If the history of the Eastern Han dynasty were limited to the accomplishments of its scholars, scientists, and inventors, it would be a glorious saga of the innovation and creativity of the human mind.

Anesthesia was first used during surgical procedures in the years of the Eastern Han emperors, earthquake tremors were measured, and perhaps, most remarkable of all, a process for manufacturing paper was developed by a eunuch of the imperial court. But the imperial court of the Eastern Han is also an account of the abuse of power, the murder of children unfortunate enough to be placed upon the Dragon Throne, the heedless, reckless incompetence of emperors, the malignant ambition of scheming empress dowagers, and the rebellions that arose as ordinary people struggled.

The accomplished governing of Emperors Guangwu, Ming, and Zhang established a central authority that expanded China’s might and stability. Their less-capable successors — a number of them merely children when they became emperor — left the Chinese people deprived of those benefits which competent government provides. When the last Eastern Han emperor was forced to abdicate, China, no longer united as a single empire, was split into three different regions, each ruled by an ambitious warlord.