If you stopped someone in the street and asked them to list China's imperial dynasties, they might struggle. They might know the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), which gave the world the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China, and is renowned for its priceless blue-and-white vases. Or perhaps the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), China's most recent dynasty that was repeatedly bullied by colonial European powers.

Very, very few would know the Han, but this obscure empire created the levers of state that propelled imperial China to glory.

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Ranked: The most important empires in world history