China was ruled by emperors from a succession of dynasties for nearly 4,000 years. The first of the dynasties was Xia which was established about 2000 BCE. China takes its name from the Qin dynasty, the first ruling dynasty of Imperial China. After having defeated all members of the previous Zhou Dynasty (1046-221 BCE), Ying Zheng changed his name to Qin Shihuang Di (First Emperor of the Qin). Qin Shihuang Di established the pattern of a strong central government under an emperor who had almost total power. The Qin Empire was a police state. Julie Segrave, in her essay on the Han Dynasty in The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, writes:
“Privately owned weapons were confiscated, and all books of political significance except the approved official history of the Qin, were burned. Moreover, Confucian followers were discredited, persecuted, and murdered for opposing the regime.”The Qin Dynasty was the first to standardize the Chinese language. During this dynasty, the Chinese established weights and measures. They also introduced the use of currency.
While the Qin Dynasty unified China, it barely survived the lifetime of its founder. The Han Dynasty which followed, however, ruled for more than four centuries. While the Han continued the pattern of a strong centralized bureaucracy, the Han emperors favored Confucianism rather than the legalism of the Qin. Confucianism promoted a social and political framework for a centralized monarchy emphasizing loyalty to the emperor. Julie Segrave writes:
“Confucian followers also believed that education and culture should be attributes of the ruling class. Consequently, impressive steps were taken to develop a state bureaucracy wherein intellectual merit, rather than a divine or noble descent, determined an official’s post.”
According to a display at the Portland Art Museum:
“Under the Han emperors, Chinese culture assumed many features that characterize it today. The so-called Confucian classics, codified and raised to near-canonical status, formed the basis of what virtually became an established state religion. The written language was regularized; familiarity with the classics was encouraged; and scholarship was actively promoted by recruiting promising scholars into civil service.”
With regard to the accomplishments in science, technology, and literature during the Han period, Julie Segrave writes:
“Scientific innovations during the Han dynasty include the seismograph, paper, the crank handle, the wheelbarrow, methods of drilling for natural gas, the suspension bridge, the parachute, and miniature hot-air balloons, to name a few. In literature, histories of past and present dynasties were penned, rhyme-prose (fu) was perfected, and a new bureau of music formed, encouraging collaboration between musician and poets.”
The Han Empire spread over most of the area of present-day China and made overland contacts with the West (most notably, with Rome).
Shown below are some artifacts from the Han Dynasty which are on display in the Portland Art Museum. Most of these artifacts are grave goods: that is, they were buried in tombs. Charles Higham, in an article in Current World Archaeology, writes:
“The Han elite believed it imperative to take with them all their belongings for life in eternity—as did their predecessor, Xin Shihuangdi, the First Emperor, who took with him his soldiers, his menagerie, his traveling coach, and much more.”
Horse and Carriage
This dates to the 1st-2nd century CE. According to the display:
“Such carts would have been reserved for use by nobles of high rank, or as a hearse to carry a coffin to a tomb site.”
Prancing Horse
This figure, which was discovered among the cliff tombs of Tianhuishan on the outskirts of Chengdu city in Sichuan, dates to the 2nd century CE. According to the display:
“With its long legs and powerful build, it represents the ‘heavenly horses,’ a breed that the Chinese first encountered in the late second century BCE in Ferghana in Central Asia. Faster and stronger than the native Chinese horses, the imported Ferghana herds gave the Chinese a military advantage in their ceaseless wars against the nomads of the northern steppes.”
Tortoise
This figure dates to the 1st-2nd century CE. The tortoise, a sacred creature in Asia, is a symbol for immortality and a link to the world of the divine.
Shuochang Entertainer With Drum
This figurine dates to the 1st-2nd century CE. According to the display:
“One of the most delightful figures to appear in Han-period tombs from Sichuan is the shuochang entertainer, an itinerant ‘talker and singer’ who accompanied himself on a small drum. These performers are always depicted as corpulent—perhaps the only figures in Chinese art to be rendered that way—and wearing baggy pants and a pointed cap.”
Funerary Shrine
The panel shown below formed the western gable end wall of a funerary shrine dating to the late 1st to mid-3rd century CE. At this shrine, family members would gather to pay reverence to their deceased ancestors.
Female Banquet Chef
This figurine dates to the 1st-2nd century CE.
Chimera
This cast-iron figure with silver inlay dates to the 2nd-1st century BCE.
Guardian Figure
This figure dates to the first century CE.