- Emperor Ling of Han
Chinese Emperor
birth = 156
death = 189
family_name = Liu (劉; liú)
clan_name =
given_name = Hong (宏, hóng)
begin_reign = 168
end_reign = 189
dynasty =Han Dynasty
era_name =
*Jianning (建寧)
168 – 172
*Xiping (熹平)
172 – 178
*Guanghe (光和)
178-184
*Zhongping (中平)
184-189
begin_era =
end_era =
temple_name =
posthumous_name_short =
posthumous_name_full = Xiaoling (孝靈, xiào líng)literary meaning: "filial and unattentive
notes =
Emperor Ling of Han, trad. ch. 漢靈帝;, sim. ch. 汉灵帝, py. hàn líng dì, wg. Han Ling-ti, (156-189) was an emperor of the Chinese
Emperor Ling's reign saw yet another repetition of government domination by corrupt
Emperor Ling died after reigning for 21 years in 189. He was 34. As soon after his death the power fell into the hands of
Emperor Ling's reign left the Eastern Han Dynasty weak and ready to crumble. After his death, the empire broke apart, and for several decades warlords battled, until eventually his son Emperor Xian was forced to abdicate in favor of
Family background and ascension to the throne
Liu Hong was a hereditary marquess -- the Marquess of Jieduting. (A "ting" marquess had a march that would be one village or, in rarer cases, two or three villages.) His was a third generation creation, as his father Liu Chang (劉萇) and grandfather Liu Shu (劉淑) were both Marquesses of Jieduting as well. His great-grandfather was Liu Kai (劉開), the Prince of Hejian, and a son of Emperor Zhang. His mother Lady Dong was Marquess Chang's wife.
When Emperor Huan died in 168 without a son to be heir, his wife
Early reign
The empress dowager's father Dou Wu and Chen became the most important officials in the imperial government, and they sought to purge the government of eunuch influences. Later in 168, they even proposed to exterminate all of the powerful eunuchs, a proposal that Empress Dowager Dou rejected. However, word of the plot was leaked, and the eunuchs, after kidnapping the empress dowager and taking the young emperor into custody (after persuading him that it was for his own protection) arrested and executed Chen. Dou Wu resisted, but was eventually defeated, and he committed suicide. The Dou clan was slaughtered. The powerful eunuchs, led by Cao Jie (曹節) and Wang Fu (王甫), became the most powerful individuals in the imperial government.
After the destruction of the Dou clan, in 169, Emperor Ling honored his mother Consort Dong as an empress dowager, but continued to also honor Empress Dowager Dou (now under house arrest by the eunuchs) as an empress dowager. Members of the Dong clan began to enter government, but did not have substantial influence. Later that year, the eunuchs persuaded Emperor Ling that the "partisans" (i.e., Confucian officials and university students who supported them) were planning a plot against him, and a large number of partisans were arrested and killed; the others had their civil liberties stripped completely, in what later was known as the second Disaster of Partisan Prohibitions.
In 172, Empress Dowager Dou died. Despite suggestions by eunuchs to have her only buried as an imperial consort and not be honored as Emperor Huan's wife, Emperor Ling had her buried with honors due an empress dowager, with Emperor Huan. In the aftermaths of her death, a vandal wrote on the palace door:
:"All that is under the heaven is in upheaval. Cao and Wang murdered the empress dowager. The key officials only know how to be officials and had nothing faithful to say."
The eunuchs were angered, and more than 1,000 people were arrested in the investigation to try to discover who the vandal was, but nothing eventually came of the investigation. In that year, the eunuchs also falsely accused Emperor Huan's brother Liu Li (劉悝), the Prince of Bohai, of treason, and Prince Li was forced to commit suicide. His entire household, including wife, concubines, children, assistants, and principality officials, were all executed. The eunuchs continued to be corrupt, and the people received heavier and heavier tax burdens. As Emperor Ling grew in age, he not only took no remedial actions, but continued to tolerate the eunuchs' corruption, for the large part. A major defeat by the
In 178, Emperor Ling's wife Empress Song, whom he created empress in 171 but did not favor, fell victim to the eunuchs. Her aunt Lady Song was Prince Li's wife, and so the eunuchs were concerned that if she became powerful, she would avenge her aunt. They, in alliance with the imperial consorts who wanted to replace Empress Song, falsely accused her of using witchcraft to curse the emperor. Emperor Ling believed them and deposed Empress Song. She was imprisoned and died in despair. Her father Song Feng (宋酆) and her brothers were all executed.
Middle reign
In 178, Emperor Ling carried out a plan that greatly damaged the authority of the imperial government and harmed the people even more -- he sold offices of all kinds for money. The people who purchased these offices would then become extremely corrupt while in office -- and in fact, that was what Emperor Ling contemplated, for he allowed people who did not have the money to start to set up installment payment plans after they were placed in office.
In 180, Emperor Ling created Consort He as the new empress and made her brother
During these years, Emperor Ling became interested in heavy spending to build imperial gardens, and to finance them he ordered the commanderies and principalities to offer tributes to him personally. This in turn created pressures for officials to be corrupt. However, he also did listen to good advice at times, but did not follow them consistently. For the more honest of his officials, it became a frustrating exercise to try to persuade Emperor Ling on points that were beneficial to the people -- because he was in fact persuadable but not usually so.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion
Sometime before 183, a major
Zhang in fact planned a rebellion. He commissioned 36 military commanders and set up a shadow government, and he wrote a declaration:
:"The blue heaven is dead. The yellow heaven will come into being. The year will be "Jiazi". The world would be blessed."
(Under China's traditional
Early in 184, this plot was discovered, and Ma was immediately arrested and executed. Emperor Ling ordered that Taiping Sect members be arrested and executed, and Zhang immediately declared a rebellion. Every member of the rebellion wore a yellow turban as the symbol -- and therefore the rebellion became known for it. Within a month, Zhang controlled large areas of territory. Under suggestion by the eunuch Lü Qiang (呂強), who was sympathetic to the partisans, Emperor Ling pardoned the partisans to ward off the possibility they would join the Yellow Turbans. (Lü himself became a victim, however, when the other eunuchs, in retaliation, falsely accused him of wanting to depose the emperor, and he committed suicide later that year.)
Emperor Ling sent out a number of military commanders against the Yellow Turbans, and in these campaigns several of them distinguished themselves -- including Huangfu Song (皇甫嵩),
Late reign
Even after what happened, however, Emperor Ling did not change his wasteful and corrupt ways. He continued to levy heavy taxes and continued to sell offices. As a result, the agrarian and other military rebellions multiplied.
In 188, under the suggestions of Liu Yan (劉焉), Emperor Ling greatly increased the political and military power of the provincincial governors and selected key officials to serve as provincial governors.
In 189, as Emperor Ling grew ill, a succession issue came into being. Emperor Ling had two surviving sons -- Liu Bian, the son of Empress He, and Liu Xie (劉協), the son of Consort Wang. Because Emperor Ling had, earlier in his life, frequently lost sons in childhood, he later believed that his sons needed to be raised outside the palace by
When Emperor Ling died later that year, a powerful eunuch that he trusted,
Era names
*"Jianning" (建寧 py. jìan níng) 168-172
*"Xiping" (熹平 py. xī píng) 172-178
*"Guanghe" (光和 py. gūang hé) 178-184
*"Zhongping" (中平 py. zhōng píng) 184-189
Personal information
* Father
** Liu Chang (劉萇), the Marquess of Jieduting, son of Liu Shu (劉淑) the Marquess of Jieduting, son of Liu Kai (劉開) Prince Xiao of Hejian, son of
* Mother
** Lady Dong (d. 189)
* Wives
** Empress Song (created 171, deposed and d. 178)
** Empress He (created 180, d. 189), mother of the Prince of Hongnong
* Major
** Consort Wang, mother of Emperor Xian (d. 181)
* Children
** Liu Bian (劉辯), later emperor (deposed 189 and created the
** Liu Xie (劉協), initially the Prince of Bohai (created 189), later the Prince of Chenliu (created 189), later
** The Princess Wannian (name unknown, created 180)
ee also
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