Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who was the last Han Dynasty Emperor?
Emperor Xian of Han (2 April 181 – 21 April 234), personal name Liu Xie, courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty in China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until 11 December 220.[4][5]
Cao Cao died in 220 and was succeeded by his son, Cao Pi, who forced the last Han ruler, Emperor Xian, to abdicate the throne in his favour. Cao Pi then established the state of Cao Wei and declared himself emperor. Liu Bei contested Cao Pi's claim to the throne and proclaimed himself "Emperor of Shu Han" in 221. Although Liu Bei is widely seen as the founder of Shu, he never claimed to be the founder of a new dynasty; rather, he viewed Shu as a continuation of the fallen Han dynasty.
Ruzi Ying (; 5 – 25), also known as Emperor Ruzi of Han and the personal name of Liu Ying (劉嬰), was the last emperor of the Chinese Western Han Dynasty from 6 CE to 9 CE. After Emperor Ai of Han and Emperor Ping died without heirs, Wang Mang chose the youngest of the available successors in order to maintain his power in the government. The child Ying was soon deposed by Wang Mang who declared the Xin Dynasty in place of the Han. During Xin Dynasty, Ying was under effective house arrest—so much so that as an adult, he did not even know the names of common animals. Before and after the Xin Dynasty was overthrown in 23 CE, many ambitious people claimed to be restoring the Han dynasty. In 25 CE, a rebellion against the temporary Gengshi Emperor used the former Emperor Ruzi as a focus, and when the rebellion was defeated, he was killed. He is often viewed as an innocent child who was the victim of tragic circumstances. (The expression "Emperor Ruzi" is a misnomer, as he never assumed the throne and was only named crown prince. Nevertheless, he is commonly referred to as such.)
Cheongju Han clan's Bon-gwan is in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. Their founder was , who was one of the three children of Jun of Gojoseon who was the Gija Joseon's last emperor. The noble clan of Han received the most generals of the prominent Joseon Dynasty. In the Joseon, Lee Dynasty, and were considered the highest of the yangban class next to the Jeonju Lee clan. Cheongju Han clan is considered one of the most royal clans since Gija Joseon and Gojoseon.
In the early 2nd century BC, shortly after the destruction of Qin Dynasty, military and political leader Zou Yao () of Wenzhou helped the emperor Gaozu of Han, the first emperor of Han Dynasty, defeat the prominent warlord Xiang Yu of Qin Dynasty. After the victory, emperor Hui of Han, the second emperor of Han Dynasty named Zhou Yao the King of Dong'ou (Wenzhou), and under the administration of emperor Hui, Wenzhou became the capital of the Dong'ou Kingdom which is the modern-day area of southern Zhejiang.
Despite its military strength, the Qin Dynasty did not last long. When the first emperor died in 210 BC, his son was placed on the throne by two of the previous emperor's advisers, in an attempt to influence and control the administration of the entire country through him. The advisors squabbled among themselves, however, which resulted in both their deaths and that of the second Qin emperor. Popular revolt broke out a few years later, and the weakened empire soon fell to a Chu lieutenant, who went on to found the Han Dynasty. Despite its rapid end, the Qin Dynasty influenced future Chinese regimes, particularly the Han, and the European name for China is derived from it.
The Xin dynasty (; ) was a Chinese dynasty (termed so despite having only one emperor) which lasted from 9 to 23 AD. It is often considered an interregnum period of the Han dynasty, dividing it into the Former or Western Han and the Latter or Eastern Han.
In December 220, Cao Pi usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, the last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and established the state of Wei with himself as the new emperor. This event marked the end of the Eastern Han dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period in China.
Towards the late Northern and Southern dynasties, the Northern Zhou conquered the Northern Qi in 577 and reunified northern China, The century trend of gradual conquest of the southern dynasties of the Han Chinese by the northern dynasties, which were ruled by ethnic minority Xianbei, would become inevitable. By this time, the later founder of the Sui dynasty, Yang Jian, an ethnic Han Chinese, became the regent to the Northern Zhou court. His daughter was the Empress Dowager, and her stepson, Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou, was a child. After crushing an army in the eastern provinces, Yang Jian usurped the throne to become Emperor Wen of Sui. While formerly the Duke of Sui when serving at the Zhou court, where the character "Sui " literally means "to follow" and implies loyalty, Emperor Wen created the unique character "Sui ()", morphed from the character of his former title, as the name of his newly founded dynasty. In a bloody purge, he had fifty-nine princes of the Zhou royal family eliminated, yet nevertheless became known as the "Cultured Emperor". Emperor Wen abolished the anti-Han policies of Zhou and reclaimed his Han surname of Yang. Having won the support of Confucian scholars who held power in previous Han dynasties (abandoning the nepotism and corruption of the nine-rank system), Emperor Wen initiated a series of reforms aimed at strengthening his empire for the wars that would reunify China.
Emperor Zhi of Han (; 138 – 26 July 146) was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty. He was a great-great-grandson of Emperor Zhang. His reign was dominated by Liang Ji, the brother of Empress Dowager Liang, who eventually poisoned the young emperor.
The Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) was a period of Ancient China divided into the Western Han (206 BCE – 9 CE) and Eastern Han (25–220 CE) periods, when the capital cities were located at Chang'an and Luoyang, respectively. It was founded by Emperor Gaozu of Han and briefly interrupted by the regime of Wang Mang (r. 9–23 CE) who usurped the throne from a child Han emperor.
The end of the Han dynasty refers to the period of Chinese history from 189 to 220 AD, which roughly coincides with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynasty's last ruler, Emperor Xian. During this period, the country was thrown into turmoil by the Yellow Turban Rebellion (184–205). Meanwhile, the Han Empire's institutions were destroyed by the warlord Dong Zhuo, and fractured into regional regimes ruled by various warlords, some of whom were nobles and officials of the Han imperial court. Eventually, one of those warlords, Cao Cao, was able to gradually reunify the empire, ostensibly under Emperor Xian's rule, but the empire was actually controlled by Cao Cao himself. Cao Cao's efforts to completely reunite the Han empire were rebuffed at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 / 209, when his armies were defeated by the allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei. The Han dynasty formally ended in 220 when Cao Cao's son and heir, Cao Pi, pressured Emperor Xian into abdicating in his favour. Cao Pi became the emperor of a new state, Cao Wei. A year later, in response to Cao Pi's usurpation of the Han throne, Liu Bei declared himself emperor of Shu Han; and in 229, Sun Quan followed suit, declaring himself emperor of Eastern Wu. The period from Emperor Xian's abdication in 220 to the partial reunification of China under the Jin dynasty in 265 was known as the Three Kingdoms era in Chinese history.
Cao Jie () (197 – 2 July 260), formally known as Empress Xianmu, was an empress of the Eastern Han dynasty of China. She was the second wife of Emperor Xian, the last Han emperor, and became known as the Duchess of Shanyang after her husband's abdication. She was a half-sister of Cao Pi, who ended the Han dynasty by forcing Emperor Xian to abdicate the throne in his favour and established the state of Cao Wei.
The later Zhou, the last dynasty of the Five Dynasties period was founded by Guo Wei, a Han Chinese, who served as the Assistant Military Commissioner at the court of the Later Han which was ruled by Shatuo Turks. He founded his dynasty by launching a military coup against the Turkic Later Han Emperor, however his newly established dynasty was short lived and was conquered by the Song Dynasty in 960.
In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127), the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of contention between Song China and the Liao Dynasty. Later the Southern Song Dynasty abandoned all of North China, including Shanxi, to the Jurchen Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in 1127 after the Jingkang Incident of the Jin-Song wars.
Under Emperor Xuan, the Han dynasty prospered economically and militarily. His rule lasted 25 years and he died in 49 BC. He was succeeded by his son Emperor Yuan.
The Han dynasty was founded by the peasant rebel leader (Liu Bang), known posthumously as Emperor Gao (r. 202 –195 BC) or Gaodi. The longest reigning emperor of the dynasty was Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC), or Wudi, who reigned for 54 years. The dynasty was briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang, but he was overthrown in 23 AD and the Han dynasty was reestablished by Liu Xiu, known posthumously as Emperor Guangwu (r. 25–57 AD), or Guangwu Di.[2] The last Han emperor, Emperor Xian (r. 189–220 AD), was a puppet monarch of Chancellor Cao Cao (155–220 AD), who dominated the court and was made King of Wei.[3] In 220 AD, Cao's son Pi usurped the throne as Emperor Wen of Wei (r. 220–226 AD) and ended the Han dynasty.
Emperor Ling of Han (156 – 13 May 189), personal name Liu Hong, was the 12th emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty. Born the son of a lesser marquis who descended directly from Emperor Zhang (the third Eastern Han emperor), Liu Hong was chosen to be emperor in 168 around age 12 after the death of his predecessor, Emperor Huan, who had no son to succeed him. He reigned for about 21 years until his death in 189.
Emperor He of Han (; 79 – 13 February 106) was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty who ruled from 88 to 105. He was the 4th emperor of the Eastern Han.
Emperor Ling's reign left the Eastern Han dynasty weak and on the verge of collapse. After his death, the Han Empire disintegrated in chaos for the subsequent decades as various regional warlords fought for power and dominance. (See End of the Han dynasty.) The Han dynasty ended in 220 when Emperor Ling's son, Emperor Xian, abdicated his throne – an event leading to the start of the Three Kingdoms period in China.
The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) of ancient China was the second imperial dynasty of China, following the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). It was divided into the periods of Former Han (202 BC – 9 AD) and Later Han (25–220 AD), briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) of Wang Mang. The capital of Western Han was Chang'an, and the capital of Eastern Han was Luoyang. The emperor headed the government, promulgating all written laws, serving as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and presiding as the chief executive official. He appointed all government officials who earned a salary of 600 bushels of grain or more (though these salaries were largely paid in coin cash) with the help of advisors who reviewed each nominee. The empress dowager could either be the emperor's actual or symbolic mother, and was in practice more powerful than the emperor, as she could override his decisions. The emperor's executive powers could also be practiced by any official upon whom he bestowed the Staff of Authority. These powers included the right to execute criminals without the imperial court's permission.
The Tomb of the Jibei King () is a tomb from the time of the Western Han Dynasty in Changqing District of Jinan, Shandong Province, China. It is also known as the Han Dynasty Tomb of Shuangru Mountain (). The tomb is thought to have been the burial site of Liu Kuan (), the last king of Jibei () who ruled from 97–85BC during the time of the Emperor Wu of Han of the Western Han Dynasty. The tomb was a major archaeological find since it had been untouched by grave robbers. Its discovery was ranked among the top ten Chinese archaeological finds of 1996 by Chinese National Office for Cultural Artefacts.
Relations between the Liao and the Song were initially peaceful, with the two dynasties exchanging embassies in 974. Following the collapse of the Tang dynasty, several territories formed small, independent states that were never reunified during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Additionally, several additional territories that were controlled by military governors during the Tang dynasty had fallen under the control of local warlords following the Tang collapse. Rather than focus on reclaiming land from the Liao dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, who would take the title Emperor Taizu of Song, focused on reclaiming these smaller break-off territories. He would die in 976 having reestablished control over all but one of these territories, the Northern Han kingdom. Despite the Northern Han's status as a protectorate of the Liao dynasty, Emperor Taizu of Song launched an invasion of the kingdom in 976, only months before his death. The Northern Han received assistance from the Liao, and the invasion was repelled. Emperor Taizong of Song, brother of the founding emperor and the second emperor of the Song dynasty, launched a second invasion in 979. The Northern Han again received Liao assistance, but this invasion was successful; the Northern Han crumbled, and the Song were able to assume control of the territory. Emperor Taizong of Song immediately followed this victory with an attempted invasion of the sixteen prefectures, but the unrested and undersupplied Song troops were thoroughly routed by the Liao in the Battle of Gaoliang River.
Emperor Xian, the last emperor of the Han dynasty, was a descendant of the first emperor Liu Bang. Lasting for over 400 years (the first to last for more than a century), the Han Dynasty is regarded as one of the golden ages of Chinese history. The Han Dynasty was interrupted by the reign of the usurper Wang Mang, who declared the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD); on this basis, the Han Dynasty is generally divided into the Western Han (206 BC – 9 AD and 23–25 AD) and the Eastern Han (25–220 AD). The rulers of the Shu Han, one of the three successor states to the Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, were descended from the Han imperial family, and considered themselves a continuation of the Han Dynasty; they are included below.
Chen Ping (died 178 BC) was an official who served as a chancellor in the early Western Han dynasty. He was an advisor to Liu Bang (Emperor Gao), the founding emperor of the Han dynasty. He played an important role in helping Liu Bang overcome his rival, Xiang Yu, in the Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BC).
The Emperor in Han Dynasty, also released under the title The Emperor Han Wu in some countries, is a 2005 Chinese historical television series based on the life of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty. It uses the historical texts "Records of the Grand Historian" and "Book of Han" as its source material.