Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty
2 min readThe Han Dynasty(206 BC- 220 AD)was an imperial dynasty of China,preceded by the Qin Dynasty(221-207 BC)and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms(220-280 AD).It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang,known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han.
Spanning over four centuries,the period of the Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history.To this day,China’s majority ethnic group refers to itself as the”Han people”and the Chinese script is referred to as”Han characters”.
Science and technology during the Han period took significant advances,including papermaking,the nautical steering rudder, the use of negative numbers in mathematics,the raised-relief man the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere tor astronomy and inverted pendulum seismometer.
The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD)was an imperial dynasty of China,preceded by the Sui Dynasty and tollowed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was founded by the Li family,who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire.
Chinese culture flourished and further matured during the Tang era;it is considered the greatest age for Chinese poetry.Two of China’s most famous poets,Li Bai and Du Fu, belonged to this age.Besides political hegemony,the Tang also exerted a powerful cultural influence over neighboring states such as those in Korea,Japan,and Vietnam.
The Silk Road was the most important pre-modern Eurasian trade route.The Tang Dynasty established a second Pax Sinica,and the Silk Road reached its golden age,whereby Persian and Sogdian merchants benefited from the commerce between East and West. At the same time,the Chinese empire welcomed foreign cultures making it very cosmopolitan in its urban centers.
