"Dust swirls along six avenues, drums roll, horse hoofs and wagon wheels are everywhere." Xue Fang (9th century)
The death of the first emperor in 221 BCE marked the beginning of a troubled period that saw a peasant revolt lasting until 206, the year of Han Kaodi's accession, and the beginning of one of China's longest and most brilliant dynasties: the Han. The capital was established at Chang' an (today's Xi' an). Although the structures set up under the preceding dynasty did not disappear, a sort of feudal- ism was re-introduced.
Nothing remains of the Han capital, but we have been able to glean an idea of its splendor and the lifestyle of its inhabitants by exploring its tombs. These had evolved into layouts symbolically matching palaces, and more than ever before, they were stocked with material reflecting their owner's surroundings. A general's tomb explored in the village of Yangjiawan (near Xi'an) in 1968, for instance, contains a full army of 1,865 foot soldiers and 583 riders (H 65-71 cm). These figurines in coarse earthenware or polychrome glazed stoneware are termed mingqi, literally `objects of light', since they shed the light of life transcended onto the dead. The reference is to life at the court, in the city, but also in the countryside, as illustrated by various figures (servants, notables, dancers, musicians, sorcerers, merchants, workers, all going about their activities), models of the cities and buildings (barns, watch towers), utilitarian objects, domestic animals and - always - horses, since horses were a hallmark of the Han Dynasty. They were not depicted in the natu- ralist fashion of the preceding period, but symbolically. In the description furnished by Jacques-Edouard Berger: "The horse's strength is shown in its hoofs, which are enormous, the out-of-scale chest expresses its power, the overly large nostrils confer great passion. [...] This art is an art of transcription, of surpassing." However, the Han Dynasty's greatest contribution lies with its monumental sculpture linked as always to funerary art, expressed as much in low relief as in pieces in the round. A group sculpted in granite, showing a horse overcoming a recumbent man, dates as far back as 117 BCE. In time, the custom of placing statues - especially of symbolic animals - in front of tombs would become more widespread. Recent archaeological finds have also revealed that the Han decorated their tombs with paintings, to which they were wont to add a sort of earthen- ware metope for narrative effect.
The Han availed themselves of bronze for a long period of time, but would abandon it in favor of glazed earthenware and stoneware, material enabling them to obtain new, lighter shapes and more nuanced decors thanks to polychromy, thenceforth rendered possible.
Exchanges outside the land grew more frequent under Emperor Wudi (140-87 BCE), notably towards the northwest once the road to Afghanistan was opened. This road, whose earliest vocation was as the road of the horses (the tien-m'a, or sky horse, swifter than their native breed, would become China's emblem), became the first road along which silk travelled, and later, porcelain. It was used, too, by Buddhist monks, who dotted it with shrines.