In 221 BC, after bitter struggles against rival states, the first Qin emperor (Qin Shi Huangdi) completed the unification of China. Brutal though they may appear, the ground for the measures that he immediately imposed on his new empire had been prepared by two centuries of profound change and struggles for hegemony. Indeed, the period of tumult, known as the Period of the Warring States (453-221 BC) saw the reorganization of a Chinese society based on feudal royalty to one developing within a framework of a more modern style of government.

A soldier, crossbowman, Nanyang, first century A.D., shown with a bolt (arrow) clenched in his teeth and winding his crossbow.

HAN DYNASTY

Ink rubbing, panel, east wall of east side room, Mixian tomb, Henan, late 2nd century A. D. A variety of activities are portrayed here including weaving at an upright loom, probably dyeing, cooking at a stove, the butchering of a steer, and other activities. Also pictured are a number of Han utensils, some of which, perhaps, followed their owner into his tomb. This scene is quite symbolic of the intense industry of the Han period. A significant point is that by the time of the 2nd century A.D., these very busy people were not slaves or indentured, but, probably independent contractors being very well paid for their skills and efforts.

During the four centuries of its history the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) prepared the ground for the main political, economic, social and cultural structures that were to characterize the Chinese world for two millenia. The Han Empire was China's Imperial Rome. Like its western counterpart, there was an important period of consolidation. The Han inheriting the unified territory of the Qin, founded a system of government, enacted laws, laid the foundations of a social organization and promoted intellectual inquiries that were to serve as models not only to future dynasties in China, but also to those countries of the far east that came under the influence of Chinese civilization (Korea in the southeast, Central Asia in the west, and Vietnam in the south).

The rise of agriculture, craftsmanship, communications and trade that coincided with the military expansion of the reign of Wudi (140-87 BC) helped to bring about a radical transformation of society. The Han Dynasty had, at first, relied upon the mass of minor peasantry who were conscripted. But those who had grown rich in the service of the state or in industry and trade invested increasingly in land -- the best investment possible in a very mobile society. This resulted in the creation of great estates monopolized by rich landowners. As the land was taken over, the countryside became more and more impoverished, and a shortage of land in a land with a fast-growing population led the dispossessed peasantry into uprisings that sometimes degenerated into serious political disruption.

During the first two centuries of the Han era, a gulf began to open between a peasant proletariat to whom the formation of the great estates had brought abject poverty and dependence, and a class of landowners of mounting power and independence. This societal deterioration culminated in great popular insurrections that weakened the central power, caused conflict at court, and brought about the downfall of the dynasty and the splintering of the empire. But what a ride they had for 400 plus years.

The Han Dynasty was, therefore, at once an age of consolidation, of change, of experiment; in four centuries the immense effort devoted to agriculture, the improvement and diffusion in the field of technology and great movements of population totally transformed the economic scene. Autocratic government, the desire to centralize power, the ascendancy of Confucean ideology and social revolution brought a change in outlook. After a while those in control realized they had to give up a little in order to hold on to a lot. But that little was enough to allow a vibrant middle class to emerge, one made up of farmers, merchants, craftspeople, and middle ranks of the military, constabulary, judicial and religious establishments. As institutions developed, relative power and wealth percolated down through the masses.

The available information in written form and in art that has come down to us from this period concerns mainly the intellectural and politial elite. Great works of art have been found as the tombs of the rich and powerful have been opened. The Han historian did not write about the peasants, artisans or small traders, classes that, in his view, had no history, or none worth recording and retelling. Archeology makes up, in part, for this silence of the texts, for as wealth percolated down, the middle class emulated the upper by furnishing their tombs with goods, some made specifically as burial goods (human and animal effigies, house and other building models) and everyday goods to serve the deceased in the afterlife (dishes, bowls, jars, etc.).

The extravagant burials of their contemporaries were condemned by moralists throughout the last two centuries of the Han dynasty. Their words went unheeded and anyone of any substance continued to build expensive, and extensive underground dwelling places and to decorate and furnish them, sometimes at great cost, to the great advantage, not only of tomb robbers, but also historians of posterity. Indeed, what would we know of the material life of the period of the latter Han without the copious evidence provided by its funeary art?

It is generally thought that tomb furnishing became a great, widespread industry complete with sharp salespeople who appealed to the vanities of not only the rich but to the upper, middle and lower middle classes. The argument that you could appear before God with your tomb outfitted as if you were rich, and receive the quality of God's grace normally reserved for the rich and powerful must have been compelling. So there are a wide range of modest, everyday goods that have come to us down two millenia, artifacts that allow us to peer into China's distant past.