Emperor Zhi of Han

Emperor Zhi of Han (simplified Chinese: 漢质帝; traditional Chinese: 漢質帝;; pinyin: Hàn Zhì Dì; Wade–Giles: Han Chih-ti; 138–146) was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty. He was a great-great-grandson of Emperor Zhang. His reign was dominated by Liang Ji, the brother of Empress Dowager Liang, who eventually poisoned the young emperor.

Emperor Zhi ascended the throne when he was seven when his third cousin, two-year-old Emperor Chong died, and although he was still a child, Emperor Zhi was remarkably intelligent and he knew and was offended by the immense power Liang Ji had over the government—leading to him once commenting that Liang Ji was "an arrogant general." This act of defiance angered Liang Ji, who proceeded to poison the emperor. Emperor Zhi was only eight when he died.

Liu Zuan, the future Emperor Zhi was born to Liu Hong (劉鴻), the Prince of Le'an, and his wife Consort Chen, in 138. (Eventually, after his son became emperor, Prince Hong would be moved from his very humid and small principality of Le'an to the larger and drier principality of Bohai.) Prince Hong was a great-grandson of Emperor Zhang. Other than these facts, virtually nothing else is known about Prince Hong or his wife.

In 145, when the two-year-old Emperor Chong died, he had no close male relative to inherit his throne. His stepmother Empress Dowager Liang (the wife of Emperor Shun) therefore summoned two of his third cousins—Liu Suan (劉蒜), the Prince of Qinghe, and Liu Zuan, then seven-years-old, to the capital, to examine them as potential heir to the throne. (Prince Suan and Zuan were first cousins of each other, through their grandfather Liu Chong (劉寵), Prince Yi of Le'an.) Liu Suan was apparently an adult (although history did not record his age) and was described as solemn and proper, and the officials largely favored him. However, Empress Dowager Liang's autocratic and violent brother Liang Ji wanted a younger emperor so that he could remain in absolute control longer, and he persuaded Empress Dowager Liang to make the seven-year-old Zuan as emperor. To avoid having a person without an official title becoming emperor directly, he was first created the Marquess of Jianping, and then the same day he ascended the throne as Emperor Zhi.

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