Wang Zhengjun
dowager empress of the Han dynasty
71 BCE to 13 CE
Empress Wang Zhengjun (71 BCE – CE 13), official imperial title Empress Xiaoyuan, later and more commonly known as Grand Empress Dowager Wang, born in Yuancheng (modern Handan, Hebei), is an empress during the Western Han Dynasty of China, who plays important roles during the reigns of five successive Han emperors—her husband, her son, her two stepgrandsons, and her stepgreat-grandnephew—and later (according to traditional historians, unwittingly) leads to the usurpation of the throne by her nephew Wang Mang.
She is largely viewed sympathetically by historians as an unassuming and benevolent if overly doting woman who suffered much in her long life, who tried to influence the empire as well as she could, and who was not a party to her nephew's machinations, but whose failure, leading to the downfall of the Western Han Dynasty, was her overdependence on her clan (the Wangs).
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The population China's of China in its first known nationwide census, taken in 2 CE, is registered as having 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households.
Wang Mang, an official of China’s Han dynasty, had been born in a distinguished family, but his father had died when he was young and he had held minor posts until being made a marquess in 16 BCE.
His father's half sister is the powerful Grand Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun, who had been the consort of Emperor Yuan and mother of Emperor Cheng.
Wang Zhengjun (71 BCE–13 CE) was first empress, then empress dowager, and finally grand empress dowager during the reigns of the Emperors Yuan (r. 49–33 BCE), Cheng (r. 33–7 BCE), and Ai (r. 7–1 BCE), respectively.
During this time, a succession of her male relatives have held the title of regent.
In 8 BCE, Wang Mang had been appointed regent for Emperor Cheng, but Cheng had died in 7 BC or 6 BCE and been succeeded by Emperor Ai, who is not related to Empress Dowager Wang.
Wang Mang thus resigned.
After Ai died childless in the year 1 BCE, the throne had been passed to his cousin Emperor Ping - then a child of 9 years old.
Wang Mang had been appointed regent by the Grand Empress Dowager Wang.
Dissatisfied with his father's dictatorial regency, in 3, Wang's son Wang Yu conspires with Emperor Ping's maternal uncles of the Wei clan against Wang, but after they are discovered, Wang has not only Wang Yu and the Weis (except Consort Wei) put to death, but also uses this opportunity to accuse many actual or potential political enemies as being part of the conspiracy and to execute or exile them.
From this time forward, the Han Dynasty exists only in name.
Furthermore, Wang Mang also designates his daughter as the empress consort to Emperor Ping to codify his legitimacy to power.
Wang Mang had decided in CE 2 to have his daughter married to Emperor Ping to further affirm his position as regent.
Initially, he had begun a selection process of eligible noble young ladies (after declaring, in accordance with ancient customs, that Emperor Ping would have one wife and eleven concubines).
Then, in an act of false modesty intended to create the opposite result, he had petitioned Grand Empress Dowager Wang that his daughter not be considered—and started a petition drive by the people to have his daughter be selected as empress.
The petitioners had stormed the outside of the palace, and Grand Empress Dowager Wang, overwhelmed by the display of affection for Wang Mang, had ordered that Wang Mang's daughter be made empress.
In 4, Emperor Ping officially marries her and makes her empress.
Wang Mang's son Wang Yu disagreed with his father's dictatorial regime and program to build up his personality cult, afraid that in the future the Wangs would receive a backlash when Emperor Ping was grown.
He has therefore formed friendships with Emperor Ping's Wei uncles, and told Consort Wei to offer assurances to Wang Mang that she would not act as Emperor Ai's mother and grandmother did, trying to become an empress dowager.
Wang Mang still refuses to let her visit the capital.
In 3, Wang Yu had formed a conspiracy with his teacher Wu Zhang, his brother-in-law Lü Kuan, and the Weis, to try to see what they could do to break Wang Mang's dictatorial hold.
They had decided to create what would appear to be supernatural incidents to make Wang Mang concerned, and then have Wu try to persuade Wang Mang to transfer power to the Weis.
Wang Yu had told Lü to toss a bottle of blood onto Wang Mang's mansion door to create that effect—but Lü was discovered by Wang Mang's guards.
Wang Mang then arrested Wang Yu, who then committed suicide, and his wife (Lü Kuan's sister) Lü Yan was executed.
Wang Mang then executed the entire Wei clan, except for Consort Wei.
Wu was cut in half and then drawn and quartered.
(It is not known what happened to Lü, but it would appear that there would be no way for him to escape death.)
Wang Mang now takes this opportunity to further wipe out potential enemies—by torturing Wang Yu and Lü's co-conspirators, arresting anyone that they mentioned, and having them either executed or forced to commit suicide.
The victims of this purge include Emperor Yuan's sister Princess Jingwu, Wang Mang's own uncle Wang Li, and his own cousin Wang Ren.
He falsely tells Grand Empress Dowager Wang, however, that they had died of illnesses.
Many other officials are unwilling to follow Wang Mang are also victimized in this purge.
After this, Wang Mang's hold on power becomes absolute.
Wang Mang in CE 5 revives an ancient ceremony intended for those who have made great contributions to the state, and has himself awarded the “nine bestowments”. (Receipt of the "nine bestowments" will, after Wang Mang, hereafter become a customary step for usurpers to take before they ascend the throne.)
Around this time, Emperor Ping appears to grow out of a heart condition that he suffered as a child, and it becomes fairly clear that he resentsd Wang for slaughtering his uncles and not allowing his mother to visit him in Chang'an.
Wang therefore resolves to murder the emperor.
In the winter of 5, Wang administers pepper wine (considered at the time to be capable of chasing away evil spirits) to the thirteen-year-old-year-old emperor, but has the wine spiked with poison.
As the emperor suffers from the effects of the poison, Wang writes a secret petition to the gods, in which he offers to substitute his life for Emperor Ping's, and then has the petition locked away.
(Historians generally believed that Wang had two motives in doing this—one, in case Emperor Ping recovered from the poisoning, would have been to use this to try to absolve himself of involvement in the poisoning, and the second would have been to leave for posterity evidence of his faithfulness.)
After a few days of suffering, Emperor Ping dies.
Emperor Ping, who had had no children by his wife Empress Wang or any of his concubines, he has no heir.
Further, by this point, Emperor Ping's grandfather, Emperor Yuan, has no surviving male issue.
The progeny of Emperor Ping's great-grandfather Emperor Xuan are therefore examined as possible successors.
There are fifty-three great-grandsons of Emperor Xuan still living, but they were all adults, and Wang Mang dislikes this fact—he wants a child whom he can control.
Therefore, he declares that it is inappropriate for members of the same generation to succeed each other (even though Emperor Ping had succeeded his cousin Emperor Ai several years earlier).
He then examines the twenty-three great-great-grandsons of Emperor Xuan—all of whom are infants or toddlers.
While the examination process is proceeding, the mayor of South Chang'an submits a rock with a mysterious red writing on it—"Wang Mang, the Duke of Anhan, should be emperor."
Wang has his political allies force Grand Empress Dowager Wang to issue an edict granting him the title of "Acting Emperor", with the commission to rule as emperor until a great-great-grandson of Emperor Xuan can be selected and raised.
In the spring of 6, Acting Emperor Wang selects the child Ying—just one year old—as the designated successor to Emperor Ping, claiming that soothsayers have told him that Ying was the candidate most favored by the gods.
He gives Ying the epithet Ruzi—the same epithet that King Cheng of Zhou had when he was in his minority and under the regency of the Duke of Zhou—to claim that he is as faithful as the Duke of Zhou.
However, Emperor Ruzi does not ascend the throne, but is given the title of crown prince.
Empress Wang is given the title empress dowager.
As acting emperor, Wang reinstitutes the Zhou system of five grades of nobility—duke, marquess, earl, viscount and baron.
Several members of the imperial Liu clan are naturally suspicious of Acting Emperor Wang's intentions.
They start or assisted in several failed rebellions against Wang.
Liu Chong, the Marquess of Anzhong, makes an attack against Wancheng (in modern Nanyang, Henan)in 6.
His attack fails, but historians do not specify what happened to him, other than that as punishment, Wang has his house filled with filthy water.
Zhai Yi, the governor of the prefecture of Dong (roughly modern Puyang, Henan) and Liu Xin, the Marquess of Yanxiang (and the father of Liu Kuang, the Prince of Dongping (roughly modern Tai'an, Shandong)) begin the largest of the anti-Wang Mang rebellion in 7—and they are joined by agrarian rebellion leaders Zhao Peng and Huo Hong from the area immediately west of the capital Chang'an.
They declare Liu Xin emperor.
Wang responds by sending messengers all around the nation to pledge that he will in fact return the throne to Emperor Ruzi once he is grown.
Wang's armies defeat Zhai and Liu's armies in winter 7, and Zhai is captured and executed by drawing and quartering.
Liu flees and is never captured.
Zhao and Huo are also eventually defeated and executed.
Wang, after the defeat of Zhai and Liu Xin becoming even more convinced that the empire is entirely under his control, decides to finally seize the throne and start a new dynasty.
After receiving a false prophecy written by the hoodlum Ai Zhang that purports to be a divine decree from Emperor Gaozu (Liu Bang) stating that the throne should be given to Wang, and that Grand Empress Dowager Wang should follow this divine will, Wang in the winter of 8-9 issues a decree accepting the position of emperor, establishing the Xin Dynasty.
The self-confident Wang Mang believes that he now has the power to implement his ideals of restoring the legendary golden age of the early Zhou Dynasty.
To this end, he modifies the governmental structure in many ways to conform with Zhou standards.
He also continues the regime of modifying geographical names to fit with ancient names (or more euphemistic names, as he sees fit)—so much so that even imperial edicts discussing the locations by their new names are forced to include notes on the old names so that the recipients of the edicts can tell what locations he is referring to.
As part of this regime, the capital Chang'an's name is changed as well, involving the change of a homophonous character: literally, long peace, to, literally, enduring peace.
Wang Mang creates his wife, Lady Wang, empress.
By this point, only two of her four sons are still alive.
The older, Wang An, is described as lacking in talent; Wang makes him the Lord of Xinjia.
Wang makes the younger, Wang Lin, crown prince, and appoints several Confucian scholars to advisors him.
Grateful to his aunt Grand Empress Dowager Wang (who, however, resents him for deceiving her and usurping the throne), continues to honor her as empress dowager, but also gives her an additional title of Wangmu, the same title carried by the mother of King Wen of Zhou, implying that she is also his mother and had helped establish a new dynasty.
In 9 also, Wang Mang institutes a revolutionary land redistribution system, ordering that all land in the empire become legally the property of the empire, to be known as wangtian, in a system similar to the Zhou well-field system.
All further land transactions are banned, although property owners are allowed to continue to possess the property.
However, if a family has less than eight members but has one "well" or larger property (about 0.6 km²), it is required to distribute the excess to fellow clan members, neighbors, or other members of the same village.
Criticism of the wangtian system is punishable by exile.
Wang also abolishes slavery.
In 9, after Wang Mang has usurped the throne, Liu Kuai, the Marquess of Xuxiang, attacks the Dukedom of Fuchong, held by his brother Liu Ying, the former Prince of Jiaodong.
He is defeated and dies while fleeing from the battle.
Wuhuan had become somewhat of a dual vassal to both the Han and the Xiongnu during the late Han Dynasty, and, under a policy in effect since 121 BCE, is supposed to pay Xiongnu tributes in textile and leather.
Should Wuhuan fail to pay the tributes, Xiongnu forces kidnap Wuhuan women as hostages.
The first sign of irritation with Wang Mang’s policies had come sometime before 10, by which time the Xin director of Wuhuan affairs had informed the Wuhuan tribes not to pay further tribute to Xiongnu.
In response, the Xiongnu mount a punitive military action against Wuhuan, taking hostage about one thousand women and children.
At Wang Mang's orders, the Xiongnu are later forced to return the Wuhuan hostages.
Wang, seeking to control fluctuations in the prices of food and textiles by purchasing excess goods and then selling them when prices rise, establishes a state economic adjustment agency in 10.
The same agency also becomes responsible for loaning money to entrepreneurs, at the rate of three percent per month.
Six offices are set up: in Luoyang, …
…Handan, …