Han Mingdi

Han Mingdi ( 漢 明帝 )
Family name :	Liú ( 劉 )
First name :	Yáng ( 陽 ), from 43 Zhuāng ( 莊 )
Posthumous title : (short)	Míng ( 明 )
Posthumous title : (complete)	Xiàomíng ( 孝明 )
Temple name :	Xíanzōng ( 顯宗 )
Reign:	58-75
Era names :	Yŏngpíng ( 永平 ) 58-75

Emperor Ming von Han ( Chinese  漢 明帝 , Pinyin Hàn Míng Dì , W.-G. Han Ming-ti ; * 28 AD; † 75 ), birth name Liu Yang , was emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty from 57 to 75 . He was the second son of Emperor Guangwu .

Emperor Ming, through hard work and efficient administration of the empire, managed to prove his integrity and to demand the same of his officials. He was very tough when it came to punishment, though. Tens of thousands were executed in connection with the persecution of his brothers Liu Ying and Liu Yan, who plotted against him, most of them unjustly. During his later reign this trait was curbed by the influence of his wife Ma .

Astonishing military successes were achieved under Emperor Ming's government. His general Ban Chao conquered the Tarim Basin and dispersed the power of the resident Xiongnu .

Emperor Ming was also to have a lasting influence on the cultural development of China: Under his reign, Buddhism began to spread in China . His reign is seen (along with that of his son) as the Golden Age of the Eastern Han Dynasty .

Life

Family background and youth

Emperor Guangwu of Han , father of Emperor Ming.

Liu Yang was born in 28, the second son of Liu Xius and his wife Yin Lihua . His father married Yin Lihua in 23 years when he was a civil servant under Emperor Gengshi . When he became emperor in 25 he wanted to make her empress, but she refused because she did not yet have a son who could then become crown prince. Instead, she proposed the concubine Guo Shengtong , who already had the son Liu Jiang ( 劉 疆 ). Emperor Guangwu made her empress and Liu Jiang 26 crown prince. However, Liu Yang's birth in 28 was an important event.

Emperor Guangwu appointed his sons, except for the crown prince, to be princes in 39; Liu Yang became the prince of Donghai. Even at a young age he was known for his intelligence and had the gift of quickly and correctly assessing a situation. Emperor Guangwu was very impressed by him.

Empress Guo gradually lost her husband's favor and complained continuously about it. Because he was extremely upset about this, the emperor deposed her in 41 and made Yin Lihua empress, as he had wanted years ago. To justify the title of prince mother for the deposed Guo Shengtong, he named his sons princes. Guo Shengtong's son Liu Fu became prince of Zhongshan, and Liu Yang became prince of Donghai.

After his mother was deposed, Crown Prince Jiang repeatedly asked to be deposed as Crown Prince as well. The emperor was initially reluctant to demote both the empress and her son. In 43 he made the change: he demoted Liu Jiang to Prince of Donghai and appointed Liu Yang to Crown Prince. Before that, however, he changed its name to Zhuang ( 莊 ) in order not to make it difficult for the people to keep the law of naming taboos (Yang ( 陽 ) means "sun").

In 51, Ms. Ma , General Ma Yuan's youngest daughter, became the wife of Crown Prince Zhuang. She was twelve years old at the time, so the age difference between the two was eleven years. Although Ms. Ma did not bear a son, she was highly favored by her husband. Her niece Jia , who was also a wife of the Crown Prince, gave birth to their son Liu Da ( 劉 炟 ). Ms. Ma adopted him on the orders of the Crown Prince.

Crown Prince Zhuang was often consulted by his father when it came to considering important state matters. For example, he owed an important foreign policy decision in relation to the Xiongnu , who had split into two tribes due to a civil war in 51: The Northern Xiongnu were under the leadership of the Chanyu Punu ( 蒲 奴 ) and the Southern under that of the Chanyu Bi ( 比 ). The Southern Xiongnu had formed an alliance with the Han empire, and Chanyu Punu proposed a marriage of convenience ( Chinese  龢親 ) in order to guarantee peace with the large eastern neighbor for its Northern Xiongnu. The Crown Prince warned the Emperor that Chanyu Punu only wanted to achieve one thing with this proposal, namely the alienation of Han and the Southern Xiongnu. The emperor listened to his son and refused the Chanyu's request.

Emperor Guangwu died in 57 at the age of 62, and Crown Prince Zhuang succeeded him to the throne as Emperor Ming.

Early government

The Han Empire (red) experienced its greatest expansion under Emperor Ming.

Right from the start of his government, Emperor Ming tried to eradicate corruption among officials. As soon as he found out about the bribery, he had the guilty officer executed. Classical historians praise him for his gentleness towards his half-brothers of Guo Shengtong. He treated them like sons of his mother, Yin Lihua. For example, when his brother Liu Jiang died in 58, the emperor ordered all princes to go to Lucheng ( 魯 城 ; in present-day Jining , Shandong ), the capital of Donghai, for burial ; this was an unusual honor for a prince. At the suggestion of his brother Liu Cang ( 劉 蒼 ), Prince of Dongping, the emperor established some Confucian customs in 59 . According to them, he honored individual, deserving officials, in order to express his modesty.

In the year 60 the emperor appointed his wife Ma, who was also in the favor of the empress mother Yin Lihua, as empress. He made her adoptive son Liu Da crown prince. In the same year he honored 28 generals and officials by having their portraits attached to a palace tower. He probably copied this act from Emperor Xuan . He later had four more portraits added. However, General Ma Yuan, the emperor's father-in-law, did not receive this honor.

During the early reign of Emperor Ming, the Northern Xiongnu threatened both the Han Empire and the Southern Xiongnu. Through various military and economic measures, which he used tactically, he succeeded in maintaining peace in this region. In 65 he established a permanent border force known as the Douliao Army ( 度 遼 營 ). Their task was to protect and monitor the southern Xiongnu and to maintain the northern border.

In 66, Emperor Ming established a Confucian school in the capital, Luoyang , which became the first imperial university. It was intended for the children of high officials and margraves and was also visited by nobles of the Southern Xiongnu.

Beginnings of Buddhism in China

One night, Emperor Ming is said to have dreamed of a man in gold. When he told his ministers about it the next day, Minister Zhong Hu suspected that the emperor may have dreamed of the Buddha in India. The emperor then sent an embassy of 18 men to India, led by Cai Yin, Qin Jing and Wang Zun. They returned from what is now Afghanistan with a portrait of Siddhartha Gautama , 42 sutras and two deserving monks. The following year, the emperor ordered the construction of the Temple of the White Horse three li (about three kilometers) west of the capital Luoyang . It was meant to be a memorial to the horse that carried the sutras to China and was the first Buddhist temple in China. Emperor Ming's brother Liu Ying , the prince of Chu, became a well-known promoter of Buddhism.

Mass executions in Chu and Huaiyang

Even if Emperor Ming's generosity made him popular against his brothers, this trait had its downsides. Certain of the brothers, certainly in the emperor's favor, allowed themselves a dissolute life that sometimes went against the taste of society. Emperor Ming severely punished these brothers and even ordered mass executions that cast a shadow over his government.

The first incident occurred between 66-67 and was bloodless. The ambitious Prince Jing of Guanglin wanted to become emperor and called on his people to rise with him. When the emperor learned of this, he had the prince come to the capital and questioned him. Liu Jing confessed his conspiracy, and Emperor Ming spared him. He even left him his prince title, but withdrew all political power from him. However, Prince Jing continued to develop his intrigues and hired magicians to curse the emperor. When the emperor found out, he did nothing at first, but forced Prince Jing to commit suicide in 67.

The next incident was bloody. Prince Ying of Chu, son of the concubine Xu of Emperor Guangwu, hired magicians in 70 who were supposed to conjure up golden turtles and jade cranes for him. He had characters engraved that extolled these wizards in a very unusual way. Such awards were taboo under the Han dynasty . In addition, inflammatory writings from the hands of the prince were found. Emperor Ming did not sentence him to death, but he stripped him of his principality and demoted him to common with a small fiefdom of 500 households. Prince Ying committed suicide in exile the following year. The investigations in his principality were not yet completed. Emperor Ming interrogated and tortured all of the fallen prince's confidants, and anyone whose name they revealed under torture was also interrogated and tortured. The executing officers took advantage of this opportunity to slander and kill unpopular rivals. Tens of thousands died in the course of the investigation. It was only thanks to the intervention of Empress Ma and the petitions of the interrogator Han Lang ( 寒 朗 ) that the interrogations ended.

A similar incident occurred in 73rd Prince Yan of Huaiyang had hired magicians to curse the emperor. Some of the prince's confidants were executed and, similar to the Chu interrogations, many officers were tortured or exiled. Prince Yan himself was not executed, but demoted to Prince of Fulin. He lost his large headquarters in Huaiyang and only ruled over two districts.

Campaigns against the northern Xiongnu

In 73, Emperor Ming was fed up with the continued raids of the Northern Xiongnu. He commissioned his generals Geng Bing ( 耿 秉 ) and Dou Gu with a great campaign against the Northern Xiongnu. Their victory in the Battle of Yiwulu proved to the Northern Xiongnu that the Han Empire was a serious opponent.

On this campaign, Dou Gu sent his assistant Ban Chao to an embassy in the Kingdom of Shanshan (on the eastern edge of the Taklamakan desert in Xiyu). The kingdoms of this region had long ago submitted to the Xiongnu and could barely raise the high taxes. They kept asking to be accepted as a protectorate by the Han Empire , as was the case in Emperor Wu's time. The emperors Guangwu and Ming had refused this request again and again because they did not consider the Han Empire strong enough to be able to control this remote region. The King of Shanshan therefore gave the embassy a warm welcome, but soon his enthusiasm waned. Ban Chao suspected that an embassy from the Northern Xiongnu had also arrived. He found out the whereabouts of the embassy and murdered them and his men in the night and in the fog. The King of Shanshan was amazed but pleased. He submitted to the Han Empire.

For this success, Ban Chao was promoted by the emperor and sent on a mission to Yutian ( Hotan ), which was allied with the Northern Xiongnu as the strongest kingdom in the Xiyu region. King Guangde ( 廣 德 ) trusted his chief magician, who requested Ban Chaos horse. Ban Chao agreed, but when the wizard arrived to take the horse, Ban Chao killed him and sent his head back to King Guangde. Guangde was impressed and submitted to the Han Empire. The other Xiyu kingdoms quickly followed suit.

Dou Gu and Geng Bing went on a campaign against Cheshi ( 車 師 , about today's Changji Autonomous District in Xinjiang ), a major ally of the Northern Xiongnu. Cheshi submitted, and at Dou Gu's suggestion, the office of the Protector General of Xiyu ( 都 護 ) was re-established. A campaign by the Northern Xiongnu in 75 to conquer Cheshi was repulsed by Geng Gong ( 耿恭 ), who was subordinate to the Protector General of Xiyu.

death

Emperor Ming died in 75 after 17 years of reign at the age of 47. His last will ordered that no temple should be built for him, but that he should be venerated as an ancestor in the temple of his mother Yin Lihua. This reform lasted through the rest of the Eastern Han Dynasty; the emperors did not receive individual temples, but were venerated in the temple of Emperor Guangwu. This significantly reduced spending on construction work, even if it was a break with the tradition of the Western Han Dynasty. The Crown Prince Liu Da ascended the throne as Emperor Zhang .

family

• Father: Emperor Guangwu
• Mother: Empress Yin Lihua
• Wife: Empress Ma
• important concubines:
  • Jia , mother of Emperor Zhang
  • Yin, mother of Prince Chang
  • Yan, a sister of court official Yan Zhang ( 閻 章 )
  • Yan, another sister of Yan Zhang
• Children:
  • Liu Da ( 劉 炟 ), Crown Prince from 60, later Emperor Zhang
  • Liu Jian ( 劉建 ), from 60 Prince Ai of Qiancheng († 61)
  • Liu Xian ( 劉 羨 ), from 60 Prince of Guangping, from 82 Prince of Xiping, from 88 Prince Jing von Chen († 97)
  • Liu Gong ( 劉 恭 ), from 66 Prince of Lingshou, from 72 Prince of Julu, from 78 Prince of Jianglin, from 85 Prince Jing von Pengcheng († 112 )
  • Liu Dang ( 劉 黨 ), from 66 Prince of Chongxi, from 72 Prince Jing of Lecheng († 91)
  • Liu Yan ( 劉衍 ), from 66 Prince Hui of Xiapei († 120)
  • Liu Chang ( 劉暢 ), from 66 Prince of Runan, from 80 Prince Jie von Liang († 93)
  • Liu Bing ( 劉 昞 ), from 72 Prince of Changshan, from 79 Prince Qing of Huaiyang († 88)
  • Liu Zhang ( 劉長 ), from 72 Prince Dao of Jiyin († 85)
  • Liu Ji ( 劉 姬 ), from 59 Princess Huojia
  • Liu Nu ( 劉 奴 ), Princess Pingyang from 60
  • Liu Ying ( 劉迎 ), Princess Longlü from 60
  • Liu Ci ( 劉 次 ), Princess Pingzhi from 60
  • Liu Zhi ( 劉 致 ), Princess Qinshui from 60
  • Liu Xiaoji ( 劉小 姬 ), from 69 Princess Pinggao
  • Liu Zhong ( 劉仲 ), from 74 Princess Junyi
  • Liu Hui ( 劉惠 ), from 74 Princess Wu'an
  • Liu Chen ( 劉 臣 ), from 75 Princess Luyang
  • Liu Xiaoying ( 劉小 迎 ), from 75 Princess Leping
  • Liu Xiaomin ( 劉小民 ), Princess Cheng'an from 75

Source studies

The most important source for the life of Emperor Ming and all other emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty is the Book of the Later Han , which was compiled in the 5th century by the historian Fan Ye on the basis of older sources. Especially for the period of the 1st century AD he made use of the Book of Han , which was compiled in the 1st and 2nd centuries by the historian Ban Biao , his son Ban Gu and his daughter Ban Zhao .

In the 11th century, the historian Sima Guang created an extensive history work for the time from 403 BC with his summarized Zeitspiegel to aid the government . BC to 959 AD. For the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he made particular use of the Book of the Later Han .

literature

• Fan Ye : Hou Han Shu , Vol. 1, [1]
• Sima Guang : Zizhi Tongjian , vol. 38–44, edited by Bo Yang (Taipei, 1982–1989)
• Ann Paludan: Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors. Thames & Hudson, London 1998. ISBN 0-500-05090-2
• Michele Pirazzoli-t'Serstevens: China at the time of the Han dynasty - culture and history . Kohlhammer W., Stuttgart 1982. ISBN 3-17-007738-4
• Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe (eds.): The Cambridge History of China. Volume 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC – AD 220 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 1986. ISBN 0-521-24327-0

predecessor	Office	successor
Guangwu	Emperor of China 58–75	Zhang