The Founding of the Han Dynasty and Its Administration

Qin's collapse touched off a new round of civil war, the Chu-Han War (206-202 BCE), between the nobleman Xiang Yu and the peasant-born rebel leader Liu Bang. Liu Bang's decisive victory at the Battle of Gaixia in 202 BCE, achieved with the help of capable generals and advisers such as Han Xin, Xiao He, and Zhang Liang, left him the sole master of China; he proclaimed himself Emperor Gaozu, adopted "Han" as his dynastic name from his earlier title as King of Han, and established his capital at Chang'an, in the Wei River valley long favored by earlier dynasties. The new Han government retained much of Qin's administrative structure while softening its harshest Legalist penalties and easing the tax and labor burdens that had helped bring Qin down.