University of Virginia Library

Emperor Ai's strong rule and his execution of Wang Chia1a

In his government, Emperor Ai imitated Emperor Wu by not retaining
any official in office for long, and by executing several of them. In this
short period of six years, there were five Lieutenant Chancellors, seven
Commanders-in-chief, and eleven Grandee Secretaries. Two Lieutenant
Chancellors and one Grandee Secretary were executed. The most flagrant
case was that of Wang Chia1a (not a member of Wang Mang's clan).
He was an honest, self-respecting, and capable official, who opposed
Emperor Ai's desire to advance and enrich his favorite, Tung Hsien2a.
When the treason of the Emperor's fourth cousin, Liu Yün2a, was reported,
Emperor Ai substituted the name of Tung Hsien2a for that of the
person who had transmitted this information, thus obtaining an excuse
for ennobling his favorite. Later the Emperor sent an order to the
Lieutenant Chancellor and Grandee Secretary to make Tung Hsien2a a
full marquis. These officials however knew the (unwritten) constitutional
practise, that the Emperor can only act on the motion of his high
ministers, and refused to make the necessary recommendations. The
Emperor was thus blocked. But in a few months he issued an edict
making this enfeoffment. Thus Emperor Ai, following the example of
Emperor Wu, broke down this important provision in the Han constitution.
When the Empress Dowager nee Fu died, Emperor Ai sent to
these two highest ministers her testamentary edict, which ordered the
granting of estates to her relatives and to Tung Hsien2a. Wang Chia1a
sealed and returned this edict to the Emperor, probably because he suspected
that the name of Tung Hsien2a was a forgery, thus again blocking
the Emperor. When the Commandant of Justice and others had investigated
Liu Yün2a, they concluded that this King was innocent, and
ordered him tried again. Emperor Ai thought that they were trying to
curry favor with the King, and dismissed them. A few months later
there was a general amnesty, after which Wang Chia1a recommended the
dismissed Commandant of Justice and his associates for official position.
That was too much for Emperor Ai. He charged Wang Chia1a with having

been unjust and with attempting to mislead the throne. The case
was committed to the important courtiers. Some fifty, including K'ung
Kuang, who then had high hopes of being again made Lieutenant Chancellor,
supported the Emperor's charges; ten recommended mercy.

A century earlier, a high spirited noble would have taken poison rather
than go to jail; but that chivalric age had passed. Wang Chia1a was a
high-minded Confucian; his conscience was clear and he recognized that
he had acted for the best interests of the state. He refused the poison
his subordinates offered him and went to jail. Emperor Ai was angry
that this stubborn minister should have thus again blocked his efforts to
put him out of the way, and sent a committee of high officials to argue
him down. But Wang Chia1a justified his actions and condemned Tung
Hsien2a and his relatives as flatterers. The dismissed minister was starved
in prison and died twenty days later. A prison sentence was then frequently
merely a milder form of capital punishment than public execution.
Martyrs for their moral convictions were not lacking among Han Confucians.
After Emperor Ai's death, Wang Mang ordered Wang Chia1a
listed as a faithful minister, restored his marquisate to his son, and gave
him the posthumous name, Faithful (Marquis Chung).