han3

漢

EMPRESS LÜ & HER PUPPETS 

(195 - 180) Lǚ-Tàihòu Zhì (呂太后 雉), Empress Dowager was the effective ruler of Han China from the death of her husband, Liú Bāng, the founding Emperor of the Dynasty, until her own death in 180. Though she was not the official ruler of China at any point, the actual rulers were entirely dominated by her, and as a result, their stories are, in large part, her story. Therefore it may be useful to provide a brief account of what is known of her to give context to what follows.

She was the daughter of Lǚ Gōng (呂公), a physiognomist (a man who predicted the people's fortunes and characters based on the patterns of bumps on their heads). Her father happened one day to predict the fortune of Liú Bāng, then only a lowly lazy peasant. He perceived the layabout's greatness of character and married him to his daughter Lǚ Zhì. From then on, the Lǚ clan were tied to Liú Bāng's cause- when he joined the rebellion against the Qin dynasty, they were among his earliest supporters. Two of her brothers served as Han generals. Liú Bāng, as explained on the previous page, ultimately succeeded beyond all expectations and, with the help of many talented subordinates, became Emperor of China. He quickly grew suspiscious of all those who had got him to that position (A group which potentially included the Empress and her brothers), and accustomed to the luxurious life of the Emperor. He kept a large harem, full of young concubines who desired to rise in court and, eventually replace Lǚ Zhì as Empress. She deeply detested them all. Many future Empresses of China would face a similar situation with varying degrees of success; Lǚ Zhì was clearly strong-willed, for it does not seem that her position was ever seriously threatened. 

With her husband's death in 195, she became Empress Dowager, but the situation became dangerous. She had one young son, who was promptly made Emperor, but several step-sons, all of whom had been given kingdoms and armies by their father. Any of them could take it into their heads to seize the throne for themselves. As it happened, her son was a weak-willed pleasure-seeker (The traditional histories blame this on the Empress Dowager's overweening personality). She took control of the state, and brutally suppressed any perceived threat to her rule, killing and mutilating Liú Bāng’s sons and favoured concubines and installing members of her own Lǚ family in important positions. According to the traditional histories, her major policy goal was to give kingdoms (and the armies that went them) to the members of her clan, which would then be able to hold the kingdoms of her stepsons in check. There was very widespread opposition to the idea, and though she eventually succeeded, her brothers never held their kingdoms securely. Thus her power was always very uncertain- she really had to create the appearance of invinciblity through sheer strength of character. The slightest sign of weakness would mean destruction. For example, when her son, the Second Emperor, died in 188, she allowed herself no demonstration of emotion until it was certain that she had installed a grandson as a replacement. Only then did she break down into tears. She continued to rule through puppet emperors until her death in 180 (According to the histories she was bitten by a blue-green spirit dog). 

With her death, her clan was immediately toppled from power and the puppet emperor executed - all control had been dependent on her person. This is all the more remarkable because, as she noted in a letter rebuffing an offer of marriage from one of the nomadic kings of the north, she was old, hairless, toothless, and could not walk unassisted. Everything was sheer force of will. 

Now, the traditional histories consider her a tyrant of the highest order, a model for everything an Empress Dowager should not be. Yet, the situation after her husbands death was a very unsteady one: the new Emperor was undeniably weak, with many brothers, all with armies, who might have taken it into their heads to contest the throne in a civil war (several of them later did). The situation was ripe for civil war, and given the newness of not just the Han dynasty, but the very idea of a united China, such a war might well have been fatal for Chinese unity. She was brutal and controlling, but perhaps that is what the times called for.

She had issue with Liú Bāng (also listed in HAN 2):

195 – 188 Hàn Xiào Huì-huángdì Liú Yíng (漢 孝 惠皇帝 劉 盈), Second Emperor of Han, the Benevolent Emperor. Born in 210, he became Heir to the Kingdom of Han in 205, and was raised to Imperial Heir in 202. He succeeded in 195, and was apparently decent and compassionate, but at only fifteen years of age, real power rested with his mother, the Empress Dowager Lǚ, who worked to develop the position of her family and destory the families of the First Emperor Liú Bāng's other spouses. He became an alcoholic, which the histories blame on his distress after his mother horrifically mutilated one of his father’s concubines, Qi in 195. A few years later, his mother also murdered his favourite step-brother, Zhào Yǐn-wáng Liú Rúyì (趙 隱王 劉 如意), whom she perceived to be a threat. After this, he rarely appeared in public and all affairs were definitely handled by his mother. The city walls of the Imperial Capital, Cháng'ān, were only completed partway through his reign, an indication of just how precarious the central government's position had been at the death of  Liú Bāng. He died in 188 at Wèiyāng Palace in Chang’an, allegedly from the affects of his alcoholism. He was buried in Anling tumulus, northeast of Xianyang. 

He married his niece Zhāng-Hòu Yān (張后 嫣) (see above), who was without issue, but took children from her husband’s other consorts and declared them her sons. The historians sometimes claim that the children were not truly sons of the Emperor; there is no way that the historians, or anyone else, could have known that. The story was probably spread by the revolutionaries who overthrew the government after the Empress Dowager's death in 180 to justify murdering all the children. The revolutionaries did not kill her, but she was dismissed to the Northern Palace, where she died in 163. He had issue:

188 – 184 Hàn Shao-huángdì Liú Gōng (漢 少皇帝 劉 恭), Third Emperor of Han, the Minor Emperor. The Empress of the Second Emperor, Huìdì, was childless, but adopted him and raised her as one of her own children. There are, therefore, questions about his legitimacy; it is not clear whether he was the Emperor’s child by a concubine or not - the historians sometimes claim that he had no actual relationship to the imperial family, but he was never stripped of his posthumous imperial name. He was an entirely powerless youth throughout his reign, all power being exercised by the Empress Dowager Lǚ, who now issued edicts in her own name and granted kingdoms to members of her family (They were supposed to be restricted to the Liú family). Eventually he discovered that Emperor Huìdì’s Empress was not really his mother and that his true mother had been killed. He began to plot against her and the Empress Dowager, but the Dowager declared him insane and had him deposed in 184. He was imprisoned and executed.

184 – 180 Hàn Shao-huángdì Liú Hóng (漢 少皇帝 劉 弘), Fourth Emperor of Han, the Minor Emperor. Born Liú Shān (劉 山), as with his brothers there are questions about his legitimacy; Huìdì’s Empress was childless, but adopted him as one of her own. He was probably a child of one of the Emperor’s concubines. He was made Marquis of Xiāngchéng by the Empress Dowager Lǚ in 187, and succeeded his older brother as King of Chángshān in 186, at which point his name became Liú Yì (劉 義). In 184 he succeeded his older brother as figurehead Emperor. Power remained with the Empress Dowager, who did not even bother to declare new reign years. As soon as the Empress Dowager died in 180, revolts broke out, the army deserted to the rebels, the palace fell into chaos and he was deposed. He was executed a short while later.