In the late Eastern Han period (from the end of the 2nd century to the beginning of the 3rd century), the autocratic rule of eunuchs and maternal relatives of the emperor coincided with peasant rebellions, causing the collapse of a powerful centralized government. This led to the division of China into the Three Kingdoms.
The Decline of the Eastern Han
- The power struggle between the emperor's maternal relatives (the imperial family on the empress's side) and eunuchs (castrated bureaucrats) intensified
- The rise of powerful clans: large landowners who ruled over peasants in the local regions gained power
- Yellow Turban Rebellion (184): Taiping Dao, a Daoist movement, raised the slogan “The blue sky is dead; the yellow sky shall rise” and launched a large-scale rebellion. Because the Eastern Han government borrowed the military power of regional lords to suppress it, local warlords rose to power
・220: Fall of the Eastern Han → Wei was founded by Cao Pi, the son of Cao Cao
・221: Liu Bei founded Shu (Han), assisted by Zhuge Liang as military strategist
・222: Sun Quan founded Wu (officially in 229)
The three kingdoms stood in a tripartite balance and continued fighting for more than half a century. In 280, Jin unified China. However, Jin soon split apart as well, and China entered the Five Dynasties and Sixteen Kingdoms and Northern and Southern Dynasties Period (a period of division), which lasted about 270 years.
During this period of division, Buddhism spread widely, and the sinicization of northern peoples progressed.
Overall Summary of the Qin and Han Periods
The approximately 450 years of the Qin and Han periods established the basic framework of the “Chinese world”: the commandery-county system (centralization), Confucianism (state ideology), Chinese characters (cultural unity), and the Silk Road (foreign exchange). This heritage continued to be passed down unchanged even through the periods of division after the Three Kingdoms Period, leading to the reunification under the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Practice
- State the name of the peasant rebellion that occurred in 184 and the political result it caused.
- State the names of the three kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms Period and the people who founded each one.
- List three basic elements of the “Chinese world” established throughout the Qin and Han periods.