The Fall of The Empire
One of the major problems the Han emperors faced was an economy that allowed for the rich to get richer at the expense of the lower class.Large landowners didn't have to pay taxes and small landowners borrowed from the wealthy, who charged large interest rates. This caused the landowners to have to give up their land to the large landowners. This caused a larger gap between rich and poor. Political indiferances began to rise as the emperor was deciding who would succeed him as ruler. Many poor rulers came after this until Wang Mang tried to restore the country. He attempted to take land from the rich but this just angered them. Then in 11 A.D. a flood left thousands dead and millions homeless and without enough food, rebellion set in. Wang Mang was assainated in 23 A.D. After that a member of the imperial family took rule. The first couple decades after this were peaceful. Within a century, China fell back into its old ways and by 220 A.D. the Han Dynasty had broken into three kingdoms.