empires and dynasties: Asia and the Pacific Huangdi and his family that when they were deposed soon after his death, every last one was executed Qin Shi Huangdi had bragged that his dynasty would last 10,000 generations In fact, in 206 b.c.e the Han Dynasty took power CHINA’S HAN DYNASTY The Han Dynasty was founded by Liu Bang (r 206–195 b.c.e.), a commoner who had risen through the ranks to become a general He had little idea of how to rule a country, but he had the good sense to know that to establish a stable government he had to away with the legalist way of governing On the advice of scholars he established Confucianism as China’s governing philosophy The precepts of Confucian philosophy were modified to make clear that everyone had to obey the emperor, but otherwise the Confucian idea that a government should serve its people rather than the other way around was made national policy The lowering of taxes and easing of laws were popular and had the desired effect of making Liu Bang and his descendants popular for the next 200 or so years Trade with the outside world was expanded during the Han Dynasty, which lasted until 220 c.e China spread southward and northwestward and extended its northern Great Wall to cover part of the so-called Silk Road, the trade routes over which China exported and imported goods to and from Europe, Rome, Persia, and India Even peasants began to share in some of the nation’s wealth An educational system was begun in the 140s b.c.e to teach boys Confucianism and a basic understanding of geography and the sciences This system served to indoctrinate the barbarian provinces into the Chinese way of life, and it provided the government with a pool of people it could appoint to government offices based on their merits During the last 100 years of the Han Dynasty eunuchs gained control of much of the central government, and they enriched themselves and manipulated governments officials Angry and resentful, some Han generals rebelled and slaughtered the eunuchs One of the generals, Dong Zhuo, put the last Han emperor, Xian (r 189–220 c.e.), on the throne Dong Zhuo failed to control his troops, who went on a rampage in the capital city, Luoyang, sacking the city and burning government buildings, including the national library In another age Xian might have been a great emperor, but it was all he could just to hang on to his throne until he abdicated at sword point in 220 c.e CHINA’S SIX DYNASTIES ERA The Six Dynasties Era lasted from 220 to 589 c.e and takes its name because, except during one brief period, it was ruled in pieces by different governments After 220 c.e China was divided into three kingdoms: Wei in the north, Wu in the southeast, and Shu in the southwest In 264 c.e Wei conquered Shu, and in 280 c.e it conquered Wu, briefly reunifying the nation under the Jin Dynasty By 304 c.e northern barbarians had pushed the Jin Dynasty south into the Yangtze River valley From 304 to 535 c.e 17 different dynasties, 14 of them non-Chinese, ruled in the north The barbarians 405 adopted Chinese customs and Chinese Buddhism Throughout the Six Dynasties Era the Chinese leaders wished to reunite China under one government It was General Sui who succeeded, establishing the Sui Dynasty in 581 c.e and conquering most of China by 589 c.e FUNAN Funan began as a trading city in the Mekong Delta of what is now South Vietnam According to the Chinese of the time, an Indian merchant named Kaundinya, meaning “king of the mountain,” wooed Liu-ye, meaning “willow leaf,” who was a local queen, probably the leader of a tribe, perhaps a priestess Between 100 and 200 c.e they married and founded a royal dynasty Funan adopted an Indian-style government and embraced Hinduism Funan was notable for the Hindu temples it built, mostly of bricks By conquering other tribes, by the 300s c.e it controlled territory from Camranh Bay in the east to central Cambodia To its north were the Chams and the Khmers The Khmers conquered the Chams, creating the kingdom of Chen-la, which became a vassal state of Funan In the mid-500s the Khmers conquered Funan NAM VIET The ancient history of Vietnam is murky, colored by myths In about 500 b.c.e there was a Viet kingdom south of the Yangtze River in what is now China The Chinese conquered it in 333 b.c.e Many of the Viets moved southward to get out of the way of China’s expansion, displacing through war a culture that may have been related to Indonesian tribes of the time Other Viets remained in China and assimilated into the Chinese culture In about 207 b.c.e., while Liu Bang was establishing his control of China, a Chinese general created a kingdom called “Nam Viet,” meaning “Southern Viet.” This kingdom reached from 40 miles south of the city of Hue in modern Vietnam to a region west of the modern city of Canton in China In 111 b.c.e China conquered Nam Viet, ruling it until 938 c.e., when a Viet general, Ngo Quyen (ca 896–944 c.e.), drove the Chinese out KOREA’S THREE KINGDOMS Much of ancient Korea was under no one’s particular rule, and its three main kingdoms did not have clearly definable borders These kingdoms were Silla (57 b.c.e.–935 c.e.), Koguryo (37 b.c.e.–668 c.e.), and Paekche (18 b.c.e.–660 c.e.) It was Silla that united Korea in 668 c.e Previously, Silla ruled much of southeastern Korea, Koguryo ruled northern Korea, and Paekche ruled southwestern Korea Koguryo was founded by King Tongmyongsong (r 37– 19 b.c.e.) and migrants from Manchuria After a successful military campaign by King Mich’on (r 300–331 c.e.) in 313 c.e., Koguryo ruled much of southern Manchuria In 612 c.e the army of King Yong-yang under the command of General Ulchimundok decisively defeated an attacking Chinese army in a series of battles in southern Manchuria Paekche had been started by tribes from Manchuria that migrated farther south than had the people of Koguryo Its