Definition: The Han Dynasty was divided into two periods, the Western Han Dynasty, from 206 B.C. - A.D. 8/9, and the Eastern Han Dynasty, from 25-220. It was founded by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) who moderated the excesses of the Qin. He maintained the centralized government and started an enduring bureaucracy based on intellect rather than aristocratic birth. This was part of the switch from Taoism to Confucian (under Emperor Wu [140–87 BC] who established the Silk Road). By the end of the Western Han, there were 3000 scholars enrolled in the academy for the imperial bureaucracy. The empire extended into Mongolia, Vietnam, and Korea, and the population of China increased to 50,000,000. China's greatest historian, Sima Qian, lived during this period. Hou Hanshu (History of the Later Han) records a Roman embassy from Emperor Antoninus Pius to the Chinese Emperor Huan.
Sources:
Sarah Milledge Nelson, Brian M. Fagan, Adam Kessler, Julie M. Segraves "China" The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Brian M. Fagan, ed., Oxford University Press 1996.
Wikipedia Han Dynasty and Minnesota State University Han Dynasty
Also Known As: Qian Han is another name for Western Han and Hou Han is another name for Eastern Han.
