What’s the capital of Han dynasty from 25 to 190?
Han dynasty The Han dynasty ( ) was the second imperial dynasty of China ( 202 BC – 220 AD ) , established by the rebel leader Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu . Preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty ( 221–206 BC ) and a warring interregnum known as the ChuHan contention ( 206–202 BC ) , it was briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty ( 9–23 AD ) established by the usurping regent Wang Mang , and was separated into two periods—the Western Han ( 202 BC–9 AD ) and the Eastern Han ( 25–220 AD ) —before being succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period ( 220–280 AD ) . Spanning over four centuries , the Han dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history , and influenced the identity of the Chinese civilization ever since . Modern Chinas majority ethnic group refers to themselves as the Han people , the Sinitic language is known as Han language , and the written Chinese is referred to as Han characters . 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 ( BC ) 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 1912 AD . The Han dynasty saw an age of economic prosperity and witnessed a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty ( 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 finance its military campaigns and the settlement of newly conquered frontier territories , the Han government nationalized the private salt and iron industries in 117 BC , but these government monopolies were repealed during the Eastern Han dynasty . Science and technology during the Han period saw significant advances , including the process of papermaking , the nautical steering ship 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 that could be used to discern the cardinal direction of distant earthquakes . The Xiongnu , a nomadic steppe confederation , defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a de facto inferior and vassal partner for several decades , but continued their military raids on the Han borders . Emperor Wu 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 and control 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 Hans 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 . 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 empresses dowager , causing the Hans 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 ( 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 . Etymology . According to the Records of the Grand Historian , after the collapse of the Qin dynasty the hegemon Xiang Yu appointed Liu Bang as prince of the small fief of Hanzhong , named after its location on the Han River ( in modern southwest Shaanxi ) . Following Liu Bangs victory in the Chu–Han Contention , the resulting Han dynasty was named after the Hanzhong fief . History . Western Han . Chinas first imperial dynasty was the Qin dynasty ( 221–207 BC ) . The Qin united the Chinese Warring States by conquest , but their regime became unstable after the death of the first emperor Qin Shi Huang . Within four years , the dynastys 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 an effective 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 ( BC ) . Changan ( known today as Xian ) was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han . At the beginning of the Western Han ( ) , also known as the Former 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 196 BC , the Han court had replaced all but one of these kings ( the exception being in Changsha ) 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 . To the north of China proper , the nomadic Xiongnu chieftain Modu Chanyu ( 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 . 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 . Despite the tribute and a negotiation between Laoshang Chanyu ( BC ) and Emperor Wen ( BC ) to reopen border markets , many of the Chanyus 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 ( 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 . 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 . After Wus reign , Han forces continued to prevail against the Xiongnu . The Xiongnu leader Huhanye Chanyu ( BC ) finally submitted to Han as a tributary vassal in 51 BC . His rival claimant to the throne , Zhizhi Chanyu ( BC ) , was killed by Chen Tang and Gan Yanshou ( 甘延壽/甘延寿 ) at the Battle of Zhizhi , in modern Taraz , Kazakhstan . 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 . Even before Hans expansion into Central Asia , diplomat Zhang Qians 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 . 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 regions 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 Han conquest of Gojoseon and colonial establishments of Xuantu Commandery and Lelang Commandery in 108 BC . In Chinas first known nationwide census taken in 2 AD , the population was registered as having 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households . 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 Wus 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 . Wang Mangs reign and civil war . Wang Zhengjun ( 71 BC–13 AD ) was first empress , then empress dowager , and finally grand empress dowager during the reigns of the Emperors Yuan ( BC ) , Cheng ( BC ) , and Ai ( BC ) , respectively . During this time , a succession of her male relatives held the title of regent . Following the death of Ai , Wang Zhengjuns nephew Wang Mang ( 45 BC–23 AD ) was appointed regent as Marshall of State on 16 August under Emperor Ping ( AD ) . When Ping died on 3 February 6 AD , Ruzi Ying ( d . 25 AD ) was chosen as the heir and Wang Mang was appointed to serve as acting emperor for the child . Wang promised to relinquish his control to Liu Ying once he came of age . Despite this promise , and against protest and revolts from the nobility , Wang Mang claimed on 10 January that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the Han dynasty and the beginning of his own : the Xin dynasty ( 9–23 AD ) . 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 , Wangs regime met its ultimate downfall with the massive floods of 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 . The flood dislodged thousands of peasant farmers , many of whom joined roving bandit and rebel groups such as the Red Eyebrows to survive . Wang Mangs armies were incapable of quelling these enlarged rebel groups . Eventually , an insurgent mob forced their way into the Weiyang Palace and killed Wang Mang . The Gengshi Emperor ( AD ) , a descendant of Emperor Jing ( BC ) , attempted to restore the Han dynasty and occupied Changan as his capital . However , he was overwhelmed by the Red Eyebrow rebels who deposed , assassinated , and replaced him with the puppet monarch Liu Penzi . Gengshis distant cousin Liu Xiu , known posthumously as Emperor Guangwu ( AD ) , after distinguishing himself at the Battle of Kunyang in 23 AD , was urged to succeed Gengshi as emperor . Under Guangwus rule the Han Empire was restored . Guangwu made Luoyang his capital in 25 AD , and by 27 AD his officers Deng Yu and Feng Yi had forced the Red Eyebrows to surrender and executed their leaders for treason . From 26 until 36 AD , Emperor Guangwu had to wage war against other regional warlords who claimed the title of emperor ; when these warlords were defeated , China reunified under the Han . The period between the foundation of the Han dynasty and Wang Mangs reign is known as the Western Han ( ) or Former Han ( ) ( 206 BC–9 AD ) . During this period the capital was at Changan ( modern Xian ) . 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 or Later Han ( 25–220 AD ) . Eastern Han . The Eastern Han ( ) , also known as the Later Han ( ) , formally began on 5 August AD 25 , when Liu Xiu became Emperor Guangwu of Han . During the widespread rebellion against Wang Mang , the state of Goguryeo was free to raid Hans 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 . During the turbulent reign of Wang Mang , China lost control over the Tarim Basin , which was conquered by the Northern Xiongnu in AD 63 and used as a base to invade the 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 , Tanshihuais confederation disintegrated after his death . 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 ( ) 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 . Foreign travelers to Eastern-Han China include Buddhist monks who translated works into Chinese , such as An Shigao from Parthia , and Lokaksema from Kushan-era Gandhara , India . 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 ( AD ) is recorded in the Weilüe and Hou Hanshu to have reached the court of Emperor Huan of Han ( AD ) in AD 166 , yet Rafe de Crespigny asserts that this was most likely a group of Roman merchants . In addition to Roman glasswares and coins found in China , Roman medallions from the reign of Antoninus Pius and his adopted son Marcus Aurelius have been found at Óc Eo in Vietnam . This was near the commandery of Rinan ( also Jiaozhi ) where Chinese sources claim the Romans first landed , as well as embassies from Tianzhu ( in northern India ) in the years 159 and 161 . Óc Eo is also thought to be the port city Cattigara described by Ptolemy in his Geography ( AD ) as lying east of the Golden Chersonese ( Malay Peninsula ) along the Magnus Sinus ( i.e . Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea ) , where a Greek sailor had visited . Emperor Zhangs ( 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 . In 92 AD , with the aid of the eunuch Zheng Zhong ( d . 107 AD ) , Emperor He ( AD ) had Empress Dowager Dou ( d . 97 AD ) put under house arrest and her clan stripped of power . This was in revenge for Dous purging of the clan of his natural mother—Consort Liang—and then concealing her identity from him . After Emperor Hes 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 . When Empress Dowager Deng died , Emperor An ( AD ) was convinced by the accusations of the eunuchs Li Run ( ) and Jiang Jing ( ) that Deng and her family had planned to depose him . An dismissed Dengs clan members from office , exiled them and forced many to commit suicide . After Ans 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 ( 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 Jis attempts to control her . Afterward , Emperor Huan employed eunuchs to depose Liang Ji , who was then forced to commit suicide . Students from the Imperial University organized a widespread student protest against the eunuchs of Emperor Huans 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 ( ) 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 . Following Huans death , Dou Wu and the Grand Tutor Chen Fan ( d . 168 AD ) attempted a coup détat against the eunuchs Hou Lan ( d . 172 AD ) , Cao Jie ( d . 181 AD ) , and Wang Fu ( ) . When the plot was uncovered , the eunuchs arrested Empress Dowager Dou ( d . 172 AD ) and Chen Fan . General Zhang Huan ( ) 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 . Under Emperor Ling ( AD ) the eunuchs had the partisan prohibitions renewed and expanded , while also auctioning off top government offices . Many affairs of state were entrusted to the eunuchs Zhao Zhong ( d . 189 AD ) and Zhang Rang ( d . 189 AD ) while Emperor Ling spent much of his time roleplaying with concubines and participating in military parades . End of the Han dynasty . 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 Lus rebellion , in modern northern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi , was not quelled until 215 AD . Zhang Jues 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 . 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 ( ) rescind the order . The eunuchs assassinated He Jin on September 22 , 189 AD . Yuan Shao then besieged Luoyangs 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 ( AD ) and his brother Liu Xie—the future Emperor Xian of Han ( AD ) . While being pursued by the Yuan brothers , Zhang committed suicide by jumping into the Yellow River . 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 Changan in May 191 AD . Dong Zhuo later poisoned Emperor Shao . Dong was killed by his adopted son Lü Bu ( d . 198 AD ) in a plot hatched by Wang Yun ( d . 192 AD ) . Emperor Xian fled from Changan in 195 AD to the ruins of Luoyang . Xian was persuaded by Cao Cao ( 155–220 AD ) , then Governor of Yan Province in modern western Shandong and eastern Henan , to move the capital to Xuchang in 196 AD . Yuan Shao challenged Cao Cao for control over the emperor . Yuans power was greatly diminished after Cao defeated him at the Battle of Guandu in 200 AD . After Yuan died , Cao killed Yuan Shaos son Yuan Tan ( 173–205 AD ) , who had fought with his brothers over the family inheritance . His brothers Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi were killed in 207 AD by Gongsun Kang ( d . 221 AD ) , who sent their heads to Cao Cao . After Caos 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 . Culture and society . Social class . In the hierarchical social order , the emperor was at the apex of Han society and government . However the emperor was often a minor , ruled over by a regent such as the empress dowager or one of her male relatives . Ranked immediately below the emperor were the kings who were of the same Liu family clan . The rest of society , including nobles lower than kings and all commoners excluding slaves belonged to one of twenty ranks ( ershi gongcheng ) . 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 . 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 slaves . The Han dynasty made adjustments to slavery in China and saw an increase in agricultural slaves . Artisans , technicians , tradespeople 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 masters 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 . Marriage , gender , and kinship . 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 . Marriages were highly ritualized , particularly for the wealthy , and included many important steps . The giving of betrothal gifts , known as bridewealth and dowry , were especially important . A lack of either was considered dishonorable and the woman would have been seen not as a wife , but as a concubine . Arranged marriages were normal , with the fathers input on his offsprings spouse being considered more important than the mothers . 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 . However , a woman who had been widowed continued to belong to her husbands family after his death . In order to remarry , the widow would have to be returned to her family in exchange for a ransom fee . Her children would not be allowed to go with her . 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 . 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 . The most common occupation for women was weaving clothes for the family , sale at market or for large textile enterprises that employed hundreds of women . Other women helped on their brothers farms or became singers , dancers , sorceresses , respected medical physicians , and successful merchants who could afford their own silk clothes . Some women formed spinning collectives , aggregating the resources of several different families . Education , literature , and philosophy . 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 BCE and encouraged nominees for office to receive a Confucian-based education at the Imperial University that he established in 124 BCE . Unlike the original ideology espoused by Confucius , or Kongzi ( 551–479 BCE ) , Han Confucianism in Emperor Wus reign was the creation of Dong Zhongshu ( 179–104 BCE ) . 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 , Dongs 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 CE . 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 . Some important texts were created and studied by scholars . Philosophical works written by Yang Xiong ( 53 BCE – 18 CE ) , Huan Tan ( 43 BCE – 28 CE ) , Wang Chong ( 27–100 CE ) , and Wang Fu ( 78–163 CE ) questioned whether human nature was innately good or evil and posed challenges to Dongs universal order . The Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Tan ( d . 110 BCE ) and his son Sima Qian ( 145–86 BCE ) established the standard model for all of imperial Chinas Standard Histories , such as the Book of Han written by Ban Biao ( 3–54 CE ) , his son Ban Gu ( 32–92 CE ) , and his daughter Ban Zhao ( 45–116 CE ) . There were dictionaries such as the Shuowen Jiezi by Xu Shen ( – CE ) 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 . Law and order . Han scholars such as Jia Yi ( 201–169 BCE ) portrayed the previous Qin dynasty as a brutal regime . However , archaeological evidence from Zhangjiashan and Shuihudi reveal that many of the statutes in the Han law code compiled by Chancellor Xiao He ( d . 193 BCE ) were derived from Qin law . 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 . Acting as a judge in lawsuits was one of many duties of the county magistrate and Administrators of commanderies . Complex , high-profile or unresolved cases were often deferred to the Minister of Justice in the capital or even the emperor . In each Han county was several districts , each overseen by a chief of police . Order in the cities was maintained by government officers in the marketplaces and constables in the neighborhoods . Food . 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 . Clothing . The types of clothing worn and the materials used during the Han period depended upon social class . Wealthy folk could afford silk robes , skirts , socks , and mittens , coats made of badger or fox fur , duck plumes , and slippers with inlaid leather , pearls , and silk lining . Peasants commonly wore clothes made of hemp , wool , and ferret skins . Religion , cosmology , and metaphysics . Families throughout Han China made ritual sacrifices of animals and food to deities , spirits , and ancestors at temples and shrines . They believed 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 . 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 . 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 CE , Daoists formed large hierarchical religious societies such as the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice . Its followers believed that the sage-philosopher Laozi ( ) 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 . Buddhism first entered Imperial China through the Silk Road during the Eastern Han , and was first mentioned in 65 CE . Liu Ying ( d . 71 CE ) , a half-brother to Emperor Ming of Han ( CE ) , was one of its earliest Chinese adherents , although Chinese Buddhism at this point was heavily associated with Huang-Lao Daoism . Chinas first known Buddhist temple , the White Horse Temple , was constructed outside the wall of the capital , Luoyang , during Emperor Mings reign . Important Buddhist canons were translated into Chinese during the 2nd century CE , including the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters , Perfection of Wisdom , Shurangama Sutra , and Pratyutpanna Sutra . Government and politics . Central government . 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-bushel 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 . Below the emperor were his cabinet members known as the Three Councillors of State ( San gong 三公 ) . These were the Chancellor or Minister over the Masses ( Chengxiang 丞相 or Da situ 大司徒 ) , the Imperial Counselor or Excellency of Works ( Yushi dafu 御史大夫 or Da sikong 大司空 ) , and Grand Commandant or Grand Marshal ( Taiwei 太尉 or Da sima 大司馬 ) . The Chancellor , whose title was changed to Minister over the Masses in 8 BC , was chiefly responsible for drafting the government budget . The Chancellors other duties included managing provincial registers for land and population , leading court conferences , acting as judge in lawsuits and recommending nominees for high office . He could appoint officials below the salary-rank of 600 bushels . The Imperial Counselors chief duty was to conduct disciplinary procedures for officials . He shared similar duties with the Chancellor , such as receiving annual provincial reports . However , when his title was changed to Minister of Works in 8 BC , his chief duty became oversight of public works projects . The Grand Commandant , whose title was changed to Grand Marshal in 119 BC before reverting to Grand Commandant in 51 AD , was the irregularly posted commander of the military and then regent during the Western Han period . In the Eastern Han era he was chiefly a civil official who shared many of the same censorial powers as the other two Councillors of State . Ranked below the Three Councillors of State were the Nine Ministers ( Jiu qing 九卿 ) , who each headed a specialized ministry . The Minister of Ceremonies ( Taichang 太常 ) was the chief official in charge of religious rites , rituals , prayers and the maintenance of ancestral temples and altars . The Minister of the Household ( Guang lu xun 光祿勳 ) was in charge of the emperors security within the palace grounds , external imperial parks and wherever the emperor made an outing by chariot . The Minister of the Guards ( Weiwei 衛尉 ) was responsible for securing and patrolling the walls , towers , and gates of the imperial palaces . The Minister Coachman ( Taipu 太僕 ) 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 ( Tingwei 廷尉 ) was the chief official in charge of upholding , administering , and interpreting the law . The Minister Herald ( Da honglu 大鴻臚 ) 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 ( Zongzheng 宗正 ) oversaw the imperial courts interactions with the empires nobility and extended imperial family , such as granting fiefs and titles . The Minister of Finance ( Da sinong 大司農 ) 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 ( Shaofu 少府 ) served the emperor exclusively , providing him with entertainment and amusements , proper food and clothing , medicine and physical care , valuables and equipment . Local government . The Han empire , excluding kingdoms and marquessates , was divided , in descending order of size , into political units of provinces , commanderies , and counties . A county was divided into several districts ( xiang 鄉 ) , the latter composed of a group of hamlets ( li 里 ) , each containing about a hundred families . The heads of provinces , whose official title was changed from Inspector to Governor and vice versa several times during Han , were responsible for inspecting several commandery-level and kingdom-level administrations . On the basis of their reports , the officials in these local administrations would be promoted , demoted , dismissed or prosecuted by the imperial court . A governor could take various actions without permission from the imperial court . The lower-ranked inspector had executive powers only during times of crisis , such as raising militias across the commanderies under his jurisdiction to suppress a rebellion . 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 . Kingdoms and marquessates . Kingdoms—roughly the size of commanderies—were ruled exclusively by the emperors male relatives as semi-autonomous fiefdoms . Before 157 BC some kingdoms were ruled by non-relatives , granted to them in return for their services to Emperor Gaozu . The administration of each kingdom was very similar to that of the central government . Although the emperor appointed the Chancellor of each kingdom , kings appointed all the remaining civil officials in their fiefs . However , in 145 BC , after several insurrections by the kings , Emperor Jing removed the kings rights to appoint officials whose salaries were higher than 400 bushels . The Imperial Counselors and Nine Ministers ( excluding the Minister Coachman ) of every kingdom were abolished , although the Chancellor was still appointed by the central government . With these reforms , kings were reduced to being nominal heads of their fiefs , gaining a personal income from only a portion of the taxes collected in their kingdom . Similarly , the officials in the administrative staff of a full marquesss fief were appointed by the central government . A marquesss Chancellor was ranked as the equivalent of a county Prefect . Like a king , the marquess collected a portion of the tax revenues in his fief as personal income . Up until the reign of Emperor Jing of Han , the Emperors of the Han had great difficulty bringing the vassal kings under control , as kings often switched their allegiance to the Xiongnu Chanyu whenever threatened by Imperial attempts to centralize power . Within the seven years of Han Gaozus reign , three vassal kings and one marquess either defected to or allied with the Xiongnu . Even imperial princes in control of fiefdoms would sometimes invite the Xiongnu to invade in response to threats by the Emperor to remove their power . The Han emperors moved to secure a treaty with the Chanyu to demarcate authority between them , recognizing each other as the two masters ( 兩主 ) , the sole representatives of their respective peoples , cemented with a marriage alliance ( heqin ) , before eliminating the rebellious vassal kings in 154 BC . This prompted some vassal kings of the Xiongnu to switch their allegiance to the Han emperor from 147 BC . Han court officials were initially hostile to the idea of disrupting the status quo and expanding into the Xiongnu steppe territory . The surrendered Xiongnu were integrated into a parallel military and political structure under the Han Emperor , and opened the avenue for the Han dynasty to challenge the Xiongnu cavalry on the steppe . This also introduced the Han to the interstate networks in the Tarim Basin ( Xinjiang ) , allowing for the expansion of the Han dynasty from a limited regional state to a universalist and cosmopolitan empire through further marriage alliances with another steppe power , the Wusun . Military . 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 Zhaos ( 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 kings court or under the Minister of the Guards in the capital . A small professional ( paid ) standing army was stationed near the capital . 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 . The latter were known as 部曲 , a special social class in Chinese history . During times of war , the volunteer army was increased , and a much larger militia was raised across the country to supplement the Northern Army . In these circumstances , a General ( Jiangjun 將軍 ) led a division , which was divided into regiments led by Colonels and sometimes Majors ( Sima 司馬 ) . Regiments were divided into companies and led by Captains . Platoons were the smallest units of soldiers . Economy . Currency . 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 . 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 Chinas standard coin until the Tang dynasty ( 618–907 AD ) . Its use was interrupted briefly by several new currencies introduced during Wang Mangs regime until it was reinstated in 40 AD by Emperor Guangwu . Since commandery-issued coins were often of inferior quality and lighter weight , the central government closed commandery mints and monopolized the issue of coinage in 113 BC . This Central government issuance of coinage was overseen by the Superintendent of Waterways and Parks , this duty being transferred to the Minister of Finance during Eastern Han . Taxation and property . Aside from the landowners land tax paid in a portion of their crop yield , the poll tax and property taxes were paid in coin cash . The annual poll tax rate for adult men and women was 120 coins and 20 coins for minors . Merchants were required to pay a higher rate of 240 coins . The poll tax stimulated a money economy that necessitated the minting of over 28,000,000,000 coins from 118 BC to 5 AD , an average of 220,000,000 coins a year . The widespread circulation of coin cash allowed successful merchants to invest money in land , empowering the very social class the government attempted to suppress through heavy commercial and property taxes . Emperor Wu even enacted laws which banned registered merchants from owning land , yet powerful merchants were able to avoid registration and own large tracts of land . 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 . In 168 BC , the land tax rate was reduced from one-fifteenth of a farming households crop yield to one-thirtieth , and later to a one-hundredth of a crop yield for the last decades of the dynasty . The consequent loss of government revenue was compensated for by increasing property taxes . The labor tax took the form of conscripted labor for one month per year , which was imposed upon male commoners aged fifteen to fifty-six . This could be avoided in Eastern Han with a commutable tax , since hired labor became more popular . Private manufacture and government monopolies . 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 state 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 . 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 Mings 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 . Science and technology . The Han dynasty was a unique period in the development of premodern Chinese science and technology , comparable to the level of scientific and technological growth during the Song dynasty ( 960–1279 ) . Writing materials . In the 1st millennium BC , typical ancient Chinese writing materials were bronzewares , animal bones , and bamboo slips or wooden boards . By the beginning of the Han dynasty , the chief writing materials were clay tablets , silk cloth , hemp paper , and rolled scrolls made from bamboo strips sewn together with hempen string ; these were passed through drilled holes and secured with clay stamps . The oldest known Chinese piece of hempen paper dates to the 2nd century BC . The standard papermaking process was invented by Cai Lun ( AD 50–121 ) in 105 . The oldest known surviving piece of paper with writing on it was found in the ruins of a Han watchtower that had been abandoned in AD 110 , in Inner Mongolia . Metallurgy and agriculture . 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 . The Han dynasty 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 m ( 11.3 acres ) of land in a single day . 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 Wus 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 ( 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 . Structural and geotechnical engineering . 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 ( AD 618–907 ) . 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 . 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 Changan 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 . The courtyard house is the most common type of home portrayed in Han artwork . Ceramic architectural models of buildings , like houses and towers , were found in Han tombs , perhaps to provide lodging for the dead in the afterlife . These provide valuable clues about lost wooden architecture . The artistic designs found on ceramic roof tiles of tower models are in some cases exact matches to Han roof tiles found at archaeological sites . Over ten Han-era underground tombs have been found , many of them featuring archways , vaulted chambers , and domed roofs . Underground vaults and domes did not require buttress supports since they were held in place by earthen pits . The use of brick vaults and domes in aboveground Han structures is unknown . From Han literary sources , it is known that wooden-trestle beam bridges , arch bridges , simple suspension bridges , and floating pontoon bridges existed in Han China . However , there are only two known references to arch bridges in Han literature , and only a single Han relief sculpture in Sichuan depicts an arch bridge . Underground mine shafts , some reaching depths over , were created for the extraction of metal ores . Borehole drilling and derricks were used to lift brine to iron pans where it was distilled into salt . The distillation furnaces were heated by natural gas funneled to the surface through bamboo pipelines . These boreholes perhaps reached a depth of 600 m ( 2000 ft ) . Mechanical and hydraulic engineering . Han-era mechanical engineering comes largely from the choice observational writings of sometimes-disinterested Confucian scholars who generally considered scientific and engineering endeavors to be far beneath them . 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 and writer 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 mechanical engineer and craftsman Ding Huan are mentioned in the Miscellaneous Notes on the Western Capital . Around AD 180 , 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 worlds first known zoetrope lamp . 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 , yet detailed written descriptions were not offered until the 3rd century . 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 . The waterwheel appeared in Chinese records during the Han . As mentioned by Huan Tan about AD 20 , 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 and mechanical engineer 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 Balanced Discourse . 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 ( AD 78–139 ) 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 device he termed an earthquake weathervane ( 候風地動儀 ) , which the British biochemist , sinologist , and historian Joseph Needham described as the ancestor of all seismographs . This device was able to detect the exact cardinal or ordinal direction of earthquakes from hundreds of kilometers away . It 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 toads mouth . The account of this device in the Book of the Later Han describes how , on one occasion , one of the metal balls was triggered without any of the observers feeling a disturbance . Several days later , a messenger arrived bearing news that an earthquake had struck in Longxi Commandery ( in modern Gansu Province ) , the direction the device had indicated , which forced the officials at court to admit the efficacy of Zhangs device . Mathematics . 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 . One of the Hans greatest mathematical advancements was the worlds 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 were also used by the Greek mathematician Diophantus around AD 275 , and in the 7th-century Bakhshali manuscript of Gandhara , South Asia , but were not widely accepted in Europe until the 16th century . The Han applied mathematics to various diverse disciplines . In musical tuning , Jing Fang ( 78–37 BC ) realized that 53 perfect fifths was approximate to 31 octaves while creating a musical scale of 60 tones , calculating the difference at ⁄ ( the same value of 53 equal temperament discovered by the German mathematician Nicholas Mercator [ 1620–1687 ] , i.e . 3/2 ) . Astronomy . Mathematics were essential in drafting the astronomical calendar , a lunisolar calendar that used the Sun and Moon as time-markers throughout the year . During the spring and autumn periods of the 5th century BC , the Chinese established the Sifen calendar ( 古四分历 ) , which measured the tropical year at 365.25 days . This was replaced in 104 BC with the Taichu calendar ( 太初曆 ) that measured the tropical year at ( ~ 365.25016 ) days and the lunar month at days . However , Emperor Zhang later reinstated the Sifen calendar . Han Chinese astronomers made star catalogues and detailed records of comets that appeared in the night sky , including recording the 12 BC appearance of the comet now known as Halleys Comet . Han dynasty 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 . Cartography , ships , and vehicles . 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 worlds first known raised-relief map from rice in the 1st century . This date could be revised if the tomb of Emperor 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 . Although the use of the graduated scale and grid reference for maps was not thoroughly described until the published work of Pei Xiu ( AD 224–271 ) , there is evidence that in the early 2nd century , cartographer Zhang Heng was the first to use scales and grids for maps . Han dynasty Chinese sailed in a variety of ships different from those of previous eras , such as the tower ship . The junk design was developed and realized during the Han era . Junk ships 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 . Although ox-carts and chariots were previously used in China , the wheelbarrow was first used in Han China in the 1st century BC . Han artwork of horse-drawn chariots shows that the Warring-States-Era heavy wooden yoke placed around a horses chest was replaced by the softer breast strap . Later , during the Northern Wei ( 386–534 ) , the fully developed horse collar was invented . Medicine . 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 . Besides dieting , Han physicians also prescribed moxibustion , acupuncture , and calisthenics as methods of maintaining ones health . When surgery was performed by the Chinese physician Hua Tuo ( d . AD 208 ) , he used anesthesia to numb his patients pain and prescribed a rubbing ointment that allegedly sped the process of healing surgical wounds . Whereas the physician Zhang Zhongjing ( – ) is known to have written the Shanghan lun ( Dissertation on Typhoid Fever ) , it is thought that both he and Hua Tuo collaborated in compiling the Shennong Ben Cao Jing medical text .