In China during the Han dynasty choose officials based off of performance, but some were still chosen through social class and standings. Landowners have a lot of power. The increase in population caused the peasants to sell their land to wealthier landowners in order to keep themselves afloat. The peasants had a hard time living, most of them lived in full households and struggled. Conditioned like this caused peasants to begin rebellions, and join gangs of bandits. The peasants devastated the economy which later led to the overthrow of the dynasty.
Which statement of Tacitus might you regard as reliable, and which are more suspect? Why? I do not think that we can take any statements from Tacitus as reliable except for statements that are purely factual. This is because it states that Tacitus never visited the lands of the people he described. He only relied on others works of writing and story telling. We cannot regard him as reliable becuase we do not even know if there is any credibility in his statements.
I like how you started off describing the Han Dynasty, then made your way into describing how it got overthrown. Good job!
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