The Qin Dynasty and Han. History of the Han Dynasty. Han Dynasty: ruler, period, fall. Legislative acts of the Han dynasty

The Chinese dynasties of Qin and Han ruled the country in 221 BC. E. - 220 g. E. At this time, the state experienced several civil wars, adopted from India Buddhism and regularly repelled attacks by aggressive northern nomads of the Huns.

Founding of Qin

The ancient Qin dynasty united China in 221 BC. E. Her rule lasted for a very short period of 15 years, but even during this short period, the country experienced a huge number of changes that affected the entire future history of the East Asian region. Qin Shihuang put an end to the centuries-old era of the Warring Kingdoms. In the year 221 BC. E. He conquered numerous princedoms of Inner China and proclaimed himself emperor.

Qin Shihuang created a well-governed centralized state, equal to which in that era there was neither in Asia, nor in the Mediterranean. The dominant ideology of the empire was legism - the philosophical doctrine, also known as the "school of lawyers". Its important principle was that state titles and posts began to be distributed according to the real merits and talents of a person. This rule contradicted the established Chinese order, according to which high appointments were received by representatives of aristocratic noble families.

The emperor proclaimed the equality of all inhabitants of the country before the law. Public and clan self-government was subordinated to a single state system with a multi-level administration. To the laws of Qin Shihuang was very anxious. For their violations, the most severe punishments were envisaged. The proclamation of dignity as the dominant ideology led to massive repression of the advocates of Confucian philosophy. For the propagation or storage of prohibited written sources, people were burned at the stake.

The heyday of the dynasty

Under Qin Shihuana internal internecine wars ceased. The feudal princes had confiscated a huge number of weapons, and their armies were reassigned directly to the emperor. The whole territory of the Chinese state was divided into 36 provinces. Unification was observed in all spheres of public life. The system of measures and weights was ordered, a uniform standard for writing hieroglyphs was introduced. Thanks to this, for the first time in a long time, China felt itself to be one country. It became easier for provinces to interact with each other. To revive economic and trade ties in the empire, an extensive network of roads was built. The society has become more mobile and communicative.

The majority of the population participated in the renovation of the country. A huge number of peasants and workers were involved in the construction of important infrastructure. The most significant project of the Qin era was the erection of the Great Wall of China, the length of which reached almost 9,000 kilometers. "The construction of the century" was necessary to protect the country from the northern nomads. Prior to that, they unimpededly attacked the scattered Chinese principalities, which because of their political enmity could not give the enemy a weighty rebuff. Now, not only the wall appeared on the way of the steppe people, but also a multitude of quickly interacting garrisons with each other. Another important symbol of the Qin Dynasty was the Terracotta Army - burial of 8,000 statues of soldiers and horses in the emperor's mausoleum.

Death of Shihuana

Qin Shihuang died in 210 BC. E. He died during his next trip to China. The entire effective state system that ensured the prosperity of the country was created thanks to the emperor. Now that he's gone, China is on the brink of an abyss. The approximate emperor tried to smooth out the blow - they for a while hid the news of the death of the ruler and fabricated a new testament, according to which the younger son of the deceased became the heir.

The new emperor Ershi Huang was a weak-willed man. He quickly became a puppet with his adviser Zhao Gao. This official under Qin Shihuana was the head of his office and had enormous ambitions. The country shook with discontent with this gray cardinal and his behind-the-scenes intrigues. Several uprisings broke out. The reason for the mutiny was also the disobedience of the workers involved in the construction of the Great Wall of China. 900 people due to mudslides and bad roads did not manage to arrive on time in time. By law, they were to be executed. The workers, unwilling to part with life, organized themselves into an insurgent detachment. Soon they were joined by numerous dissatisfied with the new regime. The protest from the social turned into a political one. Soon this army has grown to 300 thousand people. It was headed by a native of peasants called Liu Bang.

Ershi Huang in 207 BC. E. Committed suicide. This led to an even greater anarchy in China. A dozen pretenders to the throne appeared. In 206 BC. E. The army of Liu Bana ousted the last emperor of the Qin Dynasty. He was executed.

The coming to power of the Han dynasty

Liu Bang became the founder of the new Han dynasty, which eventually ruled the country until 220 AD. E. (With a short break). She managed to survive the longest of all other Chinese empires. Such success was made possible by the creation of an effective bureaucratic system of government. Many of its features were adopted from Shihuang. The Qin Dynasty and Han are political relatives. The only difference is that one ran the country for 15 years, and the other four centuries.

Historians divide the period of the Han dynasty into two parts. The first was in 206 BC. E. - 9 g. E. This is the early Han or Western Han with its capital in Chang'an. Then followed a short period of the Xin Empire, when power belonged to another dynasty. From 25 to 220 AD. E. Han again rules China. The capital was moved to Luoyang. This period is also called Late Han or Eastern Han.

The rule of Liu Bana

With the advent of power, the Han dynasty initiated significant changes in the life of the country, which allowed the society to consolidate and calm down. The old ideology of legality was abandoned in the past. The authorities proclaimed the dominant role of Confucianism, popular among the people. In addition, the legislative acts of the beginning of the Han dynasty stimulated the development of agriculture. Peasants (the vast majority of the population of China) received noticeable easing in taxes collected by the states. In exchange for the old source of replenishment of the treasury, Liu Bang went on to increase fees from the merchants. He introduced a lot of trade duties.

Also, the legislative acts of the Han dynasty began to regulate relations between the political center and the provinces in a new way. The new administrative division of the country was adopted. Liu Ban throughout his life fought with rebel governors in the provinces (vans). Many of them the emperor replaced with their own relatives and loyal supporters, which gave the additional stability of power.

At the same time, the Han dynasty faced a serious problem in the face of the Hun (or Huns). These wild nomads of the northern steppes were a danger as early as the Qin. In 209 BC. E. They had their own emperor named Mode. He united nomads under his authority and now was going to war against China. In the year 200 BC. E. Hunnu captured the major city of Shanxi. Liu Bang personally led the army in order to drive out the savages. The size of the army was colossal. It included about 320 thousand soldiers. However, even such forces could not scare Mode. During the decisive clash, he conducted a deceptive maneuver and surrounded the squad of Liu Bang, representing the vanguard of the imperial army.

A few days later, the parties agreed to start negotiations. So in 198 BC. E. The Chinese and the Huns concluded the Treaty of Peace and Kinship. The nomads agreed to leave the Han empire. In return, Liu Bang recognized himself as a tribute to the northern neighbors. In addition, he gave his daughter to Mode. Tribute was an annual gift sent to the court of the ruler of the Huns. It was gold, jewelry and other values that the civilized country was famous for. Later, the Chinese and the Huns fought for several centuries. The Great Wall, designed to protect the nomads and started during the Qin Dynasty, was completed precisely with the Han. The first emperor of this kind, Liu Bang, died in 195 BC. E.

The Xin Empire

In subsequent years, China lost the stability that characterized the early Han dynasty. The emperors spent most of their money on fighting the Huns, unsuccessful intervention to the west and palace intrigues. Each new generation of rulers paid less attention to the issues of economics, legality and well-being of their own subjects.

The Western Han Dynasty has faded by itself. In the year 9 AD. E. After the death of Emperor Ping-di, power for lack of a direct heir went to the testimony of the late Van Manu. He created a new dynasty Xin, but it did not last long. Wang Mang tried to carry out radical reforms. In particular, he wanted to curb slave owners and big tycoons. His policy was aimed at helping the poorest sections of the population. It was a bold and risky course, given that the new emperor did not belong to the previous ruling family and in fact was a usurper.

Time has shown that Wang Man was mistaken. First, he set up an influential aristocracy against himself. Secondly, his transformation led to chaos in the provinces. Local riots began. Peasants' fermentation soon received the name of the rebellion of the red-browed. The reason for the discontent was the flood of the Great Yellow River. The natural disaster left a huge number of poor people without shelter and livelihood.

Soon these insurgents teamed up with other rebels who were supporters of the former Han dynasty. In addition, they were supported by the Huns, who were happy about any opportunity for war and looting in China. As a result, Van Man was defeated. He was deposed and executed in 23rd year.

Eastern Han

Finally, in the year 25 after the end of the war and the rebellion of the red-browed people, the second era of the Han dynasty began. It lasted until 220 g. This period is also known as Eastern Han. On the throne was a distant relative of the former emperors of Guang U-di. The old capital was destroyed by the peasants during the war. The new ruler decided to move his residence to Luoyang. Soon this city, among other things, became the main Chinese center of Buddhism. In 68, the temple of Baymas (or the temple of the White Horse) was founded there. This cult building was erected with the support and patronage of the Ming-heir descendant and successor of Guang U-di.

The then history of the Han dynasty represented an example of political calm and stability. Palace intrigues are a thing of the past. The emperors succeeded in defeating the Huns and for a long time driving them into their empty northern steppes. The centralization and strengthening of power allowed the rulers to extend their power far to the west right up to the limits of Central Asia.

At the same time, China achieved economic prosperity. The private entrepreneurs, who were engaged in metal mining and mining, became rich. On them worked a huge number of peasants. These people, leaving for the enterprises of magnates, stopped paying taxes to the treasury, which caused the state to incur considerable losses. Economic interest forced the Emperor Wu-di in 117 to nationalize metallurgy and salt production. Another profitable state monopoly was the production of alcohol.

External contacts

It was in the I-II century. Each emperor of the Han dynasty was known far abroad. At this time, on the other side of the ancient world, another Roman civilization was flourishing. In the period of the greatest hegemony, only the Kushan kingdom and Parthia were located between the two states.

The inhabitants of the Mediterranean China was primarily interested in the homeland of silk. The secret of the production of this fabric did not leave the East for many centuries. Thanks to this, the Chinese emperors earned untold wealth through the trade in valuable material. It was in Han times that the Great Silk Road became lively , along which unique goods moved to the west from the east. For the first time, an embassy from China arrived in Rome during the reign of Octavian Augustus in the early 1st century AD. E. The travelers spent nearly four years on the road. In Europe they were amazed at the yellow color of their skin. The Romans because of this believed that in China "another heaven."

In 97, the army of the eastern emperor led by a talented warlord Ban Chao set out on a raid to the west in order to punish nomads who robbed merchants who were transporting their goods along the Great Silk Road. The army overcame the remote Tien Shan and ruined Central Asia. After this trip, ambassadors left to the west left their descriptions of the Roman Empire, which they called "Daqing" in China. Mediterranean travelers also reached the eastern countries. In 161, an embassy was sent to Luoyang, sent by Antony Pius. It is interesting that the delegation traveled to China by sea through the Indian Ocean.

During the Han dynasty, a convenient route to India was discovered, which ran through Bactria in the territory of modern Uzbekistan. The emperors were attentive to the southern country. In India, there were a lot of strange goods that interested the Chinese (from metals to rhino horns and giant tortoiseshells). However, religious ties between the two regions have become much more important. It is from India that Buddhism penetrated into China. The more intensive the contacts of the inhabitants of these countries became, the more religious and philosophical doctrine spread among the subjects of the Han empire. Authorities even sent expeditions that were supposed to find a land route to India through modern Indochina, but these attempts were never crowned with success.

Rise of the Yellow Bandages

The late Eastern Han dynasty was characterized by the fact that almost all of its rulers were on the throne in their childhood. This led to the dominance of all possible regents, advisers and relatives. The monarchs were appointed and deprived of power by eunuchs and newly-declared gray cardinals. So at the beginning of the II century the Han dynasty entered a period of gradual decline.

The absence of a single centralized power in the person of an adult and strong-willed monarch did not promise the state anything good. In 184, throughout all of China, an uprising of yellow bandages broke out. It was organized by members of the popular Taipindao sect. Her supporters preached in a poor peasant environment, dissatisfied with their position and the dominance of the rich. The doctrine of the sect asserted that the Han dynasty should be overthrown, after which the era of prosperity will begin. The peasants believed that the Messiah Lao Tzu would come to help build an ideal and just society. An open armed insurgency occurred when the sect already had several million members, and its army was estimated at tens of thousands, and this figure was steadily growing. The fall of the Han dynasty occurred largely because of this popular uprising.

The End of the Han Dynasty

The peasant war lasted two decades. The rebels were defeated only in the year 204. The paralyzed imperial power could not organize and finance its own army to defeat the fanatical poor. And this is not surprising, because the dynasty of eastern Han was weakened by regular capital intrigues. The aristocrats and tycoons who gave money to the army came to rescue her.

The commanders who commanded these troops quickly became independent political figures. Among them, the military commanders Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo were particularly distinguished. They helped the empire to defeat the peasants, but after the onset of peace they stopped obeying the orders of the authorities and did not want to disarm. The Chinese Han dynasty lost leverage over the army, which for two decades felt themselves independent forces. The warlords began unceasing wars with each other for influence and resources.

In the north of the country, Cao Cao was established, who in the year 200 was able to defeat all his opponents in this region. In the south there were two more newly-revealed rulers. They were Liu Bei and Sun Quan. The confrontation between the three generals led to the division of once united China into three parts.

The last ruler of the Han dynasty, Xian-di, formally abdicated in 220. So the split of the country into several parts was already fixed legally, although in fact such a political system was formed at the end of the II century. The rule of the Han dynasty ended, and the Three Kingdoms began. This era lasted 60 years and led to a decline in the economy and even more bloodshed.