An outline, era by era

Han dynasty; Silk Road opens

Classical Antiquity · ~500 BCE – ~500 CE

The Han dynasty ruled China from 202 BCE to 220 CE, with a brief break under Wang Mang (9 to 23 CE) that divides it into the Western (Former) Han, based at Chang'an, and the Eastern (Later) Han, based at Luoyang. Its founder, Liu Bang, a commoner who rose in the rebellions that toppled the Qin, kept much of the Qin system of centralized government but ruled more lightly. Under Emperor Wu (r. 141 to 87 BCE) the state expanded into Central Asia, Korea and the south, and Confucian learning gained a leading place in the training of officials, although older Legalist methods remained important.

The Silk Road was not a single road but a web of trade routes linking China with Central Asia, India, Iran and the Mediterranean world. Its opening is usually dated to the missions of Zhang Qian, sent west by Emperor Wu around 138 BCE, and to the Han garrisons that later protected the routes through the Tarim Basin. Silk, metals, horses, plants, goods and religious ideas, notably Buddhism, travelled along them. The Han left a lasting mark: the majority people of China still call themselves the Han, and the dynasty's histories, paper and institutions shaped later Chinese states.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Liu Bang founds the Han

    Event

    What happened

    After the death of the First Emperor in 210 BCE, rebellions break out across the Qin empire. Liu Bang, a minor local official from Pei, joins the revolt and is named King of Han in 206 BCE. He defeats his rival Xiang Yu in the Chu-Han contest, and in 202 BCE takes the title of emperor, ruling as Gaozu from Chang'an.

    The rest is history

    Gaozu kept the Qin commandery system but also granted large kingdoms to relatives and allies, a mixed arrangement later called the junxian-fengjian compromise. He lowered taxes and softened the harshest Qin laws. The revolt of several of these kingdoms in 154 BCE, the Rebellion of the Seven States, was crushed, and the kingdoms were then steadily cut down. The Han thus became the long-lasting successor to the short-lived Qin.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), chapter 7 (Xiang Yu) and chapter 8 (Gaozu). Chinese history, c. 94 BCE.Chapters on Xiang Yu and on Gaozu, written within about a century of the events.
    2. BookLoewe, Michael. The Government of the Qin and Han Empires, 221 BCE to 220 CE. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2006.
    3. BookTwitchett, Denis, and Michael Loewe, eds. The Cambridge History of China, Volume 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. to A.D. 220. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

  2. The Xiongnu war and the heqin treaties

    Event

    What happened

    In 200 BCE Gaozu leads an army against the Xiongnu, a nomad confederation under Modun Chanyu, and is surrounded at Baideng. He gets out and then agrees to a heqin treaty, sending a Han princess in marriage and regular gifts of silk and grain. Similar agreements are renewed for about sixty years.

    The rest is history

    The treaties bought peace but cost the Han court heavily, and the Xiongnu still raided at times. Emperor Wu abandoned the policy after the failed Mayi ambush of 133 BCE, and from 129 BCE launched large offensives, led by generals such as Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. These campaigns pushed the Xiongnu out of the Ordos and the Hexi Corridor. They also created the need for allies in the west, and Zhang Qian's mission, begun around 138 BCE, belongs to the same strategy.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji, chapter 110, Account of the Xiongnu. Chinese history, c. 94 BCE.Main early account of the Xiongnu and the Han treaties.
    2. BookDi Cosmo, Nicola. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

  3. Zhang Qian's mission to the west

    Event

    What happened

    Around 138 BCE Emperor Wu sends the court officer Zhang Qian to find the Yuezhi people and ally with them against the Xiongnu. Zhang is captured and held by the Xiongnu for about ten years, then escapes and reaches Ferghana and Bactria. He returns to Chang'an around 126 BCE without the alliance, but with detailed reports of the states of Central Asia.

    The rest is history

    His reports, preserved in the Shiji, told the court of the horses of Ferghana, of Bactria and of lands as far as Parthia and India. Zhang was sent again around 119 BCE to the Wusun and sent envoys onward. Han embassies and merchants then began to travel regularly. This is traditionally taken as the start of the Silk Road, though trade across Central Asia existed before it.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji, chapter 123, Account of Dayuan. Chinese history, c. 94 BCE.Account of Zhang Qian's journeys.
    2. PrimaryBan Gu. Hanshu (Book of Han), chapter 61, biography of Zhang Qian. Chinese history, 1st century CE.
    3. BookHansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

  4. Confucian state learning and the salt and iron debate

    Event

    What happened

    In the reign of Emperor Wu, around 136 BCE, posts for scholars of the Five Classics are set up, and in 124 BCE an imperial academy is founded to train officials. Later, chiefly around 117 to 110 BCE, the government takes over salt and iron production and sets up price-balancing measures to pay for its wars. In 81 BCE a court conference debates these monopolies.

    The rest is history

    The debate was recorded by Huan Kuan as the Yantie lun (Discourses on Salt and Iron). Over the following centuries, classical learning became an important route into office, though officials were mostly chosen by recommendation rather than by examination. The monopolies were partly abolished and partly kept in later years. Wu's reign is traditionally seen as the point where Confucian thought became the official teaching of the state, though historians note that older Legalist methods continued in practice.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryHuan Kuan. Yantie lun (Discourses on Salt and Iron). Chinese text, c. 60 BCE.Record of the 81 BCE court debate.
    2. BookLoewe, Michael. Crisis and Conflict in Han China, 104 BC to AD 9. London: Allen and Unwin, 1974.

  5. Ban Chao and the Western Regions

    Event

    What happened

    In 73 CE the Eastern Han general Ban Chao is sent west with a small force against the Xiongnu. Over some thirty years he brings the oasis states of the Tarim Basin back under Han influence. In 97 CE he sends his envoy Gan Ying toward Daqin, the Roman world, who reaches the Persian Gulf region.

    The rest is history

    Ban Chao was made Protector General of the Western Regions and held the post until 102 CE. His campaigns reopened the northern and southern Tarim routes after a period of closure. Gan Ying turned back, according to the Hou Hanshu, after being told of the long sea voyage ahead. The Hou Hanshu does record a Roman (Daqin) embassy arriving at the Han court in 166 CE, traditionally seen as the first recorded contact. Before and after that, silk reached Rome mostly through middlemen, mainly Parthians and Kushans.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryFan Ye. Hou Hanshu (Book of the Later Han), chapter 47, biography of Ban Chao, and chapter 88, Western Regions. Chinese history, 5th century CE.
    2. BookYü, Ying-shih. Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.

  6. The Mandate of Heaven and Liu Bang's white snake

    Origin story

    The legend

    On a night journey, the young Liu Bang meets a giant white snake blocking the road and cuts it in two. An old woman is later said to be weeping there because her son, the son of the White Emperor, has been killed by the son of the Red Emperor. The tale is told to show that Liu Bang is a destined ruler.

    The rest is history

    The story appears in Sima Qian's Shiji, written about a century after the events. It was part of a set of omens and birth marvels, including a dragon said to have fathered Liu Bang, that made the new dynasty's rule appear Heaven-given. Such tales served the same purpose as the Mandate of Heaven idea used since the Zhou. Liu Bang's real background was that of a local official of humble family.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji, chapter 8, Basic Annals of Gaozu. Chinese history, c. 94 BCE.
    2. BookWatson, Burton, trans. Records of the Grand Historian of China, Volume 1. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961.

  7. Zhang Qian and the raft to the Milky Way

    Folk tale

    The legend

    In a later tale, Emperor Wu sends Zhang Qian to find the source of the Yellow River. He sails a raft upstream until he comes to a woman weaving and a herdsman leading an ox beside a great river, the Milky Way. He brings back a loom-supporting stone as proof.

    The rest is history

    No such story is in the Han histories. It appears in later writings, such as the Jingchu suishiji of about the 6th century CE, which attached it to Zhang Qian's fame as an explorer. It joins his name to the tale of the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, the origin of the Qixi festival. The real Zhang Qian never found the Yellow River's source, but his reports did give the Han the first detailed knowledge of Central Asia.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryZong Lin. Jingchu suishiji (Seasonal Customs of Jingchu). Chinese text, c. 6th century CE.An early source of the raft story.
    2. BookHansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

  8. The heavenly horses of Ferghana

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    Emperor Wu hears of magnificent horses in Dayuan (Ferghana) that sweat blood. When the king of Dayuan refuses to sell them, Wu sends an army under Li Guangli, which fails once and then at last succeeds in about 102 BCE. The Han bring back many horses.

    The rest is history

    The campaign is recorded in the Shiji and Hanshu. The horses were prized as cavalry mounts against the Xiongnu, and the story of blood-sweating horses may reflect a skin parasite, though this is a modern guess. The war was costly, with heavy losses on the way, and was criticized at court. It nonetheless made Han power known across Central Asia, and Dayuan sent tribute afterwards.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji, chapter 123, Account of Dayuan. Chinese history, c. 94 BCE.
    2. BookWatson, Burton, trans. Records of the Grand Historian of China, Volume 2. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961.

  9. Cai Lun invents paper

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that the court eunuch Cai Lun invented paper in 105 CE, presenting it to Emperor He after making it from bark, rags, hemp and fishing nets. Before that, people are said to have written only on bamboo and silk.

    The rest is history

    The Hou Hanshu says Cai Lun reported a paper-making process to the throne in 105 CE. Archaeology shows paper-like material existed earlier: fragments of hemp paper found in Han tombs at sites such as Fangmatan and Baqiao date to the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. Cai Lun is therefore best seen as an improver and promoter of the craft, who helped make paper cheaper and standard for writing. Paper spread west along the Silk Road and reached the Islamic world by the 8th century.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryFan Ye. Hou Hanshu, chapter 78, biography of Cai Lun. Chinese history, 5th century CE.
    2. BookTsien, Tsuen-Hsuin. Paper and Printing. Science and Civilisation in China 5, part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

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