Eastern Han Dynasty: Did you mean...?

The civil service examinations of Imperial China allowed the state to find the best candidates to staff the vast bureaucracy that governed China from the Han Dynasty onwards (206 BCE - 220 CE). The exams were a means for a young male of any...

The Umayyad Dynasty (661-750 CE), the first dynasty to take the title of Caliphate, was established in 661 CE by Muawiya (l. c. 602-680 CE), who had served as the governor of Syria under the Rashidun Caliphate, after the death of the fourth...

Cao Cao (c. 155-220 CE) was a military dictator in ancient China during the end of the Han dynasty. Something more than a mere warlord, Cao Cao supported a puppet emperor and governed a large area of northern China. His attempts to unify...

Lao-Tzu (l. c. 500 BCE, also known as Laozi or Lao-Tze) was a Chinese philosopher credited with founding the philosophical system of Taoism. He is best known as the author of the Laozi (later retitled the Tao-Te-Ching translated as “The Way...

The Great Wall of China is a barrier fortification in northern China running west-to-east 13,171 miles (21,196 km) from the Jiayuguan Pass (in the west) to the Hushan Mountains in Liaoning Province in the east, ending at the Bohai Gulf. It...

A funerary garment from the Han dynasty (2nd century BCE - 2 century CE). Made from hundreds of small rectangles of jade stitched together using gold and silver wire, they were used to completely encase the body of deceased royalty. (On...

A pottery model of a watchtower, Han dynasty, 25-220 CE. Height: 86 cm. (British Museum, London)

A gilt bronze oil lamp in the form of a kneeling servant girl; her arm acts as the lamp's chimney. Han dynasty, late 2nd century BCE, from the tomb of Prince Liu Sheng and Princess Dou Wan at Mancheng. Height: 48 cm. (Hebei Museum, Shijiazhuang...

A red and black lacquered bowl from the Western Han Dynasty, China. 206 BCE - 9 CE. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Though similar to small castings found in the provinces of Southeast China, including Guanxi, such figures have been found in royal tombs in the North and may represent tribute bearers. Han Dynasty, 206 BCE to 200 CE. From modern-day China...