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| 111–110 B.C.E |
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| As Wudi's armies continued their conquests of small states along the Han's north, northeast, south, and southeast borders, they attacked and conquered Minyue (in present-day Fujian province) and Nanyue (Viet Nam in Vietnamese, in the Guangzhou (Canton) region), bringing Han control to this area of south China and Vietnam. | 1 |
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| 110 B.C.E |
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| Wudi inaugurated the sacrifice to Heaven, subsequently the primary imperial prerogative and responsibility of the emperor. | 2 |
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| 109–108 B.C.E |
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| Southern Manchuria and much of Korea fell and were divided into commanderies with Han garrison forces, a process that led to the Sinification of these regions. | 3 |
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| 104–102 B.C.E |
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| Contacts were established over the Pamirs into Russian Turkestan. | 4 |
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| 73 B.C.E |
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| The Xiongnu groups were further broken up, so that one group submitted to the Han in 51 B.C.E., and a leader of the other major group was killed in battle in 36 B.C.E. | 5 |
| Imperial finances, depleted by wars, were replenished by the sale of military titles (123 B.C.E.), the salt and iron monopolies (119 B.C.E.), forced contributions by the nobility (112 B.C.E.), and commutations of judicial sentences by fines (97). They were inflated by the debasement of currency (119). | 6 |
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| 9–23 C.E |
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| WANG MANG (45 B.C.E.–23 C.E.), after serving as regent for several child emperors, Wang Mang seized the throne and established the short-lived Xin dynasty. Wang, a highly moral Confucian official with a spotless reputation, was pushed into usurpation, and his reign was a series of failed efforts at radical reform on the model of the Zhou. He returned powers to the old feudal nobles, made many administrative posts hereditary, strengthened the laws against merchants, outlawed transactions for slaves and tried to assist them, confiscated large tracts of land from the great landowning families and redistributed them through state allotment to able-bodied males, and strengthened the ever-normal granary system and state monopolies. To halt usury, loans were offered free for up to 90 days for funerals, and at 3 percent a month or 10 percent a year for productive purposes. The dislocations caused by these reforms alienated many. There was also a string of natural disasters during Wang's reign: floods, bad harvests, and a change in the course of the Yellow River in 11 C.E. with untold casualties. | 7 |
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| 18 |
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| The Red Eyebrows rebel band formed among the poor, vagrant masses. | 8 |
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| 22 |
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| Members of the Former Han royal house joined the rebels and took the capital (23) and killed Wang Mang. | 9 |
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| 25–220 |
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| LATER OR EASTERN HAN DYNASTY reconstituted the Han house under a collateral imperial relative, Emperor Guangwu (6 B.C.E.–57, r. 25–57). The capital was established at Luoyang to the east of Chang'an. A stable state and society were reorganized under Guangwu, as well as his successors, Mingdi (r. 57–75) and Zhangdi (r. 75–88). Peace and less intrusive state policies allowed the Chinese economy to bounce back. Culture and scholarship were revived. | 10 |
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| 43 |
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| Ma Yuan (14 B.C.E.–49 C.E.) conquered Tonkin and Annam, most of which remained under Chinese control until 939. | 11 |
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| 74–94 |
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| Ban Chao (32–102) used personal diplomacy and strategy to compel the small states of Turkestan to submit to the Han, opening the way for extensive trade with the Roman Empire. His lieutenant Gan Ying reached the Persian Gulf in 97. | 12 |
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| 82 |
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| Empress Dou, during the reign of Zhangdi, altered the succession and ruled as dowager (88–97) with her family. | 13 |
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