The Han Dynasty: Government, Trade and Why It Defined China

The Han dynasty ruled China for roughly four centuries, from 202 BC to AD 220, with a break in the early first century AD after the regent Wang Mang declared his own dynasty. Wikipedia describes it as a golden age that shaped later Chinese identity — so much so that China's majority ethnic group calls itself the Han people, and Chinese characters are called Han characters. This guide covers how the Han governed, how it paid for itself, how it reached west, and why its dates vary between books.

Western Han, Xin and Eastern Han

The Qin, China's first imperial dynasty (221–206 BC), collapsed within four years of the death of its first emperor. Two rebel leaders fought for control: Xiang Yu of Chu and Liu Bang of Han. Wikipedia records that Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu at the Battle of Gaixia in 202 BC, took the title of emperor, and is known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu. The dynasty took its name from his fief of Hanzhong, on the Han River.

Why do some books say 206 BC? The EBSCO Research Starter on Liu Bang, by Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur, explains that he became king of Han in 206 and emperor in 202 BCE, and EBSCO's "China in the Ancient World" uses 206 BCE–220 CE. Wikipedia's own article uses 206 BC once, for the Western Han. Both are defensible: one counts from the title of king, the other from the title of emperor. The broader problem of reign-based dates is set out in regnal years and dynastic dating, and the dynasty's place in the full sequence is in Chinese dynasties in order.

Wang Mang's Xin regime introduced reforms including outlawing slavery, redistributing land and issuing new currencies, which Wikipedia says debased the coinage. Massive Yellow River floods drove peasants into rebel groups such as the Red Eyebrows, and a mob killed Wang Mang in his palace. Liu Xiu restored the dynasty as Emperor Guangwu; the Eastern Han formally began on 5 August AD 25.

How the Han government worked

In theory, Wikipedia says, there were no limits to the emperor's power: he was supreme judge, lawgiver and commander-in-chief. In practice the court conference (tingyi), where ministers met to reach a majority view, pressured him to accept their advice, and rejecting it risked alienating his high ministers.

Below him sat the Three Councillors of State — the Chancellor, the Imperial Counsellor and the Grand Commandant — and then Nine Ministers heading specialised ministries, from ceremonies and justice to finance. Local government ran from provinces down through commanderies and counties to hamlets of about a hundred families.

The early empire also contained semi-autonomous kingdoms. At the start, Wikipedia notes, thirteen centrally controlled commanderies covered the western third of the empire while ten kingdoms held the eastern two-thirds. After the Rebellion of the Seven States in 154 BC, Emperor Jing removed the kings' right to appoint senior officials in 145 BC, reducing them to nominal heads.

Recruitment leaned on learning. The EBSCO entry on Liu Bang says he ordered his Confucian advisers to recommend young men of learning and good character, a custom it says expanded into the examination system regularised by later rulers. Wikipedia adds that Emperor Wu founded the Imperial University in 124 BC, and that its students numbered over 30,000 by the 2nd century AD.

Money, monopolies and a census

Emperor Wu's wars were expensive. Wikipedia records that the government nationalised salt and iron in 117 BC, creating monopolies later repealed under the Eastern Han. Coinage was reformed repeatedly; the wuzhu coin, adopted in 119 BC, became China's standard coin until the Tang dynasty (618–907). Commoners paid a poll tax in coin of 120 a year for adults and 20 for minors, with merchants paying 240.

The first nationwide census in Chinese history, taken in 2 AD, registered 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households. A quick worked example: 57,671,400 ÷ 12,366,470 ≈ 4.66 people per registered household. That is an average of registered people, so it describes the state's paperwork as much as family life; anyone left off the registers is missing from both numbers.