Back الامبراطور عاى هان ARZ آی (ایمپیراتور) AZB Han Aidi German Αυτοκράτορας Άι των Χαν Greek Emperador Ai de Han Spanish امپراتور آی هان Persian Han Aidi French Ai Di (kineski car) Croatian Kaisar Ai dari Han ID Han Aidi Italian
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| Emperor Ai of Han 漢哀帝 | |||||||||||||
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 Emperor Ai of Han, by Chen Hongshou (17th century) | |||||||||||||
| Emperor of the Han dynasty | |||||||||||||
| Reign | 7 May 7 BC – 15 August 1 BC | ||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Emperor Cheng | ||||||||||||
| Successor | Emperor Ping | ||||||||||||
| Born | 25 BC Dingtao Principality, Han Empire | ||||||||||||
| Died | 15 August 1 BC (aged 24) Chang'an, Han Empire | ||||||||||||
| Burial | Yi Mausoleum (義陵) | ||||||||||||
| Spouse | Empress Xiao'ai (consort) Dong Xian (lover) | ||||||||||||
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| House | Liu | ||||||||||||
| Dynasty | Han (Western Han) | ||||||||||||
| Father | Liu Kang | ||||||||||||
| Mother | Lady Ding | ||||||||||||
Emperor Ai of Han, personal name Liu Xin (劉欣; 25 BC[1] – 15 August 1 BC), was an emperor of China's Han dynasty. He ascended the throne when he was 20, having been made heir by his childless uncle Emperor Cheng, and he reigned from 7 to 1 BC.
The people and the officials were initially excited about his ascension, as he was viewed by them (as well as Emperor Cheng) to be intelligent, articulate, and capable. However, under Emperor Ai, corruption became even more prevalent and heavy taxes were levied on the people. Furthermore, Emperor Ai was highly controlled by his grandmother Consort Fu (consort of his grandfather and his predecessor's father Emperor Yuan), who demanded the title of Grand Empress Dowager—even though she had never been an empress previously and therefore did not properly hold that title, and this led to the unprecedented and unrepeated situation of four women possessing empress dowager titles at the same time—Empress Wang Zhengjun (Emperor Cheng's mother and Emperor Yuan's wife), Empress Zhao Feiyan (Emperor Cheng's wife), Consort Fu, and Consort Ding (Emperor Ai's mother). Consort Fu's control of the political scene extended until her death in February 2 BC.
During Emperor Ai's reign, he also stripped the Wang clan (Empress Wang's clan), which had been powerful during Emperor Cheng's reign, of much of their power, and substituted members of the Fu and Ding clans in their stead (which, ironically, caused the people, who were not enamored with the Wangs initially, to long for their return to power, as they associated the departure of the Wangs from power with Emperor Ai's incompetence in administration).
In an unpopular act, Emperor Ai had his prime minister Wang Jia (王嘉, unrelated to the Wang clan mentioned above) put to death for criticizing him, an act that made him appear tyrannical. Emperor Ai's shortcomings quickly led to the demoralization of the people towards the government and the acquisition of power by Wang Mang, in a backlash, after Ai died in 1 BC.
Many regarded Emperor Ai as the most effusive homosexual emperor of the Han dynasty, although the Han Dynasty included many emperors that had male lovers.[2] Traditional historians characterized the relationship between Emperor Ai and Dong Xian as one between homosexual lovers and referred to their relationship as "the passion of the cut sleeve" (斷袖之癖) after a story that one afternoon after falling asleep for a nap on the same bed, Emperor Ai cut off his sleeve rather than disturb the sleeping Dong Xian when he had to get out of bed. During Emperor Ai's reign, officials became aware of the promises tied to his favoritism, beginning to dress in a highly ornate fashion. Ironically, Dong was noted for his relative simplicity and given progressively higher and higher posts as part of the relationship, eventually becoming the supreme commander of the armed forces by the time of Emperor Ai's death. Dong was afterward forced to die by suicide.[2]
Emperor Ai also became an influential figure in a Chinese historical anthology called Duanxiupian (断袖篇) focusing on homosexuality in ancient China.[3] Additionally, Emperor Ai is an important figure in Chinese pop culture, especially in online Dan Mei pieces. Online literature referring to him have been emerging on websites such as 晋江文学城 (Jinjiang Wenxuecheng; JinJiang Literature City).[4]
- ^ Emperor Ai's biography in Book of Han indicated that he was 3 (by East Asian reckoning) when he inherited his father's title of Prince of Dingtao.
- ^ a b Hinsch, Bret, ed. (1992). Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-520-91265-6.
- ^ Vitiello, Giovanni. “The Dragon’s Whim: Ming and Qing Homoerotic Tales from ‘The Cut Sleeve.’” T’oung Pao 78, no. 4/5 (1992): 341–72.
- ^ “断袖之恋 | 笑谈 - 往复遗址博物馆.” Accessed February 17, 2025. https://wangf.org/%E8%89%BA%E6%96%87%E7%B1%BB%E8%81%9A/%E6%96%AD%E8%A2%96%E4%B9%8B%E6%81%8B%20%7C%20%E7%AC%91%E8%B0%88/.