East Asia: Center of the World - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 284

THE HAN DYNASTY
The gathering of territory and coping with barbarians
are epitomized by the conquests of the Han Dynasty
(206 BC -220 AD ). At first, the Han made agreements with
the barbarian Xiongnu, mollifying their leader with gifts,
and later became powerful enough to wage war against
them. Real expansion was made under Emperor Han Wu
Di (Han Wu-ti), who ruled from 140 to 87 BC .He estab-
lished control over the regions through military colonies
whose job was to clear and irrigate the land and defend
the area.
Wu Di developed “forward policy” regarding the
west, which was occupied by the Xiongnu. By 115 BC , the
Chinese had forced the Xiongnu north of the desert and
had occupied the Tarim Basin. The Great Wall was ex-
tended and fortified with outposts.
Wu Di was particularly interested in the relatively
large horses of the “Western Regions” because they could
be used to carry heavily armed soldiers against the
Xiongnu and their smaller Mongolian ponies. In 101 BC ,
Wu Di' s forces conquered the Ferghana V alley and the
“Western Regions” were declared a Chinese Protectorate.
Wu Di also brought northeastern and southern re-
gions under his control. In Korea, a large military
colony was established near present-day Pyongyang.
The southern kingdom of Nan Y ueh around Canton
was also captured by 111 BC .Kingdoms in the border
areas of Sichuan and Tibet also accepted Chinese su-
premacy . Y unnan, the terminus of an important trade
route to India, was subjugated as well. In the years
42-43 AD southward expeditions captured Hainan Is-
land, the T Tonkin region (North Vietnam), and Annam
(central Vietnam).
Assisted or forced population movement was an-
other policy of the Han. Mass movement of popula-
tions to border regions was both a means of control
and of evening out the distribution of people. More
than 2 million settlers trekked to northern areas under
Wu Di' s reign alone. Even more migrated to the fertile
lands of the Yangzi.
The original Han capital was at Ch'ang-an (near
present-day Xian) in the Wei River V alley . The capital
was later moved to Loyang. By 140 AD , Loyang had a
population of more than a million.
Throughout the Han and later dynasties, borders
waxed and waned with the relative strength of Chinese
and barbarian. Furthermore, China itself was unified or
fragmented depending on internal strengths or weak-
nesses. Overspent and overburdened, the Han dynasty

collapsed in 220 AD .The Han dynasty was followed by
several others. One of the most important of these dynas-
ties was the Tang.

THE TANG (T'ANG) DYNASTY (618-906)
Under the Tang, China became the richest and most
powerful empire in Asia. Its frontiers extended even
further than those of the Han (Figure 9-12) and its
population numbered more than 50 million. T Two mil-
lion people lived in and around their capital at Ch'ang-
an, then the largest city in the world! This was a period
unparalleled in poetry , painting, pottery , printing, and
other art forms. The Son of Heaven—the title of the
emperor—was perceived as the lord of “all under
heaven” (i.e., the known world). This was acknowl-
edged by all others who offered praise and paid tribute,
and imitated everything Chinese.
Ch'ang-an was likely the largest planned city ever
built. Laid out in a checkerboard pattern, it covered
some 30 square miles (78 km 2 ). Its wide avenues ran
north-south and east-west to great gates at the cardi-
nal compass points. The walled city was further di-
vided into quarters and lesser administrative units. The
people lived in rectangular wards, each with gates that
were closed at night. Markets and entertainment dis-
tricts served residents and visitors alike. Ch'ang-an was
notably cosmopolitan, housing an international group
of merchants, traders, artists, pilgrims, students, schol-
ars, adventurers, and others. Official tributary emis-
saries came from Korea and Japan and regions of the
south on a regular basis, returning to their homelands
with all they could carry .
Despite its accomplishments, the dynasty failed to
endure. Tang forces were defeated by a coalition of
T Turks and Arabs at the Talas River near Samarkand in
751. The Silk Route was thereby closed and trade with
the west cut off. This battle is significant because cer-
tain captured Chinese transmitted the recently devel-
oped art of wood-block printing and an older method
of papermaking to the West. By 1030, the Chinese had
developed movable-type printing, at least 400 years
before it appeared in Europe. In fact, China hosted a
wide spectrum of inventions long before the West
(Figure 10-13).
A great drought in the north precipitated a series of
rebellions against the Tang, exacerbating the dissatisfac-
tion already apparent throughout the empire. Rival gen-
erals vied for control, but the Tang empire collapsed in
disarray in 907.