(2/2) 202 B.C.E Liu Bang establihes Han Dynasty

THE SACK OF CHAN’GAN

Wang Man was a government official and a member of a powerful family who took control of the empire by usurping the throne and proclaiming the the beginning of a new dynasty called Xin, or “new”, in 9 CE. He took advantage of the fact that since the time Emperor Wu died in 87 BCE, the Han Dynasty had been immersed in various political and social conflicts. The gap between rich and poor was already a serious problem. Sima Qian reports about this period that exploiters “were busy accumulating wealth and forcing the poor into their hire”. The court was also affected by complicated political turmoil: endless accusations, executions, treason, and battles were weakening the government.

Wang Man wanted to re-establish the social order by changing the land owning structure: he decreed that those large estates which had been favoured in the past (and threatened imperial power), be dissolved and their lands distributed among peasants, an initiative firmly opposed by the aristocracy. The 14 years of unsuccessful attempts to amend the unfair landownership pattern, coupled with a terrible flooding of the Yellow River, set the stage for Wang Man’s end: a full-scale peasant rebellion was triggered. The angry mobs of hungry peasant insurgents had their own identity badge: red paint smeared on their foreheads. The rebels thus were known as the “Red Eyebrows”. Wang Man tried to restore order, but late in 23 CE the Red Eyebrows entered Chang’an, sacked it, and cut off Wang Man’s head. Liu Xiu, a ninth-generation descendant of Liu Bang, took back control of the empire thus re-establishing the Han lineage. Liu Xiu led his loyal officials to the city of Luoyang, where the imperial capital was relocated after the disaster of Chang’an.

The Han reign in Chang’an is usually referred to as Western Han or Former Han, while the period in Luoyang is normally called Eastern Han or Later Han.

A Chinese Servant Statue

THE LAST DAYS OF THE HAN DYNASTY

By the end of the 1st century CE, one Han emperor after another had died either young or without a chosen heir. When an emperor died without sons, a close relative, such as his cousin, was named emperor. In some cases the new ruler was a child or even an infant, in which case the real power was in the hands of a guardian from the family of the empress, since even infant rulers had to have an empress. This scenario led to all types of cunning schemes in the court.

A number of different natural calamities such as tremors, floods, and grasshopper plagues took place during these days and were seen as manifestations of the anger of heaven; prognosticators concluded that the end of the dynasty was close. The situation finally ran out of control. Eunuchs turned into an influential group in the bloody political court conflicts, gaining power and enriching themselves and there was a big protest of thousands of members of the Confucian academy against the corruption of the government. In 184 CE a very large peasant uprising known as the Yellow Turban Rebellion (sometimes referred to as the Yellow Scarves Rebellion) threatened the imperial capital.

A warlord named Dong Zhou seized control of the imperial capital in 190 CE and placed a child, Liu Xie, as the new ruler. Liu Xie was also a member of the Han family, but real power was in the hands of Dong Zhou. Dong Zhou killed all the eunuchs and burned Luoyang to the ground. Battle after battle weakened the imperial order until Liu Xie finally abdicated in 220 CE, the last year of the Han period. Wars between warlords and states continued and China would have to wait around 350 years to be unified again.

THE LEGACY OF THE HAN DYNASTY

The Han Dynasty has influenced the East just like Greece or Rome has influenced the West. The biggest Chinese historiographic work of antiquity was written during this period. Chinese calligraphy developed into an art.Confucianism was made the official state ideology during the time of Emperor Wu Di, who built an academy solely devoted to the works of Confucius. The philosopher had long been dead, but his disciples managed to preserve his teachings. Confucianism, favoured by the patronage of the state, gained a strength similar toBuddhism during the time of Emperor Ashoka or Christianity after Constantine. Thousands of Confucian academies were built, spreading Confucian ethics across China and most of East Asia and would dominate Chinese ethics during the centuries to come. Even today, the ethnic Chinese refer to themselves as Han rem (Han people). Although history tells us, then, that the Han Dynasty ended in 220 CE, from the examples cited above it is clear that the Han still lives on today in many different forms.