Chinese emperors family tree (early)
Emperor Xian, the last emperor of the Han dynasty, was a descendant of the first emperor Liu Bang. Lasting for over 400 years (the first to last for more than a century), the Han Dynasty is regarded as one of the golden ages of Chinese history. The Han Dynasty was interrupted by the reign of the usurper Wang Mang, who declared the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD); on this basis, the Han Dynasty is generally divided into the Western Han (206 BC – 9 AD and 23–25 AD) and the Eastern Han (25–220 AD). The rulers of the Shu Han, one of the three successor states to the Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, were descended from the Han imperial family, and considered themselves a continuation of the Han Dynasty; they are included below.
Han Chinese
The Han dynasty's founding emperor, Liu Bang, was made king of the Hanzhong region after the fall of the Qin dynasty, a title that was later shortened to "the King of Han" () during the Chu-Han contention. The name "Hanzhong", in turn, was derived from the Han River, which flows through the region's plains. The river, in turn, derives its name from expressions such as "Tianhan" (, "the heavenly river"), "Yinhan" (, "the silver river"), "Xinghan" (, "the star river") or "Yunhan" (, "the cloud river"), all ancient Chinese poetic nicknames for the Milky Way and first mentioned in the "Classic of Poetry".