After the reign of Emperor Wu Ti (141-87 B.C.E.), the Former Han dynasty entered a lengthy period of decline, at the end of which real power ultimately came into the hands of the usurper Wang Mang, a kinsmen of the imperial family. For a decade he was content to rule as chief minister and imperial regent for two successive puppet rulers, Ai Ti (r. 7-1 B.C.E.) and Liu P'ing (r. 1 B.C.E.-9 C.E.), whose grandmother, the dowager empress and widow of Ch'eng Ti (r. 32-6 B.C.E.) seized control of the government on the death of her son. However, in 9 C.E. Wang Mang deposed the young emperor Liu Ying, and seizing the throne for himself he established the short-lived Hsin dynasty. The events of Wang Mang's troubled reign are recounted by Pan Ku (32-92 C.E.) in his Book of the Former Han, the Han Shu. These annals were meant to serve as a continuation of Ssu Ma Ch'ien's earlier dynastic history. Pan Ku's own work was in fact finished by his sister Pan Chao (d. 116 C.E.), a well-known Confucian scholar of the day. The following selection illustrates not only various aspects of Wang Mang's character and career, but also suggests how important the role of the empress and dowager empress was in Chinese affairs. Furthermore, this excerpt documents one of many severe economic crises in classical China, which in this instance precipitated the rebellion of Mother Lü and the rise of the Red Eyebrow movement.

(Pan Ku, The History of the Former Han Dynasty, H.H. Dubs, trans., American Council of Learned Societies, Waverly Press, Inc. [Baltimore: 1955], Volume 3, pp. 125-26, 130-31, 135-36, 137, 255-59, 356, 370-72, 379, 381, 382-83, 465-66, 470-73.)

Wang Mang, whose courtesy given name was Chü-chün, was the son of [Wang Wan], a younger [half-]brother of the Empress [nee Wang of Emperor] Hsiao-yüan. The father, [Wang Chin], and the [living] elder and younger brothers of the Empress [nee Wang of Emperor] Yüan were all enfeoffed as marquises during the reigns of [Emperors Yüan and Ch'eng]. They occupied [high] positions and had important influence in the government. . . .

[Wang] Mang was an orphan and in humble circumstances, hence he humbled himself and made himself courteous and temperate. . . . [He] fatigued himself and studied extensively, wearing garments like the Confucian masters. He served his mother and the widow of his elder brother, [Wang Yung], and reared [Wang Kuang], the orphaned son of his elder brother. His conduct was quite perfect. Moreover, outside [his clan] he associated with eminent persons, and within [his clan] he served his various uncles, paying minute attention to the spirit of the rules of proper conduct. . . .

[April, 7 B.C.E.] He had been chief assistant in the government for more than a year when Emperor Ch'eng died. When Emperor Ai ascended the throne, he honored the Empress Dowager [nee Wang] and made her the Grand Empress Dowager. The [Grand] Empress Dowager issued an imperial edict to [Wang] Mang, [ordering him] to go to his residence and leave [his position vacant for some of] the Emperor's maternal relatives. [Wang] Mang [hence] presented to the Emperor a request begging to retire. Emperor Ai [however] sent [T'ang Lin] his Prefect of the Masters of Writing, with an imperial edict to [Wang] Mang, saying, "the late Emperor entrusted the government to you, sir, whereupon he departed from his subjects. We have obtained [the opportunity] to uphold the [imperial] ancestral temples and will in truth consider [Ourself] fortunate to be of the same mind and similar opinions with you sir. Now you, sir, have sent [Us a letter saying that you] are ill and ask to retire. Thereby you make known that We are not able to uphold or follow the intentions of the late Emperor. We are greatly saddened. [We] have already issued an imperial edict to the Masters of Writing to await your memorials, sir, about [government] business." . . .

[August, 1 B.C.E.] More than a year after [Wang] Mang returned to the imperial capital, Emperor Ai died. He had no children and both the [August Grand] Empress Dowager [nee Fu] and the [Emperor's] Empress Dowager [nee] Ting had died previously. On the same day [as the death], the Grand August Empress Dowager [nee Wang] rode a [chariot drawn by four horses] to Wei-yang Palace, where she secured the imperial seals with their seal-cords. She sent a messenger galloping to summon [Wang] Mang. She issued an imperial edict to the Masters of Writing, [declaring] that the various insignia and credentials for mobilizing troops, the matters memorialized by the various officials, and the troops of the Palace Attendants Within the Yellow Gate and of the Attendants at the Gates should all be under the control of [Wang] Mang. . . .

The [young] Emperor [P'ing] was in his ninth year, so the [Grand] Empress Dowager attended court and pronounced [that she issued the imperial] decrees. She entrusted the government to [Wang] Mang.

[Wang] Mang advised her that [the lady] nee Chao had previously killed some imperial sons and that [the lady] nee Fu had been proud and arrogant, so she thereupon dismissed the Empress [nee] Chao of [Emperor] Hsiao-ch'eng and the Empress [nee] Fu of [Emperor] Ai [from their titles]. Both were ordered to commit suicide. . . .

[January, 9 C.E.] . . . [Wang] Mang went to the Temple of [Emperor] Kao, bowed, and received the metal casket and the resignation [of the Han dynasty, which] the gods had [commanded]. Wearing the royal hat, he visited the [Grand] Empress Dowager, returned, seated himself in the Front Hall of the Wei-yang Palace, and issued a written message which said: "I possess no virtue, [but] I rely upon [the fact that] I am a descendant of my august deceased original ancestor, the Yellow Lord, and a distant descendant of my august deceased first ancestor, the Lord of Yü [Shun], and the least of the Grand Empress Dowager's relatives. August Heaven and the Lords on High have made abundantly apparent their great assistance, so that the mandate [of Heaven] has been completed and the succession [to the imperial rule] has been set in order. By portents and credentials, designs and writings, a metal casket and a written charter, the gods have proclaimed that they entrust me with the myriad common people of the empire. The Red Lord is the genius of Emperor Kao of the Han dynasty. He has received a mandate from Heaven and has transmitted the state [to me by] a writing on a metal charter. I have been extremely reverent and awed--[how could I] presume not to receive it respectfully? . . . I wear the royal hat and ascend the throne as the actual Son of Heaven. It is fixed that the title [of my dynasty] in possessing the empire shall be Hsin." . . .

[December, 15 C.E.] Grain was constantly expensive. More than two hundred thousand border troops depended for their clothes and food upon the imperial government. They were discontented and bitter. Wu-yüan and Ta Commanderies suffered especially from them, [so that people in these commanderies] arose and became thieves and robbers, several thousand persons becoming a troop, turning around and entering the neighboring commanderies. [Wang] Mang sent the General Seizing Robbers, K'ung Jen, with troops, to join with the commandery and county [authorities] to attack [the robbers]. Only after more than a year were [the robbers] put down. The border commanderies were moreover almost on the point of being emptied [of people].

North of Han-tan there was a great rain and fog, and the waters rose. The deepest [places] were several tens of feet [deep]. It carried away and killed several thousands of persons. . . .

[July, 17 C.E.] Kau-t'ien Yi of Lin-huai [Commandery] and others became thieves and robbers, relying upon [the fastnesses in] Ch'ang-chou of K'uai-chi [Commandery]. Mother Lü, a woman of Lang-yeh [Commandery], also arose. Previously, Mother Lü's son had been an official of the county and had been killed on a false charge by its ruler. His mother dispersed the wealth of her household on [the pretext] of dealing in liquor, by purchasing arms and crossbows, and privately treating poor youths liberally. When she had obtained more than a hundred men, she thereupon attacked the county-seat of Hai-ch'ü and killed its ruler. She used [his corpse] as a sacrifice at the grave of her son. She led her troops to the sea. These bands gradually became greater. Later both [bandit bands] were numbered by the ten-thousands.

[Wang] Mang sent commissioners to go to and pardon the thieves and robbers. When [the commissioners] returned, they said, "Whenever the thieves and robbers disperse, they immediately reunite." When he asked them the reason for this [action], they all said, "They are grieved at the laws and prohibitions, which are vexatious and tyrannous, so that they can do nothing, and what they obtain by hard work is insufficient to pay the taxes, while if they close their doors in order to guard themselves, they are moreover sentenced because their group of five neighboring [families] might be casting money or possessing copper. Wicked officials take advantage of that to afflict these common people. When common people are impoverished, they all arise and become thieves or robbers." [Wang] Mang [became] furious and dismissed them.

Some of them fell in with his ideas and said that the common people were perverse and crafty and ought to be executed and also said that the revolution of the season was opportune and [the robbers] would before long be annihilated, [whereupon Wang] Mang was pleased and immediately promoted them. . . .

[18 C.E.] In this year, Li Tzu-tu, Fan Ch'ung, and others of the Red Eyebrows gathered together because of the famine and arose in Lang-yeh [Commandery]. They moved about and robbed. Their bands all numbered in the ten-thousands. [Wang Mang] sent commissioners to mobilize the troops of the commanderies and kingdoms to attack them, [but these troops] were unable to vanquish [the robber bands]. . . .

[Spring, 19 C.E.] At this time, east of [Han-ku] Pass there had been a famine and drought for several years, so that the partizan bands of Li Tzu-tu and the others became gradually larger. When the General of a New Beginning, Lien Tan, had attacked [the rebels] in Yi Province, he had not been able to vanquish them, hence he was summoned to return in order that someone might be sent in his place. He was [however] restored to his [former] position [as General of a New Beginning]. Afterwards when Kuo Hsing, [the Commissioner Over] the Army [subordinate to] the Commander-in-chief, and the Shepherd of the Yung Regional Division, Li Yeh, [were sent to] attack the barbarian Jo Tou and others, and the Third Brother Hsi, Sun Hsi, a higher subordinate official of the Grand Tutor, [was sent to] purify the Yangtze valley from thieves and robbers, and when moreover the Huns raided the borders very seriously, [Wang] Mang made a great solicitation of the empire's freemen together with those imprisoned for capital crimes and the slaves of the officials and common people. [Those who responded] were called "Boar braves who are porcupines rushing out," and were considered as ardent troops. . . .

[Wang Mang] also made a wide solicitation for those who possessed extraordinary skills that could be used to attack the Huns, [saying that] they would be treated [extraordinarily by being given a high] ranking [at once and] not be [promoted only] by degrees. Those who said that [their arts] would be advantageous were numbered by the ten-thousands. One said that he was able to cross streams without using boats or oars; that by joining horses and connecting their riders he could cause an army of a million to ford [rivers]. One said that without carrying a measure of grain and by taking drugs, the three [divisions of] an army would not become hungry.

One said that he was able to fly a thousand li in a day and so could spy out the Huns. [Wang] Mang immediately had him try out [his invention]. He took the quills of a large bird to make his two wings; on both his head and his body he stuck feathers. He connected them with pivots. He flew several hundred double-paces [and then he] fell.

[Wang] Mang knew that these [people] could not be useful, [but] he merely wished to make use of their fame, so he installed them all as Directors of the Army and granted them chariots and horses while they waited [until the army should] set out. . . .

[October, 23 C.E.] When the men of the [enemy] army entered the [Palace] Halls, they called out, "Where is the rebellious caitiff, Wang Mang?" and a Beauty came out of a room and said, "He is in the Tower Bathed [By Water]." The bands of soldiers pursued after him, and surrounded it several hundred deep. Those on the Tower also exchanged shots with them, using bows and crossbows, but gradually dropped out and left [off shooting]. When their arrows were exhausted, so that they had no way of returning shots, they met [the attackers] with their short weapons. Wang Yi and his son, [Wang Mu], Tai Yün, and Wang Hsün, died fighting, [whereupon Wang] Mang entered the room [on top of the Tower]. In the very late afternoon, the bands of soldiers went up the tower. . . . Tu Wu, a man from [the prefecture of] Shang, killed [Wang] Mang and took his [seals] and cords. A colonel from Tunghai [Commandery], Kung-pin Chiu, who had formerly been a [Gentleman Dealing With the Rites], [a subordinate of] the Grand Messenger, saw [Tu] Wu and asked him where the owner of the seal-cords was. He replied, "In the room, in the northeast corner." [Kung-pin] Chiu recognized [Wang] Mang and cut off his head. The men of the army cut [Wang] Mang's body to pieces. His members and his flesh and bones were sliced and divided. "Those who killed each other in the struggle [to secure parts of Wang Mang's body numbered] several tens of persons." Kung-pin Chiu bore [Wang] Mang's head to Wang Hsien.

Wang Hsien called himself a Han Generalissimo and the troops in the city, [numbering] several hundred thousand [men], were all subordinate to him. He dwelt in the Eastern Palace, treated [the women in Wang] Mang's harem as his wives, rode in [Wang Mang's] carriages [and wore Wang Mang's] robes.

In eulogy we say: Wang Mang first arose [because he was one of] the maternal relatives [of Emperor Ch'eng]. He humbled himself and acted energetically, in order to seek for fame and reputation, so that his clan praised him as filial and his teachers and associates attributed benevolence to him.

When he occupied [a high] position and acted as [chief] assistant in the government, [during] the time in [the reigns of Emperors] Ch'eng and Ai, he toiled diligently for the state and "pursued a straightforward course," [so that whenever he] acted, [his deeds] were reported in detail. Was he not [the sort of person] referred to [in the sayings, "Such a man] will certainly be heard of in his clan; he will certainly be heard of in his state," and "He assumes the appearance of benevolence, but his actions are contrary to it"?

Since [Wang] Mang did not [possess] benevolence, but had a talent for flattery and evil and also took advantage of the power his four uncles [had exercised] for successive generations, and [because] it happened that the Han [dynasty] became weak in the midst [of its period] and the dynastic succession was thrice broken, so that in her old age the Empress Dowager [nee Wang] became the mistress of the [imperial] clan, hence [Wang Mang] was able to give free rein to his viciousness and thereby to bring to pass the calamity of his usurpation [of the throne]. If we speak of [the situation by] investigating it from this [aspect], it was a time [set by] Heaven and not brought about by human effort.

When he had stolen the throne and faced south, so that he occupied [a position which] he should not have seized, the influences which would overthrow [such a person] were more dangerous [in his case than in the cases of] Chieh and Chou, yet [Wang] Mang was tranquil and considered himself a second appearance of the Yellow [Lord] and Yü [Shun]. Then for the first time he gave rein to his desires and displayed his tyrannousness and deceitfulness, being scornfully [hypocritical] towards Heaven and oppressive towards the common people, exhausting [the possibilities of] banefulness, and [attaining] the limit of evil. His poison diffused itself among all Chinese and [his power of causing] disorder [even] extended to the southern and northern barbarians, but this did not yet satisfy his desires.

For this reason, [all] within the four seas murmured sadly and lost their joy in life. Within and outside [the country, people] were filled with resentment, [braves] far and near [the capital] all mobilized, his city-wall and moat was not defended, so that his members were cut to pieces. Thereupon he caused the cities and towns of the empire to become wastes, [while peoples'] grave mounds were [moreover] dug into, so that he injured all living people, and his crimes reached [even] to rotten bones. . . .