Emperor Ān is on a trip to Wancheng (in modern Nanyang, Hénán) in 125, when he suddenly feels ill and decides to return to Luòyáng.

Before he can, however, he dies.

Empress Yán does not want to allow his son Prince Bǎo to be emperor; instead, she makes Liú Yi, the Marquess of Beixiang, a grandson of Emperor Zhang and Emperor Ān's cousin, emperor.

(How old he was is not recorded in history, but implicitly, he was believed to be far younger than Prince Bǎo, who was ten at the time.)

Prince Bao is excluded not only from succession but even from the official mourning ceremonies for his father.

Empress Dowager Yan and her brothers dominate the political scene.

The young emperor, however, becomes gravely ill later in this year, and a number of eunuchs loyal to Prince Bǎo, led by Sun Cheng, enter into a conspiracy with Prince Bao's head of household Changxing Qu.

After the young emperor dies, Sun and 18 of his fellow eunuchs make a surprise attack on the palace, killing Jiang Jing and forcing Jiang's colleague Li Run to join them.

Successful in their coup d'état, they make Prince Bǎo emperor (as Emperor Shun).

For several days, the eunuchs' forces battled with the empress dowager's forces, finally defeating the empress dowager and her brothers.

The Yan clan is slaughtered, while Empress Dowager Yan is confined to her palace until her death in 126.

Ban Yong, with more than six thousand cavalry from the prefectures of Dunhuang, Zhangye (modern Gansu), and Jiujuan (modern Suzhou), as well as soldiers from Shanshan, Kashgar and Turpan, in the following year, 125, defeats the King of Jimasa and beheads both the king and a Xiongnu envoy, sending their heads to the capital.

He also captures more than eight thousand prisoners and fifty thousand horses and cattle.

Near the end of the reign of Emperor An, Ban Yong presents a report to him on the countries to the west of China, covering all the territory to India as well as to the Roman Empire.

This report forms the basis, with a few later additions, of the 'Chronicle of the Western Regions' in the Hou Hanshu.

The people are hopeful at the start of Emperor Shun's reign that he will reform the political situation from the pervasive corruption under the Yans.

The teenage emperor proves to be a kind but weak ruler, however, and while he trusts certain honest officials, he also trusts many corrupt eunuchs, who quickly grab power.

In 126, Sun tries to encourage the young emperor to carry out extensive reforms, but is instead removed from the capital for his audacity.

All the "Six Kingdoms of Jushi" (across the mountains to the north and east of Turpan) in 126 submit to Ban Yong.

It had been fashionable among the Romans to be clean-shaven since the time of Scipio Africanus.

Also, all Roman Emperors before Hadrian, except for Nero (also a great admirer of Greek culture), had been clean shaven.

Most of the emperors after Hadrian will be portrayed with beards.

Their beards, however, will not worn be worn out of an appreciation for Greek culture but because the beard has, thanks to Hadrian, become fashionable.

This new fashion will last for two centuries, until the reign of Constantine the Great, and will be revived again by Phocas at the start of the seventh century.

As a cultural Hellenophile, Hadrian is familiar with the work of the philosophers Epictetus, Heliodorus and Favorinus.

At home he attends to social needs.

Hadrian mitigates but does not abolish slavery, has the legal code humanized and forbids torture.

He builds libraries, aqueducts, baths and theaters.

Ban Chao's son Ban Yong had been able to effectively restore Han suzerainty over Xiyu (modern Xinjiang and former Soviet central Asia) kingdoms early in Emperor Shun's reign, but in 127, Ban Yong is falsely accused of being late in a military action and removed from his office.

After Ban Yong's removal, the situation in Xiyu gradually deteriorates.

Ban Yong, with Zhang Lang, the Governor of Dunhuang, , in 127 attacks seventeen kingdoms, including Karashahr, Kucha, Kashgar, Khotan, and Yarkand.

The Han forces first subdue Karashahr; then …

…Kucha also capitulates, thus opening the route all the way to …

…Kashgar, which, in turn, opens communications once again to the countries further west, such as Ferghana, Kangju (Sogdiana) and the Yuezhi (the Kushan Empire); …

…only Yuanmeng, Weili (Korla) and …