Explain The Major Achievements Of The Han Dynasty

What were the major achievements (cultural, political, artistic, etc.) of the Han Dynasty?

The Han dynasty was in power for over 400 years from 206 BCE-220 CE. Throughout its expansive history many great advances were made, many of which had a lasting impact on both China and the world. This essay will analyse three of the most significant achievements of the Han dynasty; achievements that improved the political, social, educational, and cultural aspects of the Han empire and caused “All subsequent Chinese dynasties to look back to the Han period as an inspiring model of a united empire and self-perpetuating government” (Violatti et al., 2016)
The three main achievements that this essay will focus on include the invention of paper, the opening of the Silk Road, and the creation and implementation of new technologies of irrigation and

water conservation for farming. These three major achievements were found to have had significant impacts on society during the Han Dynasty and lasting effects throughout Chinese and world history.

The Han dynasty highly valued both education and documentation as evidenced by the vast number of documents discovered from this era. Many of the remaining documents were first written on tablets of bamboo, however, during the Western Han dynasty the first paper documents were formed using pounded hemp. Unfortunately this was quite heavy and took up a lot of space, making it impractical for scholars to study and transport their materials. Cai Lun, an official of the Chinese Imperial Court of the Eastern Han dynasty was the first to invent paper that was cheap, light weight, and more easy to scribe on. (Needham, Sivin and Lu, 2000)

Paper allowed the Chinese civilization to advance in a way that was previously much slower and more expensive with earlier writing textiles. Literacy thrived and so too did the presence of various forms of literature.
‘Examples include mathematical problems, historical records, poetry, government records, a massive dictionary, and the oldest surviving large-scale census of all history, which reports 57,671,400 people in 2 CE’.

(Violatti et al., 2016). The invention of paper is no doubt an incredible achievement of the Han dynasty which had a lasting impact on the modern world. Paper also had a tremendous impact upon the political, cultural, social, and historical advancements of the Han empire.

During the Han dynasty, a particular style of poetry was formed, this was known as the ‘Han Poetry’. The Han poetry (Chinese literature) reflected great cultural achievement, many of these poems have survived until today, thanks to the creation of paper.

Historically the Han Dynasty was one of the eminent periods of Ancient China and this is evident through the Han’s inventions and achievements which is well known until this very day. If it wasn't for paper invented in the western Dynasty historical advancements would not have been recorded and the Han dynasty would not be considered a ‘golden age’ in Chinese history today. (Hardy and Kinney,

2005)

The Silk Road which is also commonly known as the Silk Route is the worlds earliest system of trade routes
established by the Han Dynasty in ancient China during 206 BCE-220 CE. Through research it is founded that China was involved in various trades with the world way before the Silk road was opened, however the silk trade was developed by the Han Dynasty, who then expanded the road, linking the West and East from China to the Mediterranean Sea. The opening of the silk road was probably the major economic achievement of the Han Dynasty. (Violatti et al., 2016).

The silk road was officially opened by Zhang Qian who was a Chinese officer under the Emperor Wu of Han in 130 BCE. The name ‘Silk Road’ was chosen by Ferdinand von Richthofen, a German geographer in 1877, as silk was crafted in China, and was the main source of trade on this road/route. (Elisseeff, 2000)