Han dynasty
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The Han dynasty ruled China for more than four centuries, from 206 BCE to 220 CE, and gave its name to the majority ethnic group of China. Liu Bang, a peasant-born commander, founded the western Han after defeating Xiang Yu, and from Chang'an his successors consolidated a unified empire on the model of the Qin while softening its harsh laws. Emperor Wu, who reigned from 141 to 87 BCE, pushed the frontier into the Tarim basin, sent Zhang Qian west to open the routes later called the Silk Road, made Confucian learning the basis of the civil service and created salt and iron monopolies. Paper was improved for official use, and the seismograph and the watermill appeared. Wang Mang's usurpation in 9 CE interrupted the line, and the eastern Han ruled from Luoyang until the capital was destroyed in 190 and regional warlords took power; the Yellow Turban rebellion of 184 opened the way to the three kingdoms. The empire exported silk, lacquer and bronze and imported horses, glass and glassmaking. Han historiography by Sima Qian and Ban Gu, Han funerary practice and the dynasty's very name shaped Chinese identity thereafter. The salt and iron debates of 81 BCE record the arguments of the age.