China

Dong (Eastern) Han

The Han house was restored by Liu Xiu, better known as Guangwudi, who reigned from 25 to 57 ce. His claim had been contested by another member of the Liu house—Liu Xuan, better known as Liu Gengshi—who had been actually enthroned for two years, until his death in the course of turbulent civil fighting. Chang’an had been virtually destroyed by warfare, and Guangwudi established his capital at Luoyang.

The new emperor completed defeating rival aspirants to the throne in 36. As had occurred in Xi Han, dynastic establishment was followed by a period of internal consolidation rather than expansion. Guangwudi resumed the structure of government of the Xi Han emperors, together with the earlier coinage and system of taxation. The palace once more promoted the cause of scholarship. Eunuchs had come to the fore in the Han palace during Yuandi’s reign, and several had succeeded in reaching powerful positions. Guangwudi’s policy was to rid the government of such influences, together with that of the families of imperial consorts. Under Mingdi (57–75) and Zhangdi (75–88), China was once more strong enough to adopt a positive foreign policy and set Chinese armies on the march against the Xiongnu. To prevent incursions by the latter, and possibly to encourage the growth of trade, Han influence was again brought to bear in Central Asia. Chinese prestige reached its zenith around 90 and fell markedly after 125.

Dynastic decline can be dated from the reign of Hedi (88–105/106), when the court once more came under the influence of consorts’ families and eunuchs. The succession of emperors became a matter of dexterous manipulation designed to preserve the advantages of interested parties. The weakness of the throne can be judged from the fact that, of the 14 emperors of Dong Han, no less than 8 took the throne as boys aged between 100 days and 15 years. Factions gradually increased in number, and their members, like the families of imperial consorts and like the eunuchs, tended to place their own interests above those of the state.

During the last 50 years of Dong Han, northern China became subject to invasion from different sides, and, as was observed by several philosopher-statesmen, the administration became corrupt and ineffective. Powerful regional officials were able to establish themselves almost independently of the central government. Rivalry between consorts’ families and eunuchs led to a massacre of the latter in 189, and the rebel bands that arose included the Yellow Turbans, who were fired by beliefs in supernatural influences and led by inspired demagogues. Soldiers of fortune and contestants for power were putting troops in the field in their attempts to establish themselves as emperors of a single united China. By 207 the great Han general Cao Cao had gained control over the north, and, had he not been defeated by Sun Quan at the battle of the Red Cliff, which later became famous in Chinese literature, he might well have succeeded in establishing a single dynastic rule. Other participants in the fighting included Dong Zhou, Liu Bei, and Zhuge Liang. The situation was resolved in 220 when Cao Pi, son of Cao Cao, accepted an instrument of abdication from Xiandi, last of the Han emperors (acceded 189). Cao Pi duly became emperor of a dynasty styled Wei, whose territories stretched over the northern part of China and whose capital was at Luoyang. A year later, in 221, Liu Bei was declared emperor of the Shu-Han dynasty, thereby maintaining the fiction that as a member of the Liu family he was continuing its rule of the Han dynasty, albeit in the restricted regions of Shu in the southwest (capital at Chengdu). In the southeast there was formed the third of the Sanguo (Three Kingdoms), as the period from 220 to 280 has come to be described. This was the kingdom of Wu, with its capital at Jianye, under the initial dispensation of Sun Quan.