Wang
Mang's Revolution
Wang Mang, nephew of the empress dowager Wang and
championing Confucian principles, consolidated his power in the reign of the
boy Ping Di by marrying his daughter to the emperor. His treatment of the Wei
queen mother made Wang Mang's son Wang Yu afraid of a feud between the Wei and
Wang clans, and he tried to use portents to influence his father's policy. So
in 3 CE Wang Mang had his son, the Wei clan, and hundreds of others executed.
Han propaganda also blamed Wang Mang for the death of 14-year-old Emperor Ping three
years later. Three consecutive emperors had died without leaving a direct heir,
a bad omen that confirmed prophecies the dynasty would end. From many
candidates Wang Mang chose a two-year-old so that he could rule as regent.
In 9 CE Wang Mang took the throne, proclaiming the Xin
(New) dynasty. A Han uprising was put down, and in 10 CE Han nobles were
demoted to commoners, as a mutiny in Central Asia was crushed. Wang Mang broke
up the great estates and prohibited the private buying and selling of slaves.
Reducing the titles of kings to marquises was only symbolic, but it irritated
border leaders and led to revolts. Wang Mang nationalized liquor, salt, iron
implements, cash, and the resources of mountains and marshes (hunting, fishing,
mining, etc.). As a devoted Confucian he did not call them monopolies but
"controls." Government stores were set up in five major cities to
stabilize the changing prices of essentials such as grain, hemp cloth, and
silk. Loans were made to help peasant farmers. However, his debasing the
currency with copper coins while he collected five million ounces of gold
caused economic chaos. The government's currency frauds led to widespread
counterfeiting; but prohibiting copper and charcoal could not be enforced and
had to be repealed, though many were convicted of using the old currency.
According to historian Ban Gu, Wang Mang kept his lamp burning all night trying
to handle too much himself; but legal cases backed up, and corrupt bureaucrats
took advantage.
Confucian philosopher Yang Xiong (53 BC-18 CE) took the
moderate position that human nature is a mixture of good and evil. Whoever
cultivates the good will become good, and whoever cultivates the evil will
become evil. The way of the sage is one with heaven (nature). Without people
heaven could not realize itself as a cause; without heaven, people could not
complete themselves. Huan Tan (43 BC-28 CE) considered Yang Xiong a sage and
noted human differences related to intelligence, intuition, and character. Huan
Tan criticized Confucian scholars for being impractical, noting that in
the reign
of Wu Di (141-87 BC) Confucian scholarship
had greatly increased, but government policies got worse. Although it was fine
to exalt the learned in times of peace, he believed in difficult times men in
armor should be honored. His advocacy of strong government indicated the
Legalist tendency of the time.
The Yellow River broke its dikes and changed course.
Famines in border areas occurred in 11 and 14 CE, causing cannibalism. Wang
Mang reduced official salaries according to the suffering of the region, but
this increased corruption and bribery. He tried to raise funds by taxing the
higher class for the slaves they still owned. Important provincial offices were
now hereditary. Rebellious peasants in Shandong were led by Mother Lu in 17 CE.
Rebels calling themselves the Red Eyebrows were activated by a five-year
drought that began the next year. These peasant rebellions combined eventually
with Han nobles and large landowners and led to the demise of this new dynasty.
In 19 CE Wang Mang twice took one-thirtieth of everyone's property in tax, and
impressive buildings were constructed in Chang'an the next year.
A plot to raise troops against him in Yan and Chao was
discovered, and Wang Mang had several thousand prominent persons executed.
Hundreds of thousands of counterfeiters were arrested, two-thirds of them dying
when they were made government slaves. Bandits robbing out of poverty grew to
gangs of hundreds and thousands, while officials were not permitted to mobilize
troops without the Emperor's permission. Bandits disbanding after amnesty were
attacked and fled. Frontier defense crumbled as border states asserted their
independence. By 22 CE the Red Eyebrows defeated the imperial army in Liang,
and famine reached the capital at Chang'an. Campaigns against the Xiongnu had
depleted the treasury except for the gold Wang Mang hoarded, and the economic
policies were repealed. A Han army was organized and took over the lower Yangzi
region and most of Nanyang. Wang Mang's army attacked Han troops in Yingchuan
but was defeated. Han armies marched on Chang'an; as the convict army fled,
they sacked the capital, killing Wang Mang in 23 CE. After two years under
Emperor Geng Shi, the Red Eyebrows captured Chang'an. Historian Ban Gu
estimated that the population of the Chinese empire had been reduced by half.
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