Ancient China - Hang Empire

📜 Official name of the empire

Its name is the Han Empire (Chinese: Hàncháo, 漢朝), founded by Liu Bang —Gaozu—, divided into Western Han (206 BC–9 AD) with its capital in Chang'an, and Eastern Han (25–220 AD) with its capital in Luoyang. It was the golden age that gave the people their name and the Han script.

🧩 Mandatory aspects for total realism

1. Geography and space

• Territory: up to ~6.1 million km²; borders with nomadic steppes (Xiongnu), western regions (Tarim Basin), southern mountains and eastern coasts.

• Key cities: Chang'an (14 km of wall), Luoyang, Chengdu, Linzi; Yellow and Yangtze rivers as transportation and irrigation axes.

• Routes: beginning of the Silk Road from Chang'an towards Central Asia and the Mediterranean.

2. Politics and law

• Structure: Emperor (“Son of Heaven”) → Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers → Commandancies and semi-autonomous Kingdoms → Counties.

• Selection of officials: recommendation based on merit and virtue, without general exams yet; hierarchy of 20 noble ranks with legal privileges.

• Laws: severe but based on Confucianism as the official doctrine since 136 BC; physical punishments, fines or forced labor; mandatory household and land registrations.

3. Society and hierarchy

• Order: Emperor → Nobility → Officials → Peasants → Artisans → Merchants → Slaves (less than 1% approx.) .

• Family: patriarchal, ancestor worship, three levels of obedience (father, husband, son); age and lineage determine respect.

• Ethnic groups: mostly Han, also Xiongnu, Qiang, Yue, peoples from the western regions with different languages ​​and customs.

4. Economy and resources

• Currency: initially Banliang, then Wu Zhu (bronze, fixed weight); taxes in grain, cloth or public work.

• Activities: main agriculture (rice, wheat, millet); state monopoly of salt and iron; trade in silk, porcelain, spices and metals by land and sea.

• Technology: paper (Cai Lun's invention), iron smelting, multi-ox plow, wheeled carts, primitive compass, Zhang Heng's seismograph.

5. Culture, clothing and daily life

• Clothing: long linen or silk tunics, belts with clasps; colors according to rank —yellow exclusive to the emperor—; hairstyles with hairpins, hats according to position.

• Architecture: wood as the main material; curved roofs, glazed tiles on palaces; rammed earth walls; pagodas do not yet exist.

• Diet: staple grains, vegetables, fish/meat occasionally; tea not yet widespread; fermented grain drinks.

• Beliefs: official Confucianism, developing Taoism, the beginning of Buddhism from India (1st century AD); astrology, divination, worship of spirits and ancestors.

• Language: Late Old Han Chinese; writing in characters on strips of bamboo or silk — paper only from the end of the 1st century AD —.

6. Army and conflicts

• Service: men aged 23 —later 20— train 1 year, serve 1 year; pay or exemption possible in Eastern Han; border troops and imperial guard.

• Units: infantry, cavalry essential against Xiongnu, archers, war chariots; iron weapons, scale or plate armor, long-range crossbows.

• Key conflicts: wars against Xiongnu, expansion south and west, Yellow Turban Rebellion (184 AD) which marks the decline.

7. Limits to “realism”

• Avoid anachronisms: there is no paper before ~105 AD, no pagodas, no tea as a common drink, and no general imperial examinations.

• Magic and gods exist in the beliefs of the time, but not as a realistic supernatural mechanic unless you want to include mythology.

🗺️ Geography and space of the Han Empire

Full name: Han Empire; periods: Western Han (206 BC–9 AD, capital Chang'an) and Eastern Han (25–220 AD, capital Luoyang). Maximum area: ~6.1 million km², population ~57.6 million (census 2 AD).

🔹 Natural boundaries and regions

• North: up to the Yin Range and the Gobi Desert; beyond, the Xiongnu Steppe (present-day Mongolia). Hetao Corridor (Yellow River Bend): fertile, a key defensive and livestock area.

• West: Hexi corridor (Gansu) → four commanderies: Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang → Tarim Basin and Protectorate of the Western Regions (60 BC), with oases such as Loulan, Kucha, Hotan; to the Pamir and Fergana mountains (Central Asia).

• East: East China and Yellow Sea; Korean peninsula to the north, with commands such as Lelang and Xuantu (108 BC).

• South: to the South China Sea, present-day Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan Island, and northern Vietnam (commanderies such as Jiaozhi); Nanling Mountains divide the dry north from the humid south; southwest: Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, wild mountains, unsubdued peoples such as the Dian Kingdom.

• Central axis: Yellow River (Huang He) —yellow silt, destructive growth— and Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) —more voluminous, navigable, rice paddies—; Huai and Han rivers connect both basins.

🔹 Administrative division

• Western Han: ~100 directly governed commandancies + semi-autonomous kingdoms at the beginning (reduced later); Eastern Han: more kingdoms and less central control towards the end.

• Protectorate of Western Regions: not annexed, but with garrison and imperial representative; tributary city-states.

🔹 Key cities: details for the game

Chang'an (Western Han capital)

• Located in the Guanzhong basin, protected by mountains; rammed earth wall ~14 km in perimeter, 12 gates with towers; area ~36 km² including suburbs, ~250,000 inhabitants.

• Palaces: Weiyang (main residence, 10 km walls), Changle; two large markets (East and West), temples, government workshops, neighborhoods by rank; official start of the Silk Road.

Luoyang (Eastern Han capital)

Further east, near the Luo River, more accessible; wall ~10 km, urban area ~24.5 km², ~500,000 inhabitants; straight streets, strict symmetry; North and South Palace; academies and astronomical observatory; canals connecting to the Yangtze.

Other cities

• Linzi: northeast, major commercial and artisan center; Chengdu: southwest, fertile, silk and iron; Nanyang: metallurgical center; Pengcheng: crossroads; Dunhuang: last outpost before the desert, customs and incipient monasteries.

🔹 Infrastructure and routes

• Imperial roads: radial network from Chang'an/Luoyang, compacted surface, posts every ~30 km for messengers and travelers; width up to 15 m in main sections.

• Canals: connect Huang He and Yangtze (Honggou canal), facilitate grain transport to the army and capital; mandatory maintenance by community labor.

• Overland Silk Road: Chang'an → Hexi → Dunhuang → splits into two north/south routes skirting the Taklamakan Desert → Kashgar → Central Asia → Persia → Mediterranean; water points in oases, watchtowers, risk of bandits and storms.

• Sea route: from ports such as Guangzhou to Southeast Asia, India, Persian Gulf; watertight hull junks, sailing by seasonal winds.

🔹 Realistic environmental details

• Climate: warmer and more humid than today; dense forests in northern and southern mountains; deserts slowly advancing westward; fertile alluvial soils in plains, saline near deserts.

• Risks: Yellow River flooding, droughts, earthquakes (recorded and monitored by seismograph since 132 AD), sandstorms in the west.

• Borders: not fixed lines but areas of influence; earthen walls and watchtowers in dangerous sections; mixed populations in border areas.

⚖️ Politics and Law of the Han

Empire Official name: Han Empire (Hàncháo, 206 BC–220 CE), divided into Western Han (206 BC–9 CE, Chang'an) and Eastern Han (25–220 CE, Luoyang). Its system combines legalistic efficiency inherited from Qin and Confucian doctrine as an official norm since 136 B.C., creating a centralized structure but with moral and hierarchical nuances.

🔹 Supreme authority: the Emperor

• Title and legitimacy: "Son of Heaven", holder of the Mandate of Heaven – he loses the right if his government is unjust or there are natural disasters; it belongs to the Liu lineage since its founder Liu Bang (Gaozu).

• Powers: issues edicts with the force of law, appoints/dismisses high officials, commands armies, decides on capital punishments and succession; Only he can authorize coinage or treaties with foreign powers.

• Real limitations: must respect ancestral customs and council of ministers; the Empress Dowager – mother or previous wife – has superior protocol authority, can govern in a minority or incapacity, even choose a successor.

• Succession: preference for the eldest son of the main Empress, but the Emperor may appoint another; frequent disputes provoke intrigues from female clans and eunuchs, especially in Eastern Han.

🔹 Central structure: Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers

✅ Three Excellencies (highest level)

• Chancellor: directs the administration, submits annual reports, proposes laws and budget; most influential position after the throne.

• Imperial Advisor: controls compliance with regulations, investigates corruption, monitors courts and files complaints; it acts as a counterweight to the Chancellor.

• Grand Commander: supreme military chief, coordinates defenses and campaigns; sometimes uncovered in peacetime.

✅ Nine Ministers (each heads a specialized department)

• Rituals and Sacrifices: ceremonies, temples, calendar, and Confucian education.

• Palace security: palace guard and courtier surveillance.

• Justice: application of the penal code, review of serious sentences.

• Treasury and Resources: taxes, state granaries, salt and iron monopolies since 119 B.C.

• Foreign Relations and Taxes: embassies, city-states of Central Asia.

• Public works: roads, canals, walls, irrigation and maintenance of palaces.

• Imperial Family: Kinship matters, genealogical records.

• City Police: order in capital and market control.

• Transport and Equipment: royal chariots, war horses, imperial posts.

✅ Internal

Courts - Internal Court: Emperor, concubines, eunuchs and close advisors; Exclusive access to the sovereign, he acquires great power in Eastern Han.

• External Court: official bureaucracy, answerable to the Excellencies; constant friction with the inner court.

🔹 Territorial organization and local

administration - Initial stage (Western Han): mixture of Commanderies (governed by appointed officials) and semi-autonomous Kingdoms (given to Liu relatives) with their own troops and revenues; after the Rebellion of the Seven States (154 BC), their powers were curtailed until they were in honorary titles and salaries.

• Standard Division:

1. Commandery: ~10–30 counties, civil governor + military chief + prosecutor; reports directly to the capital.

2. County: basic unit (~10,000–50,000 inhabitants), magistrate appointed by the court; Functions: Justice, taxes, household registration, local works, recruitment.

3. District/Town: chief elected from among elders, maintains order, collects minor tributes, resolves neighborhood disputes.

• Special territories:

• Protectorate of the Western Regions (60 BC): garrison and imperial representative over oases in the Tarim basin; cities pay tribute and let caravans pass.

• Border commanderies: Jiaozhi (northern Vietnam), Lelang (northern Korea); mixture of Han laws and local customs, greater military presence.

• Marquesados: small lands given to nobles or prominent officials; its owner collects rent but does not govern or have an army.

🔹 Selection and career of civil servants

• Recommendation: main system since 134 B.C.; each county must nominate annual candidates for "filial piety and integrity" (Xiaolian), preferably over 40 years of age; Fixed fees with fines for non-compliance.

• Imperial Academy: founded by Emperor Wu; he studies the Five Confucian Classics; graduates go on to administrative positions; in Eastern Han, compulsory written examinations are introduced.

• Salary hierarchy: expressed in grain measures —from 20,000 dan for Excellencies to less than 100 for district chiefs—; Mixed payment: grain, currency, silk or land.

• Evaluation: annual and triennial reports; promotion by merit or relegation by mistakes; corruption or abuse of authority punishable by dismissal, fine or hard labour.

🔹 Legal system: rules, trials and penalties

✅ Origin and code

• Basis: Code of Nine Chapters, written by Xiao He when he founded the dynasty; he inherits Qin rules but softens many penalties; complete lost texts, supplemented by finds from tombs such as Zhangjiashan (186 BC).

• Key principle: "punish according to fault, differentiate by rank" – nobles or officials can substitute penalties for fines or loss of rank; commoners suffer harsher measures.

• Confucianism in law: intention is valued; acts of filial piety or defense of parents reduce or exempt from guilt.

✅ Main crimes

• Against the State: treason, rebellion, counterfeiting of currency, theft of sacred property → capital punishment or extinction of lineage.

• Against persons: homicide, injury, rape → pretrial detention, fine, forced labor or death.

• Against property: theft, fraud, illegal occupation of land → restitution + sanction.

• Against social order: disobedience to parents, falsification of documents, tax evasion or military service → from whipping to exile or forced labor.

✅ Court Procedure

• The county magistrate judges in the first instance; serious or complex cases pass to the Minister of Justice or the Emperor.

• Witnesses and confessions are admitted, sometimes through moderate torture; preventive imprisonment only, not as a final sentence.

• Women can file complaints, although under unequal conditions; Elderly people and children under 7 years of age receive special treatment, without corporal punishment.

✅ Penalties and reforms

• Reform of 167 B.C. (Emperor Wen): eliminates punishments of mutilation – tattooing, amputation of nose or feet – replacing them with whipping or forced labor, so as not to lose agricultural labor.

• Usual classification:

• Fines: in coin or grain; also pay with titles of nobility or exemption from service.

• Whipping: with a bamboo stick, fixed number according to the fault.

• Forced labor: 1–5 years in canals, walls, or mines; Identification mark on clothing.

• Exile: to distant borders, with no possible return.

• Death: beheading, hanging, or dismemberment—serious crimes only.

🔹 Control and stability: reinforcing

measures - State monopolies: salt and iron from 119 B.C.; it avoids concentration of wealth and finances armies; their suppression is debated at the Salt and Iron Conferences (81 BC), although they are mostly maintained.

• Mandatory registrations: household census every 3 years; each registered family with members, land and property; basis for taxes and recruitment.

• Power checks and balances: division of key positions, surprise inspections, anonymous complaints system; It prevents a single official from accumulating too much authority.

• Foreign policy: tribute and marriage with Xiongnu clans at first; then expansion and alliances with cities in Central Asia; strict rules for foreign traders at border posts.

🔹 Evolution and decline

• Western Han: strong central authority, constant reforms, expansion.

• Interruption by Wang Mang (9–23 AD): radical reforms fail, revolts overthrow him.

• Eastern Han: power weakened by clans of empresses and eunuchs; kingdoms regain autonomy; farmers lose land to large landowners; The rebellion of the Yellow Turbans (184 A.D.) accelerates the final fall.

🧑 🤝 🧑 Society and hierarchy of the Han

Empire Official name: Han Empire (Hàncháo, 206 BC–220 CE), divided into Western Han (206 BC–9 AD, Chang'an) and Eastern Han (25–220 AD, Luoyang). Its structure is a mixture of hierarchy of rank, moral division by occupations, and strong ties of lineage, based on Confucianism as an official doctrine since 136 B.C., which defines rights, obligations, dress, and behavior down to the smallest details. Society is conceived as a natural order in which each group fulfills an indispensable function for the stability of the "Mandate of Heaven".

🔹 General principles and rank system

• Core value: filial piety – absolute respect for parents, elders and ancestors – and loyalty to the sovereign; Whoever violates these rules loses status and can be legally punished.

• Hierarchy of the Twenty Degrees: a system inherited from Qin, which grants privileges, lands, or exemptions; it can be inherited, earned by military merit or civil service, or bought in times of state need. Degrees 1–8 are for commoners, 9–18 for minor officials or nobles, 19–20 are equivalent to marquises or high offices.

• Four occupations: ideal classification – not always rigid – by moral and economic contribution: lawyers → peasants → artisans → merchants; It is not strictly caste, but it conditions rights, clothing and access to positions.

• Mobility: possible by recommendation, military merit or accumulation of degrees, but difficult; Most are born and die in the same group, especially in rural areas. In Eastern Han, large landowning clans concentrate power and block the rise of commoners.

🔹 Peak: Imperial Family, Nobility, and Close

Circle Royal

Family - Only Liu lineage—descendants of Liu Bang, founder—can claim the throne. Emperor: "Son of Heaven", no one can name him directly; titles such as "Under the Steps of the Throne" or "The Upper One" are used.

• Empress Dowager: mother or previous wife; he has superior protocol authority, he can rule in a minority, elect a successor or sign edicts; a frequent source of power for female clans—wives clans—especially in Eastern Han.

• Princes and kings: initially they ruled semi-autonomous kingdoms; after the rebellion of 154 B.C., reduced to title and income, without troops or their own administration.

Nobility and high offices

• Marquises and county lords: titles with entry of populations, without political jurisdiction; many by foundational merit or kinship with the court.

• Eunuchs: castrated men, serve in the palace; in Western Han they have an administrative function, but in Eastern Han they accumulate enormous power—a group of the Ten Intendants—controlling access to the emperor and purging rivals; Their condition excludes them from lineage, which makes them dangerous and distrustful of the nobility.

• Counselors and courtiers: including astrologers, physicians, and ritual specialists; respected for wisdom, but without military or territorial power.

🔹 Administrative elite: literate and landowning class (Shì)

• Identity: men educated in the Five Confucian Classics; they enter by recommendation or Imperial Academy; they hold positions from magistrates to the Three Excellencies.

• Privileges: exemption from forced labor and part of taxes; legal protection – penalties reduced or replaceable by fines or loss of rank; Differentiated clothing: colors according to rank, distinctive hats, fine fabrics forbidden to merchants.

• Evolution: in Eastern Han, they merge with large landowners: they control thousands of hectares, hire peasants as tenants, maintain clientele and family schools, reducing central authority.

• Women in this class: they can receive basic education in ethics and household management; some, like Ban Zhao, write treatises on female behavior; Their dowry remains in their custody and serves to secure the position of children.

🔹 Productive base: peasants (Nóng) —the majority of the population—

• Status: considered "the pillar of the empire", since they feed the people and pay taxes in grain or cloth; mostly free, small owners or tenants; nuclear families of 4–5 members are the norm – extended families common only among the rich or elderly.

• Obligations: tax per head (120 coins per year) and land (1/30 of the harvest); military service 1 year and public works 1 month per year between 20 and 56 years of age; Mandatory registration in the census every 3 years.

• Reality: fertile lands on plains; vulnerable to droughts, flooding of the Yellow River or debts; many lose plots to large landowners and become settlers – up to 50% peasants in Han Oriental – with rents up to half of the harvest. Some combine agriculture with domestic crafts – weaving linen or silk – to supplement income.

• Communal life: villages of 10–100 families; chief elected by elders; joint worship of local spirits and ancestors; mutual aid in harvests or construction; disputes resolved by mediation before going to the magistrate.

🔹 Artisans and specialists (Gōng)

• Position: respected for their skill, but lower status than the peasant for "not producing food"; many state workshops – iron, salt, royal textiles, ceramics – or private workshops in cities.

• Types: blacksmiths, masons, weavers, potters, jade carvers, doctors, astronomers; Some specialists—iron smelters or chariot builders—can make a lot of money and hire apprentices.

• Rules: incipient guilds without great power; some trades are passed down from father to son; State workshops control quality and supply to the army or palaces.

• Restrictions: silk fabrics or royal colors prohibited; difficult access to public office except for exceptional merit or technical service.

🔹 Merchants and traffickers (Shāng)

• Paradoxo: morally despised – "they earn without creating anything" – but sometimes the richest; laws limit them: they cannot wear silk, ride, hold office, own land or marry families of officials; excise duties and strict controls in markets – closed after hours, guarded.

• Activities: local, regional or Silk Road trade; trafficking in grain, salt, iron, silk, spices, metals; some finance caravans or seaports.

• Evasion: many use front men or buy land – illegal but common – to become landowners and improve status; in Eastern Han, its influence grows along with the weakening of the state.

🔹 Marginalized groups: slaves, servants, and people in servile

conditions - Quantity: only ~2–3% of the population—less than 1.5 million—but concentrated in palaces or large estates; it is not an economy based on slavery.

• Types:

• State slaves: criminals and their families, prisoners of war; they work in mines, public works or workshops; they can be released by amnesty or merit.

• Private slaves: born as such, sold in famine or acquired for debt; domestic or agricultural tasks; owners limited in quantity —kings max. 200, senior officials 30—; Killing a slave is still a felony.

• Permanent servants or bound settlers: not slaves, but bound to the land; they work on the part of harvesting and protection; Difficult to leave the domain without permission.

• Others: musicians, actors or dancers; low status, although they can be highly regarded in court.

🔹 Family structure, gender roles and lineage

• Basic unit: patriarchal and patrilineal family; father absolute authority; "three obediences": wife to father → husband → son; widows respected if they do not remarry, although not forbidden.

• Marriage: arranged by parents or relatives; dowry is key; wife goes to live with her husband's family; vital importance of having sons to continue worshipping ancestors – without them there is no one to offer sacrifices.

• Clans and lineages: groups of families with common ancestor; head of lineage – an old man with prestige – administers common goods, resolves conflicts, organizes ceremonies; In wealthy or border areas, powerful clans rival or collaborate with the government.

• Elders: revered for wisdom; from 70 years of age they receive special treatment – exemption from fines, gifts from the emperor; their word has weight in disputes or community decisions.

🔹 Ethnic diversity and border areas

• Majority: Han people, uniform language and script, shared customs.

• Subject or neighboring peoples: Xiongnu to the north, Qiang and oasis villages to the west, Yue and mountain villages to the south, Dian in Yunnan; in bordering areas, Han and local customs coexist; some tribes maintain autonomy and pay tribute; frequent wars or alliances by marriage.

• Cities of the Silk Road: mixed population —Sogdians, Parthians, Indians—; status according to wealth or function, but always as foreigners; they cannot own land without special permission.

🔹 Changes between eras

• Western Han: clearer hierarchy, strong state control, somewhat greater mobility, less concentration of land.

• Eastern Han: female clans and eunuchs gain power; large landowners dominate the countryside; peasants are impoverished; merchants evade rules; social weakness was a prelude to the fall and division in Tres Reinos.

💰 Economy and resources of the Han

Empire Official name: Han Empire (Hàncháo, 206 BC–220 CE), divided into Western Han (206 BC–9 AD, Chang'an) and Eastern Han (25–220 AD, Luoyang). Its economic system is based on highly productive agriculture, specialized industry, growing trade and active state management that combines free markets with strategic monopolies. It was based on the Confucian principle that "agriculture is the base, trade is the branch", although in practice both sectors complemented each other and grew together.

🌾 Productive base: agriculture and land

management Property structure

• State lands: forests, lakes, new or seized land; administered by the Ministry of Finance, given to poor peasants or military in border areas in exchange for taxes or service.

• Private property: small initial peasant property (the majority), which is progressively reduced to large estates of nobles, officials and merchants; in Eastern Han, up to half of the land belongs to less than 10% of the population.

• Lease system: settlers give between 1/3 and 1/2 of the harvest to the owner, in exchange for housing, tools and protection; They are not slaves but can hardly leave the property without permission.

Crops and techniques

• North (Yellow River basin): millet, wheat, barley, pulses; dry climate, silty soils; intensive use of iron and ploughing of several oxen.

• South (Yangtze basin): irrigated rice, sugar cane, tea (still rare), citrus fruits; abundant humidity, cultivation terraces.

• Key innovations: iron ploughshare with curved ploughshare, multi-pipe seeder, water mills, canal irrigation systems; organic fertilizers and crop rotation so as not to deplete the soil.

• Public works: dikes, irrigation canals and flood control; example: Dujiangyan (Sichuan) canal, active until today, which protects land and guarantees water to more than 500,000 hectares.

Production and yields

• Average: ~1–1.5 tonnes of grain per hectare; enough to feed the population (~57.6 million in AD 2) and generate surpluses for trade or state reserves.

• Crops stored in public granaries every 30–50 km; the state buys in times of abundance and sells in scarcity to stabilize prices (Price Leveling System, 110 B.C.).

⚙️ Industry, crafts and state

monopolies Iron: technological and military

pillar - Since 119 B.C. it has been a state monopoly: 48 founding workshops distributed throughout the empire, each with hundreds of workers; It controls ore extraction, smelting, manufacture of agricultural tools, weapons, armor and construction parts.

• Advanced technique: blast furnace casting, steel production, anti-rust coatings; tools more durable and cheaper than in any other civilization of the time.

• Salt and Iron Conferences (81 BC): official debate between supporters of monopoly (finances army and borders) and critics (low quality, abuses); it is maintained but with partial flexibilizations.

Salt: indispensable

resource - Also monopoly since 119 B.C.; evaporative extraction on shores or from deep wells in inland areas; it is packaged and distributed throughout the territory; Its sale generates more than 30% of direct state revenues.

• In Eastern Han, private production is allowed with a license and payment of high tax.

Other industries and crafts

• Silk: not monopoly, but imperial workshops in Chang'an and Luoyang control quality and designs for export; it is also produced in peasant households; up to 220 threads per square centimeter in fine fabrics; it even works as a currency of exchange or payment of taxes.

• Lacquer and wood: decorative objects, furniture, vessels; cypress, catalpa or walnut wood; natural varnish extracted from special trees; luxury pieces intended for elites or foreign trade.

• Ceramics and pottery: tiles, bricks, tableware, funerary figures; some pieces with green or brown enamel.

• Paper: official invention of Cai Lun (~105 AD) from tree bark, rags, or fishing nets; It progressively replaces bamboo and silk strips as a writing support.

• Mining: gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, cinnabar; mixed state or private exploitation with a license; mines strictly controlled by risk of rebellion.

💵 Monetary system, taxation and finance

Currency

• Early Western Han: assorted bronze coins; the Wu Zhu coin is definitively standardized from 118 B.C.: fixed weight ~3.5 g, only minted by the central authority; circulates until the end of the dynasty.

• Gold: used only for large transactions or gifts from the court; measured in Jin (~248 g); rare silver and reserved for objects or decoration.

• Problems: frequent counterfeiting (death penalty), lack of currency in rural areas where barter or grain/silk are used as money.

Compulsory taxes and services

• Land tax: 1/30 of the harvest (3.33%), one of the lowest in antiquity; temporarily reduced to zero in times of great prosperity.

• Tax per head: 120 coins per year per person over 7 years of age; peasants can pay with grain or silk.

• Commercial tax: up to 10% of the value of goods; markets guarded by officials who register sales and weights.

• Work service: men aged 20–56 years spend 1 month annually on public works; also 1 year of military service and another year of training; possible exemption by payment or donation of grain/titles.

• Titles of nobility: authorized sale in times of deficit; they grant exemptions but not political power.

Reserve Management

• Strategic granaries in capitals and borders; funds with accumulated currency; detailed records every 3 years by census of households and properties; quality control and weighing in markets to prevent fraud.

🚚 Domestic and foreign

trade Trade infrastructure

• Road network from Chang'an/Luoyang: up to 15 m wide, posts every 30 km with accommodation and relay horses; navigable canals connect the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, reducing transport costs by up to 80% compared to land.

• Official markets: each city has at least one, fenced and guarded; strict hours; positions grouped by trade; officials register prices and resolve disputes.

Products by region

• Northeast: fish, salt, fine silk, liqueurs, wool fabrics.

• Central plain: grain, legumes, iron tools, ceramics.

• Southwest (Sichuan): silk, salt, iron, copper, fruits, ginger, bamboo.

• South and coast: precious wood, furs, ivory, pearls, spices, tin, lead.

The Terrestrial Silk Road

• Officially opened after missions by Zhang Qian (~130 BCE); Route: Chang'an → Hexi Corridor → Dunhuang → divided into two roads bordering the Taklamakan → Kashgar desert → Central Asia → Persia → Mediterranean.

• Exports: silk, iron, ceramics, paper, spices, medicine.

• Imports: Fergana horses (crucial for the army), furs, wool, glass, precious metals, grapes, alfalfa, religious art.

• Risks: sandstorms, lack of water, bandits, taxes in each city-state; caravans of up to a thousand camels with armed escort.

Sea

trade - From ports such as Guangzhou or Xuwen; watertight hull boats with bamboo sails; routes to Southeast Asia, India, the Persian Gulf; exchange of coastal products and luxuries; smaller volume than land but with goods of greater value.

📈 Economic evolution and decline

• First stage (206–140 BC): low taxes, little intervention, rapid growth; "Wen and Jing's Rules".

• Apogee (140–90 BC): military expansion, monopolies, opening of routes; large revenues but also high spending.

• Stabilization and changes (90 BC–100 AD): flexibilization of monopolies, fiscal readjustment; prosperity is maintained but land concentration grows.

• Decline (100–220 AD): Large landowners evade taxes → state deficit → increased burdens on small peasants → debts and loss of land → rebellions (such as the Yellow Turbans, 184 AD) → final collapse and division into Three Kingdoms.

🎎 Culture, beliefs, and daily life of the Han

Empire Official name: Han Empire (Hàncháo, 206 BC–220 CE), divided into Western Han (206 BC–9 CE, Chang'an) and Eastern Han (25–220 CE, Luoyang). Their culture unites ritual order, ancient wisdom, varied beliefs and a daily life marked by social status, with precise rules down to the smallest details.

🔹 Worldview and beliefs

Fundamental

principles - Yin and Yang: complementary forces; everything must seek balance – heaven/earth, light/darkness, man/woman; Imbalance brings disasters or disease.

• Five Elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, water; cycles, seasons, colors, directions and even the destiny of the dynasty rule.

• Mandate from Heaven: the Emperor rules only if he acts justly; if there are droughts or rebellions, he loses that right.

• Soul: each person has two: hún (spirit, ascends to heaven) and pò (body, remains in the grave); Rituals unite them and ensure well-being in the afterlife.

Main

currents - Confucianism: official doctrine since 136 BC; it is not religion but moral guidance – filial piety, loyalty, respect, justice; the Five Classics are studied; Confucius is honored as the greatest sage.

• Taoism: seeks harmony with the Dao; longevity practices, meditation, alchemy; since the second century A.D. it has been organized as a religion with temples and rules (sect of the Five Means of Rice).

• Buddhism: comes from India ~65 AD; first temple: Baima in Luoyang (68 AD); still in the minority, it introduces reincarnation and compassion.

• Popular cults: ancestors (domestic altar, food/wine offerings), mountain/river spirits, mythical beings (dragon, qilin, phoenix), divination with stems or turtles, astrology and omens.

🔹 Clothing and status

symbols - Basic rule: materials, colors and designs indicate rank; Emperor's exclusive yellow; purple and red high office; commoners only muted tones —black, blue, gray— and linen/hemp; silk forbidden to merchants.

• General style: shenyi —long tunic, one-piece piece, crossed neck, wide sleeves, belt with jade or metal clasp—; distinctive hats according to function; hairstyles updos with bobby pins; Footwear made of cloth or leather.

• Differences: officials wear embroidery and fine fabrics; peasants wear short tunics and trousers to work; soldiers in tight jackets and protections; Elite women with wide skirts and multiple layers.

🔹 Architecture and housing

• Main material: wood —stone only for bases or walls—; curved ceilings by crossed beams; clay tiles; bricks or adobe in low walls.

• Cities: grid layout, straight streets, rammed earth walls, gates with towers; complex palaces with successive courtyards; temples and academies; closed and guarded markets.

• Homes:

• Elite: several wings, interior courtyards, gardens with ponds, lacquer and wood furniture; roofs with glazed tiles —imperial or high rank—.

• Peasants: one or two rooms, dirt floor, thatched roof, outdoor kitchen; to the south, houses raised on stilts against humidity and flooding.

• Tombs: built as "eternal palaces"; chambers with objects of daily use, food, figures of servants; paintings showing journeys to the afterlife or battles.

🔹 Food and customs at the table

• Base by region: north —millet, wheat, barley—; south —rice—; legumes, vegetables, fruits —peach, plum, pear—; widespread use of chopsticks.

• Proteins: pork, chicken, fish; rare beef or lamb —valued for work or rituals—; milk and rare derivatives; fermented grain beverages (light wine); Tea is not yet a common drink—it is used as a medicine or herb.

• Social differences: elite eat up to 7 dishes with elaborate stews; commoners usually have steamed porridge or bread; eating alone or talking with your mouth full is rude; food is shared in common bowls.

🔹 Language, Writing, and Education

• Language: Ancient Chinese; writing in characters —evolving from stamps to simpler strokes—; supports: bamboo strips, silk; paper from ~105 AD (invention of Cai Lun).

• Education: privilege of elite males; Imperial Academy in capitals; the Five Classics are studied; goal: to serve the State; women can learn ethics and household management – example: Ban Zhao, author of Lessons for Women.

• Literature: poetry, historical chronicles —Sima Qian and his Historical Memoirs—, treatises on medicine, mathematics or astronomy.

🔹 Daily life: times, festivities and leisure

• Calendar: lunar-solar; 12 months of 29/30 days; 365 days + month to be intercalated from time to time; governed by the Ministry of Rituals; New Year's beginning of spring.

• Key Holidays:

• Lunar New Year: offerings to ancestors, cleansing, hearty meals, lights.

• Mid-Autumn: full moon, family reunion, round cakes.

• Harvest Rituals: gratitude to spirits of the earth, community dances.

• Leisure: board games (liubo), throwing arrows at jugs, kites, horse races, music (flute, zither, drums), dance and theatre with masks; in cities, acrobat or magic shows.

🔹 Science and knowledge

• Astronomy: constant stargazing and eclipses; Zhang Heng's seismograph (132 AD) detects earthquakes from the capital; precise timeline.

• Medicine: channel theory and energy balance; acupuncture, herbs, massage; treatises by Huangdi and Zhang Zhongjing.

• Mathematics: The Nine Chapters of the Mathematical Art —solve equations, areas, volumes, taxes—.

📜 Social differences, clothing, and treatment of women — Han Empire

Official name: Han Empire (Hàncháo, 206 BC–220 AD), divided into Western Han (206 BC–9 AD) and Eastern Han (25–220 AD). Every aspect of life—from how you dress to how you address others—is defined by your position in the hierarchy and your gender, with precise rules that combine tradition, Confucianism, and written law.

🔹 Social differences: visible and normative hierarchy

Range structure

Society is organized in a strict pyramid, based on merit, occupation, and birth:

1. Pinnacle: Emperor (“Son of Heaven”), imperial family, marquesses and princes of the Liu lineage.

2. Elite: High-ranking officials, lawyers, and large landowners; access to education and public office.

3. Base: Peasants —considered the “backbone of the empire”—, specialized artisans; then merchants —rich but morally despised—; and finally servants or slaves —less than 3% of the population—.

• There are 20 degrees of nobility inherited or earned through military merit or civil service; they grant land, exemptions or legal privileges, but not political power unless combined with office.

• In Eastern Han, large landowning clans concentrate land and evade taxes, weakening central authority and reducing social mobility.

Rights and obligations according to class

• Nobles and officials: may substitute corporal punishment with fines or loss of rank; partial exemption from taxes and forced labor.

• Peasants: obliged to pay tax per head and per land, serve 1 year in the army and 1 month annually in public works; if they lose their lands they become settlers, handing over up to half of the harvest to the owner.

• Merchants: legal prohibition against wearing silk, riding horses, owning land or marrying into the families of officials; special taxes; although many evade regulations through front men.

• Artisans: low status but respected for their skill; trades are usually passed down from parents to children; state workshops control quality and supply to the State.

• Slaves: servile status —state-owned for crimes or prisoners of war, deprived of their rights due to debt or birth—; protected by law —killing them is a serious crime— but without their own rights; number limited per owner.

🔹 Clothing: color codes, fabrics and shapes

Clothing is not a personal choice: strict laws define what each person can wear; wearing something of a higher rank carries a fine or serious penalty.

General principles

• Materials: silk reserved for the elite; linen or hemp for commoners; merchants forbidden from using silk or fine wool.

• Colors: yellow exclusive to the emperor; purple, deep red or green for high positions; muted tones —brown, gray, dark blue— for the rest.

• Forms: wide and long sleeves on ceremonial robes; belt with jade or metal clasp; distinctive hats according to rank; hairstyles gathered with wooden, bone or jeweled hairpins.

• Accessories: beaded necklaces, rank ribbons —color and length indicate level—; cloth or leather shoes; straw footwear for rural work.

By class and gender

• Empire and royalty: one-piece shenyi robes, cross collar, multiple layers; dragon or phoenix embroidery; jade brooches; gold or silver hairpins; silk fabrics with metallic threads.

• Officials: long robes of color according to rank; official hat with feather or ornament; belt with seal of authority; black leather footwear.

• Elite women: short blouse and long skirt —ruqun— or wrap tunic —quju—; several layers; embroidery of clouds, flowers or auspicious birds; elaborate hairstyles with multiple hairpins; soft makeup —white powder on face, blush on cheeks, eyebrow shaping—.

• Peasants and artisans: short tunics to the knee, simple trousers; earth colors; thick fabrics; few upper garments; without adornments; straw footwear or barefoot in warm areas.

• Soldiers: tight-fitting jacket, trousers, leather or iron scale protection; helmet; dark colors or unit red.

Changes between eras

• Western Han: tighter and more enveloping robes; greater regulatory rigor.

• Eastern Han: lighter fabrics, wider silhouettes; more complex embroidery; greater use of separate skirts and loose blouses.

🔹 Treatment of women: norms, reality and nuances

The society is patriarchal and patrilineal, based on the Confucian principle of the "three obediences": to the father before marriage, to the husband during marriage, and to the daughter after becoming a widow. But the reality is more complex: there are important rights, spaces, and exceptions.

Rules and teachings

• Confucianism: values ​​women as an indispensable complement —yin versus the male yang— but in a subordinate position; virtues: obedience, modesty, domestic work, filial piety.

• Ban Zhao —imperial historian and teacher, ~45–116 AD— writes Lessons for Women, a treatise that codifies female conduct: basic education to fulfill their role well, care of the family, harmony with in-laws; it becomes a reference for centuries.

• Marriage: arranged by parents or intermediaries; dowry is the exclusive property of the woman; wife goes to live with the husband's family; absolute priority is to have sons to continue the worship of ancestors; divorce is possible for seven reasons —lack of children, infidelity, disobedience to in-laws, etc.— but with protections if she has no family or has completed three years of mourning for in-laws.

• Widowhood: there is no legal prohibition against remarriage —common in Han, especially if young—; the custom of chastity is reinforced later, outside of this period.

Real rights and spaces

• Property and inheritance: the dowry remains in her possession; she can buy, sell or manage property; if there is no male offspring, the widow or daughter can inherit the headship of the household and its lands —a broader right than in later dynasties—.

• Activities: In addition to domestic chores and weaving —mandatory to pay taxes in silk or linen—, women can work as healers, fortune tellers, specialized weavers, merchants or even manage businesses; some write poetry or treatises; the Empress Dowager can rule if the emperor is minor or incapacitated.

• Legal protection: serious violence against women is severely punished; they can file complaints with magistrates; elderly women —from 70 years of age— receive exemptions and special respect from the State.

• Class differences: elite women have greater access to education and power —although within strict limits—; peasant women work in the fields and live with greater freedom, but with heavier burdens; in border areas, roles are more mixed out of necessity.

Limitations and inequalities

• Education focused on domestic ethics, no access to public office or exams —although they can be homeschooled if their family allows it—.

• Descent is always through the paternal line; sons bear the father's surname; daughters are integrated into the husband's clan.

• Concubinage is permitted to the husband if there are no male children; status is lower than that of the main wife, but her children are recognized.

• In Eastern Han, female clans gain political power, but face rivalries with eunuchs and high officials; frequent palace intrigues can lead to purges or banishments.