The Han Dynasty followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China, and was ruled by the family known as the Liu clan. The dynasty reigned for about 400 years over the ethnic majority of the Chinese people. During the Han Dynasty, China officially became a Confucian state and prospered domestically. The empire extended its political and cultural influence, and its population increased significantly.
The first of the two periods of the dynasty were the Former (or Western) Han Dynasty, and the Later (or Eastern) Han Dynasty. Their time frames are almost equal; each about half of the entire 400 year reign.

Within the first three months after Qin Dynasty Emperor Qin Shi Huang's death at Shaqiu, widespread revolts by peasants, prisoners, soldiers and descendants of the nobles of the six Warring States sprang up all over China. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, two in a group of about 900 soldiers assigned to defend against the Xiongnu, were the leaders of the first rebellion. Continuous insurgence finally toppled the Qin dynasty in 206 BC. The leader of the insurgents was Xiang Yu, an outstanding military commander without political expertise, who divided the country into 19 feudal states to his own satisfaction. The beginning of the Han Dynasty can be dated either from 206 BC when the Qin dynasty crumbled and the Principality of Han was established or 202 BC when Xiang Yu committed suicide.

Intellectual, literary, and artistic endeavors revived and flourished during the Han Dynasty. Technological advances also marked this period. One of the great Chinese inventions of this dynasty include paper,
The Han Dynasty was notable also for its military proficiency. The empire expanded westward as far as the rim of the Tarim Basin, making possible relatively secure caravan traffic across Central Asia. The paths of caravan traffic are often called the "Silk Road" because the route was used to export Chinese silk.

The Han Dynasty finally collapsed under a combination of domestic and external pressures.
Taiping Taoist ideals of equal rights and equal land distribution quickly spread throughout the peasantry. As a result, the peasant insurgents of the Yellow Turban Rebellion swarmed the North China Plain, the main agricultural sector of the country. Power of the Liu royalty then fell into the hands of local governors and warlords, despite suppression of the main upraising of Zhang Jiao and his brothers. Three overlords eventually succeeded in control of the whole of China proper, ushering in the period of the Three Kingdoms. The figurehead Emperor Xian reigned until 220 when Cao Pi forced his abdication.
In 311, around one hundred years after the fall of the Eastern Han, its capital Luoyang was sacked by the Huns.