HAN DYNASTY

THE BEGINNING

• Liu Bang was the founder and the first emperor of the Han Dynasty.
• He called the dynasty Han in honor of his home land.
• He brought China together under a centralized rule after the Period of Warring States.

HAN WUDI

• He adopted the principles of Confucianism.
• He started a school to teach future admins about the principles.
• He decided to scrap the old defensive foreign policy.
• He began launching attacks and began to expand his empire.

LAND

• China had a very agriculturally dependent economy.
• During the Han Dynasty, there were social and economic problems.
• The land was all owned by the small, wealthy elite class.
• This temporary ended the Han reign, though they regained control.

REFORM

• Wang Mang was a regent, but seized control of the throne.
• He limited the amount of land a family could hol.
• Officials broke up large estates and redistributed them.
• Despite good intentions, poor communication led to confusion.
• This led to chaos, combined with poor harvests and famine, led to the end of his reign.