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The Han Dynasty lasted from 206 BCE to 220 CE. It was a time when art and culture flourished in China.
There were advances in technology as well. Paper, water clocks and astronomical instruments were all Chinese inventions which appeared during the Han Dynasty. These innovations spread to other parts of the world — including the Roman Empire which was at its height at the same time as the Han Dynasty.
Most people in the West know all about the Romans, but very few know anything about the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was only the second dynasty of unified China. Previously what we call China today was a lot of separate kingdoms.
The Han Dynasty was divided into two periods — the earlier called the Western Han and the later called the Eastern Han. Between the two periods of the dynasty was an interval of 15 years of war and chaos.
The first emperor of the Han Dynasty was Gaozu or Liu Bang. All the other emperors who ruled China during the dynasty were descendants of his, all members of the Liu family.
Liu Bang, the first Han emperor, was not from a high-ranking family. Before he took charge of the empire, he was in charge of a postal relay station!
Because he was from such a lowly background, Liu Bang invented a dragon ancestor for himself, so that he seemed more worthy of being Emperor. Perhaps he got this idea from the stories of one of the legendary early emperors who was supposed to have had a dragon father.
Liu Che, the emperor in the Dragonkeeper series, was the 6th Han emperor. Liu Che was his family name, but his imperial name was Wudi, which means “warring emperor”. Liu Che came to the throne aged just 15. He ruled for 54 years, which made him one of the longest reigning of all the Chinese emperors.
He sent his armies to attack the “barbarians” who lived to the north of China, and conquered their lands, almost doubling the size of the Empire during his reign.
Just as in the Dragonkeeper books, emperor Wudi invited astrologers, alchemists and shamans to his court and told them he wanted them to find a way for him to live forever. Wudi was also influenced by the stories of legendary emperors. Like emperor Huang-di, he wanted to ascend to heaven on the back of a dragon.
During the Han Dynasty, people believed that they had two souls — one that went to heaven after they died, the other that stayed on earth near their grave. Chinese people thought that these earthly souls, or ghosts, would get angry if the they weren’t looked after properly.
Those who could afford to left food, furniture, clothes and other comforts in the tombs of their relatives. Models were made of things that wouldn’t fit in a tomb, such as a nice house and a lot of servants.
By all accounts Han architecture was impressive, particularly the palaces and walled cities, but as all buildings were made of wood, none have survived.
It is through the items left in tombs that we get our knowledge of the Han Dynasty. Paintings, books, fine pottery and beautiful patterned silk cloth have all been found in tombs, giving us an idea of the high standard of art and culture during this period.
There was a lot of progress in the development of farming techniques during the Han Dynasty. The design of the plough was improved to make it more efficient and crop rotation was introduced, but the greatest innovation of the Han Dynasty was the invention of paper. This happened in the Western Han period.
Thin translucent paper was made from the bark of mulberry trees. At this time, the Romans were still writing on animal skins and chipping messages onto stone tablets. Paper didn’t reach Europe until 1000 years later.
Another important development during the Han Dynasty was the introduction of one form of writing throughout the whole empire. This greatly improved communication. That system of writing, using characters, is still in use today.
The Han Dynasty had a huge and lasting influence on China, and the Chinese people still refer to themselves as Han Chinese today, almost 2000 years after the Han Dynasty ended.