Emperor Yuan of Han, personal name Liu Shi (劉奭; 75 BC – 8 July 33 BC) was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty. He reigned from 48 BC to 33 BC. Emperor Yuan promoted Confucianism as the official creed of the Chinese government. He appointed adherents of Confucius to important government posts.
However, at the same time that he was solidifying Confucianism's position as the official ideology, the empire's condition slowly deteriorated due to his indecisiveness, his inability to stop factional infighting between officials in his administration, and the trust he held in certain corrupt officials.
Family background
When Emperor Yuan was born Liu Shi in 75 BC, his parents Liu Bingyi and Xu Pingjun were commoners without titles. Bingyi was a great-grandson of Emperor Wu, and his grandfather Liu Ju was Emperor Wu's crown prince, until Emperor Wu's paranoia forced him into a failed rebellion in 91 BC while Bingyi was still just an infant. The aftermath of the failed rebellion was that Prince Ju committed suicide and his entire family was executed. Bingyi was spared because of his young age, but became a commoner and survived on the largess of others. One of his supporters was chief eunuch Zhang He, who had been an advisor for Prince Ju before his rebellion, and who was punished by being castrated.
Around 76 BC, Zhang wanted to marry his granddaughter to Bingyi, but his brother Zhang Anshi (), then an important official, opposed his decision, fearing that it would bring trouble to his family. Zhang, instead, invited one of his subordinate eunuchs (who had also been castrated by Emperor Wu), Xu Guanghan (), to dinner, and persuaded him to marry his daughter Xu Pingjun to Liu Bingyi. When Xu's wife heard this, she was fearious and refused, but because Zhang was Xu's superior, Xu did not dare to renege on the promise. Bingyi and Pingjun were married in a ceremony entirely paid for by Zhang (because Bingyi could not afford the cost). Zhang also paid the bride price. After their marriage, Bingyi heavily depended on his wife's family for support.
Childhood and career as a crown prince
Shi was less than a year old when something very unusual happened to his father. Shi's great-granduncle, Emperor Zhao(漢昭帝), had died that year and the regent, Huo Guang霍光, having been dissatisfied with his initial selection of Prince He of Changyi, deposed Prince He and offered the throne to the commoner Bingyi instead. Bingyi accepted and took the throne as Emperor Xuan. Shi's mother Xu Pingjun was made empress.
This action would cost Empress Xu her life, however, and cost Prince Shi his mother. Huo Guang's wife, Xian (), would not be denied her wish of making her daughter Huo Chengjun () an empress. In 71 BC, Empress Xu was pregnant when Lady Xian came up with a plot. She bribed Empress Xu's female physician Chunyu Yan (), under guise of giving Empress Xu medicine to help ease her pain and control blood flow after she gave birth, to poison Empress Xu. Chunyu did so, and Empress Xu died shortly after she gave birth. Her doctors were initially arrested to investigate whether they cared for the empress properly. Lady Xian, alarmed, informed Huo Guang what had actually happened, and Huo, not having the heart to turn in his wife, instead agreed to Chunyu's release.
In April 70 BC, Emperor Xuan made Huo Chengjun empress. Accustomed to luxury living, her palace expenditures far exceeded the late Empress Xu.
Huo Chengjun becoming empress was a threat to Prince Shi's life. On 24 May 67 BC, Emperor Xuan made the eight-year-old Prince Shi into Crown Prince and awarded Empress Xu's father and Prince Shi's grandfather, Xu Guanghan, the title of Marquess of Ping'en. Huo Guang opposed these actions. Huo's wife, Lady Xian was shocked and displeased, because if her daughter ever had a son, why would he only be forever a prince and not the future emperor. She instructed her daughter to murder the crown prince. Allegedly, Empress Huo did make multiple attempts to do so, but failed each time. Around this time, the emperor also heard rumours that the Huos had murdered Empress Xu, which led him to begin stripping the Huos of actual power, while giving them impressive titles.