Han Dynasty汉朝
A four-century golden age that gave the Chinese majority its very name.长达四个世纪的黄金时代，「汉」由此成为一个民族的名字。
From the ashes of Qin秦亡而汉兴
When the short-lived Qin dynasty collapsed into rebellion, a peasant-born rebel leader named Liu Bang emerged victorious from the ensuing civil war. In 202 BCE he founded the Han dynasty and took the throne as Emperor Gaozu. Rather than rule through Qin's harsh Legalism, the early Han softened the laws and let an exhausted country recover, while quietly keeping the centralized imperial state Qin had built.短命的秦朝在起义中崩溃后，出身平民的义军首领刘邦在随之而来的楚汉之争中胜出。公元前202年，他建立汉朝，即位为汉高祖。早期的汉朝没有沿用秦的严苛法家，而是宽刑省罚、与民休息，让疲惫的国家得以恢复，同时悄然承袭了秦所奠定的中央集权帝制。
Emperor Wu and the Silk Road汉武帝与丝绸之路
Under Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BCE) the Han reached its height. He drove back the nomadic Xiongnu confederation, extended Han power deep into Central Asia and Korea, and dispatched the envoy Zhang Qian westward—opening the trans-Eurasian trade routes later called the Silk Road. Confucianism became the official ideology of the state, and an imperial academy began training the scholar-officials who would run China for two millennia.汉武帝（前141–前87年在位）时，汉朝达到极盛。他击退游牧的匈奴，把汉的势力深入中亚与朝鲜，并派遣使者张骞出使西域——开辟了后世所称的丝绸之路。儒家被确立为国家的官方思想，太学开始培养此后统治中国两千年的士大夫官僚。
An age of invention发明的时代
Han China was among the most advanced civilizations on Earth. Its craftsmen and scholars produced paper, the seismograph, the wheelbarrow, advances in cast iron and the crossbow, and sophisticated astronomy and mathematics. A population of nearly sixty million—rivalling the contemporary Roman Empire at the other end of Eurasia—was governed through a professional bureaucracy and a vast network of roads and canals.汉代中国是当时地球上最先进的文明之一。工匠与学者发明了造纸术、地动仪、独轮车，改进了铸铁与弩，天文与数学也颇为精深。近六千万的人口——足以与欧亚大陆另一端的罗马帝国比肩——由一套专业文官体系及庞大的道路与运河网络治理。
Restoration and decline中兴与衰亡
In 9 CE the official Wang Mang seized the throne, but his short-lived Xin dynasty collapsed amid floods and revolt, and the Han were restored in 25 CE with a new capital at Luoyang. This Eastern Han flourished anew, but over the second century court intrigue, powerful eunuchs, and landed magnates hollowed out the state. The Yellow Turban Rebellion of 184 CE broke its authority, and in 220 CE the last Han emperor abdicated—ushering in the Three Kingdoms.公元9年，权臣王莽篡位，但其新朝在水灾与叛乱中迅速覆灭，汉室于公元25年复兴，定都洛阳，是为东汉。东汉一度再度繁荣，但整个2世纪，外戚宦官之争与豪强兼并逐渐掏空了国家。184年的黄巾起义击垮了朝廷权威，220年最后一位汉帝禅位——三国时代由此开启。
Legacy遗产
So formative was this era that the majority ethnic group of China still calls itself the 'Han people', and the Chinese script the 'Han characters' (hanzi). The Confucian bureaucratic state, the examination ideal, and the very template of a unified Chinese empire all took lasting shape under the Han, echoing through every later dynasty down to the present day.这个时代影响之深，以至于中国的主体民族至今自称「汉族」，汉字亦以「汉」为名。儒家官僚国家、科举理想，乃至「大一统」帝国这一范式本身，都在汉代定型，并在此后历代王朝直至今日不断回响。
Timeline of key events关键事件时间轴
- 202 BCE公元前202Liu Bang founds the Han as Emperor Gaozu.刘邦建立汉朝，即汉高祖。
- 138 BCE公元前138Zhang Qian's mission west opens the Silk Road.张骞出使西域，开辟丝绸之路。
- 124 BCE公元前124The Imperial Academy makes Confucianism the state ideology.设太学，儒家成为国家官学。
- 2 CE2A census records nearly 60 million people.户口统计录得近六千万人口。
- 9 CE9Wang Mang usurps the throne (Xin dynasty).王莽篡汉，建立新朝。
- 25 CE25The Han are restored with a capital at Luoyang.汉室复兴，定都洛阳（东汉）。
- 105 CE105Cai Lun perfects the papermaking process.蔡伦改进造纸术。
- 166 CE166An envoy 'from Daqin (Rome)' reaches the Han court.「大秦（罗马）」使者抵达汉廷。
- 184 CE184The Yellow Turban Rebellion shatters Han authority.黄巾起义击垮汉室权威。
- 220 CE220The last Han emperor abdicates — the Three Kingdoms begin.末代汉帝禅位——三国肇始。