The Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty（206 BC-220 AD）emerged in 206 BC.It was the first dynasty to embrace the philosophy of Confucianism，which became the ideological underpinning of all regimes until the end of imperial China.3 Under the Han Dynasty，China made great advances in many areas of the arts and sciences.Emperor Wu（156-87 BC）consolidated and extended the

Chinese empire by pushing back the Huns（勾奴）into the steppes of modern Inner Mongolia，wresting from them the modern areas of Gansu，Ningxia and Qinghai.This enabled the first opening of trading connections between China and the West，the Silk Road.

Nevertheless，land acquisitions by elite families

gradually drained the tax base.In 9 AD，the usurper Wang Mang（45BC-23AD）founded the short-lived Xin Dynasty and started an extensive program of land and other economic reforms.These programs，however，.favored the peasant and lesser gentry，and the instabity （256-195BC）of he lan Dynasty they produced brought on chaos and uprisings.

Emperor Guangwu（6BC-57 AD）reinstated

the Han Dynasty with the support of land-holding and merchant families at Luoyang，east of Xi’an.This new era would be termed the Eastern Han Dynasty（25-220）.Han power declined again amidst land acquisitions，invasions，and feuds between consort clans and eunuchs.The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184，ushering in an era of warlords.In the ensuing turmoil，three states tried to gain predominance in the period of the Three Kingdoms（220-280）.This period has been greatly romanticized in works such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

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