top.
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![A stone-carved que 6 m (20 ft) in height from the Eastern Han, at the tomb of Gao Yi in Ya'an, Sichuan[395]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aGao_Yi_Que2.jpg)
