Grade 6 Spring — The Classical World and Late Antiquity to ~500 CE: Late Rome and Byzantium, Han China, Mauryan and Gupta India, Sasanian Persia, Aksum and Early Ghana, Classical Maya and Teotihuacan — Whose 'Fall'? Whose Golden Age? Whose Living Descendants?
History · CUL
G6
hist.g6.s.cul.han_dynasty_imperial_bureaucracy
Analyze Han Dynasty China (206 BCE - 220 CE) — Qin antecedent under Shi Huangdi (221-206 BCE), Han imperial bureaucracy + Confucian state ideology under Wu of Han, scholar-official system precursor to imperial examinations, Sima Qian's Shiji historiography, Ban Gu and Ban Zhao Han Shu — per Mark Edward Lewis 2007 and Michael Loewe scholarship
Analyze Han Dynasty governance — Qin unification 221 BCE under Shi Huangdi (legalist + Great Wall + standardization), Han founding 206 BCE under Liu Bang / Emperor Gaozu, Wu of Han's reign 141-87 BCE (territorial expansion, Confucian state ideology, Imperial University Taixue founded 124 BCE, Zhang Qian's expeditions to Central Asia 138-115 BCE opening Silk Road); Han historiography — Sima Qian's Shiji c. 94 BCE establishing the Chinese imperial-history genre, Ban Gu and Ban Zhao's Han Shu c. 92 CE; Han innovations — paper invention c. 105 CE (Cai Lun), seismoscope c. 132 CE (Zhang Heng), wheelbarrow, magnetic compass precursor, silk loom.
Mastery threshold
90%
Min instances
12
Typical minutes
45
Spaced intervals (days)
1, 3, 7, 14, 30, 60
Common misconceptions
- Confusing Confucianism as a 'religion' with Confucianism as a political-philosophical-ethical tradition that was the IDEOLOGY of the Han bureaucratic state
- Believing 'imperial examinations' began in the Han Dynasty — full examination system began in the Sui-Tang transition (G7-Fall) although Han's recommendation system was the precursor