The Western Han Dynasty

Having soundly defeated Xiang Yu in the Chu-Han Contention, Han Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty. Considered one of the high points of Chinese civilisation, the Han Dynasty has left its mark on Chinese history and culture. The majority ethnic group in China today is the Han. The language of China is known as 汉语 or the language of the Han. Chinese characters are known as 汉字 or Han characters.

Despite having decried the Qin Dynasty as being overly cruel and harsh to the people, the early Han law codes borrowed heavily from the Qin Legalist system. When Liu Bang overthrew Xiang Yu and set up the Han Dynasty, he instituted a system of 13 commanderies ruled directly by him and his court, and established 10 semi-autonomous kingdoms in the East of his empire, rewarding land to those who had assisted him in his conquests. However, over the course of his reign and the reign of his successors, these independent kingdoms were induced to rebellion, and were slowly brought back into the fold, their kings replaced by members of the Liu family. By the time of Liu Bang's death in 195 BCE, his Empire consisted of 16 commanderies.

The Empire in 87 BCE

The high point of the Western Han Dynasty came during the rule of Liu Che, or Han Wudi, who ascended the throne in 141 BCE. Initially his grandmother ruled the Empire in his stead, but upon her death in 135 BCE, Han Wudi proceeded to make his own mark on the Empire.

Han Wudi

The first thing he did was take Dong Zhongshu into his confidence, and proceeded to overturn the old Legalist system, replacing it with a Confucian variant. Initially Confucianism had been a simple secular ruling philosophy, teaching filial piety and respect for authority. Under Dong Zhongshu, Confucianism was mixed with aspects of Daoism and Legalism, fusing the ethical though of Confucianism with the ideas of Yin and Yang, along with a cosmological framework into which fit Heaven, Earth, the Empire and the Emperor.

Having thus reformed the civil service, Han Wudi also expanded upon institutions made by Liu Bang. He formed the precursors to the later civil administration exams, ensuring that it was possible for promotion by merit, rather than birth.

The biggest legacy left by Han Wudi, however, was his military expansion. From 133 BCE until the end of his life, Han Wudi launched a series of campaigns aimed at expanding Han China's borders to the north and west, fighting the Xiongnu Confederation, a nomadic people of the steppe. Over a series of campaigns stretching from 133 BCE to 108 BCE the Han scored a series of victories that firmly established Han dominance of the North and West.

The campaigns continued until well after Han Wudi's death, ending in 89 CE.

Ultimately, the campaigns launched by Han Wudi ended up stretching the national treasury, and following his death in 87 BCE, the Western Han Dynasty began a long decay that ended in Wang Mang's Xin (or new) Dynasty.

Next week, we examine Wang Mang's Xin Dynasty!

(P.S. The reign of Han Wudi also saw the works of Sima Qian, known as the Grand Historian, published. He is the first historian in Chinese history)