 | THE HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN DYNASTY The history of the former Han dynasty |  |
INTRODUCTION
Summary of the period
The reign of Emperor P'ing (1 B.C.-A.D. 6), is the period during which
Wang Mang consolidated his control of the government in such a fashion
that he could not later be removed. Emperor P'ing was only in his ninth
year when he came to the throne and he died before he was capped (the
ceremony marking the attainment of a youth's majority), so that during
this whole period Wang Mang actually wielded the imperial authority.
He eliminated the influence of any imperial relatives, except his own clan.
He raised himself from one honor to another by the ingenious use of
Confucian humility. He married his daughter to the Emperor, against
the opposition of the Grand Empress Dowager. He secured the loyal
cooperation of Confucians, especially the famous Liu Hsin1a. This period
was thus one of conspicuous success on the part of Wang Mang. After
Emperor P'ing had died, Wang Mang was charged with regicide, but
that allegation may have been merely propaganda. These matters will
be discussed seriatim.
The nature of this "Annals"
This chapter, like the other "Imperial Annals," does not pretend to be
what we would call a history of the period. It is actually an expanded
chronological summary, useful for purposes of convenient reference. The
actual history is to be found in the other parts of this large book, especially
in the "Memoirs," and most of all in the "Memoir of Wang Mang,"
a translation of which is appended to this chapter. The part of that
"Memoir" devoted to these six years is more than twice as long as are
these "Imperial Annals." That "Memoir" should accordingly be read in
connection with these "Imperial Annals."
Wang Mang's orderly solution of a dynastic crisis
This reign began with a dynastic crisis, for at the death of Emperor Ai
there was no heir to the throne. Emperor Wen had established the
dynastic practice that the reigning Emperor designates one of his sons
as his successor by making him Heir-apparent (4: 5b-6b). Emperor Ai
moreover, no living descendants of his predecessor, Emperor Ch'eng.
Fortunately such a crisis had occurred twice before in Han Times: at
the death of the Empress Dowager nee Lü and at the death of Emperor
Chao. Each time the high officials had deliberated over the matter and
had selected the nearest suitable relative of the deceased monarch. Ho
Kuang had legitimized his choices of emperors by enacting them in imperial
edicts issued by the Empress Dowager. Wang Mang followed this
precedent: he selected the grandson and only surviving descendant of
Emperor Yüan, Liu Chi-tzu, a first cousin of Emperor Ai, and enthroned
him. This boy was only in his ninth year, so could not rule in person;
the Grand Empress Dowager nee Wang, his step-grandmother, who, as
the "mother of the dynasty" and regent, had been ruling for the two
months between the death and the enthronement, continued to attend
court and decide matters. She entrusted the government to Wang Mang,
her grand-nephew, who was now in his forty-fifth year.
Wang Mang's revenge upon Emperor Ai's maternal relatives
Before the new Emperor was enthroned, Wang Mang began his revenge
upon Emperor Ai's maternal relatives, who had previously turned Wang
Mang out of power and out of the court. The Empress Dowagers nee Fu
and nee Ting had both died; the only lady remaining of their clans was the
Empress nee Fu of Emperor Ai. She had had no children, so Wang
Mang had the Grand Empress Dowager issue an edict commanding the
Empress to retire to another palace, because of the crimes of her elder
cousin, the deceased Empress Dowager nee Fu. Some months later she
was dismissed from her rank and made a commoner, whereupon she committed
suicide. At the death of Emperor Ai, the Fu and Ting clans
possessed no male relatives who could intercede with the ruler for them,
hence these clans became helpless. Fu Yen, the brother of the Empress
Dowager, was dismissed from his marquisate and exiled to Ho-p'u Commandery,
in the southernmost peninsula of the present Kuangtung. The
members of the Ting clan were sent back to their natal commanderies.
The Grand Empress Dowager nee Fu and the Empress Dowager nee
Ting were posthumously degraded in their titles and merely entitled the
Mother (nee Fu) of King Kung of Ting-t'ao and the [Royal] Concubine
nee Ting. In 5 A.D., Wang Mang argued the Grand Empress Dowager
nee Wang into permitting him to have the tombs of these two ladies
opened, their official seals taken away and destroyed, the body of the
lady nee Fu transported from the capital to Ting-t'ao, and to have them
their original rank). Their tumuli were levelled and thorns were planted
at these places. Wang Mang did not forget an injury.
The Empress Dowager nee Chao was degraded and removed from the
imperial palace at the same time as was the Empress nee Fu. This
famous beauty, Chao Fei-yen, was the sister of the Favorite Beauty nee
Chao, who had been responsible for Emperor Ch'eng's infanticides. She
would have been punished for her sister's crimes when they were discovered
at the beginning of Emperor Ai's reign, except for the fact that
Emperor Ai was indebted to her. Wang Mang was not so indebted, and
had her removed to the palace for dismissed empresses. She was later
dismissed from her title, whereupon she too committed suicide.
The dynastic principle that there should be only one imperial line of
descent
Probably Wang Mang's motive in removing these ladies was not merely
revenge, but also to eliminate the evil effect of imperial maternal relatives
in the court. He was not willing to yield up his power to a new clan.
The moral corruption, extravagance, and misuse of the government to
enrich themselves on the part of the Wang and Chao clans in the reign of
Emperor Ch'eng and of the Fu and Ting clans in the reign of Emperor Ai
had convinced many intelligent persons that imperial maternal relatives
were injurious to the state. When, at the death of Emperor Ai, the
Grand Empress Dowager nee Wang asked the ministers to recommend
someone to control the government, the General of the Van, Ho Wu, and
the General of the Left, Kung-sun Lu, had both become convinced that
the government should be in the hands of neither the imperial clan nor
of any imperial maternal clan. They therefore independently recommended
each other for the post of Commander-in-chief. But this policy
was contrary to the Confucian moral principle that people generally
(including the ruler) should favor their relatives, and the circumstance that
these two ministers recommended each the other proved fatal. The other
ministers all recommended Wang Mang, who was accordingly given the
position. Wang Mang had Ho Wu and Kung-sun Lu accused of plotting
to advance each other; they were dismissed and sent to their homes.
Four years later Ho Wu was arrested in connection with the affair of
Wang Yü, whereupon Ho Wu committed suicide.
Because of his unhappy experience with the Fu and Ting clans, Wang
Mang did not even allow the new Emperor's mother, the Concubine nee
Wei, nor her relatives to come to the imperial capital. The Wei clan
had previously been connected with the imperial court: it had furnished
child, as well as furnishing a concubine for Emperor Ch'eng's half-brother.
This latter girl was the mother of Liu Chi-tzu, Emperor P'ing.
Wang Mang evidently feared the power of such a clan, which knew well
the customs in the imperial court and had old connections in the capital.
Instead of allowing this Wei clan to repeat the exploits of the Fu clan,
Wang Mang had its members all kept in the kingdom of Chung-shan,
where Liu Chi-tzu had been King. His intention was to establish the
principle that there is only one imperial family, and that when, because
of the failure of a natural heir, some scion from another branch of the
imperial clan was elevated to the throne, this person should become exclusively
a member of the imperial family, so that his own close relatives
must not be considered close imperial relatives or treated as such. Thus
the number of imperial maternal relatives, who might interfere in the
government, was to be restricted (and the Wang clan continued in power
without any rivals). Emperor Ch'eng had attempted to put this principle
in force just before his death (possibly at the instigation of Wang Mang),
but Emperor Ai, through the influence of his grandmother, had rejected
and acted contrary to it.
Wang Mang appointed another scion of the imperial clan as King of
Chung-shan to act as the son of Liu Chi-tzu's father, and sent to his
mother, the Concubine nee Wei, a royal seal and cord, installing her as
the Queen of King Hsiao of Chung-shan, with a whole county as her
private estate, from which she received the income. Her uncle and
younger brother were both made Marquises of the Imperial Domain, and
her three younger sisters were given the title of Baronetess, with an
estate of two thousand households. Her first cousin was made Queen
to the new King of Chung-shan. But honor and wealth would not make
up to her for her absent son. Unlike the Concubine nee Ting, who,
without objecting, allowed her son, Emperor Ai, to be taken from her,
the Queen nee Wei was said to be disconsolate, weeping day and night
for her child, who had no near relative by him to guard or care for him.
Wang Yü, Wang Mang's eldest son, disapproved of his father's policy.
He was afraid that there would come to be a feud between the Wei and
Wang clans, which would be disastrous to the Wang clan when the new
Emperor came of age. Wang Yü secretly communicated with the Wei
clan, urging them to ask permission to come to the imperial court. Wang
Yü's clique furthermore attempted to terrify Wang Mang into acceding
to their request by playing upon his superstition with false portents (99 A:
16a, b). When the matter was discovered (A.D. 3), Wang Mang had
Only Liu Chi-tzu's mother was left alive, retaining her title and estate.
When Wang Mang usurped the throne, she was dismissed from her title
and made a commoner; a year or so later she died. Thus Wang Mang
was left unchallenged in control of the imperial court.
The nature of Wang Mang's position and power
During the reign of Emperor P'ing, Wang Mang was not the legal ruler
of the state, but merely its most important minister. He was the Commander-in-chief
and Intendant of Affairs of the Masters of Writing, who
could be dismissed at will by the actual regent, the Grand Empress
Dowager nee Wang. By this time, the Commander-in-chief concerned
himself little with the army; this official had become the dominating
minister in the civil government. He made appointments in the bureaucracy,
cited officials for promotion or demotion, proposed governmental
policies, and acted as chief consultant to the ruler. The other ministers
had become for the most part virtual executive officers to the Commander-in-chief.
The latter's authority over the other ministers was exercised by
memorializing the throne that they be ordered to execute certain policies,
and then advising the throne to consent to the proposal. Since the
rejection of an important official's advice in an important matter meant
that this official must resign or be dismissed, a great official was consequently
often reluctant to offer advice, and, when asked to do so, often
allowed less important members of the court to propose the policy he
favored. At the same time, this custom made the throne very reluctant
to refuse an important minister's advice, since the throne might find it
difficult to discover another person who would be as suitable as the dismissed
minister. Thus a minister could sometimes compel the throne to
accept an unwelcome policy. On the other hand, under an aggressive
ruler, ministers could frequently be dismissed and sometimes punished for
offering suggestions that were unpleasant to the throne. Thus Wang
Mang could wield the imperial power, even though he was not actually
the regent.
The Grand Empress Dowager nee Wang had no taste for ruling; she
was a quiet old lady, who upheld the best traditions of Chinese wifely
virtue, being loyal to her husband and her relatives, complaisant to her
husband's relatives, going her own quiet way without interfering with
others. She had originally supported Wang Mang in 8 B.C. because her
brother, Wang Ken, had recommended him as Commander-in-chief.
But she was not altogether blind to his faults, and did not trust him completely.
Wang Mang saw to it that only those favorable to him had access to her.
Thus she was brought around to accede to his plans.
How Wang Mang established himself securely and obtained a following
Wang Mang's gradual rise in power and popularity is so well recounted
in his "Memoir" that it is unnecessary to repeat it here. It will be
sufficient to point out the steps he took and the general principles upon
which he operated, stressing nuances that may not be so clear to a casual
reader and mentioning facts not found in these two chapters.
When Wang Mang was first put into power, he took care to surround
himself with people whom he could influence. The pliant K'ung Kuang, a
descendant of Confucius, had been Grand Minister Over the Masses
and had recommended Wang Mang to the Grand Empress Dowager.
Wang Mang treated him respectfully, retained him in office, and promoted
his son-in-law, Chen Han, who later became one of Wang Mang's intimate
followers. Wang Mang also attached Wang Shun4b to himself,
because the latter was loved and trusted by the Grand Empress Dowager.
This man was a son of the Grand Empress Dowager's first cousin who
had been the Commander-in-chief, Wang Yin. Then Wang Mang proceeded
to get rid of his possible opponents.
The person whose influence with the Grand Empress Dowager Wang
Mang most feared was Wang Li5a, who was own half-brother to her and
her closest living relative. There was also her nephew, Wang Jen, a son
of Wang T'an2b, another half-brother of the Grand Empress Dowager.
Wang Jen bore the same relationship to her that Wang Mang did. Both
Wang Li5a and Wang Jen were courageous and plain-speaking; as close
relatives they had access to her, so that Wang Mang needed to remove
them in order to establish his own power securely. Wang Li5a was perhaps
the worst reprobate in the Wang clan, so much so that he had been
passed over when, in the reign of Emperor Ch'eng, the post of Commander-in-chief
had been passed about among the brothers of the Grand
Empress Dowager. Wang Mang prepared a petition to the Grand
Empress Dowager, enumerating the crimes of Wang Li5a and Wang Jen,
and had Chen Han take it to K'ung Kuang, with the request that he
memorialize those matters in his own name. K'ung Kuang was timid
and did not like to refuse, so did as he was told. Wang Mang liked to
act by indirection; he would hint to his followers what he wanted done
and allow them to propose these matters for action. Then he could
to have been taking the initiative.
When the petition regarding Wang Li5a and Wang Jen reached the
Grand Empress Dowager, Wang Mang advised her to assent to it. When
she did not want to part with her last independent sources of information,
Wang Mang insisted, putting her in the position of either having to
reject K'ung Kuang and himself or send away her brother and nephew.
She yielded, and thus gave herself into the control of Wang Mang. Three
years later, Wang Mang involved Wang Li5a and Wang Jen in the affair
of Wang Yü, and compelled them both to commit suicide.
Thus Wang Mang, partly by persuasion and partly by a relentless use
of the governmental power, eliminated any possible rivals. He filled the
court with his own followers, eliminating all who would oppose him.
Most of the bureaucracy willingly followed Wang Mang. He was the
legal deputy of the imperial power; the custom of delegating the imperial
power to the outstanding imperial maternal relative had regularly been
practised for half a century, consequently it may be said to have become
part of the (unwritten) constitution. The people had been trained to
follow the imperial authority, so that any reforms, short of a rebellion,
had to be authenticated by the emperor. Power and wealth lay in the
giving of Wang Mang, hence few officials were willing to refuse his
leadership. Only a very few of the more squeamish officials, in particular
the Grand Minister of Works, P'eng Hsün, and his successor, Wang
Ch'ung2b, were willing to sacrifice their careers because of their dislike
for the way Wang Mang was doing things. These two in succession asked
to resign. They had not actually opposed Wang Mang and were respected
by intelligent people, so he had to allow them to go. But he
disliked their leaving and refused to bestow upon them the parting gifts
customarily given at the resignation of an honored official. They could
merely retire from the court to their homes and keep quiet about their
opinions. Wang Mang distributed noble titles and positions liberally to
his loyal followers and was praised on all sides.
How Wang Mang secured unprecedented honors and popularity
No sooner had Wang Mang established his followers in the bureaucracy
than he proceeded to seek for fame and popular support. The method he
employed was an ingenious use of a Confucian principle: the virtue of
yielding to others. He induced his followers to demand certain honors
for him from the throne and then systematically refused those honors.
The custom of first refusing great honors had long been used. Emperor
Emperor Wen refused it five times (HS 4: 4a). Emperor Ai thought it
best to refuse at first (11: 1b). Wang Mang excelled them all in humility
by refusing, not at merely five times, but firmly and stubbornly.
Confucian tradition contained the statement that when the Duke of
Chou, so honored by Confucius and his followers, was regent for the
infant King Ch'eng, someone from the Yüeh-shang brought a white
pheasant as tribute. Wang Mang, who in his youth had made a thorough
study of Confucianism and its traditions, had the officials in the southernmost
Chinese commandery reminded of this fact, and, at the first New
Year's court of the new reign, some persons who called themselves Yüeh-shang
accordingly appeared with an albino pheasant. No Chinese or
member of the Office for Interpreting (Yi-guan) at the court could understand
their language, so that it had to be translated by a succession of
interpreters before it could be rendered into Chinese. To such distant
regions had Wang Mang's virtue penetrated!
It made quite a stir at the court. The Confucians were pleased to
recognize this obscure tradition, and the courtiers likened Wang Mang
to Ho Kuang, who had so nobly conducted the dynasty through the
minority of Emperors Chao and Hsüan, and to the Duke of Chou himself.
Thus was confirmed Mencius' statement (IV, B, i, 3) that at
intervals of a thousand years, like sages appear. When the Grand Empress
Dowager hinted her suspicions, the courtiers had the opportunity
of lauding Wang Mang to the skies, and proposed that Wang Mang
should be given the title of Duke Giving Tranquillity to the Han Dynasty.
At that time, the two highest existing noble titles were King and Marquis.
The title of king was given only to sons of emperors and their heirs who
succeeded them. Outside the Liu clan there were no kings. The Han
dynasty had not previously enfeoffed any dukes, so that this title elevated
Wang Mang above all the other nobles except the dozen-odd kings.
When Wang Mang insistently refused this honor, keeping to his bed in
order to avoid it, and the petitioners insisted that it should be granted
to him, the Grand Empress Dowager was advised and forced to do as
Wang Mang had planned: to grant high honors to Wang Mang's associates,
K'ung Kuang, Wang Shun4b, Chen Feng, and Chen Han, and then
to grant still higher honors to Wang Mang, before he could be induced to
rise and accept his title. He still however refused some of her grants,
and advised her instead to bestow titles and grants upon members of the
imperial clan and common people. Thus Wang Mang, by the simple
device of obdurantly refusing honors, was enabled, without seeming to
to avoid the jealousy of the imperial clan and people by having additional
grants bestowed upon them. A more effective means to popularity could
hardly have been found.
When this scheme had been so successful, Wang Mang sought for
plenary power in the government. He again hinted his desires to his
associates. At their suggestions, the Grand Empress Dowager, who did
not want to be disturbed by the details of government, easily granted to
Wang Mang full authority to decide all except the most important matters,
such as enfeoffments to noble titles. She probably thought that
this grant would make no practical difference in the government. Thus
Wang Mang controlled the whole administration by right as well as in
practise. He responded by having the Grand Empress Dowager make a
great grant to the poor people and then lauding her extravagantly for it.
In order to make himself a close relative of the reigning emperor, thus
securing his position in case the Grand Empress Dowager should die,
Wang Mang next planned to marry his daughter to the boy Emperor.
Again he proceeded by indirection. He first proposed that the Emperor
be married, in order that the imperial line be continued. The Grand
Empress Dowager agreed, and ordered the presentation of suitable girls.
It was the custom that the mother of the Emperor should choose his wife.
The Grand Empress Dowager, who was the young Emperor's legal
mother, did not approve of her nephew too whole-heartedly; Wang Mang
was afraid that she would pass over his own daughter, so called attention
to this girl by publicly refusing to offer her under a plea of humility.
The Grand Empress Dowager really opposed the match in her heart and
seems to have thought it would be a good thing to check his growing
power by putting another clan in power, for she issued an edict withdrawing
all girls of the Wang clan from the competition.
But Wang Mang had become too popular. His daughter was of the
right age; he outranked all other nobles in the empire, except those of
the Liu clan, whose daughters could not be espoused because they bore
the same surname as the Emperor; and he had acquired a great fame
through his distribution of favors and grants to the people. It was then
the custom that any one could come to the imperial palace and present
petitions advising the ruler. Many families of those who hoped to enter
the bureaucracy had moved to the capital commanderies, in order to study
at the Imperial University or with the many Confucian masters who had
congregated there, so that there was probably a larger proportion of
literate persons in that region than elsewhere in the empire. These
Since Wang Mang controlled the giving of offices, and the proposal suited
them, these people crowded to the portals of the Grand Empress Dowager
at the rate of more than a thousand a day, offering petitions which protested
that the daughter of Wang Mang was the most suitable person to
be made the Empress. The ministers and grandees prostrated themselves
in her courts, making similar requests. Wang Mang politely sent
his personal attendants to turn them away, but the petitioners naturally
paid no attention. Thus popular opinion, mobilized by Wang Mang's
refusal, forced the Grand Empress Dowager to discontinue the competition
among the girls and select Wang Mang's daughter. The other
families were placated by selecting eleven of their girls as imperial concubines.
It was an outstanding victory of intrigue, directed by a master
mind, in which Wang Mang completely outmaneuvered his great-aunt.
There was a Confucian tradition that in Chou times, when the Son of
Heaven took a wife from a noble whose state was small, the Son of
Heaven augmented that noble's fief to be at least a hundred li square, i.e.,
nine million mou or over four hundred thousand acres. A sycophant
marquis of the Liu clan accordingly memorialized that Wang Mang's fief
should be augmented to that size, and the courtiers added that he should
be given two hundred million cash as a betrothal present. He declined
both presents, accepting only forty million cash, and distributing most
of that among the new imperial concubines. Then the courtiers said that
he had not received enough, so he was given a further sum, whereupon
he distributed part of it among his own poor relatives. After the marriage
had been celebrated, the ministers likened Wang Mang to Yi Yin
and the Duke of Chou, the two greatest ministers in ancient history, and
proposed that Wang Mang be given the same title as they had had, that
his sons be ennobled, and he be given honors similar to those the Duke
of Chou had received. Wang Mang again refused, the matter was again
debated by the ministers, and petitions again poured in from the people.
His two remaining sons were made marquises, his mother was made a
Baronetess, he was given an official title higher than any other previous
minister, and a special seal with the title, "Ruling Governor, Grand
Tutor, and Commander-in-chief." The other ministers were ordered to
address him in special humble terms. Ten chariots and a host of elite
troops and attendants formed his train. Altogether some 487,572 persons
signed petitions, urging that he be honored. (This number was likely
taken from a memorial to the Grand Empress Dowager, summarizing
these documents.) Thus Wang Mang, by a showy Confucian humility
his time and few since then have excited so much enthusiasm.
How Wang Mang secured the loyalty of Liu Hsin1a
Among those whose loyalty he secured was the famous scholar, Liu
Hsin1a. Even after Wang Mang usurped the throne and took away
imperial and royal honors from the Liu clan, Liu Hsin still remained loyal,
until just before Wang Mang's death, when the mounting resentment
against Wang Mang, together with an astrological portent and a prophecy,
led Liu Hsin finally to head an abortive rebellion (cf. 99 C: 22b-24a).
The fact that an outstanding member of the imperial clan and a famous
Confucian scholar should have become one of Wang Mang's most loyal
supporters and highest officials is so remarkable that it is worth while
studying the means by which Wang Mang secured this man's loyalty.
During the reign of Emperor Ch'eng (in 28-25 B.C.), Liu Hsin1a had
been ordered to assist his father, Liu Hsiang4a, in cataloging the imperial
private library. Emissaries were sent about the country to collect
ancient manuscripts, and people were encouraged to present their books
to the imperial library. Thus there was gathered the magnificent imperial
collection, whose catalog, extracted from that published by Liu
Hsin, is to be found in HS ch. 30, the "Treatise on Arts and Literature."
In the course of this study, Liu Hsin came upon some books that had
previously been neglected, particularly the Tso-chuan and some writings
in ancient characters said to have been discovered about 150 B.C., when
tearing down the wall of Confucius' house. These writings were said to
have been presented to Emperor Wu about 100 B.C. by K'ung An-kuo.
The ancient writings secured then or at other times included some 39
chapters of the lost Book of Rites (i.e., part of the present Chou-li), and
16 chapters of the Book of History. As a good Confucian, who esteemed
everything that came from the ancient Chou period, Liu Hsin was deeply
impressed, especially by the Tso-chuan. It was in the form of a commentary
upon the Spring and Autumn, which latter was thought to have
been compiled by Confucius. (The Tso-chuan, according to Maspero
and Karlgren, actually dates from the end of the iv century B.C. It
has been dated in Han times, but I see no adequate evidence for that
dating. There are however doubtless minor interpolations datable in
Han times, such as the data for the ancestry of Emperor Kao; cf. HFHD I,
148, n.1.) Tso Ch'iu-ming, its reputed author, is mentioned in the
Analects; Liu Hsin1a argued, with a young man's enthusiasm, that Tso
Ch'iu-ming had talked personally with Confucius, so that his commentary
Kung-yang and Ku-liang, which had previously been the only authorized
commentaries, for the latter authors had not known Confucius in person,
hence were not so likely to have transmitted his conceptions. Liu Hsin
sought out those persons who knew the traditional explanation of the
Tso-chuan, studied with them, and made new discoveries by comparing
its text with that of the Spring and Autumn. His father, Liu Hsiang,
was however an adherent of the orthodox Ku-liang Commentary, and remained
unimpressed by Liu Hsin's arguments.
In his youth, Wang Mang had known Liu Hsin, as he had known every
other person of any consequence in the capital. The two had been associated
when they were Gentlemen at the Yellow Gate, and Wang Mang
had been impressed by the scholar. When Emperor Ai came to the
throne, Wang Mang recommended Liu Hsin to the new Emperor. He
was given some honorary positions and asked to complete his father's
work in the imperial private library. Liu Hsin now proposed to set up
the books he esteemed as authoritative Confucian books for study in the
Imperial University, i.e., as authoritative Classics: the Tso-chuan, the
Mao text of the Book of Odes (the one now extant), the Chou-li, and
the ancient text chapters from the Book of History. When this matter
was presented to the Erudits, who were the professors in the Imperial
University, they opposed the innovation, and did not even deign to
discuss the matter. Liu Hsin felt the cut deeply, and sent a letter to the
court, reproaching the Erudits bitterly. They resented his words, one
eminent scholar even asking to resign. One of the three highest ministers,
a Confucian scholar, was so enraged that Emperor Ai had to intervene
in order to protect Liu Hsin. The latter left the court in order to save
his life and spent the remainder of Emperor Ai's reign in disgrace as an
administrator of distant commanderies.
When Wang Mang came to power after the death of Emperor Ai, he
recalled Liu Hsin and gave him an honorary position at the capital.
Wang Mang then granted what Liu Hsin had been fighting for—the
establishment of the Tso-chuan, the Mao text of the Odes, the Chou-li,
and the ancient text of the Book of History as authoritative subjects for
study at the Imperial University and for the civil service examinations
(88: 25b, 26a). Thus Liu Hsin became attached to Wang Mang through
his Confucian loyalties. Wang Mang made him his Hsi-and-Ho, which
was Wang Mang's title for the state treasurer, and had him build a
Ming-t'ang and a Pi-yung, two Confucian ceremonial buildings. Thereupon
he was made a marquis and was put in charge of divination, fixed
He became an influential advisor of Wang Mang, recommending the
Confucian precedents that guided Wang Mang's conduct. He fixed the
new regulations for officials' marriages, burials, betrothments, etc. Thus
Wang Mang really gave Liu Hsin the opportunity to do his life's work
and rewarded him with high office and great honors. In addition, the
Confucian doctrine of the five elements, which had become accepted in
part through the efforts of Liu Hsin's father, plainly pointed to Wang
Mang as the next emperor. It is hence not surprising that when Wang
Mang usurped the throne, Liu Hsin should have continued to be loyal.
Most of the influential Confucians were likewise loyal to Wang Mang,
because the latter had shown himself loyal to Confucian principles. He
not only erected Confucian ceremonial buildings, he also enlarged the
Imperial University, increasing the number of authorized classics and
establishing five Erudits for each classic. Ten thousand houses were
erected for its students, a thousand students and teachers were appointed,
a market-place and government granary were established for this new
town. Each year, a hundred of its best graduates were taken into the
government service by competitive examination. In A.D. 4, Wang Mang
also summoned to the capital all the teachers of the empire who had as
many as eleven pupils, all those who could teach and explain ancient
books on the classics, astronomy, divination, revelations, music, the
calendar, military arts, and philology. Thus he gathered thousands of
the most learned men in the empire, collected and supported them at the
imperial palace, and made use of their learning. In the previous summer,
he had ordered the establishment of public schools in commanderies,
prefectures, districts, and even in villages; now he probably sent most of
these teachers to the government schools. Thus he gathered thousands
of the empire's scholars, collected and supported them at the imperial
palace, and then gave them government positions. In this way he attached
to himself practically the entire body of learned people in the
empire. Wang Mang thus invented the method, used so effectively by
the Ch'ing and other dynasties, of reconciling learned people to a new
ruler or dynasty by giving them scholarly employment in government
enterprises.
After Wang Mang took the throne, he continued to honor Liu Hsin,
finally making him the State Master, one of the four greatest ministers,
and ennobling him as a Duke. Liu Hsin recommended to Wang Mang,
as models for government, various practises mentioned in the Chou-li and
elsewhere in Confucian tradition, and Wang Mang adopted these Confucian
in this manner. Wang Mang married his son and heir to Liu Hsin's
daughter. In these ways, Wang Mang bound Liu Hsin to him by the
greatest honors and the closest possible ties. Only when these ties were
broken by Wang Mang himself, did Liu Hsin think of rebelling. Liu
Hsin was Wang Mang's guide and advisor in Confucian matters. Liu
Hsin thus owed his fame, his opportunity, and his fortune to Wang Mang.
Under the circumstances, he could hardly have been otherwise than loyal
to such a benefactor.
Did Wang Mang murder Emperor P'ing?
When Emperor P'ing died on Feb. 3, A.D. 6, he was still a minor. He
was born in 9 B.C., so that he may have been fully fourteen years old.
When, in Oct., A.D. 7, Chai Yi raised the standard of revolt against
Wang Mang, the rebels sent messengers about the country alleging that
Wang Mang had poisoned Emperor P'ing. This charge was almost universally
believed in Later Han times, but we may well discount the prevalence
of that belief, for a sequent Han dynasty would be likely to
encourage it.
It is of course impossible to determine the truth of such a charge, for
we have absolutely no direct evidence on this matter. Events inside the
palace could hardly be known except through the testimony of its inmates,
most of whom could not leave the place; Wang Mang controlled the
palace and its inhabitants for a subsequent period long enough to have
silenced any possible witnesses. The absence of any testimony does not
thus afford any presumption in either direction.
There were reasons enough to have predisposed Wang Mang to such a
murder. He was not above committing such a deed. To hush up his
son's adultery, he had the commissioner who investigated the matter
murdered and buried in the jail (99 C: 11a). He was not slow in demanding
the lives of any who opposed him, even of the highest families;
he even executed three of Liu Hsin1a's children (99 C: n. 23.2), and did
not hesitate to execute his own son together with hundreds of persons in
connection with the plot of Wang Yü (99 A: 16b). Wang Mang showed
an utter callousness concerning human affections; he kept Emperor P'ing's
mother away from her son, even though she is said to have wept day
and night.
Wang Mang furthermore had adequate motives for murdering Emperor
P'ing. Wang Mang had prevented any of Emperor P'ing's maternal
relatives from coming to the imperial capital, and, when the plot of
Emperor P'ing's mother. The young Emperor P'ing hence had a serious
grievance against Wang Mang, and may well have expressed his feelings
in his adolescent years. Wang Mang might have suspected he would be
unable to control the Emperor, once the latter came of age, and that he
might even be made to suffer on some trumped-up charge. The capping
of the Emperor, which ceremony marked his coming of age, was moreover
delayed until after his death. (That circumstance does not however
indicate any delinquency on Wang Mang's part. The regular age for
capping, according to Confucian principles, was the fifteenth year; in Han
times, however, the age of capping varied: Emperor Chao was not capped
until his eighteenth year, while Emperor Ho was capped in his thirteenth
year.) Wang Mang loved power and may well have planned to continue
his power by initiating another regency. There is a circumstantial
account of the poisoning (12: n. 10.2), but it was not used by Pan Ku
and is intrinsically questionable. (A dose of poison does not act only
fourteen days after it was administered.) Thus there is some evidence
tending to show that Wang Mang may have committed regicide.
There are however certain circumstances that lead us to doubt whether
Wang Mang really did murder his lord. He probably realized the grave
difficulties that would arise concerning the succession to the throne.
Emperor P'ing was the last of Emperor Yüan's living descendants; a
successor would have to be picked from among the descendants of Emperor
Hsüan, who was Emperor Ch'eng's grandfather, so that the successor
would be four or five generations removed from his imperial ancestor
(Liu Ying was actually the fifth generation). There was also the
danger that further pretended sons of Emperor Ch'eng would appear to
claim the throne. Wang Mang's uncle, Wang Li5a, had sponsored one
such pretender. Wang Mang may well have furthermore anticipated
opposition to an infant successor and a serious rebellion, such as that
actually raised by Chai Yi. While the imperial clan had been rendered
powerless by the separation of its members, giving them only quite small
fiefs, and watching them carefully (long the imperial policy), other officials
might nevertheless rebel. The empire had so long been faithful to the
Liu clan that its loyalties could not be changed easily. These reasons of
state would likely have deterred Wang Mang from attempting an assassination.
Confucian tradition, to which Wang Mang was bound, condemned
regicide and exalted faithfulness on the part of ministers. Confucius' own
model, who had come to be esteemed by all Confucians as an ideal and sage,
lord came of age. Wang Mang had frequently been compared to the Duke
of Chou and doubtless aspired for the same high reputation as this ideal
figure, who was exalted above kings and emperors. Ho Kuang, who had
ruled during the reigns of Emperors Chao and Hsüan, was highly esteemed
in recent times. Indeed, if Emperor P'ing had not died, Wang Mang
would doubtless have come down in history as the greatest minister of
Han times, a model for succeeding ages, a regent like the Duke of Chou,
whose fame outshone that of emperors themselves. Thus the death of
Emperor P'ing may well have seemed a terrible calamity to Wang Mang
and he very likely considered that it deprived him of his opportunity for a
great Confucian fame.
Wang Mang had attempted to bind Emperor P'ing to himself by
secure ties. He married his daughter to the Emperor and in 5 A.D. cut
the Tzu-wu Road for the purpose of magically bringing it about that
Emperor P'ing should have a son by her. If she had had a son, Wang
Mang, as the grandfather of the Heir-apparent and father-in-law of the
Emperor, the minister who ruled during the Emperor's minority, would
have been secure in his position and untouchable, even by an emperor.
Public opinion would have defended against almost any charge a minister
with such a high reputation and close relationship.
It is somewhat unlikely that Wang Mang actually planned to usurp
the throne until some time after the death of Emperor P'ing. The knife-cash
were not issued until June/July, A.D. 7; when Wang Mang actually
came to the throne and changed the dynasty, he found these knife-cash
an embarrassment, for the word "Liu," the surname of the Han dynasty,
contains the words "metal" and "knife," so that Wang Mang had to do
away with these knife-coins in order to prevent their magical influence
from injuring him (24 B: 21b). While such a magical influence of knife-cash
upon the dynastic name might possibly have been neglected in
A.D. 7, yet a person so concerned with magical influences as Wang Mang
would have been likely to have known their magical meaning, and would
hardly have issued them if he had any definite plans for changing the
dynasty. Pan Ku states that Wang Mang planned to take the throne
only after Chai Yi's rebellion had quickly been crushed.
There is also the fact that Emperor P'ing had been a sickly child, who
had been "continually ill" (98: 11b11), so that he was not at all strong,
and could easily have been carried off by illness, just as was Emperor Ai.
Wang Mang seems to have done everything that a loyal minister should
have done to prevent this death. When, in the winter of A.D. 5/6,
which he offered his own life for that of the Emperor. The vow was
stored in a metal-bound coffer, just as the Duke of Chou had done in a
similar case when King Ch'eng was ill. The coffer was not opened until
A.D. 23 (99 A: 24b; C: 22b). Wang Mang was superstitious and relied
much upon magic, so that he probably took this vow seriously. He
furthermore did not kill the succeeding Emperor, the Young Prince, Liu
Ying1a. This child grew up, and, after Wang Mang's death, actually
ascended the throne for a time. Furthermore when Chai Yi rebelled in
A.D. 7 and when the rebels finally entered Kuan-chung in A.D. 23, Wang
Mang made a dramatic appeal to Heaven for aid, in the latter case,
setting out, at the place for sacrifice to Heaven, his mandates by means
of portents, and asking Heaven to strike him dead by a thunderbolt if
he had done wrong (99 C: 25a). When a superstitious man acts thus,
it is good evidence that his conscience is clear of any such heinous sins
as regicide.
There is thus much evidence to show that Wang Mang was innocent
of the charge that he had poisoned his lord, and that this charge was
propaganda on the part of those who rose in rebellion against him. It
is of course impossible to be certain, and the evidence is far from conclusive.
In the end, one's judgment will depend upon one's estimate of
Wang Mang's character. That character was evil enough: he was callous
to suffering, impatient of any opposition and ready to execute any subordinates
and even his own children and grandchildren who presumed to
oppose him or even make awkward suggestions (cf. the execution of
Wang Chien4, 98: 14b). But he was a whole-hearted Confucian. Confucianism
exalted loyalty and comdemned regicide as a heinous sin. My
own opinion is that Wang Mang was too good a Confucian to have
murdered Emperor P'ing.
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