The Fall of the Han and their Return

1. The Fall of the Han and their Return Standard 1.1 E.Q. What was the down fall of the Hans?

2. A family’s land was divided equally among all of the father’s male heirs. • Farmers had a hard time raising enough food to sell or even to feed the family. • Large landowners were not required to pay taxes; • so when their land holdings increased, the amount of land that was left for the government to tax decreases. The Rich take advantage of the poor

3. During this time of economic change, political instability grew. • Rival families wove complex plots to influence the emperor’s choice of who would succeed him as rule. • Wang Mang, a Confucian scholar and members of the court, decided that a strong ruler was needed to restore order. Wang Mang Overthrows the Hans

4. Wang Mang took the imperial title for himself and overthrew the Han. • Tried to bring the country under control. • Minted new money to relieve the treasury’s shortage and set up public granaries to help feed China’s poor. • Took land from the rich and planned to redistribute the land to farmers who had lost their land. Wang Mang overthrows the Han

5. Then in A.D. 11 a great flood left thousands dead and millions homeless. • Peasants revolts rocked the land. • The wealthy, opposed to Wang Mang’s land policies, joined in the rebellion. • Within two years, a member of old imperial family took the throne and began the second period of the Han – Later Han. Wang Mang overthrows the Han

6. Peace restored in China, the first decades of the later Han Dynasty were quite prosperous • Government sent soldiers and merchants westward to regain control of posts along the Silk Roads. • But by 220, the later Han Dynasty had disintegrated into three rival kingdoms. The Later Han Years