Lived 45 BCE-23 CE
Aunt of Wang Mang
Wife of Emperor Yuan (r. 49-33 BCE)
Mother of Emperor Cheng (r. 33-7 BCE)
Prime Minister, 8-7 BCE
Limits landholding to 3000 mu (500 acres)
Out of power under Emperor Ai, 7-1 BCE
Return to power in cooperation with Empress Wang
Regent for two child emperors, 1 BCE-9CE
Founds Xin Dynasty, 9-23 CE
Land reform
Idealism of Rites of Zhou
*Well-field (tick-tack-toe) system
Threat to power of great landowners
Elites resist reforms
Commoners face hardship
Natural Disasters
Yellow River “China’s sorrow”
N to S in 11 CE
*Red Eyebrow rebellion 22-25 CE
Mother Lü (Hinsch, p. 102)
Liu Xiu (5 BCE-56 CE)
Emperor Guangwu (r. 25-56 CE)Capital in Luoyang
Emperor Huan (r. 146-168)
Consort family
Empress Liang (d. 159)
Liang Ji (d. 159), Regent
Eunuch coup d’état in 159
Decreasing power of Han emperors Power of consort families 9 of 13 E. Han emperors were puppet rulers for part or all of reign Empress Dowagers dominate sons Patronage
Liu Xiang, Biographies of Women
*Ban Zhao, Admonitions for Women