The End of the Han Dynasty

Han Wudi as you may know by now, was the last of the strong Han rulers. After him, there were no strong rulers and in A.D.9, Wang Mang, the nephew of the Empress Dowager, seized the throne. Because he was not a member of the Han imperial dynasty, the Han dynasty had a pause thus resulting in the earlier Han and the later Han. Although he managed to seize control of the throne, he was unable to control the people and was soon overthrown by a rebellion in A.D.25 and replaced again by a member of the Han imperial family. Wang Mang's short reign is now known as the Hsin Dynasty.

The earlier Han consisted of 12 rulers and had its capital at Changan; the later Han however had 14 rulers and moved its capital eastwards to Luoyang. The earlier Han lasted for approx. 200 years and the later Han another 200 years, so the on the whole, the Han dynasty lasted an approx.422 years.

Although during the later Han, the people still enjoyed peace and stability, the power of the Emperor gradually weakened. This was because the later emperors became very much under the influence of their eunuchs and much of their actions were controlled by the eunuchs. With power struggles between the eunuchs, officials and military leaders the central government was very much weakened.

As the gap between the rich and the poor became wider as time went by, the rich would buy over a lot of farm land and the poor peasants had to struggle to survive. Occasional floods, famines and droughts did not help these poor peasants either. Some of these peasants became so poor that they were forced to sell their own wives and/or daughters.

Towards the end of the dynasty, rebellions began to break out through out the nation. The emperor had to depend on his military leaders and officials to help him put down these rebellions. It was one of these military leaders who later forced the last Han Emperor to give up his throne in A.D.220.

With that came the end to the Han dynasty. A.D. 220 also marked the end of a united China for another 400 years. For the next 400 years, China was thrown into a chaos with military leaders and nomadic tribes fighting amidst themselves for the throne. China was thus divided.