Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 8 A.D.)
The Qin dynasty was overthrown in 206 B.C. After a civil war, a new dynasty, named the Han, was founded by Liu Bang, a low-ranking official who rose to power through personal genius and extreme good fortune. The dynasty he founded lasted more than 400 years, and its name became one of the standard terms used to refer to the Chinese people.
The historian names this dynasty as the Western Han Dynasty. The Western Han Dynasty was the first unified, prosperous and powerful kingdom in China history. In history of the past 400 years when was ruled in the Western Han Dynasty, pass through the reform of a series of politics and economy, make the country prosperous and powerful, the people are peaceful and comfortable. During this period, China was the most powerful country of the world all the time.
This lecture covers the establishment of the dynasty and its development through the reign of the emperor Han Wudi from 141- 87 B.C. During this period, the structure of the imperial state was solidified, and the ideological framework of official Confucianism was constructed from the blending o f Confucian, Taoism, and Legalist elements. Cosmological thought also went through a period of renewed development in the work of Dong Zhongshu.
From Bang Liu (the founder of Han Dynasty)establish Western Han Dynasty, went through more than 230 years,14 generations, make China become the prosperous and powerful, richly big kingdom for a time. So, Western Han Dynasty was considered to be the first resurgence in China’s history.
