a dynasty in China, 206 b.c.–a.d. 220, with an interregnum, a.d. 9–25: characterized by consolidation of the centralized imperial state and territorial expansion. Compare Earlier Han, Later Han.
2.
a river flowing from central China into the Yangtze at Hankow. 900 miles (1450 km) long.
3.
the Chinese people in general, especially those not of Mongol, Manchu, Tibetan, or other non-Chinese extraction.