Though the unified reign of the First Qin Emperor lasted only 12 years, he managed to subdue great parts of what constitutes the core of the Han Chinese homeland and to unite them under a tightly centralized Legalist government seated at Xianyang ( close to modern Xi ' an ).

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.

" As the Qin and Han dynasties developed a meritocratic system in order to maintain power over a large, sprawling empire, it became necessary for the government to maintain a complex network of officials.

* Han Feizi: The major figure of the Chinese Fajia ( Legalist ) school, advocated government that adhered to laws and a strict method of administration.

Manchuria was originally separated from China proper by the Inner Willow Palisade, a ditch and embankment planted with willows intended to restrict the movement of the Han Chinese into Manchuria, as the area was off-limits to the Han Chinese until the Qing government started colonizing the area with them later on in the dynasty's rule, especially since the 1860s.

Fairness of treatment was also an issue under the apartheid system practised by the Manchu government over the Han Chinese majority.

To counter these inadequacies and keep the population in line, the Qing government maintained a very harsh penal code towards the Han populace, but it was no more severe than previous Chinese dynasties.

From the early Qing Dynasty, the central government was characterized by a system of dual appointments by which each position in the central government had a Manchu and a Han Chinese assigned to it.

However these Han bannermen were never regarded by the government as equal to the other two branches due to their relatively late addition to the Manchu cause as well as their Han Chinese ancestry.

While the Manchus followed the governmental structure of the preceding Ming dynasty, their ethnic policy dictated that appointments were split between Manchu noblemen and Han Chinese officials who had passed the highest levels of the state examinations, and because of the small number of Manchus, this insured that a large fraction of them would be government officials.

After his travels, Sima was chosen to be a Palace Attendant in the government, whose duties were to inspect different parts of the country with Emperor Han Wudi.

Emperor Han Wudi attributed the defeat to Li Ling, with all government officials subsequently condemning him for it.

Although Sima was the Prefect of the Grand Scribes in the Han government, he refused to write Shiji as an official history covering only those of high rank.

Nationalism meant the Han Chinese race standing up against Manchu rule and Japanese and Western interference, democracy meant elected rule modeled after Japan's parliament, and people's livelihood or socialism, meant government regulation of the means of production.

The Ming, described by some as " one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history ", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese.

The Han royal house declined when the eunuchs abused the sovereign and officials subverted the government.

The Han Empire was divided into areas directly controlled by the central government, known as commanderies, and a number of semi-autonomous kingdoms.

These government monopolies were repealed during the Eastern Han period, and the lost revenue was recouped through heavily taxing private entrepreneurs.

He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the scholarly gentry class.

The issuing of coinage remained a central government monopoly throughout the rest of the Han Dynasty.

In the hierarchical social order, the emperor was at the apex of Han society and government.

By the Eastern Han period, local elites of unattached scholars, teachers, students, and government officials began to identify themselves as members of a larger, nationwide gentry class with shared values and a commitment to mainstream scholarship.

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

* 221 – Liu Bei, a Chinese warlord and member of the Han royal house, declares himself emperor of Shu-Han and claims his legitimate succession to the Han Dynasty.

He was promoted to Chief Astronomer for the Han court under Emperor An, serving his first term from 115 – 120 and his second under the succeeding emperor from 126 – 132.

* Change of emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty from Han Andi to Marquis of Beixiang, then to Han Shundi.

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

* Yuan becomes emperor of the Han Dynasty.

* February 3 – The boy emperor, Ping Di dies of unexpected causes at age 14 ; Wang Mang alone selects the new emperor, the Ruzi Ying, age 2, starting the Jushe era of the Han Dynasty.

* February 3 – Ping, emperor of Han China ( b. 9 BC )

* Liu Xuan, a descendant of the Han Dynasty royal family and leader of insurgents against the Xin Dynasty, proclaims himself emperor against Wang Mang.

* Accession of Chinese emperor Han Mingdi.

* Han Mingdi, Chinese emperor of the Han Dynasty ( b. 28 )

Zhangdi is succeeded by his 9-year old son Zhao, who will reign until 105 as emperor Han Hedi, but he will be a virtual pawn of Empress Dou ( adoptive mother ) and scheming courtiers who will effectively rule the Chinese Empire.

Empress Deng Sui placed her son Shang Di ( barely 3 months old ) on the throne, as the fifth emperor of the Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty.

* Han Andi ( An-ti, Ngan-ti ), a young man, becomes emperor of China, giving power to Empress Deng Sui.

* Han Huandi, emperor of the Han Dynasty ( d. 168 )

* Han Zhidi, emperor of the Han Dynasty ( d. 146 )

* Change of emperor from Han Shundi to Han Chongdi of the Chinese Han Dynasty.

The Chinese world view during the Han dynasty, when the Lo Shu seems to have been at the height of its popularity, was based in large part on the teachings of the Yin-Yang and Five-Elements School, which was traditionally founded by Tsou Yen.

During the Han dynasty, another Yin-Yang conception was applied to the Lo Shu, considering the latter as a plan of Ancient China.

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.

More recently, for example, it was claimed by A. A. Kovalyov as the residence of Lu Fang ( 盧芳 ), a Han throne pretender from the Guangwu era.

This period was characterized by a gradual decentralization of the state that had existed during the Qin and Han dynasties, and an increase in the power of great families.

The traditional Han clothing, or Hanfu, was also replaced by Manchu-style clothing Qipao ( bannermen dress and Tangzhuang ).

During the Han dynasty period, the important Confucian text Lessons for Women ( Nüjie ), was written by Ban Zhao ( 45-114 CE ): by a woman, for women.

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.

No contemporary painting or sculpture of Confucius survives, and it was only during the Han Dynasty that he was portrayed visually.

The Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders and Miscellaneous Illnesses was collated by Zhang Zhongjing sometime between 196 and 220 CE, at the end of the Han dynasty.

Chiang Kai-shek considered both the Han Chinese and all the minority peoples of China, the Five Races Under One Union, as descendants of Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor and semi mythical founder of the Chinese nation, and belonging to the Chinese Nation Zhonghua Minzu and he introduced this into Kuomintang ideology, which was propagated into the educational system of the Republic of China.

The Qin calendar was used during the Qin dynasty, and in the beginning of the Western Han dynasty.

" Han independence " was therefore scrapped in favor of the Five Races Under One Union principle, which later developed into the theory of Zhonghua minzu.

*** The Classic of Music is sometimes referred to as the sixth classic ; it was lost by the time of the Han Dynasty.

Deng was born into an ethnically Hakka Han family in Paifang village ( 牌坊村 ), Xiexing township ( 协兴镇 ), Guang ' an County in Sichuan province, approximately 160 km from Chongqing ( formerly spelled Chungking ).

The earliest known usage of huanghou was in the Han Dynasty.

Lee learns from his Sifu ( teacher ) that Han was also once a Shaolin student, but had been expelled from their order for abusing their code of conduct.

Han demands Williams to tell him who else was outside ( since his ' spy ' Mei Ling had failed to report Lee's nocturnal actions to Han ).