Hello, I am Liu Bang, the prince of Han. The Han empire began in 206 B.C. when I defeated the Qin army in the valley of Wei. This war all started because the people were dissatisfied with the tryanny of the Qin Leaders and their Legalist form of government. The Han continued to rule in the traditaion of the Qin, and only gradually incorporated Confusican ideals into their Legalist form of government. Under this new form of Legalism and Confucianism, rewards and punishments were still used for common people. However, the administrators were judged based on Confucian princples with the justification for these different sets of standards as they were educated. Just like the Qin Dynasty before us, our main goal is the unification of China. This goal led to the downfall of imperial nobility. This process was finally completed during the reign of Wu Ti's, from 141-87 B.C. His reign was a period of great military expansion. The Han dynasty is actually two separate dynasties. It is considered one dynasty by the Chinese because the second dynasty was founded by a member of the former Han dynasty who declared he had restored the Han Dynasty. The second Han Dynasty had much success with their foreign policy. In 73 A.D. the Chinese began a campaign in Turkestan. Turkestan was quickly conquered which would have ensured a trading monopoly, however, the emperor Ming Ti died and Chang Ti became emperor. He favored an isolationist policy so that much of what was gained in Turkestan was now lost. Pan Ch'ao, the deputy commander who had led the invasion, stayed in Turkestan to try and hold onto what had been won, and eventually in 89 A.D. a new emperor came to power with a renewed interest in holding Turkestan. Despite the military success, economic and political struggles arose within China. Internal struggles for power taxed the peasants, until in 184 A.D. when another peasant uprising occurred. This movement was begun by the Yellow Turbans. This uprising served to unite the factions who had previously been fighting one another because they needed to unite to defeat the Yellow Turbans. Despite conquering them, China did not return to a united state. Rather, three kingdoms emerged and the Han Dynasty came to an end. Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Han Dynasty
Hello, I am Liu Bang, the prince of Han. The Han empire began in 206 B.C. when I defeated the Qin army in the valley of Wei. This war all started because the people were dissatisfied with the tryanny of the Qin Leaders and their Legalist form of government. The Han continued to rule in the traditaion of the Qin, and only gradually incorporated Confusican ideals into their Legalist form of government. Under this new form of Legalism and Confucianism, rewards and punishments were still used for common people. However, the administrators were judged based on Confucian princples with the justification for these different sets of standards as they were educated. Just like the Qin Dynasty before us, our main goal is the unification of China. This goal led to the downfall of imperial nobility. This process was finally completed during the reign of Wu Ti's, from 141-87 B.C. His reign was a period of great military expansion. The Han dynasty is actually two separate dynasties. It is considered one dynasty by the Chinese because the second dynasty was founded by a member of the former Han dynasty who declared he had restored the Han Dynasty. The second Han Dynasty had much success with their foreign policy. In 73 A.D. the Chinese began a campaign in Turkestan. Turkestan was quickly conquered which would have ensured a trading monopoly, however, the emperor Ming Ti died and Chang Ti became emperor. He favored an isolationist policy so that much of what was gained in Turkestan was now lost. Pan Ch'ao, the deputy commander who had led the invasion, stayed in Turkestan to try and hold onto what had been won, and eventually in 89 A.D. a new emperor came to power with a renewed interest in holding Turkestan. Despite the military success, economic and political struggles arose within China. Internal struggles for power taxed the peasants, until in 184 A.D. when another peasant uprising occurred. This movement was begun by the Yellow Turbans. This uprising served to unite the factions who had previously been fighting one another because they needed to unite to defeat the Yellow Turbans. Despite conquering them, China did not return to a united state. Rather, three kingdoms emerged and the Han Dynasty came to an end. 