400 Years of the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD): Built and Lost an Empire

Описание: For four centuries, the Han Dynasty shaped the foundations of China’s identity, governance, science, and imperial ambition. From the rise of Liu Bang out of civil war to the slow, inevitable collapse under corruption, rebellion, and internal decay, this empire was both built by vision and lost by power.

In this documentary, we trace the full arc of the Han Dynasty — how it unified a fractured land after the Qin, expanded across Central Asia, opened the Silk Road, and created systems that would define East Asia for two thousand years. But beneath its golden age lay unresolved tensions: court intrigue, economic inequality, eunuch dominance, and rebellions that the empire could no longer contain.

Was the fall of the Han sudden — or was it written into its structure from the very beginning?

Stay until the end, because the final chapter raises a question that still echoes today: can any empire built on order survive its own success?

0:00 – The Collapse of Qin and a Broken World
China after the Qin Dynasty: famine, warlords, terror, and the vacuum of power.

4:20 – Liu Bang: From Peasant to Emperor
The unlikely rise of Liu Bang and the political bargain that founded the Han state.

8:30 – Building an Empire Without Fear
Why the Han rejected Qin brutality — and how compromise created stability.

12:40 – Confucian Rule and Bureaucratic Power
Merit, exams, officials, and the birth of a lasting imperial system.

17:10 – Expansion Beyond China’s Borders
Military campaigns, frontier defense, and the empire’s outward push.

21:30 – The Silk Road and Global Influence
Trade, diplomacy, cultural exchange, and China’s first global network.

26:00 – The Golden Age of Han Civilization
Population growth, paper, astronomy, medicine, and administrative mastery.

30:40 – Power Behind the Throne
Eunuchs, empress clans, and the quiet hijacking of imperial authority.

35:20 – Economic Inequality and Rural Collapse
Land concentration, taxation pressure, and the slow suffocation of peasants.

40:10 – The Yellow Turban Rebellion
Faith, desperation, mass uprising — and the moment the empire fractured.

45:00 – Warlords and the End of Central Power
Regional generals, civil war, and an emperor in name only.

49:30 – The Official Fall of the Han Dynasty
Why the empire ended — and why no single date tells the full story.

53:00 – Legacy of the Han World
Why Han institutions, culture, and identity survived long after the empire died.