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| Emperor Hui of Han 漢惠帝 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huangdi (皇帝) | |||||||||
| Emperor of the Han dynasty | |||||||||
| Reign | 195 – 26 September 188 BC | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Emperor Gaozu | ||||||||
| Successor | Emperor Qianshao and Empress Lü (as Empress regent) | ||||||||
| Regent | Empress Lü | ||||||||
| Born | Liu Ying (劉盈) 210 BC Pei County, Qin dynasty | ||||||||
| Died | 26 September 188 BC (aged 22) Chang'an, Han dynasty | ||||||||
| Burial | An Mausoleum (安陵) | ||||||||
| Spouse | Empress Xiaohui | ||||||||
| Issue | Liu Gong Liu Hong | ||||||||
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| House | Liu | ||||||||
| Dynasty | Han (Western Han) | ||||||||
| Father | Emperor Gaozu | ||||||||
| Mother | Empress Gao | ||||||||
| Liu Ying | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 劉盈 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 刘盈 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Emperor Hui of Han (Chinese: 漢惠帝; pinyin: Hàn Huìdì; 210 BC[1] – 26 September 188 BC),[2] born Liu Ying (劉盈), was the second emperor of the Han dynasty. He was the second son of Emperor Gaozu, the first Han emperor, and the only son of Empress Lü from the powerful Lü clan. Emperor Hui is generally remembered as a somewhat weak character dominated and terrorized by his mother, Empress Lü, who became Empress Dowager after she encouraged her husband to command personally the war against Ying Bu, in which he died eventually from an arrow wound sustained during the war.[3]
Huidi was personally kind and well-intentioned, simple, hesitant, soft-hearted and generous, unable to escape the impact of his mother's viciousness. He tried to protect his younger half-brother Ruyi, Prince Yin of Zhao from being murdered by Empress Dowager Lü, but failed. After that, he indulged himself in drinking and sex, gave up government affairs to his mother, and died at a relatively young age. Emperor Hui's wife was Empress Zhang Yan, a niece of his by his elder sister Princess Yuan of Lu; their marriage was the result of insistence by Empress Dowager Lü and was a childless one. After Emperor Hui died without a designated heir, Empress Dowager Lü installed two of his alleged sons whom she adopted into her clan, Liu Gong and Liu Hong, sons of one or more of the Emperor's concubines. They and the rest of the Lü clan were exterminated in the wake of the ensuing Lü Clan disturbance, and Emperor Hui's half-brother Liu Heng was established as Emperor Wen.