Southward expansion of the Han dynasty
138 BCE to 109 BCE
The southward expansion of the Han dynasty comprises a series of military campaigns and expeditions in what is now modern southern China and northern Vietnam.
Military expansion to the south began under the previous Qin dynasty and continue during the Han.
Campaigns are dispatched against the Yue tribes, leading to the annexation of Minyue by the Han in 135 BCE and 111 BCE, Nanyue in 111 BCE, and Dian in 109 BCE.Chinese culture influences the newly conquered territories, and merges with native traditions.
Han influences are apparent in artifacts excavated in the Baiyue tombs of southern China.
This influence extends to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia, where contact leads to trade and diplomacy.
The demand for Chinese silk establishes trade routes between Europe, the Middle East, and China.
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The Han dynasty, after which the members of the ethnic majority in China, the "people of Han," are named, is notable also for its military prowess.
The empire expands westward as far as the rim of the Tarim Basin (in modern Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region), making possible relatively secure caravan traffic across Central Asia to Antioch, Baghdad, and Alexandria.
The paths of caravan traffic are often called the "silk route" because the route is used to export Chinese silk to the Roman Empire.
Chinese armies also invade and annexed parts of northern Vietnam and northern Korea toward the end of the second century BCE.
Han control of peripheral regions is generally insecure, however.
To ensure peace with non-Chinese local powers, the Han court develops a mutually beneficial "tributary system."
Non-Chinese states are allowed to remain autonomous in exchange for symbolic acceptance of Han overlordship.
Tributary ties are confirmed and strengthened through intermarriages at the ruling level and periodic exchanges of gifts and goods.
Emperor Han Wudi’s reign sees great territorial expansion and a burst of economic and cultural activity.
His armies push north and west into central Asia, east to Korea, and south to the coast.
Commerce with the states of western Asia increases, silk becomes a major export, and inventors discover ways to make paper and porcelain.
Han historiographer Sima Qian writes Shiqi (Shih chi) ("The Records of the Historians"), which will serve as the prototype for the official histories of successive dynasties.
Han scholars direct their efforts to find or reconstruct the Zhou classics banned during the Qin dynasty.
Confucianism begins to replace Legalism as the Han dynasty’s orthodox philosophy.
Wudi’s Han Chinese forces arrive at Nam Viet’s Red River delta in 113 and conquer the kingdom within two years, annexing the Dong-son homeland of Tonkin to the Chinese empire.
The conquered Nam Viet, divided into nine military administrative districts, becomes the Chinese province of Giao Chi.
The empire dispatches Chinese peasant-soldiers to set up villages and build forts in the region, which the Chinese call Annam (“Pacified South”).
Han, having forced the northern invaders to retire behind the Great Wall, pushes Chinese political influence westward into Central Asia.
Han also takes control of the Fujian (Fukien) state of Yue.