Barbara Donaldson, age 14, of Springfield, I11., for her question:
WHAT WAS CHINA'S HAN DYNASTY?
China's Han dynasty was a period of over 400 years when a series of emperors of the same family ruled ancient China. Under Han rule, arts and sciences thrived and China became as large and powerful as the Roman Empire.
The Chinese still call themselves Han people in recognition of China's great achievements during this period of time.
Liu Pang founded the Han dynasty in 202 B.C. after the fall of the Chin dynasty.
The Man rule was divided into two periods. The Former Han dynasty lasted from 202 B.C. to A.D. 8. Its capital was Ch'ang an, which is now Sian. The later Han dynasty lasted from A.D. 25 to 220 and its capital was Lo yang.
Because Ch'ang an lay west of Lo yang, the two periods are also called the Western and Eastern Han dynasties. From A.D. 8 to 23, China was ruled by Wang Mang, a revolutionary who set up the Hsin dynasty. After the Hsin fell, the Han soon regained control.
Han emperors after Liu had a strong centralized government. They used a civil service examination to select officials. The examination stressed knowledge of the teachings of Confucius. As a result, Confucian scholars held important government positions.
Emperor Wu ti, who ruled from 140 to 87 B.C., made Confucianism the state philosophy.
Education gained in importance and a central university was built in Ch'ang an during the Han rule. Han poets and prose writers developed a clear style that is still famous in Chinese literature.
Scholars also wrote long histories of China during this period of time. And artists produced glazed pottery and large stone carvings. In addition, the greatest invention of the Han period was paper.
Han China expanded southwest to what is now Tibet.
During the Han dynasty, warriors also conquered what are now North Korea and North Vietnam and overcame nomadic tribes in the north and west.
Overland trade routes linked China and Europe for the first itme during the Han dynasty. Along the most famous route, the Great Silk Road, Chinese silk and other products flowed into the Roman Empire.
The Han dynasty collapsed because of rivalries among the scholar officials, imperial relatives, advisers and generals. For the next 400 years, China was divided into warring states.
Liu Pang, the Chinese emperor who founded the Han dynasty, was born near Suchow. He was a farmer's son and became one of the generals who led revolutionary forces against the Chin dynasty from 207 to 206 B.C.
Liu became the first commoner to become emperor and he revived feudalism in China by setting up regional kingdoms with the rulers controlled by the central government. Liu was a skillful politician and made peace with tribes that were invading China from Mongolia.
Although Liu was often cruel and ruthless, he eliminated many harsh laws.