Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty was a long line of emperors who ruled ancient China from 206 BCE to 220 CE. It lasted more than 400 years, making it one of the longest dynasties in Chinese history. The Han ruled during the same centuries when Rome was rising in the West. At its peak, the Han Empire was about as big as the Roman Empire and had about as many people. The two empires barely knew each other existed.

The dynasty was founded by a man named Liu Bang. He was born a peasant, not a noble. After the harsh Qin Dynasty fell apart, Liu Bang led a rebel army to victory and crowned himself emperor. He took the name Gaozu. A peasant becoming emperor was very unusual in the ancient world.

The Han split China into provinces and built a government of trained officials. To get a job in the government, men had to pass hard tests on the writings of Confucius. This was one of the first times in history that a country picked its leaders by testing what they knew instead of who their parents were. The system lasted in China, in different forms, for nearly 2,000 years.

The Han also opened the Silk Road. This was a network of trade routes that stretched more than 4,000 miles across mountains and deserts, connecting China to India, Persia, and eventually Rome. Chinese silk traveled west. Horses, glass, and new foods traveled east. Ideas and diseases traveled both ways.

Han inventors changed the world. Around 105 CE, an official named Cai Lun figured out how to make paper from tree bark, rags, and old fishing nets. The Han also invented the wheelbarrow, the seismograph (a machine that detects earthquakes), and the rudder for steering ships. They improved iron-making and built one of the first working compasses.

Life was not easy for everyone. Most people were farmers who paid heavy taxes. Floods of the Yellow River destroyed villages and crops. Wars with the Xiongnu, a group of nomads to the north, dragged on for years. Parts of the Great Wall of China were built and rebuilt during Han rule to keep them out.

By the late 100s CE, the Han government was breaking down. Powerful families fought each other, and a huge peasant uprising called the Yellow Turban Rebellion shook the empire. In 220 CE, the last Han emperor gave up his throne. China split into three warring kingdoms. Even so, the Chinese people still call themselves "the Han" today, more than 1,800 years later.