Lesson 13 The Rise and Fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Guangwu Zhongxing

In the late Western Han Dynasty, the dynasty became increasingly corrupt. In 9 A.D., Wang Mang, a foreign relative, seized power and established a new dynasty, which led to the fall of the Western Han Dynasty. Wang Mang's administration intensified social unrest and caused peasant uprisings in various regions. After Wang Mang's regime was overthrown by the peasant uprising, Liu Xiu, a member of the Western Han clan, became the emperor in 25 years and set the capital in Luoyang, which was called the Eastern Han Dynasty. Liu Xiu was the Guangwu Emperor.

In order to consolidate his rule, Emperor Guangwu took a series of measures to stabilize the social situation. He ordered the release of slave girls, eased the burden of peasants, and reduced criminal laws; he also consolidated counties, cut officials, strengthened the supervision of officials, and punished corrupt officials; and allowed the inward migration of minority groups in the north to ease ethnic conflicts. In the late reign of Emperor Guangwu, society became more stable and the economy recovered and developed, which is called "Guangwu Zhongxing".

The alternating power of eunuchs and relatives

After the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, most of the succeeding emperors were too young to rule, so the emperor's mother, the Empress Dowager, assumed power. The emperor's mother, the Empress Dowager, was in charge. The Empress Dowager relied on her own relatives, which led to the expansion of the power of the eunuchs. When the emperor grew up, he was unwilling to be manipulated by the relatives and wanted to exercise the monarchical power himself, so he relied on the eunuchs around him and tried to get rid of them, who were thus favored and took control of the imperial government. This repeated cycle led to the situation of alternating power between eunuchs and relatives in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. They took turns to control the imperial government, appoint their cronies, and kill dissidents, resulting in political decay, the exclusion of honest officials, social chaos, and the suffering of the people. The vicious circle of alternating power of relatives and eunuchs shook the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty and brought about the downfall of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Yellow Turban Rebellion

As the dynasty became more and more corrupt in the late Han Dynasty, the situation became more and more turbulent, a large number of poor people were displaced from their homes, and natural disasters occurred frequently, the people could no longer tolerate the dark rule and revolt spread among the people.

Zhang Jiao, the founder of the Way of Peace, had preached to hundreds of thousands of followers for more than a decade at the bottom of society.184 In 184, after careful planning, an organized and prepared peasant uprising led by Zhang Jiao and others finally broke out. Wrapped in yellow scarves, the uprising forces launched a fierce attack on the Eastern Han Dynasty in various parts of the country at the same time, and the corrupt Eastern Han regime was rapidly falling apart.

Faced with the powerful offensive of the Yellow Turban Army, the rulers of the Eastern Han Dynasty mobilized their armies to suppress the uprising, while reconciling the conflicts within the ruling class and dealing with the peasant uprising in unison. Under the brutal suppression of the Eastern Han army, the Yellow Turban Army suffered heavy losses, and the leader of the uprising, Zhang Jiao, died of illness, and the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which lasted nine months, was finally suppressed. Although the main force of the Yellow Turban Rebellion failed, the rest of the army persisted in the struggle for more than 20 years. This peasant uprising has dealt a heavy blow to the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty, making it a stumbling block.（641words）