For those who do not know history, these two dynasties are very confusing. Today we will take a look at how to distinguish between these two dynasties.
First of all, the Western Han Dynasty was founded by Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, and the Eastern Han Dynasty was founded by Liu Xiu, the Jianwu Emperor.
In 202 BC, after Liu Bang defeated his biggest rival, Xiang, no one in the world could compete with him anymore. On February 28, Liu Bang was officially proclaimed emperor, because he was crowned king of Han when he was divided, so his kingdom was also called Han. Later generations called the Han Dynasty he established the Former Han Dynasty, also known as the Western Han Dynasty, and he was called Han Gaozu.
Liu
In 25 AD, a descendant of Liu Bang named Liu Xiu defeated the Gengshi regime and declared himself emperor in Hebei. The history is called Jianwu Emperor, and the Han Dynasty he established was called the Later Han Dynasty by later generations, also known as the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Second, although both dynasties are called the Han Dynasty, there is still one dynasty and four regimes in between them.
After 10 emperors, the 11th emperor, Liu Bao, was forced to take the throne by Houqi Wang Mang after 10 emperors. Wang Mang became emperor in 8 AD and changed the name of the country to a new one, and there was another dynasty in China's history: the new dynasty. The Western Han Dynasty also officially declared its demise.
After Wang Mang established the new dynasty, he was unpopular, and there were many natural disasters in those years, which led to great chaos in the world. Many people in the people who wanted to do something were under the banner of restoring the Han Dynasty and raised troops to rebel, intending to overthrow Wang Mang.
Liu Xiu was one of them, and Liu Xiu was the ninth grandson of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao. As relatives of the Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu and his brother Liu Xiu could not bear to watch the Han Dynasty collapse and raised an army in Nanyang County, where they lived.
Liu Xiu
Three years later, Liu Xiu, who had endured hardships, declared himself emperor in Hebei and established the Han Dynasty.
At this time, in addition to the Han Dynasty established by Liu Xiu and occupying Hebei, there were also the Gengshi regime that occupied Henan, the Kui Huan regime that occupied Longyou (present-day Gansu), and the Gongsun Shu in Chengdu, and the four regimes each occupied one side, forming a situation of separation.
The first regime was the Green Forest Army that Liu Xiu and his eldest brother Liu Xiu had united when they raised an army. Later, out of political gain, Emperor Liu Xuan of the later regime killed Liu Xiu's eldest brother Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu was able to leave a life and rely on his own ability to break out of a world in Hebei, which established the Han Dynasty.
Kui Huan was originally a general under the genger regime, stationed in the area around Longyou (present-day Gansu). After the fall of the first regime, he took advantage of the terrain and remained entrenched in the Longyou area, causing Liu Xiu a lot of trouble.
Gongsun Shu was the Shu Commandery Taishou (太守) of Shu Commandery (蜀郡太守) when Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty. Like Kui Huan, after the collapse of Wang Mang's regime, he insisted on holding sichuan and proclaimed himself emperor in the same year as Liu Xiu, with the title of Dacheng.
Kui Huan and Gongsun Shu's regime caused Great Trouble to Liu Xiu at the beginning of the eastern Han Dynasty. In particular, Gongsun Shu, who had been in Sichuan for nearly 12 years, took 12 years for the Eastern Han Dynasty to unify the whole country.
Because the Kui Regime and the Gongsun Shu regime existed for a long time, some historical researchers also called these periods the Little Three Kingdoms.
Finally, the fundamental reason why these two dynasties are called the Eastern Han And Western Han Dynasties is because the location of the capital is different.
After Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, he set the capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). After Liu Xiu established the Han Dynasty, he chose to be the capital in Luoyang. Because Luoyang was to the east of Chang'an, later generations referred to the Han Dynasty established by Liu Xiu as the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty established by Liu Bang is called the Western Han Dynasty.
As long as you know the above three points, I believe you can distinguish between the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty very well.
Maybe some people will ask, why does Liu Xiu have to use the title of "Han"? Can't you just give your country a different name?
Since ancient times, every ruler has cared deeply about the opinions of the people, but any rebellion or uprising will give him a just reason. For example, during the famous Chen Sheng Wu Guang Rebellion at the end of the Qin Dynasty, in order to make the situation realistic, they first stuffed a piece of the book with "King Chen Sheng" written on it into the belly of the fish. When people discovered this book, they believed that it was the person designated by God to save the world.
The new dynasty established by Wang Mang was considered by many people at that time to be usurped and unethical. Therefore, there were many people in the world at that time who were not convinced. Just as the so-called people think of Han, Liu Xiu was originally a descendant of Liu Qi, the Emperor of Han Jing, so his slogan when he rebelled was to restore the Han Dynasty. It not only conforms to the will of the people, but also gives itself a legitimate reason.