Internal Decay Of the han dynasty
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- Epidemic diseases caused population decline
- Internal problems in the Han dynasty caused most of the declining to occur
- Faction expansion was one main issue
- Imperial and aristocratic families, who bonded by forming marriage alliances, eventually led to the expansion of factions that encouraged members to proceed with their own views, and exclude other officials
- This created a very infighting atmosphere amid the ruling elites, which gradually enervated the central government
- Land distribution was another main issue in the dynasty
- Wang Mang, a usurper, tried to redistribute land in China, but his commitments did not strive long enough
- Large landowners (formed private armies) convinced officials to cut down their share of taxes and made peasants pay more than they already had to
- These conflicts led to increasing economic pressure and no voice in the government for peasants
- All the tensions among peasants fueled the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which ended quickly (the rebels wore yellow headbands that represented the color of the Chinese earth and represented their origins as peasants)
- Han generals were taking control of political authority by disregarding the emperor
- By 190 C.E., the Han emperor was overlooked greatly by the generals; these generals commandingly ruled regions controlled by their armies
- Generals allied with large landowners to increase power and establish themselves as warlords
- In 220 C.E., generals officially ruled out the Han Dynasty and divided the empire into 3 kingdoms: Wei, Wu, Shu
- Many nomadic people moved into China and established settlements
Cultural change in post-HAn china
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- Chaos and disorder after the fall of the Han Dynasty led to war and many nomadic invasions, which resulted in a big population decline
- Nomadic peoples accepted Chinese Culture by taking up agriculture, building permanent settlements, marrying Chinese spouses, and adopting Chinese customs
- With Confucianism becoming irrelevant, Daoism and Buddhism began to get popular in China
- Daoism used to offer a way to find peace in a turbulent world, but after the fall of Han, the Daoist sages granted salvation to those who obeyed their rituals and they also tested spices, herbs, and drugs to create potions that "guaranteed" health and immortality
- Buddhism became more significant than daoism in China
- After the fall of Han, Buddhism became more popular due to the moving in of nomadic people, who generally arrived from Central Asia where buddhism was familiar with
- Buddhism provided a necessary cultural structure for the rebirth of a unified political order