Han Huandi

Han Huandi ( 漢 桓帝 )
Family name :	Liú ( 劉 )
First name :	Zhì ( 志 )
Temple name:	Wēizōng ( 威 宗 )
Posthumous name: (complete)	Xiàohuán ( 孝 桓 )
Posthumous name: (short)	Huán ( 桓 )

Emperor Huan von Han ( Chinese  漢 桓帝 , Pinyin hàn huán dì , W.-G. Han Huan-ti ; * 132 ; † 168 ) was the tenth emperor of the Han dynasty and a great-grandson of Emperor Zhang .

After Liang Ji poisoned Emperor Zhi in 146, he persuaded his sister, Empress mother Liang Na , to make 14-year-old Liu Zhi emperor (Emperor Huan). Over the years, Emperor Huan's dislike of Liang Ji grew and he decided to overthrow the Liang family with the help of the eunuchs . After this coup d'état in 159, however, the eunuchs slowly seized power at court through their prosperous influence. The corruption in the empire was at its worst at this time, and a revolt broke out. The students of the educational institutions asked the emperor to wipe out the corrupt officials. Instead, the emperor closed the rebellious schools and ostracized students and teachers. Emperor Huan's government, although autocratic, contributed significantly to the decline of the Han dynasty.

Hou Hanshu , the story of the Later Han, mentions a Roman embassy (possibly from Emperor Marcus Aurelius ) which reached the Chinese capital Luoyang in 166 and was received by Emperor Huan.

Emperor Huan died in 168 after 22 years of reign at the age of 36.

Life

Family background and accession to the throne

Liu Zhi was born in 132 to Liu Yi ( 劉 翼 ) and his concubine Yan Ming ( 匽 明 ). Liu Yi was the Marquis of Liwu and the son of Liu Kai ( 劉 開 ), Prince Xiao of Hejian, who was a son of Emperor Zhang. Heir to his cousin Liu Sheng ( 劉勝 ), Liu Yi was appointed Prince of Pingyuan by Empress Mother Deng Sui when she was regent of Emperor An . Rumors soon arose that the Empress intended to depose the Emperor and put Prince Yi in his place. After the death of the Empress Mother in 121, Emperor An demoted Prince Yi to Marquis of Duxiang. During the reign of Emperor Shun , Prince Kai asked if he could inherit the Liwu district, which was part of his marrow, to his son. So Liu Yi became Marquis of Liwu.

Liu Zhi inherited his father's title in 146 and was promised to Liang Nüying , a younger sister of Grand Marshal Liang Ji and the regent, Empress Mother Liang Na . That same year, Liang Ji decided to poison Emperor Shun after he insulted him. The majority of the officials were in favor of replacing Prince Liu Suan ( 劉 蒜 ) of Qinghe, who was a first cousin of the poisoned emperor. His age at the time is not known, but he is described as thoughtful and polite. However, Liang Ji feared losing power to a strong emperor. Because Liu Zhi was still quite young and had promised his sister, Liang Ji hoped to be able to control him easily. Liu Zhi ascended the throne as Emperor Huan in 147.

Liang Ji's early reign

Liang Na also served as regent for the 14-year-old Emperor Huan, but her brother more and more took over the de facto power, so that he soon overshadowed her too. Emperor Huan posthumously honored his father and grandfather with imperial titles, but because the title of empress mother was already given to Liang Na, he only made his mother imperial wife. The next year he also elevated Ms. Ma, another wife of his father, to the same status. In the year of his accession to the throne, however, he married his fiancée Liang Nuying and elevated her to empress.

Emperor Huan was mostly controlled by the Liang family, but increasingly he also confided in the eunuchs at court and let them make many decisions for him. First, Liang Ji used this influence and allied with the eunuch faction. He tried to eliminate Prince Suan, who was a thorn in his side with his inheritance claims. For example, Liang Ji conspired with the eunuchs Tang Heng ( 唐 衡 ) and Zuo Guan ( und agte ) and falsely accused the deserving officials Li Gu ( 李固 ) and Du Qiao ( 杜喬 ) of a conspiracy with Prince Suan Overthrow Emperor Huan. The officers were executed, and Prince Suan committed suicide after his demotion to Marquis.

Empress mother Liang Na announced her resignation from state affairs in 150. With immediate effect, she will place the entire power of government in the hands of the emperor. She died that same year, and the emperor appointed his mother Ma as empress mother. But Liang Ji's power was unbroken; it seemed even heightened by the absence of his sister. He became more and more brutal and corrupt, and threatened the life of all officials who dared to rise up against him. He even excluded his humble and peace-loving brother Liang Buying ( 梁 不 疑 ) from the government.

Empress mother Yan died in 152. Emperor Huan was not allowed to mourn her as the successor to a branch line; this took over his brother Liu Shi ( 劉 石 ), the prince of Pingyuan.

The first major argument between officials and eunuchs occurred in 153, and many more were to follow. Zhu Mu ( 朱 穆 ), the governor of Ji Province (present-day central and northern Hebei ), found out that the father of the influential eunuch Zhao Zhong ( 趙忠 ) had himself buried in a jade vessel . Because that honor only belonged to the imperial prince, Zhu Mu ordered an investigation into the case. Zhao Zhong's father was exhumed and his remains removed from the jade vessel. Both Zhao Zhong and the emperor were very angry about this act. Zhu Mu was removed from office and sentenced to hard labor.

Coup against Liang Ji

Over the years, the emperor grew increasingly dissatisfied with Liang Ji's tight grip and the empress's demeanor. Not only because of her brother's high position she led a luxury life that was much more wasteful than that of her predecessors, but she was also jealous beyond measure. Because she didn't have a son, she didn't want one of the concubines to have one either. None of them doubted that the empress was capable of murderous consequences. Emperor Huan dared not intervene, but he abstained from intercourse with the empress. She died in anger and dejection because she had lost her husband's favor.

The Empress' death was only the first of many events that year that would bring about the overthrow of Liang Ji. He had adopted Deng Mengnü (鄧 猛 女), the cousin of his wife Sun, given her the family name Liang and made her an imperial concubine. After his sister died, Liang Ji hoped that his adoptive daughter would become empress. In order to increase his control over her, he wanted to murder her mother Xuan ( 宣 ). However, the attack was foiled by one of the mother's neighbors, the eunuch Yuan She ( 袁 赦 ).

When Ms. Xuan reported the attempted murder to the emperor, he was furious. He conspired with the eunuchs Tang Heng, Zuo Guan, Dan Chao (單 超), Xu Huang (徐 璜) and Ju Yuan (具 瑗) to overthrow Liang Ji. He sealed this vow by biting into Dan Chaos' arm and swearing by his blood. Because Liang Ji became suspicious and tried to investigate what the emperor was planning with the eunuchs, the five eunuchs acted in a flash. They had the emperor publicly announce that he was taking back Liang Ji's power and surrounded his house with the palace guards. The Liang and Sun clans were arrested and massacred. The many officials who were close to Liang Ji were either executed or deposed, leaving the government almost incapacitated for a period. The goods of the two clans were confiscated for the state treasury, which enabled a tax reduction of 50%. The people celebrated Liang Ji's end exuberantly, but the political situation in the empire did not improve.

Late government and bloom of power of the eunuchs

After the Grand Marshal's death, the emperor took his concubine Liang Mengnü as wife and made her empress. Because he hated her family name, he changed it to Bo ( 薄 ). When he later found out her maiden name, he let her wear it again.

People had great expectations of Emperor Huan's government after the corrupt Liang Ji died. But the emperor rewarded his five co-conspirators and other eunuchs with marquise titles and posts of immense power. Their wealth made the eunuchs indescribably corrupt, but the emperor did not seem to notice. After Dan Chaos' death, a song was composed about the four remaining Marquis eunuchs:

Zuo can twist heaven's decisions. Ju rests within himself without competition. Xu is a lurking wolf. Tang's power is omnipresent like the rain.

Emperor Huan himself soon succumbed to corruption and did not tolerate criticism. When the concerned district administrator Li Yun ( 李雲 ) asked in a petition to take power from the eunuchs, the emperor took great offense at the sentence "Is the emperor going blind?" Although many officials and some eunuchs advised against it, the emperor had the supplicant and his friend Du Zhong ( 杜 眾 ) executed.

In 161, the Qiang tribes rose up, followed by numerous peasant revolts. To compensate for the increased expenses, the emperor offered many smaller items for sale in an edict, including those of the officers of the palace guard (his successor, Emperor Ling, was to make the situation of the empire even worse with this bad example). Even if the emperor had a lucky hand in choosing the generals with whom he acted against the uprisings, the corruption that followed the sale of office always broke out new revolts.

In 165 the emperor was finally fed up with the extravagant hustle and bustle of the eunuchs. He demoted the last of the five remaining conspirators, Ju Yuan, and removed several other eunuchs from their posts. Soon after, however, the power of the eunuchs was restored. Following this pattern, for the rest of the reign of Emperor Huan, there was a change between eunuchs and officials for influence at court, which only harmed officials.

In the same year, the emperor put an end to the quarrels between the empress and his concubine Guo. He deposed the empress and had her locked up. She died in prison and some of her relatives were executed. The emperor wanted to raise his concubine Tian Sheng ( 田 聖 ) to empress, but the officials vehemently advised against it and cited the lower birth rate of this concubine. Instead, they beat the concubine Dou Miao ( 竇妙 ) before, the daughter of the Confucian Scholars Dou Wu ( 竇武 '), which earned a descendant of Dou Rong ( 竇融 was). This had made a name for itself with the establishment of the Later Han Dynasty . Although she was not in the emperor's favor, Emperor Huan gave in to pressure and elevated Dou Miao to empress.

In 166 the conflict between the university students and the eunuchs escalated. Li Ying, the governor of the capital region (present-day western Henan and central Shaanxi ), executed the fortune teller Zhang Cheng ( 張 成 ). He had caused his son to commit a murder on the pretext that a general amnesty would soon come. However, Li Ying was arrested and some 200 university students petitioned the emperor to obtain the governor's release. However, the emperor also had the students arrested. They were released after a year (at Dou Wu's instigation), but the emperor withdrew their civil rights. This event later became known as partisan prohibition .

Emperor Huan died in 168 without an heir. The jealous Dou Miao murdered her hated concubine Tian Sheng and took charge of the situation. After making a search and selection among the members of the imperial family, she decided on the eleven-year-old Liu Hong ( 劉宏 ), the Marquis of Jieduting, who ascended the throne as Emperor Ling.

Era names

• Jìan Hé ( 建和 ) 147-149
• Hé Píng ( 和平 ) 150
• Yúan Jīa ( 元嘉 ) 151-153
• Yŏng Xīng ( 永興 ) 153-154
• Yŏng Shòu ( 永 壽 ) 155–158
• Yán Xī ( 延熹 ) 158-167
• Yong Kāng ( 永 康 ) 167

family

• Wives:
  • Empress Liang Nüying (147–159)
  • Empress Deng Mengnü (159–165)
  • Empress Dou Miao (165–168)
• important concubines:
  • Wife Guo
  • Consort Tian Sheng
  • Wife Feng
• children
  • Liu Hua, 158 Princess Yang'an
  • Liu Jian, 164 Princess Yingyin
  • Liu Xiu, 166 Princess Yanzhai

predecessor	Office	successor
Zhi	Emperor of China 146–168	Ling