The Han Dynasty

Intro to the Han Dynasty The Han Dynasty was the second impearl dynasty of china. The Han dynasty was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang. The Han dynasty lasted for about four centuries. In Chinese history the Han dynasty is known as the golden age. Chinas major ethnic group still refers to its self as the “ Han People”.

Who was Liu Bang? Liu Bang was the first emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty. Liu Bang was more commonly knows as Gaozu. He ruled over China from 202 BCE. To 195 BCE. Liu Bang was one of the very few emperors who came from the peasant class. In 202 BCE Bang established the Han dynasty. Liu Bang did many great things in his time such as, reducing field taxes levied on the peasants and he let the armies go back to farming, these measures helped the economy, Liu Bang is known as the who contributed the most to Chinas prosperity of the Han dynasty.

The inner courts In china at this time, the emperor has to preside over two different courts, there was an inner one and an outer one. The inner court consisted of four parts. First was the emperors wife, her job was to run the palace and few public functions, the wife wasn't allowed to be seen in public although she had a great amount of influence over her son and her husband. A Chinese boy always has to listen to his mother even if he becomes an emperor.

The inner courts continued The second part was the harem, this was a group of many women that served the emperors personal needs, they would do chores such as clean clothes, prepare food, entertain him or sometimes gave him an heir. The third part was the males of the families they were given high positions in government and they could also help the emperor with his government. The last part was a group of men called eunuchs. The job of these men was to guard and take care of the women, and to perform the heavy work in the palace. These men were castrated to prevent them from having any sort of relationship with the women is the palace.

The outer court This part of the court consisted of the government officials or bureaucrats, these were divided into nine ranks. These people staffed the military and civil positions in the government. These men were originally chosen from official families or noble families, but since the Han dynasty they were recruited through examination.

The Han Dynasty decline The Han dynasty rivaled Rome with their size, but not with there magnificence, the Romans used stone to build, while the Chinese mostly used wood, and they also didn’t have many public places like the Romans colosseum. Many big markets were built which helped the economy, but the taxes were raised and a large gap grew between the rich and the poor and the poor suffered, this was followed by week emperors, or they were very young. In 184 AD a great rebellion broke out in the northeast and the southwest, the Han dynasty was taken down in 220 AD.