Eastern HanAD 25–220

Eastern Han: Timeline of Events (AD 25–220)

Capital at Luoyang; papermaking improves and Buddhism arrives

Events in this period

• Eastern Han Founded: the “Guangwu Restoration”AD 25

  Liu Xiu proclaimed himself emperor in AD 25 and made Luoyang his capital, founding the Eastern Han; freeing slaves, cutting taxes and trimming offices, he brought stability, the “Guangwu Restoration.”

• Buddhism Arrives and the White Horse TempleReign of Emperor Ming of Eastern Han

  Buddhism reached China along the Silk Road around the turn of the Western and Eastern Han; under Emperor Ming the White Horse Temple was built at Luoyang, regarded as the first state-built temple.

• Ban Chao Manages the Western RegionsFrom AD 73

  Under Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han, Ban Chao went to the Western Regions, “threw away the brush for the sword,” and over thirty years restored Han authority there.

• Shuowen Jiezi100

  Shuowen Jiezi systematized Chinese character analysis.

• Cai Lun Improves PapermakingAD 105

  The Eastern Han eunuch Cai Lun improved papermaking, using bark, hemp waste, rags and old fishing nets, and presented his paper to Emperor He in AD 105; paper gradually replaced bamboo and silk.

• Zhang Heng Invents the SeismoscopeAD 132

  Zhang Heng built his wind-and-earthquake instrument in AD 132; it indicated quake direction, registered a Longxi earthquake, and is regarded as the world's earliest seismoscope.

• Consort Clans and Eunuchs Take Power in TurnMid to late Eastern Han

  From the mid-Eastern Han, child emperors let consort clans and eunuchs alternately seize government, appointing cronies and killing rivals, which led the dynasty to decline.

• The Rise of DaoismLate Eastern Han

  In the late Eastern Han, Zhang Jue founded the Way of Great Peace and Zhang Ling the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, both venerating Laozi and healing with talisman water, forming early Daoism.

• Xiping Stone Classics175

  The Xiping Classics were carved onto stone in the Han era.

• The Yellow Turban RebellionAD 184

  In AD 184 Zhang Jue led followers of the Way of Great Peace in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, crying “The blue heaven is dead”; though suppressed, it dealt the Eastern Han a heavy blow.

• Battle of GuanduAD 200

  In AD 200 Cao Cao defeated a far larger force at Guandu, raiding Wuchao to burn Yuan Shao's grain and crushing his main army, which laid the basis for unifying the north.

• Zhang Zhongjing and the Treatise on Cold DamageLate Eastern Han

  The physician Zhang Zhongjing wrote the Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases, establishing pattern-based treatment; he is honored as the “Sage of Medicine.”

• Hua Tuo and the “Mafeisan” AnestheticLate Eastern Han

  The late Eastern Han physician Hua Tuo excelled at surgery, invented the general anesthetic “mafeisan,” and devised the “Five Animals' Frolic,” an exercise routine imitating five animals.

• Battle of Red CliffsAD 208

  In AD 208 the allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei used fire attack at Red Cliffs to defeat Cao Cao's army of over 200,000; Cao Cao withdrew north, setting the stage for the Three Kingdoms.