Bielenstein Hans. The Restoration of the Han Dynasty: Volume II, The Civil War

Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1959. — 287 p.The Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China (202 BC–220 CE), established by the rebel leader Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. Preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring interregnum known as the Chu–Han contention (206–202 BC), it was briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) established by the usurping regent Wang Mang, and was separated into two periods—the Western Han (202 BC–9 AD) and the Eastern Han (25–220 AD)—before being succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history, and influenced the identity of the Chinese civilization ever since. Modern China's majority ethnic group refers to themselves as the "Han people", the Sinitic language is known as "Han language", and the written Chinese is referred to as "Han characters". The Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BC) was an interregnum period between the Qin and Han dynasties in ancient China. After the Qin dynasty was overthrown by rebel forces in 206 BC, the former Qin Empire was split into the Eighteen Kingdoms, which were ruled by the rebel leaders and surrendered Qin generals. A civil war soon broke out, most prominently between two major contending powers – Xiang Yu's Western Chu and Liu Bang's Han. Some of the other kingdoms also waged war among themselves but these battles were largely insignificant compared to the main conflict between Chu and Han. The war ended in 202 BC with a total Han victory at the Battle of Gaixia, where Xiang Yu was killed. Liu Bang subsequently proclaimed himself emperor and established the Han dynasty as the ruling dynasty of China.