Han dynasty

• End of Qin dynasty

  People were unhappy with the legalist government

  After Shi Huang Di's death in 210 BCE, people rebelled

  Liu Bang (a rebel) gained control and formed a new dynasty (Han dynasty)
• Han dynasty


  incorporated Confucian beliefs

  expanded all the way to present-day Korea and Vietnam

  established trade with the west

  golden age
• Silk Road


  Network of trade routes connecting China to the East, Middle East, and West

  Established when the Han opened trade with the west in 130 BC
• Silk 


  fiber used to make cloth

  strong but also warm, light, and soft

  valuable good for trade

  taken from the cocoon of a silkworm

  the Chinese kept their production process a secret
• Rome trades glassware for silk

  Silk was so highly valued that traders willingly traveled eastward

  The Romans traded gold and glassware to the Chinese
• Impacts of the Silk Road

  Spread new technologies and ideas westward from 139 BC until 1368

  Religions traveled along the Silk Road eastward

  Buddhism had a significant impact on China owing to the introduction of Central Asian style Buddhism.