| | Han Dynasty (206 B.C.220 A.D.) | Special Topics Page | Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05) |
 | | After the civil war that followed the death of Qin Shihuangdi in 210 B.C., China was reunited under the rule of the Han dynasty, which is divided into two major periods: the Western or Former Han (206 B.C.9 A.D.) and the Eastern or Later Han (25220 A.D.). |
 | | The Western Han capital, Chang'an in present-day Shaanxi Provincea monumental urban center laid out on a north-south axis with palaces, residential wards, and two bustling market areaswas one of the two largest cities in the ancient world (Rome was the other). |
 | | A generation later, China flourished again under the Eastern Han dynasty (25220 A.D.), which ruled from Luoyang, a new capital farther east in present-day Henan Province. |
| www.metmuseum.org /toah/hd/hand/hd_hand.htm (655 words) |