Liu Yi

This article is about Liu Yi , the Chinese emperor. A son of the Han emperor Wen , the father of the emperor Huan and a son of the last Han emperor Xian also bore this name . For the Singaporean badminton player, see Liu Yi (Badminton) .

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Marquis of Beixiang (北 鄉侯)
Family name :	Liu (劉; liú)
First name :	Yi (懿, yì)
Posthumous title : (Completely)	none
Posthumous title : (short)	none

The Marquis of Beixiang ( traditionally北 鄉侯, simplified北 乡侯, Pinyin Běixīang hóu , W.-G. Pei-hsiang-hou ), sometimes called Emperor Shao (少帝, shao di = "young emperor"), was an emperor of the Han Dynasty . After the sudden death of Emperor An in 125 he was appointed his successor, but also died a short time later.

His age cannot be proven from the sources, but he is commonly referred to as young, even as a child. Because his government was short and can also be viewed as illegitimate, he is often omitted from lists of Han emperors .

Family background and accession to the throne

Liu Yi's date of birth is unknown, but it falls under the Emperor's late reign. His father Liu Shou (劉 壽), Prince Hui of Jibei , was a son of Emperor Zhang . Liu Yi was thus a cousin of Emperor An. Nothing is known about his mother. He was probably promoted to marquis around 120 when Liu Deng (劉 登), Prince Jie of Jibei , was promoted to marquis with five of his brothers.

When Emperor An suddenly died on a trip to Wancheng (宛城; in today's Nanyang , Henan ), his widow Yan Ji was unwilling to appoint his only son Liu Bao (劉 保) as his successor. On the one hand, she found that he was difficult to control at the age of ten, on the other hand, she was a little afraid of him, because she had poisoned his mother Li out of jealousy. Therefore, she decided to raise a younger member of the imperial house to emperor. For reasons unknown, she chose Liu Yi, who must have been younger than Prince Bao at the time.

Short reign

Empress Mother Yan Ji's decision was supported by some powerful officials. On their side stood Emperor Ans step-uncle Geng Bao (耿 寶), the eunuchs Jiang Jing (江 京) and Fan Feng (樊 豐) and his nurse Wang Sheng (王聖). However, the mother empress and her brother Yan Xian (閻 顯) soon coveted unlimited power and slandered Geng Bao, Fan Feng and Wang Sheng, who were exiled with their families or (in the case of Fan Feng) executed. The Yan family became the strongest power at the court in Luoyang and ruled autocratically .

But when the young emperor became seriously ill in the same year, the eunuch Sun Cheng and some of his peers conspired against the Yan family. After the emperor died, they overthrew the Yans and made Liu Bao emperor ( Shun ). The Yan family was wiped out, with the exception of the Empress Mother, who was deprived of power.

Emperor Shun realized that the young Prince Yi had nothing to do with the intrigues of the Empress Mother and decided not to demote him posthumously. But he also did not recognize him as his predecessor or as the rightful emperor. That is why he had him buried with the honors of an imperial prince, which meant a more lavish ceremony than a marquis would have had. No valid posthumous name has survived for the young emperor.

Era name

• Yanguang (延光, Pinyin yán gūang ) 125 (adopted from predecessor)

predecessor	Office	successor
On	Emperor of China 125	Shun