RECOMENDACIONES

Map 9: Population of the Later Han in 140 CE (Each dot represents 25,000 persons; the grey area is where the population figure are missing)

Comparing the two maps, it is crystal clear that during the two Han dynasties a large proportion of the registered population clustered together in Guandong or the mid-eastern part of the empire. Even though the overall recorded population of the Later Han was less than that of the Former Han, the overwhelming concentration of population in the east still clearly shows on the map. In contrast, the population of Guanzhong area was much lower and distributed sparser. Only when the Former Han located its capital in the region

did a relatively large population be found in the metropolitan area; when the capital was in the east during the Later Han, however, the population around the Former Han metropolitan area experienced a drastic drop. It evidently shows that the dense population in the Former Han metropolitan area was a product of political force which differed from the natural concentration in Guandong.

Guandong not only provided the economic underpinning for the Qin-Han empire but also played the role of cultural and intellectual center long before the imperial age. During the sixth to third century BCE, the era of “hundred schools of thoughts” called by modern historians and is remembered as the golden age in Chinese intellectual history, most, if not all, of the philosophers, scholars, and their schools originated and flourished in Guandong. The Qin state, although residing in the erstwhile Western Zhou domain, was despised by the eastern states for being cultural backward and barbarous.117 Even in the Qin-Former Han period the establishment of political core of a unitary empire in Guanzhong could not alter the leading role of Guandong in intellectual and academic development. As the Former Han dynasty progressed, the peace and stability of the empire further enhanced the intellectual prosperity of Guandong; at the same time, to

117 _{For the Warring States period derogatory remarks on the Qin and the modern assessment based on} archaeological findings, see von Falkenhausen, Chinese Society in the Age of Confucius, 233-243.

meet the needs of civil governance, increasing number of eastern origins scholar-officials held government offices and finally constituted the mainstay of imperial bureaucracy by the last decades of the dynasty. The setting up of the Later Han capital in Luoyang located in Guandong, was in part a result of the consideration of being close to the main sources of scholar-officials and many local strong families; meanwhile, it also strengthened the dominant cultural position of the east.118 It was in such a situation that Guandong achieved an unchallengeable position in fashioning the political culture of Later Han, which will be mentioned under the next heading. For now, I would like to focus on the Later Han founders’ decision of establishing capital in the east and its influence on their vision of empire.

Although the founders of the two Han dynasties both arose in the east, they had very different considerations on locating their capitals, which were related to their experience of regime-building and the strategic circumstances facing them.

The founding emperor of the Former Han and his core followers were initially roaming armed forces without strong local base; not until they entered Guanzhong area and won the local support did they have solid footing, which ensured their final victory in

118 _{For the leading cultural role of Guandong in the Later Han period, see Martin J. Powers, Art and} Political Expression in Early China (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1991), chapter III.

the civil war after the fall of the Qin.119 Based on the support of Guanzhong, the Former Han actually repeated the Qin’s conquest of the east and maintained the West over the East ruling pattern. Part of the political legitimacy of the Former Han was even based on the notion of succeeding to the Qin.120 Also, Guanzhong could provide the strategic and geographic advantages which enabled the Former Han state to safeguard itself and project its power to the east.121 Needless to say, since the capital was located in Guanzhong, the northwest would be recognized as a region with key strategic value.

In contrast, the Later Han followed an entirely different trajectory of regime-building. Unlike their predecessors who were of plebian origins and generally less educated, the founding members of the Later Han were generally from better-off backgrounds. Emperor Guangwu, a distant imperial kinsman of the Former Han, was from a wealthy landlord family. He was well educated and a student of the Imperial Academy during Wang Mang’s reign. As a response to the chaotic situation, Emperor Guangwu and his elder brother assembled their clan members and retainers and allied with other local

119 _{For the composition of the Former Han founders, see Li kaiyuan 李開元, Handiguo de jianli yu Liu} Bang jiduan : jungong shouyi jieceng yanjiu 漢帝國的建立與劉邦集團：軍功受益階層硏究 (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2000), 119-179; Wang Aihe, “Creators of an Emperor: The Political Group Behind the Founding of the Han Empire”, Asia Major 14.1 (2001): 19-50.

120 _{Tian Yuqing 田餘慶, “Shu Zhang Chu: Guanyu wang Qin bi Chu wenti de tantao” 說張楚──關於「亡}

秦必楚」問題的探討, in idem, Qin Han Wei Jin shi tanwei 秦漢魏晉史探微 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,

1993), 1-27; Li, Handiguo de jianli yu Liu Bang jiduan, 124-146; Tse, “Lun Han Gaodi yichao de beijing dongluan,” 31-58.