Download Han Dynasty - Northside Middle School

Han Dynasty
Let’s Open this Up
• Centralized government (not as brutal as the
Qin Dynasty)
• Followed a policy of expansionism
• Opened a trade route called the Silk Road
o Linked China with the Middle East
o Many goods and belief systems (Buddhism) was
traded and spread along the Silk Road
• Wudi was the most famous Han emperor
What Wudi Do?
• Wudi enforced emphasized Confucian values
and teachings – he made Confucianism the
official belief system of China
• Wudi set up civil service examinations which
allowed people to obtain government jobs
based on merit rather than their family
background
• Women were expected to obey males (the five
relationships)
• It was a golden age
Decline of the Han
• The fall of the Han began in the 200’s AD.
• Reasons: Corrupt officials, invasions, revolts
of peasants, poverty.
• Hired foreign soldiers served in the army for
pay, but were not loyal.
• Buddhism spread from
India to China via the Silk
Road
• After the fall of the Han
Dynasty, China entered a
400 period of chaos
• People turned to
Buddhism/it offered an
escape from suffering
• Buddhism was widely
accepted during the
Warring States Era