Table of Contents

Series Foreword by Bella Vivante Preface A Note on Chinese Transliteration, Pronunciation, Names, Dates, and Sources List of Major Chinese Dynasties and Eras List of Early Han Rulers Chronology of Events The Origins of Imperial China The Establishment of the Han Empire: An Overview The Center and the Periphery Technological Innovation and Empire Social Change in Han Times Imperial China in World History Biographies Primary Documents Glossary of Selected Terms Annotated Bibliography Illustrations Index

Promotional Information

The Han Dynasty created a Chinese empire that endures to this day. important political and technological innovations

About the Author

GRANT HARDY is Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. ANNE KINNEY is Professor of Chinese, and Director of the East Asia Center at the University of Virginia.

Reviews

China's Han Dynasty created a prosperous empire from 206 BCE to CE 221, promoting a less harsh society than that of their Quin predecessors and developing technological advancements from the water mill to stoneware and paper. From elements of social change in Han times to kingdom problems and issues, its role in world society and politics, and its importance in establishing centralized control in Asia, ^IThe Establishment of the Han Empire and Imperial China^R is essential reading for any college-level scholar who would understand the importance of this developmental period.
*MBR Bookwatch*

The establishment of the Han Empire, solidifying the Qin unification of the warring states, is of paramount importance in the history of China, and arguably, in world history. This excellent introduction to that dynastic period devotes separate chapters to the political, institutional, technological, and social ramifications of the era….The writing is engaging and not pedantic. This volume, very much focused on the Western or Former Han (the Xin and later Han are dealt with in two sentences only), is a promising eastward expansion of this series on the ancient world.
*School Library Journal*