The Zhou dynasty (c. 1056 – c. 256 BCE) had made the state of Qin in Western China as an outpost to breed horses and act as a defensive buffer against nomadic armies of the Rong, Qiang, and Di peoples.
[2] After conquering six Warring States (i.e. Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi) by 221 BCE,[2] the King of Qin, Ying Zheng, unified China under one empire divided into 36 centrally-controlled commanderies.
[12] Liu Bang gained Ziying's submission and secured the Qin capital of Xianyang;[12] persuaded by his chief advisor Zhang Liang (d. 189 BCE) not to let his soldiers loot the city, he instead sealed up its treasury.
In the eastern portion, he established 10 semi-autonomous kingdoms (Yan, Dai, Zhao, Qi, Liang, Chu, Huai, Wu, Nan, and Changsha) that he bestowed to his most prominent followers to placate them.
[33] South of Changsha, Gaozu sent Lu Jia (陸賈) as ambassador to the court of Zhao Tuo to acknowledge the latter's sovereignty over Nanyue (Vietnamese: Triệu dynasty; in modern Southwest China and northern Vietnam).
[48] Emperor Hui's reign saw the repeal of old Qin laws banning certain types of literature and was characterised by a cautious approach to foreign policy, including the renewal of the heqin agreement with the Xiongnu and Han's acknowledgment of the independent sovereignty of the Kings of Donghai and Nanyue.
[52] The court under Lü Zhi was not only unable to deal with a Xiongnu invasion of Longxi Commandery (in modern Gansu) in which 2,000 Han prisoners were taken, but it also provoked a conflict with Zhao Tuo, King of Nanyue, by imposing a ban on exporting iron and other trade items to his southern kingdom.
[58] Consort Bo, the mother of Liu Heng, King of Dai, was considered to possess a noble character, so her son was chosen as successor to the throne; he is known posthumously as Emperor Wen of Han (r. 180–157 BCE).
[62] Huang-Lao, named after the mythical Yellow Emperor and the 6th-century-BCE philosopher Laozi, viewed the former as the founder of ordered civilisation; this was unlike the Confucians, who gave that role to legendary sage kings Yao and Shun.
[63] Han imperial patrons of Huang-Lao sponsored the policy of "nonaction" or wuwei (a central concept of Laozi's Daodejing), which claimed that rulers should interfere as little as possible if administrative and legal systems were to function smoothly.
[71] Emperor Jing issued an edict in 145 BCE which outlawed the independent administrative staffs in the kingdoms and abolished all their senior offices except for the chancellor, who was henceforth reduced in status and appointed directly by the central government.
[82] Dong's synthesis fused together the ethical ideas of Confucius with the cosmological beliefs in yin and yang and Five Elements or Wuxing by fitting them into the same holistic, universal system which governed heaven, earth, and the world of man.
[103] Self-sustaining agricultural garrisons were established in these frontier outposts to support military campaigns as well as secure trade routes leading into Central Asia, the eastern terminus of the Silk Road.
[123] Although there was some violent resistance in 108 BCE and irregular raids by Goguryeo and Buyeo afterwards, Chinese settlers conducted peaceful trade relations with native Koreans who lived largely independent of (but were culturally influenced by) the sparse Han settlements.
[124] To fund his prolonged military campaigns and colonisation efforts, Emperor Wu turned away from the "nonaction" policy of earlier reigns by having the central government commandeer the private industries and trades of salt mining and iron manufacturing by 117 BCE.
[164] Huhanye Chanyu and his successors were encouraged to pay further trips of homage to the Han court due to the increasing amount of gifts showered on them after each visit; this was a cause for complaint by some ministers in 3 BCE, yet the financial consequence of pampering their vassal was deemed superior to the heqin agreement.
[187] The Tarim Basin kingdom of Yanqi (Karasahr, located east of Kucha, west of Turpan) rebelled against Xin authority in 13 CE, killing Han's Protector General Dan Qin (但欽).
[202] With the efforts of his officers Deng Yu and Feng Yi, Liu Xiu, now emperor Guangwu, forced the wandering Red Eyebrows to surrender on 15 March 27 CE, resettling them at Luoyang, yet had their leader Fan Chong executed when a plot of rebellion was revealed.
[217] Population size fluctuated according to periodically updated Eastern Han censuses, but historian Sadao Nishijima notes that this does not reflect a dramatic loss of life, but rather government inability at times to register the entire populace.
[227] In addition to providing disaster relief, Zhang also made reforms to legal procedures and lightened existing punishments with the bastinado, since he believed that this would restore the seasonal balance of yin and yang and cure the epidemic.
[232] When plagues of locusts, floods, and earthquakes disrupted the lives of commoners, Emperor He's relief policies were to cut taxes, open granaries, provide government loans, forgive private debts, and resettle people away from disaster areas.
[244] After Dou sent 2,000 cavalry to attack the Northern Xiongnu base at Hami, he was followed by the initiative of the general Ban Chao (d. 102 CE),[245] who earlier installed a new king of Kashgar as a Han ally.
[250] However, from oral accounts Gan was able to describe Rome as having hundreds of walled cities, a postal delivery network, the submission of dependent states, and a system of government where the Roman "king" (i.e. consul) is "not a permanent figure but is chosen as the man most worthy.
[275] Emperor An continued similar disaster relief programs that Empress Dowager Deng had implemented, though he reversed some of her decisions, such as a 116 CE edict requiring officials to leave office for three years of mourning after the death of a parent (a Confucian more).
[286] The gentry class became alienated by Huan's corrupt government dominated by eunuchs and many refused nominations to serve in office, since current Confucian beliefs dictated that morality and personal relationships superseded public service.
[298] Even after eastern Liang province (comprising modern southeastern Gansu and Ningxia) was resettled, there was another massive rebellion there in 184 CE, instigated by Han Chinese, Qiang, Xiongnu, and Yuezhi rebels.
[301] The Xianbei quickly occupied the deserted territories and incorporated some 100,000 remnant Xiongnu families into their new federation, which by the mid-2nd century CE stretched from the western borders of the Buyeo Kingdom in Jilin, to the Dingling in southern Siberia, and all the way west to the Ili River valley of the Wusun people.
[309] Archaeological findings at Óc Eo (near Ho Chi Minh City) in the Mekong Delta, which was once part of the Kingdom of Funan bordering the Chinese province of Jiaozhi (in northern Vietnam), have revealed Mediterranean goods such as Roman gold medallions made during the reigns of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius.
[318] Cao Jie armed Emperor Ling with a sword and hid him with his wet nurse, while Wang Fu had Shan Bing killed and Empress Dowager Dou incarcerated so that the eunuchs could use the authority of her seal.
[325] After claiming to have seen the deified Laozi as a holy prophet who appointed him as his earthly representative known as the Celestial Master, Zhang created a highly organised, hierarchical Daoist movement which accepted only pecks of rice and no money from its lay followers.