Han Zhaodi

Han Zhaodi ( Chinese  漢昭帝  /  汉昭帝 , Pinyin Hàn Zhāodì ; * 94 BC ; † 74 BC ) was an emperor of the Chinese western Han dynasty .

Under his rule, the country, emaciated by his father Wudi's wars, was able to recover under the moderate reign of the officials at court.

prince

Zhaodi was born in 94 BC. Born as Prince Li Fuling . His father was the 62-year-old Emperor Wudi, his mother was his concubine Chao (Empress) , who bore the title Gouyi . The pregnancy is said to have lasted 14 months, which reminded the emperor of an event from ancient myths. For this reason he preferred this one, his youngest son. After a riot by Crown Prince Liu Ju and his mother Empress Wei Zifu in 91 BC. Both committed suicide. The emperor did not consider Wudi's other sons, Liu Dan and Liu Xu , to be worthy of becoming crown prince because of their disapproved lifestyle. Li Fuling received this honor.

Emperor

When the emperor in 87 BC Died, Li Fuling succeeded him as Han Zhaodi . The rulers were Huo Guang , the brother of the famous general Huo Qubing , as well as Jin Ridi and the friend Huos Shangguang Jie . 86 BC Liu Dan planned a rebellion: Liu Ze, the grandson of the Prince of Qi , was to be accused of a rebellion. At the same time, Liu Dan wanted to do this and claim that Zhaodi was not Wudi's son. However, this plan was discovered and Liu Dan was pardoned. In the following years, Shangguang wanted to marry one of his descendants, a granddaughter of Huo, to the emperor, but Huo resisted. With the support of Princess Eyi , however, she was finally born in 83 BC. BC empress. Her real name is unknown. Formally she was Empress Xiaozhao , but she is also known as Shangguang. 82 BC A man came into the palace who pretended to be Liu Ju and actually looked very much like him. However, the issue did not have far-reaching consequences. 81 BC It was proposed to abolish the state monopolies on salt, wine and iron, which was also done in the last two cases. This relieved the people immensely. 80 BC There was a dispute between Huo and Shangguang. The latter wanted to get an office, but this did not happen. Thereupon, Shangguang, Eyi Liu Dan and Vice Chancellor Sang Hongyang , who was bitter about the abolition of the monopoly, conspired against Huo and Dan accused Huo of abuse of office before the emperor. However, he realized that Huo could not have been present at the place of the alleged abuse at the said time and rejected the lawsuit. The empire was deeply impressed by this act of the young emperor. But now they tried to lure Huo to a festival and have them murdered there. But this plan was also uncovered and the conspirators were punished. Dan and Eyi committed suicide. Only Empress Shangguang was spared because of her youth and the fact that she was Huo's granddaughter. 77 BC Chr. Closed Angui , King of Loulan , located in Central Asia, friendship with the Xiongnu , the immemorial China raided since. The imperial courier Fu Jiezi had the task of murdering this king. He carried it out and, with the help of the local nobility, put the brother Anguis on the throne. The kingdom was then renamed Shaoshan . However, Zhaodi's involvement in this plot is controversial. 74 BC The twenty-year-old emperor died and after a period of uncertainty that resulted from the fact that he had no children, especially no son, the emperor Xuandi followed .

literature

• Josef Guter : Lexicon on the history of China. Seven millennia at a glance. Marix-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-937715-40-1 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Wu	Emperor of China 87–74 BC Chr.	Prince He of Changyi