Legalism remained influential until the emperors of the Han Dynasty adopted Daoism and later Confucianism as official doctrine.

Confucianism was particularly strong during the Han Dynasty, whose greatest thinker was Dong Zhongshu, who integrated Confucianism with the thoughts of the Zhongshu School and the theory of the Five Elements.

The system of Chinese astrology was elaborated during the Zhou dynasty ( 1046 – 256 BC ) and flourished during the Han Dynasty ( 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD ), during which all the familiar elements of traditional Chinese culture – the Yin-Yang philosophy, theory of the 5 elements, Heaven and Earth, Confucian morality – were brought together to formalise the philosophical principles of Chinese medicine and divination, astrology and alchemy.

When the site was excavated by Soviet archaeologists during 1941-45, they realized that they had discovered a building absolutely unique for the area: a large ( 1500 square meters ) Chinese-style, likely Han Dynasty era ( 206 BCE – 220 CE ) palace.

A Han Dynasty oil lamp with a sliding shutter, in the shape of a kneeling female servant, 2nd century BC

The Han Dynasty ( 202 BC – AD 220 ) emerged in 206 BC, with its founder Liu Bang proclaimed emperor in 202 BC.

Under the Han Dynasty, China made great advances in many areas of the arts and sciences.

Han Dynasty general Ban Chao expanded his conquests across the Pamirs to the shores of the Caspian Sea.

In AD 9, the usurper Wang Mang claimed that the Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the Han dynasty and the rise of his own, and he founded the short-lived Xin (" New ") Dynasty.

Emperor Guangwu reinstated the Han Dynasty with the support of landholding and merchant families at Luoyang, east of Xi ' an.

This new era would be termed the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Taking advantage of civil war in the Jin Dynasty, the contemporary non-Han Chinese ( Wu Hu ) ethnic groups controlled much of the country in the early 4th century and provoked large-scale Han Chinese migrations to south of the Yangtze River.

The History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku.

* Hill, John E. Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE.

China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BCE – CE 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty.

Confucianism originated as an " ethical-sociopolitical teaching " during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han Dynasty.

Confucian ethics is characterized by the promotion of virtues, encompassed by the Five Constants, or the Wuchang ( 五常 ), extrapolated by Confucian scholars during the Han Dynasty.

During the Warring States Period and the early Han Dynasty, China grew greatly and the need arose for a solid and centralized cadre of government officers able to read and write administrative papers.

During the Han Dynasty, Confucianism developed from an ethical system into a political ideology used to legitimize the rule of the political elites.

Mohism though popular at first due to its emphasis on brotherly love versus harsh Qin Legalism, fell out of favour during the Han Dynasty due to the efforts of Confucians in establishing their views as political orthodoxy.

Legalism remained influential until the emperors of the Han Dynasty adopted Daoism and later Confucianism as official doctrine.

Confucianism was particularly strong during the Han Dynasty, whose greatest thinker was Dong Zhongshu, who integrated Confucianism with the thoughts of the Zhongshu School and the theory of the Five Elements.

During the Qing Dynasty many philosophers objected against Neo-Confucianism and there was a return to the Han Dynasty Confucianism, and also the reprise of the controversy between Old Text and New Text.

yet some must have survived, because the old interest in number symbolism, divination, and magic persisted on into the Han dynasty, which succeeded in reuniting China and keeping it together for a longer period ( from 202 B.C. to A.D. 220 ).

The Chinese recognized early on during the Han Dynasty ( 202 BC-220 AD ) that they were at a disadvantage in lacking the number of horses the northern nomadic peoples mustered in their armies.

Handheld crossbows with complex bronze trigger mechanisms have also been found with the Terracotta Army in the tomb of Qin Shihuang ( r. 221 – 210 BC ) that are similar to specimens from the subsequent Han Dynasty ( 202 BC – 220 AD ), while crossbowmen described in the Qin and Han Dynasty learned drill formations, some were even mounted as cavalry units, and Han Dynasty writers attributed the success of numerous battles against the Xiongnu to massed crossbow fire.

* 202 BC – coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China.

Sima Qian ( 145-86 BC ), a Prefect of the Grand Scribes ( 太史令 ) of the Han Dynasty ( 202 BC-220 AD ), is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography because of his universal history, the Records of the Grand Historian ( 史記 ).

Image: Guardians of Day and Night, Han Dynasty. jpg | Paintings on tile of guardian spirits donned in Chinese robes, from the Han Dynasty ( 202 BC – 220 AD )

A Chinese painted jar from the Han Dynasty | Western Han Era ( 202 BCE – 9 CE )

Artwork during this period and the subsequent Qin Dynasty ( 221-207 BC ) and Han Dynasty ( 202 BC-220 AD ) was made not as a means in and of itself or for higher personal expression.

Before the Han Dynasty ( 202 BC – 220 AD ), Chinese ploughs were made almost entirely of wood, except the iron blade of the ploughshare.

It was not until the Han Dynasty ( 202 BC-220 AD ) that astronomers started to observe and record names for all the stars that were apparent ( to the naked eye ) in the night sky, not just those around the ecliptic.

* Han Dynasty of China was founded ( 202 BC – 220 AD ).

* Emperor Gaozu of Han, founder of the Han Dynasty in China, ( 256 BC – 195 BC, reigned 202 BC – 195 BC )

* 202 BC – Wen, Chinese emperor of the Han Dynasty ( d. 157 BC )

Although the founders of the Tang related to the glory of the earlier Han Dynasty ( 202 BC-220 AD ), the basis for much of their administrative organization was very similar to the previous Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Both Emperors Wen and Yang sent military expeditions into Vietnam as Annam in northern Vietnam had been incorporated into the Chinese empire over 600 years earlier during the Han Dynasty ( 202 BC-220 CE ).

Two former rebel leaders, Xiang Yu ( d. 202 BCE ) of Chu and Liu Bang ( d. 195 BCE ) of Han, engaged in a war to decide who would become hegemon of China, which had fissured into 18 kingdoms, each claiming allegiance to either Xiang Yu or Liu Bang.

** Emperor Ai of Han ( 27 BC – 1 BC )

This is due to the rich historical record of astronomical phenomena which, in China, stretches back into the Han dynasty, in the second century BC.

* c. 2500 BC: Paintings of Senet and Han being played depicted in the tomb of Rashepes

Emperor Wu of Han ( r. 141 BC-87 BC ) went to war with the Dayuan for this reason, since the Dayuan were hording a massive amount of tall, strong, Central Asian bred horses in the Hellenized – Greek region of Fergana ( established slightly earlier by Alexander the Great ).

The " Heshang Gong Version " is named after the legendary Heshang Gong ( " Riverside Sage ") who supposedly lived during the reign ( 202-157 BC ) of Emperor Wen of Han.