Han_dynasty

qas: question: What period followed the Han dynasty?
answers: text: Three Kingdoms

question: What dynasty came before the Han dynasty?
answers: text: Qin

question: Who founded the Han dynasty?
answers: text: Liu Bang

question: When did the Former Han period begin?
answers: text: 206 BC

question: When did the Later Han period end?
answers: text: 220 AD
context: The Han dynasty (Chinese: 漢朝; pinyin: Hàn cháo) was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered a golden age in Chinese history. To this day, China's majority ethnic group refers to itself as the "Han people" and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters". It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han, and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods: the Western Han or Former Han (206 BC – 9 AD) and the Eastern Han or Later Han (25–220 AD).

qas: question: When did the Qing dynasty fall?
answers: text: AD 1911

question: What innovation was acquired from the Qin?
answers: text: commanderies

question: What philosphy in education was sanctioned by the Chinese court?
answers: text: Confucianism

question: What was an attributing factor that caused kingdoms to lose their Independence during the Han dynasty?
answers: text: the Rebellion of the Seven States

question: What class did a majority of appointed ministers come from during the Han dynasty?
answers: text: scholarly gentry
context: The emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the scholarly gentry class. The Han Empire was divided into areas directly controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies, and a number of semi-autonomous kingdoms. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States. From the reign of Emperor Wu onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in AD 1911.

qas: question: In what year did the central government issue coins?
answers: text: 119 BC

question: What industry did the government use to help pay for its military campaigns?
answers: text: iron

question: In what period did several government monopolies become repealed?
answers: text: Eastern Han

question: A money based economy was first entrenched in what dynasty?
answers: text: Zhou

question: A seismometer during the Han dynasty used what type of pendulum?
answers: text: inverted
context: The Han dynasty was an age of economic prosperity and saw a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty (c. 1050–256 BC). The coinage issued by the central government mint in 119 BC remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). The period saw a number of limited institutional innovations. To pay for its military campaigns and the settlement of newly conquered frontier territories, the government nationalized the private salt and iron industries in 117 BC, but these government monopolies were repealed during the Eastern Han period. Science and technology during the Han period saw significant advances, including papermaking, the nautical steering rudder, the use of negative numbers in mathematics, the raised-relief map, the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere for astronomy, and a seismometer employing an inverted pendulum.

qas: question: Which confederation defeated the Han in 200 BC?
answers: text: The Xiongnu

question: What type of campaign helped establish the Silk Road?
answers: text: military

question: In what year was Nanyue annexed?
answers: text: 111 BC

question: Which confederation conquered the territories north of the Han's border?
answers: text: Xianbei

question: In what year did Emperor Wu of Han's reign end?
answers: text: 87 BC
context: The Xiongnu, a nomadic steppe confederation, defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a de facto inferior partner, but continued their raids on the Han borders. Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141–87 BC) launched several military campaigns against them. The ultimate Han victory in these wars eventually forced the Xiongnu to accept vassal status as Han tributaries. These campaigns expanded Han sovereignty into the Tarim Basin of Central Asia, divided the Xiongnu into two separate confederations, and helped establish the vast trade network known as the Silk Road, which reached as far as the Mediterranean world. The territories north of Han's borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic Xianbei confederation. Emperor Wu also launched successful military expeditions in the south, annexing Nanyue in 111 BC and Dian in 109 BC, and in the Korean Peninsula where the Xuantu and Lelang Commanderies were established in 108 BC.

qas: question: Which religious societies instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion?
answers: text: Daoist

question: Who killed the palace eunichs after the death of Emperor Ling?
answers: text: military officers

question: Which King took the seat of power from Emperor Xian?
answers: text: Cao Pi

question: Who was the last Emperor of the Han dynasty?
answers: text: Xian

question: In what year did Emperor Ling die?
answers: text: 189 AD
context: After 92 AD, the palace eunuchs increasingly involved themselves in court politics, engaging in violent power struggles between the various consort clans of the empresses and empress dowagers, causing the Han's ultimate downfall. Imperial authority was also seriously challenged by large Daoist religious societies which instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion. Following the death of Emperor Ling (r. 168–189 AD), the palace eunuchs suffered wholesale massacre by military officers, allowing members of the aristocracy and military governors to become warlords and divide the empire. When Cao Pi, King of Wei, usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, the Han dynasty ceased to exist.

qas: question: With what action did the Qin bring together the Chinese Warring States?
answers: text: conquest

question: Which commander did Liu Bang defeat in the Battle of Gaixia?
answers: text: Xiang Yu

question: Who was the first emperor during the Qin dynasty?
answers: text: Qin Shi Huangdi

question: What ultimately caused the Qin dynasty's authority to be dissolved?
answers: text: rebellion

question: Who urged Liu Bang to become emperor?
answers: text: his followers
context: China's first imperial dynasty was the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). The Qin unified the Chinese Warring States by conquest, but their empire became unstable after the death of the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. Within four years, the dynasty's authority had collapsed in the face of rebellion. Two former rebel leaders, Xiang Yu (d. 202 BC) of Chu and Liu Bang (d. 195 BC) of Han, engaged in a war to decide who would become hegemon of China, which had fissured into 18 kingdoms, each claiming allegiance to either Xiang Yu or Liu Bang. Although Xiang Yu proved to be a capable commander, Liu Bang defeated him at Battle of Gaixia (202 BC), in modern-day Anhui. Liu Bang assumed the title "emperor" (huangdi) at the urging of his followers and is known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu (r. 202–195 BC). Chang'an was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han.

qas: question: How many commanderies were in the western third of the empire?
answers: text: thirteen

question: Who could appoint staff to the kings?
answers: text: imperial court

question: When was the Rebellion of the Seven States?
answers: text: 154 BC

question: From what source did kings derive their personal income from?
answers: text: tax revenues

question: The Han court replaced several kings with members of what royal family?
answers: text: Liu
context: At the beginning of the Western Han dynasty, thirteen centrally controlled commanderies—including the capital region—existed in the western third of the empire, while the eastern two-thirds were divided into ten semi-autonomous kingdoms. To placate his prominent commanders from the war with Chu, Emperor Gaozu enfeoffed some of them as kings. By 157 BC, the Han court had replaced all of these kings with royal Liu family members, since the loyalty of non-relatives to the throne was questioned. After several insurrections by Han kings—the largest being the Rebellion of the Seven States in 154 BC—the imperial court enacted a series of reforms beginning in 145 BC limiting the size and power of these kingdoms and dividing their former territories into new centrally controlled commanderies. Kings were no longer able to appoint their own staff; this duty was assumed by the imperial court. Kings became nominal heads of their fiefs and collected a portion of tax revenues as their personal incomes. The kingdoms were never entirely abolished and existed throughout the remainder of Western and Eastern Han.

qas: question: Who was the chieftain of the Xiongnu?
answers: text: Modu Chanyu

question: What group had a trade embargo created against them?
answers: text: the Xiongnu

question: In what year were Han forces defeated in Baideng?
answers: text: 200 BC

question: What agreement established equality between the Xiongnu and the Han?
answers: text: heqin

question: What type of clothing were sent as a tribute to the Xiongnu?
answers: text: silk clothes
context: To the north of China proper, the nomadic Xiongnu chieftain Modu Chanyu (r. 209–174 BC) conquered various tribes inhabiting the eastern portion of the Eurasian Steppe. By the end of his reign, he controlled Manchuria, Mongolia, and the Tarim Basin, subjugating over twenty states east of Samarkand. Emperor Gaozu was troubled about the abundant Han-manufactured iron weapons traded to the Xiongnu along the northern borders, and he established a trade embargo against the group. Although the embargo was in place, the Xiongnu found traders willing to supply their needs. Chinese forces also mounted surprise attacks against Xiongnu who traded at the border markets. In retaliation, the Xiongnu invaded what is now Shanxi province, where they defeated the Han forces at Baideng in 200 BC. After negotiations, the heqin agreement in 198 BC nominally held the leaders of the Xiongnu and the Han as equal partners in a royal marriage alliance, but the Han were forced to send large amounts of tribute items such as silk clothes, food, and wine to the Xiongnu.

qas: question: The heqin agreement was reaffirmed by a court conference in what year?
answers: text: 135 BC

question: In what year did Emperor Wu begin a series of attacks in Xiongnu territories?
answers: text: 133 BC

question: What type of colony did Chinese armies use to help firm their hold on the strongholds that they had taken over?
answers: text: agricultural

question: In what year did the Battle of Mobei take place?
answers: text: 119 BC

question: Which Han commander died in the year 106 BC?
answers: text: Wei Qing
context: Despite the tribute and a negotiation between Laoshang Chanyu (r. 174–160 BC) and Emperor Wen (r. 180–157 BC) to reopen border markets, many of the Chanyu's Xiongnu subordinates chose not to obey the treaty and periodically raided Han territories south of the Great Wall for additional goods. In a court conference assembled by Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC) in 135 BC, the majority consensus of the ministers was to retain the heqin agreement. Emperor Wu accepted this, despite continuing Xiongnu raids. However, a court conference the following year convinced the majority that a limited engagement at Mayi involving the assassination of the Chanyu would throw the Xiongnu realm into chaos and benefit the Han. When this plot failed in 133 BC, Emperor Wu launched a series of massive military invasions into Xiongnu territory. Chinese armies captured one stronghold after another and established agricultural colonies to strengthen their hold. The assault culminated in 119 BC at the Battle of Mobei, where the Han commanders Huo Qubing (d. 117 BC) and Wei Qing (d. 106 BC) forced the Xiongnu court to flee north of the Gobi Desert.

qas: question: Who made up a majority of the people on the frontier?
answers: text: soldiers

question: Who forced peasant farmers to move to new settlements?
answers: text: the court

question: In what year did Han forces stop a joint Xiongnu-Qiang invasion?
answers: text: 111 BC

question: Where were landowners encouraged to migrate willingly to?
answers: text: the frontier

question: How many commanderies in the new frontier were created by the Han court in the year 111 BC?
answers: text: four
context: In 121 BC, Han forces expelled the Xiongnu from a vast territory spanning the Hexi Corridor to Lop Nur. They repelled a joint Xiongnu-Qiang invasion of this northwestern territory in 111 BC. In that year, the Han court established four new frontier commanderies in this region: Jiuquan, Zhangyi, Dunhuang, and Wuwei. The majority of people on the frontier were soldiers. On occasion, the court forcibly moved peasant farmers to new frontier settlements, along with government-owned slaves and convicts who performed hard labor. The court also encouraged commoners, such as farmers, merchants, landowners, and hired laborers, to voluntarily migrate to the frontier.

qas: question: What type of Roman item was traded on the Silk Road network?
answers: text: glasswares

question: Which diplomat helped gather information on the country of Anxi?
answers: text: Zhang Qian

question: When did Zhang Qian end his travels?
answers: text: 125 BC

question: Which network was used to exchange goods with Rome?
answers: text: Silk Road

question: What empire had established an embassy in Anxi?
answers: text: Han
context: Even before Han's expansion into Central Asia, diplomat Zhang Qian's travels from 139 to 125 BC had established Chinese contacts with many surrounding civilizations. Zhang encountered Dayuan (Fergana), Kangju (Sogdiana), and Daxia (Bactria, formerly the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom); he also gathered information on Shendu (Indus River valley of North India) and Anxi (the Parthian Empire). All of these countries eventually received Han embassies. These connections marked the beginning of the Silk Road trade network that extended to the Roman Empire, bringing Han items like silk to Rome and Roman goods such as glasswares to China.

qas: question: Which group did Han forces fight in the Tarm Basin?
answers: text: the Xiongnu

question: When was the first national census taken in China?
answers: text: 2 AD

question: What was the population of China in 2 AD?
answers: text: 57,671,400

question: What year was the Protectorate of Western Regions created in?
answers: text: 60 BC

question: Which kingdom did the Han conquer in 109 BC?
answers: text: Dian
context: From roughly 115 to 60 BC, Han forces fought the Xiongnu over control of the oasis city-states in the Tarim Basin. Han was eventually victorious and established the Protectorate of the Western Regions in 60 BC, which dealt with the region's defense and foreign affairs. The Han also expanded southward. The naval conquest of Nanyue in 111 BC expanded the Han realm into what are now modern Guangdong, Guangxi, and northern Vietnam. Yunnan was brought into the Han realm with the conquest of the Dian Kingdom in 109 BC, followed by parts of the Korean Peninsula with the colonial establishments of Xuantu Commandery and Lelang Commandery in 108 BC. In China's first known nationwide census taken in 2 AD, the population was registered as having 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households.

qas: question: Who made up the bulk of the administrators of the new government monopolies?
answers: text: former merchants

question: When was the liquor monopoly abolished?
answers: text: 81 BC

question: Which faction did the Reformists oppose?
answers: text: Modernist

question: Which political faction favored budgetary reform?
answers: text: The Reformists

question: In what year did Huo Guang die?
answers: text: 68 BC
context: To pay for his military campaigns and colonial expansion, Emperor Wu nationalized several private industries. He created central government monopolies administered largely by former merchants. These monopolies included salt, iron, and liquor production, as well as bronze-coin currency. The liquor monopoly lasted only from 98 to 81 BC, and the salt and iron monopolies were eventually abolished in early Eastern Han. The issuing of coinage remained a central government monopoly throughout the rest of the Han dynasty. The government monopolies were eventually repealed when a political faction known as the Reformists gained greater influence in the court. The Reformists opposed the Modernist faction that had dominated court politics in Emperor Wu's reign and during the subsequent regency of Huo Guang (d. 68 BC). The Modernists argued for an aggressive and expansionary foreign policy supported by revenues from heavy government intervention in the private economy. The Reformists, however, overturned these policies, favoring a cautious, non-expansionary approach to foreign policy, frugal budget reform, and lower tax-rates imposed on private entrepreneurs.

qas: question: Who tried to outlaw slavery?
answers: text: Wang Mang

question: What caused the water level in the Yellow River to increase?
answers: text: Gradual silt buildup

question: Who created a dam in the southern branch of The Yellow River?
answers: text: Han engineers

question: What emptied out to the south of the Shandong Peninsula?
answers: text: The Yellow River

question: What caused the end of Wang Mang's regime?
answers: text: massive floods
context: Wang Mang initiated a series of major reforms that were ultimately unsuccessful. These reforms included outlawing slavery, nationalizing land to equally distribute between households, and introducing new currencies, a change which debased the value of coinage. Although these reforms provoked considerable opposition, Wang's regime met its ultimate downfall with the massive floods of c. 3 AD and 11 AD. Gradual silt buildup in the Yellow River had raised its water level and overwhelmed the flood control works. The Yellow River split into two new branches: one emptying to the north and the other to the south of the Shandong Peninsula, though Han engineers managed to dam the southern branch by 70 AD.

qas: question: Where did the capital move to after the reign of Guangwu?
answers: text: Luoyang

question: What era does the reign of Guangwu fall under?
answers: text: Eastern Han dynasty

question: What can the Eastern Han dynasty also be called?
answers: text: Later Han dynasty

question: Where was the capital located during the Western Han dynasty?
answers: text: Chang'an

question: What can the Western Han dynasty also be called?
answers: text: Former Han dynasty
context: The period between the foundation of the Han dynasty and Wang Mang's reign is known as the Western Han dynasty (simplified Chinese: 西汉; traditional Chinese: 西漢; pinyin: Xī Hàn) or Former Han dynasty (simplified Chinese: 前汉; traditional Chinese: 前漢; pinyin: Qiánhàn) (206 BC – 9 AD). During this period the capital was at Chang'an (modern Xi'an). From the reign of Guangwu the capital was moved eastward to Luoyang. The era from his reign until the fall of Han is known as the Eastern Han dynasty (simplified Chinese: 东汉; traditional Chinese: 東漢; pinyin: Dōng Hàn) or the Later Han dynasty (simplified Chinese: 后汉; traditional Chinese: 後漢; pinyin: Hòu Hàn) (25–220 AD).

qas: question: On what date did the Eastern Han dynasty begin?
answers: text: 5 August 25

question: Which state raided Han's Korean commanderies?
answers: text: Goguryeo

question: Who started a rebellion against Han in the year AD 40?
answers: text: The Trưng Sisters of Vietnam

question: In what year did Ma Yuan die?
answers: text: AD 49

question: Who was the leader of the Xiongnu?
answers: text: Bi
context: The Eastern Han, also known as the Later Han, formally began on 5 August 25, when Liu Xiu became Emperor Guangwu of Han. During the widespread rebellion against Wang Mang, the state of Goguryeo was free to raid Han's Korean commanderies; Han did not reaffirm its control over the region until AD 30. The Trưng Sisters of Vietnam rebelled against Han in AD 40. Their rebellion was crushed by Han general Ma Yuan (d. AD 49) in a campaign from AD 42–43. Wang Mang renewed hostilities against the Xiongnu, who were estranged from Han until their leader Bi (比), a rival claimant to the throne against his cousin Punu (蒲奴), submitted to Han as a tributary vassal in AD 50. This created two rival Xiongnu states: the Southern Xiongnu led by Bi, an ally of Han, and the Northern Xiongnu led by Punu, an enemy of Han.

qas: question: Which Basin did the Han lose authority of?
answers: text: Tarim

question: When did Chen Mu die?
answers: text: AD 75

question: Where did the Northern Xiongnu flee to in AD 91?
answers: text: Ili River valley

question: Who was the Protector General of the Western Regions?
answers: text: Chen Mu

question: Who conquered the Tarim Basin in AD 63?
answers: text: the Northern Xiongnu
context: During the turbulent reign of Wang Mang, Han lost control over the Tarim Basin, which was conquered by the Northern Xiongnu in AD 63 and used as a base to invade Han's Hexi Corridor in Gansu. Dou Gu (d. 88 AD) defeated the Northern Xiongnu at the Battle of Yiwulu in AD 73, evicting them from Turpan and chasing them as far as Lake Barkol before establishing a garrison at Hami. After the new Protector General of the Western Regions Chen Mu (d. AD 75) was killed by allies of the Xiongnu in Karasahr and Kucha, the garrison at Hami was withdrawn. At the Battle of Ikh Bayan in AD 89, Dou Xian (d. AD 92) defeated the Northern Xiongnu chanyu who then retreated into the Altai Mountains. After the Northern Xiongnu fled into the Ili River valley in AD 91, the nomadic Xianbei occupied the area from the borders of the Buyeo Kingdom in Manchuria to the Ili River of the Wusun people. The Xianbei reached their apogee under Tanshihuai (檀石槐) (d. AD 180), who consistently defeated Chinese armies. However, Tanshihuai's confederation disintegrated after his death.

qas: question: Which ruler requested a marriage alliance with the Han in AD 90?
answers: text: Vima Kadphises

question: Who was the Protector General of the Western Regions in AD 91?
answers: text: Ban Chao

question: Which empire was asked to help subdue Kashgar?
answers: text: Kushan

question: Which empire sent armies to attack Ban Chao?
answers: text: Kushan

question: Who was allied with Kashgar?
answers: text: Sogdiana
context: Ban Chao (d. AD 102) enlisted the aid of the Kushan Empire, occupying the area of modern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, to subdue Kashgar and its ally Sogdiana. When a request by Kushan ruler Vima Kadphises (r. c. 90–c. 100 AD) for a marriage alliance with the Han was rejected in AD 90, he sent his forces to Wakhan (Afghanistan) to attack Ban Chao. The conflict ended with the Kushans withdrawing because of lack of supplies. In AD 91, the office of Protector General of the Western Regions was reinstated when it was bestowed on Ban Chao.

qas: question: Which member of the Han Empire was sent to Daqin in AD 97?
answers: text: Gan Ying

question: Who translated written works into Chinese?
answers: text: Buddhist monks

question: Who reached the court of Emperor Huan in AD 166?
answers: text: A Roman embassy

question: When did Emperor Huan's reign begin?
answers: text: AD 146

question: Which empire sent the Han gifts?
answers: text: Parthian
context: In addition to tributary relations with the Kushans, the Han Empire received gifts from the Parthian Empire, from a king in modern Burma, from a ruler in Japan, and initiated an unsuccessful mission to Daqin (Rome) in AD 97 with Gan Ying as emissary. A Roman embassy of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180 AD) is recorded in the Hou Hanshu to have reached the court of Emperor Huan of Han (r. AD 146–168) in AD 166, yet Rafe de Crespigny asserts that this was most likely a group of Roman merchants. Other travelers to Eastern-Han China included Buddhist monks who translated works into Chinese, such as An Shigao of Parthia, and Lokaksema from Kushan-era Gandhara, India.

qas: question: Who was prevented from leaving their house?
answers: text: Empress Dowager Dou

question: When did Emperor He's reign end?
answers: text: 105 AD

question: Who managed the state after the death of Emperor He?
answers: text: Empress Deng Sui

question: When did the Qiang rebellion end?
answers: text: 118 AD

question: Who concealed the identity of Emperor He's mother?
answers: text: Empress Dowager Dou
context: Emperor Zhang's (r. 75–88 AD) reign came to be viewed by later Eastern Han scholars as the high point of the dynastic house. Subsequent reigns were increasingly marked by eunuch intervention in court politics and their involvement in the violent power struggles of the imperial consort clans. With the aid of the eunuch Zheng Zhong (d. 107 AD), Emperor He (r. 88–105 AD) had Empress Dowager Dou (d. 97 AD) put under house arrest and her clan stripped of power. This was in revenge for Dou's purging of the clan of his natural mother—Consort Liang—and then concealing her identity from him. After Emperor He's death, his wife Empress Deng Sui (d. 121 AD) managed state affairs as the regent empress dowager during a turbulent financial crisis and widespread Qiang rebellion that lasted from 107 to 118 AD.

qas: question: Who had forced a large number of Empress Dowager Deng's clan members to kill themselves?
answers: text: Emperor An

question: Which person plotted to overthrew the regime of Empress Dowager Yan?
answers: text: Sun Cheng

question: Who did Emperor Huan hire to depose Liang Ji?
answers: text: eunuchs

question: Relatives of what family were exiled after Sun Cheng had overthrown the regime?
answers: text: Yan

question: How did Liang Ji die?
answers: text: forced to commit suicide
context: When Empress Dowager Deng died, Emperor An (r. 106–125 AD) was convinced by the accusations of the eunuchs Li Run (李閏) and Jiang Jing (江京) that Deng and her family had planned to depose him. An dismissed Deng's clan members from office, exiled them and forced many to commit suicide. After An's death, his wife, Empress Dowager Yan (d. 126 AD) placed the child Marquess of Beixiang on the throne in an attempt to retain power within her family. However, palace eunuch Sun Cheng (d. 132 AD) masterminded a successful overthrow of her regime to enthrone Emperor Shun of Han (r. 125–144 AD). Yan was placed under house arrest, her relatives were either killed or exiled, and her eunuch allies were slaughtered. The regent Liang Ji (d. 159 AD), brother of Empress Liang Na (d. 150 AD), had the brother-in-law of Consort Deng Mengnü (later empress) (d. 165 AD) killed after Deng Mengnü resisted Liang Ji's attempts to control her. Afterward, Emperor Huan employed eunuchs to depose Liang Ji, who was then forced to commit suicide.

qas: question: On what charge was Li Ying jailed for?
answers: text: treason

question: Who was responsible for imprisoning Li Ying?
answers: text: Palace eunuchs

question: During what type of crisis did Emperor Huan alienate the bureaucracy?
answers: text: economic

question: Students from what university led a protest against members of Huan's court?
answers: text: Imperial

question: When did Dou Wu die?
answers: text: 168 AD
context: Students from the Imperial University organized a widespread student protest against the eunuchs of Emperor Huan's court. Huan further alienated the bureaucracy when he initiated grandiose construction projects and hosted thousands of concubines in his harem at a time of economic crisis. Palace eunuchs imprisoned the official Li Ying (李膺) and his associates from the Imperial University on a dubious charge of treason. In 167 AD, the Grand Commandant Dou Wu (d. 168 AD) convinced his son-in-law, Emperor Huan, to release them. However the emperor permanently barred Li Ying and his associates from serving in office, marking the beginning of the Partisan Prohibitions.

qas: question: Who arrested Chen Fan in a failed plot?
answers: text: the eunuchs

question: Who made accusations of treason against Dou Wu?
answers: text: General Zhang Huan

question: How did Dou Wu pass away?
answers: text: he was forced to commit suicide

question: Which group was favorable to Zhang Huan?
answers: text: the eunuchs

question: What type of action was attempted on the eunuchs?
answers: text: coup d'état
context: Following Huan's death, Dou Wu and the Grand Tutor Chen Fan (陳蕃) (d. 168 AD) attempted a coup d'état against the eunuchs Hou Lan (d. 172 AD), Cao Jie (d. 181 AD), and Wang Fu (王甫). When the plot was uncovered, the eunuchs arrested Empress Dowager Dou (d. 172 AD) and Chen Fan. General Zhang Huan (張奐) favored the eunuchs. He and his troops confronted Dou Wu and his retainers at the palace gate where each side shouted accusations of treason against the other. When the retainers gradually deserted Dou Wu, he was forced to commit suicide.

qas: question: In what year did the Partisan Prohibitions end?
answers: text: 184 AD

question: In what year did Zhang Lu's rebellion end?
answers: text: 215 AD

question: How many provinces did Zhang Jue's rebellion take place in?
answers: text: eight

question: What type of healer was Zhang Jue?
answers: text: faith

question: What religion did Zhang Jue practice?
answers: text: Daoist
context: The Partisan Prohibitions were repealed during the Yellow Turban Rebellion and Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion in 184 AD, largely because the court did not want to continue to alienate a significant portion of the gentry class who might otherwise join the rebellions. The Yellow Turbans and Five-Pecks-of-Rice adherents belonged to two different hierarchical Daoist religious societies led by faith healers Zhang Jue (d. 184 AD) and Zhang Lu (d. 216 AD), respectively. Zhang Lu's rebellion, in modern northern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi, was not quelled until 215 AD. Zhang Jue's massive rebellion across eight provinces was annihilated by Han forces within a year, however the following decades saw much smaller recurrent uprisings. Although the Yellow Turbans were defeated, many generals appointed during the crisis never disbanded their assembled militia forces and used these troops to amass power outside of the collapsing imperial authority.

qas: question: Who was assassinated on September 22, 189 AD?
answers: text: He Jin

question: Who agreed to the execuation of the eunuchs?
answers: text: Empress He

question: Who negated the execution order on the eunuchs?
answers: text: He Miao

question: Who was the family member that Emperor Shao escaped with?
answers: text: Liu Xie

question: What did General-in-Chief He petition Empress He for?
answers: text: the eunuchs' execution
context: General-in-Chief He Jin (d. 189 AD), half-brother to Empress He (d. 189 AD), plotted with Yuan Shao (d. 202 AD) to overthrow the eunuchs by having several generals march to the outskirts of the capital. There, in a written petition to Empress He, they demanded the eunuchs' execution. After a period of hesitation, Empress He consented. When the eunuchs discovered this, however, they had her brother He Miao (何苗) rescind the order. The eunuchs assassinated He Jin on September 22, 189 AD. Yuan Shao then besieged Luoyang's Northern Palace while his brother Yuan Shu (d. 199 AD) besieged the Southern Palace. On September 25 both palaces were breached and approximately two thousand eunuchs were killed. Zhang Rang had previously fled with Emperor Shao (r. 189 AD) and his brother Liu Xie—the future Emperor Xian of Han (r. 189–220 AD). While being pursued by the Yuan brothers, Zhang committed suicide by jumping into the Yellow River.

qas: question: How was Luoyang destroyed?
answers: text: burned

question: Who demoted Emperor Shao?
answers: text: Dong Zhuo

question: What position would the young Liu Xie eventually be promoted to?
answers: text: Emperor Xian

question: Who had taken control of Luoyang?
answers: text: General Dong Zhuo

question: When did Dong Zhuo die?
answers: text: 192 AD
context: General Dong Zhuo (d. 192 AD) found the young emperor and his brother wandering in the countryside. He escorted them safely back to the capital and was made Minister of Works, taking control of Luoyang and forcing Yuan Shao to flee. After Dong Zhuo demoted Emperor Shao and promoted his brother Liu Xie as Emperor Xian, Yuan Shao led a coalition of former officials and officers against Dong, who burned Luoyang to the ground and resettled the court at Chang'an in May 191 AD. Dong Zhuo later poisoned Emperor Shao.

qas: question: Who was defeated at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD?
answers: text: Cao

question: Who did Emperor Xian give his throne to?
answers: text: Cao Pi

question: What state was in a conflict with Eastern Wu, and Shu Han?
answers: text: Cao Wei

question: Who was in control of the south of China?
answers: text: Sun Quan

question: In what month did Cao Cao die?
answers: text: March
context: After Cao's defeat at the naval Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD, China was divided into three spheres of influence, with Cao Cao dominating the north, Sun Quan (182–252 AD) dominating the south, and Liu Bei (161–223 AD) dominating the west. Cao Cao died in March 220 AD. By December his son Cao Pi (187–226 AD) had Emperor Xian relinquish the throne to him and is known posthumously as Emperor Wen of Wei. This formally ended the Han dynasty and initiated an age of conflict between three states: Cao Wei, Eastern Wu, and Shu Han.

qas: question: During what period was it obvious that corruption was widespread in the government?
answers: text: mid-to-late Eastern Han

question: What rank provided its holder territorial rule?
answers: text: full marquess

question: What class did individuals who served as officials in the government belong to?
answers: text: commoner social

question: What was considered to be more important to some than serving the local government?
answers: text: cultivation of morally grounded personal relationships

question: What rank is below that of full marquess?
answers: text: ordinary marquess
context: Each successive rank gave its holder greater pensions and legal privileges. The highest rank, of full marquess, came with a state pension and a territorial fiefdom. Holders of the rank immediately below, that of ordinary marquess, received a pension, but had no territorial rule. Officials who served in government belonged to the wider commoner social class and were ranked just below nobles in social prestige. The highest government officials could be enfeoffed as marquesses. By the Eastern Han period, local elites of unattached scholars, teachers, students, and government officials began to identify themselves as members of a larger, nationwide gentry class with shared values and a commitment to mainstream scholarship. When the government became noticeably corrupt in mid-to-late Eastern Han, many gentrymen even considered the cultivation of morally grounded personal relationships more important than serving in public office.

qas: question: Who were considered to be below the social rank that scholars held?
answers: text: The farmer

question: What color of clothing were merchants that had registered with the state forced to wear?
answers: text: white-colored

question: Who would retainers in the employ of nobles occasionally have to fight?
answers: text: bandits

question: Who was commonly considered by some to be social parasites?
answers: text: State-registered merchants

question: How could a merchant prevent having to register as one?
answers: text: working between a network of cities
context: The farmer, or specifically the small landowner-cultivator, was ranked just below scholars and officials in the social hierarchy. Other agricultural cultivators were of a lower status, such as tenants, wage laborers, and in rare cases slaves. Artisans and craftsmen had a legal and socioeconomic status between that of owner-cultivator farmers and common merchants. State-registered merchants, who were forced by law to wear white-colored clothes and pay high commercial taxes, were considered by the gentry as social parasites with a contemptible status. These were often petty shopkeepers of urban marketplaces; merchants such as industrialists and itinerant traders working between a network of cities could avoid registering as merchants and were often wealthier and more powerful than the vast majority of government officials. Wealthy landowners, such as nobles and officials, often provided lodging for retainers who provided valuable work or duties, sometimes including fighting bandits or riding into battle. Unlike slaves, retainers could come and go from their master's home as they pleased. Medical physicians, pig breeders, and butchers had a fairly high social status, while occultist diviners, runners, and messengers had low status.

qas: question: How many family members would commonly live in a single household during the Han era?
answers: text: four to five

question: Whose opinion on the spouse of an arranged marriage was considered to be more important?
answers: text: the father's

question: Who were rich enough to afford multiple lovers?
answers: text: nobles and high officials

question: What type of family was your typical Han era family considered to be?
answers: text: patrilineal

question: What type of marriage was thought of as a normal occurrence in this era?
answers: text: Arranged marriages
context: The Han-era family was patrilineal and typically had four to five nuclear family members living in one household. Multiple generations of extended family members did not occupy the same house, unlike families of later dynasties. According to Confucian family norms, various family members were treated with different levels of respect and intimacy. For example, there were different accepted time frames for mourning the death of a father versus a paternal uncle. Arranged marriages were normal, with the father's input on his offspring's spouse being considered more important than the mother's. Monogamous marriages were also normal, although nobles and high officials were wealthy enough to afford and support concubines as additional lovers. Under certain conditions dictated by custom, not law, both men and women were able to divorce their spouses and remarry.

qas: question: Which family member commonly sent an adult married offspring away with their portion of the families fortune?
answers: text: the father

question: What type of document could be produced to distribute some of an inheritance?
answers: text: a will

question: How did daughters get their portion of the family fortune?
answers: text: marriage dowries

question: Was is guaranteed that a first born son would receive all of the family's fortune?
answers: text: inheritance practices did not involve primogeniture

question: What type of title could be passed down?
answers: text: noble
context: Apart from the passing of noble titles or ranks, inheritance practices did not involve primogeniture; each son received an equal share of the family property. Unlike the practice in later dynasties, the father usually sent his adult married sons away with their portions of the family fortune. Daughters received a portion of the family fortune through their marriage dowries, though this was usually much less than the shares of sons. A different distribution of the remainder could be specified in a will, but it is unclear how common this was.

qas: question: Which gender was exempt from performing the yearly corvee labor duties?
answers: text: Women

question: What emotional state would empresses commonly place their immediate family members in?
answers: text: openly humiliated

question: What type of occupation did women commonly take part in?
answers: text: income-earning

question: Who were women obligated to obey in their old age?
answers: text: their adult son

question: Which parental figures often avoided the common familial rules?
answers: text: mothers
context: Women were expected to obey the will of their father, then their husband, and then their adult son in old age. However, it is known from contemporary sources that there were many deviations to this rule, especially in regard to mothers over their sons, and empresses who ordered around and openly humiliated their fathers and brothers. Women were exempt from the annual corvée labor duties, but often engaged in a range of income-earning occupations aside from their domestic chores of cooking and cleaning.

qas: question: What philosophy was given exclusivity in the court during the rule of Emperor Wu?
answers: text: Confucianism

question: Who put an end to all erudites?
answers: text: Emperor Wu

question: How many students were in the Imperial University by the second century?
answers: text: over 30,000

question: What type of philosophy was available for individuals at the commanderies?
answers: text: Confucian

question: Where did teachers make their money from at private schools?
answers: text: tuition payments
context: The early Western Han court simultaneously accepted the philosophical teachings of Legalism, Huang-Lao Daoism, and Confucianism in making state decisions and shaping government policy. However, the Han court under Emperor Wu gave Confucianism exclusive patronage. He abolished all academic chairs or erudites (bóshì 博士) not dealing with the Confucian Five Classics in 136 BC and encouraged nominees for office to receive a Confucian-based education at the Imperial University that he established in 124 BC. Unlike the original ideology espoused by Confucius, or Kongzi (551–479 BC), Han Confucianism in Emperor Wu's reign was the creation of Dong Zhongshu (179–104 BC). Dong was a scholar and minor official who aggregated the ethical Confucian ideas of ritual, filial piety, and harmonious relationships with five phases and yin-yang cosmologies. Much to the interest of the ruler, Dong's synthesis justified the imperial system of government within the natural order of the universe. The Imperial University grew in importance as the student body grew to over 30,000 by the 2nd century AD. A Confucian-based education was also made available at commandery-level schools and private schools opened in small towns, where teachers earned respectable incomes from tuition payments.

qas: question: Who had produced biographies of individuals of significant importance?
answers: text: various gentrymen

question: What type of poetry had much influence in the Han dynasty?
answers: text: fu

question: Who had written the dictionary Fangyan?
answers: text: Yang Xiong

question: Which person had authored the Book of Han?
answers: text: Ban Biao

question: What was the name of Ban Biao's female offspring?
answers: text: Ban Zhao
context: Some important texts were created and studied by scholars. Philosophical works written by Yang Xiong (53 BC – 18 AD), Huan Tan (43 BC – 28 AD), Wang Chong (27–100 AD), and Wang Fu (78–163 AD) questioned whether human nature was innately good or evil and posed challenges to Dong's universal order. The Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Tan (d. 110 BC) and his son Sima Qian (145–86 BC) established the standard model for all of imperial China's Standard Histories, such as the Book of Han written by Ban Biao (3–54 AD), his son Ban Gu (32–92 AD), and his daughter Ban Zhao (45–116 AD). There were dictionaries such as the Shuowen Jiezi by Xu Shen (c. 58 – c. 147 AD) and the Fangyan by Yang Xiong. Biographies on important figures were written by various gentrymen. Han dynasty poetry was dominated by the fu genre, which achieved its greatest prominence during the reign of Emperor Wu.

qas: question: What type of torture was acquired from Qin law?
answers: text: mutilation

question: What eventually replaced torturous mutilation as a type of punishment?
answers: text: progressively less-severe beatings

question: What type of extreme punishment was likely to be laid upon those who committed the harshest of crimes?
answers: text: death by beheading

question: What could a criminal in this era expect not to happen if he was convicted of a crime?
answers: text: criminals were never imprisoned

question: What did women commonly have less of?
answers: text: rights
context: Various cases for rape, physical abuse and murder were prosecuted in court. Women, although usually having fewer rights by custom, were allowed to level civil and criminal charges against men. While suspects were jailed, convicted criminals were never imprisoned. Instead, punishments were commonly monetary fines, periods of forced hard labor for convicts, and the penalty of death by beheading. Early Han punishments of torturous mutilation were borrowed from Qin law. A series of reforms abolished mutilation punishments with progressively less-severe beatings by the bastinado.

qas: question: What type of crop was rice considered to be during this period?
answers: text: staple crops

question: What were dogs in this era most likely to be considered?
answers: text: pets

question: What type of partridge was commonly consumed?
answers: text: Chinese bamboo

question: Where were turtles acquired from?
answers: text: streams and lakes

question: What was the color of the bayberries?
answers: text: red
context: The most common staple crops consumed during Han were wheat, barley, foxtail millet, proso millet, rice, and beans. Commonly eaten fruits and vegetables included chestnuts, pears, plums, peaches, melons, apricots, strawberries, red bayberries, jujubes, calabash, bamboo shoots, mustard plant and taro. Domesticated animals that were also eaten included chickens, Mandarin ducks, geese, cows, sheep, pigs, camels and dogs (various types were bred specifically for food, while most were used as pets). Turtles and fish were taken from streams and lakes. Commonly hunted game, such as owl, pheasant, magpie, sika deer, and Chinese bamboo partridge were consumed. Seasonings included sugar, honey, salt and soy sauce. Beer and wine were regularly consumed.

qas: question: What type of decoration was often seen in tombs?
answers: text: hollow clay tiles

question: What could be used to prevent a door from closing in a place of burial?
answers: text: hollow clay tiles

question: What was the afterlife of the immortals called during this period?
answers: text: xian

question: What is the commonly held notion regarding the dual nature of the soul called?
answers: text: two-part soul

question: What function did the holes in the top and bottom of the tomb tiles enable them to do?
answers: text: allowing it to pivot
context: Families throughout Han China made ritual sacrifices of animals and food to deities, spirits, and ancestors at temples and shrines, in the belief that these items could be utilized by those in the spiritual realm. It was thought that each person had a two-part soul: the spirit-soul (hun 魂) which journeyed to the afterlife paradise of immortals (xian), and the body-soul (po 魄) which remained in its grave or tomb on earth and was only reunited with the spirit-soul through a ritual ceremony. These tombs were commonly adorned with uniquely decorated hollow clay tiles that function also as a doorjamb to the tomb. Otherwise known as tomb tiles, these artifacts feature holes in the top and bottom of the tile allowing it to pivot. Similar tiles have been found in the Chengdu area of Sichuan province in south-central China.

qas: question: Who made sacrifices to the main deities in this period?
answers: text: the emperor

question: What type of geological event was feared could be caused by the morals of the emperor?
answers: text: earthquakes

question: What is another term that could be used to label the main deities?
answers: text: the Five Powers

question: How many realms were commonly thought of as being linked by a natural cycle?
answers: text: three realms

question: What type of swarm was a concern because of the emperor's ethics?
answers: text: locusts
context: In addition to his many other roles, the emperor acted as the highest priest in the land who made sacrifices to Heaven, the main deities known as the Five Powers, and the spirits (shen 神) of mountains and rivers. It was believed that the three realms of Heaven, Earth, and Mankind were linked by natural cycles of yin and yang and the five phases. If the emperor did not behave according to proper ritual, ethics, and morals, he could disrupt the fine balance of these cosmological cycles and cause calamities such as earthquakes, floods, droughts, epidemics, and swarms of locusts.

qas: question: What was the purpose of breathing exercises to a Daoist?
answers: text: achieve immortality

question: What type of religion did the society of the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice practice?
answers: text: Daoists

question: What could the prophet Laozi offer in return for the confession of sins?
answers: text: salvation and good health

question: What literal work were followers of Laozi expected to chant?
answers: text: Daodejing

question: What could be earned if an individual had reached the lands of the Queen Mother of the West?
answers: text: immortality
context: It was believed that immortality could be achieved if one reached the lands of the Queen Mother of the West or Mount Penglai. Han-era Daoists assembled into small groups of hermits who attempted to achieve immortality through breathing exercises, sexual techniques and use of medical elixirs. By the 2nd century AD, Daoists formed large hierarchical religious societies such as the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice. Its followers believed that the sage-philosopher Laozi (fl. 6th century BC) was a holy prophet who would offer salvation and good health if his devout followers would confess their sins, ban the worship of unclean gods who accepted meat sacrifices and chant sections of the Daodejing.

qas: question: During was era did Buddhism first appear in the region?
answers: text: Eastern Han

question: When did Emperor Ming of Han's reign end?
answers: text: 75 AD

question: What philosophical practice did Liu Ying believe in?
answers: text: Buddhism

question: What is believed to be the first Buddhist temple in this area?
answers: text: the White Horse Temple

question: During which century were important Buddhist notions translated to Chinese?
answers: text: 2nd century AD
context: Buddhism first entered China during the Eastern Han and was first mentioned in 65 AD. Liu Ying (d. 71 AD), a half-brother to Emperor Ming of Han (r. 57–75 AD), was one of its earliest Chinese adherents, although Chinese Buddhism at this point was heavily associated with Huang-Lao Daoism. China's first known Buddhist temple, the White Horse Temple, was erected during Ming's reign. Important Buddhist canons were translated into Chinese during the 2nd century AD, including the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters, Perfection of Wisdom, Shurangama Sutra, and Pratyutpanna Sutra.

qas: question: Who was responsible for nominations of local administrators in the government?
answers: text: the emperor

question: Was the emperor able to reject an opinion that was made by the court conference?
answers: text: sometimes did reject the majority opinion

question: Who often placed pressure on the emperor in regards to local policies?
answers: text: court conference

question: What did the emperor risk if he did not accept the decisions of the court conference?
answers: text: alienating his high ministers

question: Who was considered to be the supreme judge in Han government?
answers: text: the emperor
context: In Han government, the emperor was the supreme judge and lawgiver, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and sole designator of official nominees appointed to the top posts in central and local administrations; those who earned a 600-dan salary-rank or higher. Theoretically, there were no limits to his power. However, state organs with competing interests and institutions such as the court conference (tingyi 廷議)—where ministers were convened to reach majority consensus on an issue—pressured the emperor to accept the advice of his ministers on policy decisions. If the emperor rejected a court conference decision, he risked alienating his high ministers. Nevertheless, emperors sometimes did reject the majority opinion reached at court conferences.

qas: question: Which individual had a duty to maintain the imperial stables?
answers: text: The Minister Coachman

question: Which Minister had the responsibility to interpret laws in this period?
answers: text: The Minister of Justice

question: Which Minister could an honored guest of the court be expected to see?
answers: text: The Minister Herald

question: Who provided  the emperor with sustenance and medical aid?
answers: text: The Minister Steward

question: Which individual held the responsibility to oversee the interactions of the empire's nobles with the court?
answers: text: The Minister of the Imperial Clan
context: Ranked below the Three Councillors of State were the Nine Ministers, who each headed a specialized ministry. The Minister of Ceremonies was the chief official in charge of religious rites, rituals, prayers and the maintenance of ancestral temples and altars. The Minister of the Household was in charge of the emperor's security within the palace grounds, external imperial parks and wherever the emperor made an outing by chariot. The Minister of the Guards was responsible for securing and patrolling the walls, towers, and gates of the imperial palaces. The Minister Coachman was responsible for the maintenance of imperial stables, horses, carriages and coach-houses for the emperor and his palace attendants, as well as the supply of horses for the armed forces. The Minister of Justice was the chief official in charge of upholding, administering, and interpreting the law. The Minister Herald was the chief official in charge of receiving honored guests at the imperial court, such as nobles and foreign ambassadors. The Minister of the Imperial Clan oversaw the imperial court's interactions with the empire's nobility and extended imperial family, such as granting fiefs and titles. The Minister of Finance was the treasurer for the official bureaucracy and the armed forces who handled tax revenues and set standards for units of measurement. The Minister Steward served the emperor exclusively, providing him with entertainment and amusements, proper food and clothing, medicine and physical care, valuables and equipment.

qas: question: What individual was typically in charge of a commandery?
answers: text: an Administrator

question: Around how many households was a Prefect responsible for?
answers: text: 10,000

question: What individual was responsible for law and maintaining order in the county?
answers: text: A Magistrate

question: What Emperor initially created the quota system?
answers: text: Emperor Wu

question: Who was in charge of counties that had fewer than 10,000 people in them?
answers: text: Chiefs
context: A commandery consisted of a group of counties, and was headed by an Administrator. He was the top civil and military leader of the commandery and handled defense, lawsuits, seasonal instructions to farmers and recommendations of nominees for office sent annually to the capital in a quota system first established by Emperor Wu. The head of a large county of about 10,000 households was called a Prefect, while the heads of smaller counties were called Chiefs, and both could be referred to as Magistrates. A Magistrate maintained law and order in his county, registered the populace for taxation, mobilized commoners for annual corvée duties, repaired schools and supervised public works.

qas: question: What gender was expected to be conscripted into the military?
answers: text: male

question: At what age could a male common expect to be conscripted into the military?
answers: text: twenty-three

question: How long could a conscripted soldier expect to be in training for?
answers: text: one year

question: What was the lowest age a soldier could be conscripted after the end of Emperor Zhao's tenure?
answers: text: twenty

question: Which Minister could a conscripted soldier expect to serve under during his year of service?
answers: text: Minister of the Guards
context: At the beginning of the Han dynasty, every male commoner aged twenty-three was liable for conscription into the military. The minimum age for the military draft was reduced to twenty after Emperor Zhao's (r. 87–74 BC) reign. Conscripted soldiers underwent one year of training and one year of service as non-professional soldiers. The year of training was served in one of three branches of the armed forces: infantry, cavalry or navy. The year of active service was served either on the frontier, in a king's court or under the Minister of the Guards in the capital. A small professional (paid) standing army was stationed near the capital.

qas: question: How could conscription into military service be avoided?
answers: text: one paid a commutable tax

question: What army was based near the capital?
answers: text: Northern Army

question: What army was considered to be the volunteer army?
answers: text: Southern Army

question: How many regiments were in the Northern Army?
answers: text: five

question: Around how many soldiers were in each regiment of the Northern Army?
answers: text: several thousand soldiers
context: During the Eastern Han, conscription could be avoided if one paid a commutable tax. The Eastern Han court favored the recruitment of a volunteer army. The volunteer army comprised the Southern Army (Nanjun 南軍), while the standing army stationed in and near the capital was the Northern Army (Beijun 北軍). Led by Colonels (Xiaowei 校尉), the Northern Army consisted of five regiments, each composed of several thousand soldiers. When central authority collapsed after 189 AD, wealthy landowners, members of the aristocracy/nobility, and regional military-governors relied upon their retainers to act as their own personal troops (buqu 部曲).

qas: question: Where did the Han dynasty receive their coin type from?
answers: text: the Qin

question: Who closed the government mint?
answers: text: Emperor Gaozu

question: In what year was the decision reversing the closure of the government mint implemented?
answers: text: 186 BC

question: Who released new lighter coinage that caused significant amounts of inflation because of it's weight?
answers: text: Lü Zhi

question: In what year were private manufactures allowed to create coins that were exactly 2.6g in mass?
answers: text: 175 BC
context: The Han dynasty inherited the ban liang coin type from the Qin. In the beginning of the Han, Emperor Gaozu closed the government mint in favor of private minting of coins. This decision was reversed in 186 BC by his widow Grand Empress Dowager Lü Zhi (d. 180 BC), who abolished private minting. In 182 BC, Lü Zhi issued a bronze coin that was much lighter in weight than previous coins. This caused widespread inflation that was not reduced until 175 BC when Emperor Wen allowed private minters to manufacture coins that were precisely 2.6 g (0.09 oz) in weight.

qas: question: Who introduced new coinage in the year of 120 BC?
answers: text: Emperor Wu

question: What coin replaced the ban liangs after only a year of distribution?
answers: text: wuzhu

question: During what dynasty did the wuzhu stop being the standard coin?
answers: text: Tang dynasty

question: What was the mass of the wuzhu coin?
answers: text: 3.2 g

question: What interrupted the use of the wuzhu coin during the reign of Wang Mang?
answers: text: several new currencies
context: In 144 BC Emperor Jing abolished private minting in favor of central-government and commandery-level minting; he also introduced a new coin. Emperor Wu introduced another in 120 BC, but a year later he abandoned the ban liangs entirely in favor of the wuzhu (五銖) coin, weighing 3.2 g (0.11 oz). The wuzhu became China's standard coin until the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). Its use was interrupted briefly by several new currencies introduced during Wang Mang's regime until it was reinstated in 40 AD by Emperor Guangwu.

qas: question: Which group made up the bulk of the Han tax base?
answers: text: landowner-cultivators

question: Who made reductions in the taxes that landowner-cultivators were forced to pay?
answers: text: The Han government

question: During what period did a large number of peasants incur debt?
answers: text: Eastern Han

question: What type of housing did the Han government provide to landless indebted peasants?
answers: text: temporary

question: What did the Han government do to help out smaller landowners?
answers: text: enacted reforms
context: The small landowner-cultivators formed the majority of the Han tax base; this revenue was threatened during the latter half of Eastern Han when many peasants fell into debt and were forced to work as farming tenants for wealthy landlords. The Han government enacted reforms in order to keep small landowner-cultivators out of debt and on their own farms. These reforms included reducing taxes, temporary remissions of taxes, granting loans and providing landless peasants temporary lodging and work in agricultural colonies until they could recover from their debts.

qas: question: In which year did Emperor Wu monopolize several industries?
answers: text: 117 BC

question: Who allowed industrialists to become officials in the newly state sanctioned industries?
answers: text: Emperor Wu

question: During what period did the governmental monopolies become privatized once again?
answers: text: Eastern Han

question: What did Emperor Wu do to negate the influence of private entrepreneurs?
answers: text: nationalized the salt and iron industries

question: During what era could a wealthy iron industrialist be able to rival the treasury in funds?
answers: text: Western Han
context: In the early Western Han, a wealthy salt or iron industrialist, whether a semi-autonomous king or wealthy merchant, could boast funds that rivaled the imperial treasury and amass a peasant workforce of over a thousand. This kept many peasants away from their farms and denied the government a significant portion of its land tax revenue. To eliminate the influence of such private entrepreneurs, Emperor Wu nationalized the salt and iron industries in 117 BC and allowed many of the former industrialists to become officials administering the monopolies. By Eastern Han times, the central government monopolies were repealed in favor of production by commandery and county administrations, as well as private businessmen.

qas: question: What industry was monopolized by the government in 98 BC?
answers: text: Liquor

question: In what year did the liquor industry once again become privatized?
answers: text: 81 BC

question: What was mostly missing during the Eastern Han?
answers: text: price control regulations

question: What did Emperor Wu sell that offended the merchants?
answers: text: grain

question: What office did Emperor Ming create?
answers: text: Office for Price Adjustment and Stabilization
context: Liquor was another profitable private industry nationalized by the central government in 98 BC. However, this was repealed in 81 BC and a property tax rate of two coins for every 0.2 L (0.05 gallons) was levied for those who traded it privately. By 110 BC Emperor Wu also interfered with the profitable trade in grain when he eliminated speculation by selling government-stored grain at a lower price than demanded by merchants. Apart from Emperor Ming's creation of a short-lived Office for Price Adjustment and Stabilization, which was abolished in 68 AD, central-government price control regulations were largely absent during the Eastern Han.

qas: question: What type of furnace was functional in China in 722 BC?
answers: text: blast

question: What element was used in the production of wrought iron?
answers: text: oxygen

question: What type of iron could pig iron be converted into?
answers: text: wrought

question: What type of process was used to convert various metals into steel?
answers: text: fining

question: What can iron ore be converted into in a blast furnace?
answers: text: pig iron
context: Evidence suggests that blast furnaces, that convert raw iron ore into pig iron, which can be remelted in a cupola furnace to produce cast iron by means of a cold blast and hot blast, were operational in China by the late Spring and Autumn period (722–481 BC). The bloomery was nonexistent in ancient China; however, the Han-era Chinese produced wrought iron by injecting excess oxygen into a furnace and causing decarburization. Cast iron and pig iron could be converted into wrought iron and steel using a fining process.

qas: question: What was an invention that allowed farmers to place their crops into rows?
answers: text: The three-legged iron seed drill

question: How many animals were neccessary to pull an iron plow?
answers: text: two oxen

question: How many acres of land could succesfully be sowed with a seed box in a day?
answers: text: 11.3 acres

question: What methodology allowed the production of new agricultural tools?
answers: text: improved iron-smelting techniques

question: How many persons were necessary to operate an iron plow?
answers: text: one man
context: The Han-era Chinese used bronze and iron to make a range of weapons, culinary tools, carpenters' tools and domestic wares. A significant product of these improved iron-smelting techniques was the manufacture of new agricultural tools. The three-legged iron seed drill, invented by the 2nd century BC, enabled farmers to carefully plant crops in rows instead of casting seeds out by hand. The heavy moldboard iron plow, also invented during the Han dynasty, required only one man to control it, two oxen to pull it. It had three plowshares, a seed box for the drills, a tool which turned down the soil and could sow roughly 45,730 m2 (11.3 acres) of land in a single day.

qas: question: What helped insure the safety of crops from wind?
answers: text: the alternating fields system

question: What was the name of the system that for growing crops that did not require plows?
answers: text: pit field system

question: What were paddy fields used for primarily to grow in smaller areas?
answers: text: rice

question: What system did the government recommend the usage of?
answers: text: alternating fields system

question: What was the name of the Grain Intendant?
answers: text: Zhao Guo
context: To protect crops from wind and drought, the Grain Intendant Zhao Guo (趙過) created the alternating fields system (daitianfa 代田法) during Emperor Wu's reign. This system switched the positions of furrows and ridges between growing seasons. Once experiments with this system yielded successful results, the government officially sponsored it and encouraged peasants to use it. Han farmers also used the pit field system (aotian 凹田) for growing crops, which involved heavily fertilized pits that did not require plows or oxen and could be placed on sloping terrain. In southern and small parts of central Han-era China, paddy fields were chiefly used to grow rice, while farmers along the Huai River used transplantation methods of rice production.

qas: question: What building material was used primarily during the Han dynasty?
answers: text: Timber

question: What dynasty can the oldest wooden buildings in China be dated to?
answers: text: Tang

question: What is considered to be the last year of the Tang dynasty?
answers: text: 907 AD

question: What type of object is the only evidence of Han's wooden constructions?
answers: text: ceramic roof tiles

question: What was the primary component of a palace hall during the Han dynasty?
answers: text: Timber
context: Timber was the chief building material during the Han dynasty; it was used to build palace halls, multi-story residential towers and halls and single-story houses. Because wood decays rapidly, the only remaining evidence of Han wooden architecture is a collection of scattered ceramic roof tiles. The oldest surviving wooden halls in China date to the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). Architectural historian Robert L. Thorp points out the scarcity of Han-era archaeological remains, and claims that often unreliable Han-era literary and artistic sources are used by historians for clues about lost Han architecture.

qas: question: How many stone pillar-gates survive from the Han era?
answers: text: twenty-nine

question: What architectural feature contained an imitation of a balustrade?
answers: text: stone pillar-gates

question: What building material were tomb chambers constructed with?
answers: text: brick

question: What were the walls that encompassed the city of Luoyang comprised of?
answers: text: rammed-earth

question: What type of system used ceramic water pipes?
answers: text: drainage systems
context: Though Han wooden structures decayed, some Han-dynasty ruins made of brick, stone, and rammed earth remain intact. This includes stone pillar-gates, brick tomb chambers, rammed-earth city walls, rammed-earth and brick beacon towers, rammed-earth sections of the Great Wall, rammed-earth platforms where elevated halls once stood, and two rammed-earth castles in Gansu. The ruins of rammed-earth walls that once surrounded the capitals Chang'an and Luoyang still stand, along with their drainage systems of brick arches, ditches, and ceramic water pipes. Monumental stone pillar-gates, twenty-nine of which survive from the Han period, formed entrances of walled enclosures at shrine and tomb sites. These pillars feature artistic imitations of wooden and ceramic building components such as roof tiles, eaves, and balustrades.

qas: question: What type of scholars have provided proof that mechanical engineering was prominent during the Han period?
answers: text: Confucian

question: Which philosopher described the invention of a belt drive?
answers: text: Yang Xiong

question: Which engineer was responsible for first inventing the zoetrope lamp?
answers: text: Ding Huan

question: What can be used as a support structure in incense burners?
answers: text: gimbals

question: What type of invention was used to provide air conditioning for the palace buildings?
answers: text: rotary fan
context: Evidence of Han-era mechanical engineering comes largely from the choice observational writings of sometimes disinterested Confucian scholars. Professional artisan-engineers (jiang 匠) did not leave behind detailed records of their work. Han scholars, who often had little or no expertise in mechanical engineering, sometimes provided insufficient information on the various technologies they described. Nevertheless, some Han literary sources provide crucial information. For example, in 15 BC the philosopher Yang Xiong described the invention of the belt drive for a quilling machine, which was of great importance to early textile manufacturing. The inventions of the artisan-engineer Ding Huan (丁緩) are mentioned in the Miscellaneous Notes on the Western Capital. Around 180 AD, Ding created a manually operated rotary fan used for air conditioning within palace buildings. Ding also used gimbals as pivotal supports for one of his incense burners and invented the world's first known zoetrope lamp.

qas: question: During which period was the odometer cart first created?
answers: text: Han

question: What item was used to make very small measurements during this era?
answers: text: sliding metal calipers

question: What has allowed us to discover long lost inventions of the Han era?
answers: text: artwork

question: What was used to separate parts of grain?
answers: text: winnowing machines

question: What use did the odometer cart provide?
answers: text: measured journey lengths
context: Modern archaeology has led to the discovery of Han artwork portraying inventions which were otherwise absent in Han literary sources. As observed in Han miniature tomb models, but not in literary sources, the crank handle was used to operate the fans of winnowing machines that separated grain from chaff. The odometer cart, invented during Han, measured journey lengths, using mechanical figures banging drums and gongs to indicate each distance traveled. This invention is depicted in Han artwork by the 2nd century AD, yet detailed written descriptions were not offered until the 3rd century AD. Modern archaeologists have also unearthed specimens of devices used during the Han dynasty, for example a pair of sliding metal calipers used by craftsmen for making minute measurements. These calipers contain inscriptions of the exact day and year they were manufactured. These tools are not mentioned in any Han literary sources.

qas: question: What was used to power chain pumps to raise water to irrigation ditches?
answers: text: Waterwheels

question: What commandery was the creator of the waterwheel-powered reciprocator from?
answers: text: Nanyang

question: Who was the author of the essay entitled Balance Discourse?
answers: text: Wang Chong

question: During what century is it likely that the watermill made an appearance in China?
answers: text: about the 5th century

question: During what era did the waterwheel first appear in recordings?
answers: text: Han
context: The waterwheel appeared in Chinese records during the Han. As mentioned by Huan Tan in about 20 AD, they were used to turn gears that lifted iron trip hammers, and were used in pounding, threshing and polishing grain. However, there is no sufficient evidence for the watermill in China until about the 5th century. The Nanyang Commandery Administrator Du Shi (d. 38 AD) created a waterwheel-powered reciprocator that worked the bellows for the smelting of iron. Waterwheels were also used to power chain pumps that lifted water to raised irrigation ditches. The chain pump was first mentioned in China by the philosopher Wang Chong in his 1st-century-AD Balanced Discourse.

qas: question: Who was responsible for the invention of the seismometer?
answers: text: Zhang Heng

question: In what year was the seismometer first invented?
answers: text: 132 AD

question: What invention included an inverted pendulum?
answers: text: seismometer

question: How many dragons were represented in Zhang Heng's invention of the seismometer?
answers: text: eight

question: What was exchanged from mouth to mouth in the usage of the seismometer?
answers: text: metal ball
context: The armillary sphere, a three-dimensional representation of the movements in the celestial sphere, was invented in Han China by the 1st century BC. Using a water clock, waterwheel and a series of gears, the Court Astronomer Zhang Heng (78–139 AD) was able to mechanically rotate his metal-ringed armillary sphere. To address the problem of slowed timekeeping in the pressure head of the inflow water clock, Zhang was the first in China to install an additional tank between the reservoir and inflow vessel. Zhang also invented a seismometer (Houfeng didong yi 候风地动仪) in 132 AD to detect the exact cardinal or ordinal direction of earthquakes from hundreds of kilometers away. This employed an inverted pendulum that, when disturbed by ground tremors, would trigger a set of gears that dropped a metal ball from one of eight dragon mouths (representing all eight directions) into a metal toad's mouth.

qas: question: What type of treatise is the Book on Numbers and Computation considered to be?
answers: text: mathematical

question: How many mathematical treatises have still managed to survive to this day?
answers: text: Three

question: What achievement of the Han era can be used to help solve linear equations?
answers: text: Gaussian elimination

question: During what era was the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art from?
answers: text: Han

question: What can be used to help find the roots of equations?
answers: text: continued fractions
context: Three Han mathematical treatises still exist. These are the Book on Numbers and Computation, the Arithmetical Classic of the Gnomon and the Circular Paths of Heaven and the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art. Han-era mathematical achievements include solving problems with right-angle triangles, square roots, cube roots, and matrix methods, finding more accurate approximations for pi, providing mathematical proof of the Pythagorean theorem, use of the decimal fraction, Gaussian elimination to solve linear equations, and continued fractions to find the roots of equations.

qas: question: In what treatise did negative numbers first appear?
answers: text: the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art

question: How were negative numbers first described during the Han period?
answers: text: as black counting rods

question: In what century were negative numbers more commonly accepted in Europe?
answers: text: 16th century AD

question: What Indian manuscript also contains the useage of negative numbers?
answers: text: Bakhshali

question: What were positive numbers portayed as in the treatise of the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art?
answers: text: red counting rods
context: One of the Han's greatest mathematical advancements was the world's first use of negative numbers. Negative numbers first appeared in the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art as black counting rods, where positive numbers were represented by red counting rods. Negative numbers are used in the Bakhshali manuscript of ancient India, but its exact date of compilation is unknown. Negative numbers were also used by the Greek mathematician Diophantus in about 275 AD, but were not widely accepted in Europe until the 16th century AD.

qas: question: In what era was a geocentric view of the universe adopted?
answers: text: Han

question: Who was able to describe the process of evaporation?
answers: text: Wang Chong

question: What object was assumed to block sunlight during a lunar eclipse?
answers: text: the Earth

question: What did astronomers believe the shape of the Sun to be during this era?
answers: text: spherical

question: What did astronomers during this area believe to be the center of the universe?
answers: text: the earth
context: Han-era astronomers adopted a geocentric model of the universe, theorizing that it was shaped like a sphere surrounding the earth in the center. They assumed that the Sun, Moon, and planets were spherical and not disc-shaped. They also thought that the illumination of the Moon and planets was caused by sunlight, that lunar eclipses occurred when the Earth obstructed sunlight falling onto the Moon, and that a solar eclipse occurred when the Moon obstructed sunlight from reaching the Earth. Although others disagreed with his model, Wang Chong accurately described the water cycle of the evaporation of water into clouds.

qas: question: What textile were some of the early Han maps made from?
answers: text: silk

question: In what type of building were silken maps found?
answers: text: tomb

question: Which individual created the very first raised relief map?
answers: text: Ma Yuan

question: What food stable was the first raised relief map created from?
answers: text: rice
context: Evidence found in Chinese literature, and archaeological evidence, show that cartography existed in China before the Han. Some of the earliest Han maps discovered were ink-penned silk maps found amongst the Mawangdui Silk Texts in a 2nd-century-BC tomb. The general Ma Yuan created the world's first known raised-relief map from rice in the 1st century AD. This date could be revised if the tomb of Qin Shi Huang is excavated and the account in the Records of the Grand Historian concerning a model map of the empire is proven to be true.

qas: question: What type of boat design was first invented during the Han era?
answers: text: The junk design

question: In what areas were Han ships able to be sailed in part due to the stern rudder?
answers: text: high seas

question: What ship design contained a flat-bottomed hull?
answers: text: Junks

question: What type of transport was the steering oar most likely to be used during?
answers: text: riverine transport
context: The Han-era Chinese sailed in a variety of ships differing from those of previous eras, such as the tower ship. The junk design was developed and realized during Han. Junks featured a square-ended bow and stern, a flat-bottomed hull or carvel-shaped hull with no keel or sternpost, and solid transverse bulkheads in the place of structural ribs found in Western vessels. Moreover, Han ships were the first in the world to be steered using a rudder at the stern, in contrast to the simpler steering oar used for riverine transport, allowing them to sail on the high seas.

qas: question: Who believed that the same forces that controlled the universe also controlled the human body?
answers: text: Han-era medical physicians

question: What was used during surgery to relieve patients of their pain?
answers: text: anesthesia

question: What profession was the individual Zhang Zhongjing involved in?
answers: text: physician

question: How did Zhang Zhongjing attempt to cure various illnesses?
answers: text: prescribed regulated diets

question: When did Hua Tuo die?
answers: text: 208 AD
context: Han-era medical physicians believed that the human body was subject to the same forces of nature that governed the greater universe, namely the cosmological cycles of yin and yang and the five phases. Each organ of the body was associated with a particular phase. Illness was viewed as a sign that qi or "vital energy" channels leading to a certain organ had been disrupted. Thus, Han-era physicians prescribed medicine that was believed to counteract this imbalance. For example, since the wood phase was believed to promote the fire phase, medicinal ingredients associated with the wood phase could be used to heal an organ associated with the fire phase. To this end, the physician Zhang Zhongjing (c. 150–c. 219 AD) prescribed regulated diets rich in certain foods that were thought to cure specific illnesses. These are now known to be nutrition disorders caused by the lack of certain vitamins consumed in one's diet. Besides dieting, Han physicians also prescribed moxibustion, acupuncture, and calisthenics as methods of maintaining one's health. When surgery was performed by the physician Hua Tuo (d. 208 AD), he used anesthesia to numb his patients' pain and prescribed a rubbing ointment that allegedly sped the process of healing surgical wounds.