The Han Dynasty is divided into the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty in chronological order. From 202 BC to 9 AD, the Western Han Dynasty passed through 2 1 1 year and reached 14 Emperor. Because there were four years of Chu-Han War before the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, people sometimes count these four years in the Western Han Dynasty.
The Western Han Dynasty was the first prosperous period of feudal society in China. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the rulers learned the lesson of the rapid death of the Qin Dynasty, adopted the policy of "sharing interest with the people", promoted social stability and agricultural development, and increased the revenue of the state treasury and prospered the economy by reforming the currency system. Although there were many political and military struggles in the early Han Dynasty, such as the rebellion of local forces and the dispute over the surnames of Liu and Lu, the rebellion was put down and the political situation became stable because of the unity of thought and strength. After the emergence of "the rule of Wenjing", it ushered in the "golden age of Emperor Wu".
The Han dynasty inherited the centralization of the Qin dynasty and further strengthened it, and the imperial power was deified, and the situation of great unity was consolidated. Agricultural production is highly developed, achievements have been made in water conservancy construction and harnessing the Yellow River, and handicrafts and commerce are developing day by day. After a long-term resistance to the Xiongnu in the north, it won the victory, and at the same time, it had friendly exchanges with all ethnic groups in the western regions, and its territory was expanded unprecedentedly, forming a harmonious multi-ethnic relationship centered on the "Han nationality" and a prosperous scene of the "Silk Road".
In the Han Dynasty, Confucianism gained the status of "exclusive respect" and became the ideological basis of China's feudal society. The literary creation of "Han Fu" reached a climax; Historical Records, an immortal work, appeared in history. Science and technology have also developed further.
In the late Western Han Dynasty, the imperial consorts seized power. In 9 AD, Wang Mang usurped the throne and changed his country name to "Xin", and the Western Han Dynasty perished. However, Wang Mang's "new dynasty" only existed in 14, and was overthrown by the peasant uprising in 23 AD. Since then, Liu Xuan's "start a new stove" regime supported by the peasant uprising has always existed (still in the name of the Han Dynasty), so people often put this history in the late Western Han Dynasty.