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1 results

  • 3 - Wang Mang, the restoration of the Han dynasty, and Later Han

  • Edited by Denis Twitchett, Michael Loewe
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of China
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    26 December 1986, pp 223-290

  • Summary

    The Han Chinese were firm believers in the art of physiognomy. It was claimed that Wang Mang was descended from Shun and the Yellow Emperor sovereigns hallowed in Chinese mythology, by way of the dukes of Ch'i of the house of T'ien. Wang Mang's reliable genealogy begins with his great-grandfather, who filled no office and apparently lived as a country gentleman in what is now northern Shantung. Wang Mang's manipulation of the public and the methods later used to support the restoration of the Han dynasty were identical. To gain a correct perspective, one must look at Wang Mang's enactments against the broad vista of Former and Later Han policies. Pan Ku's account of Wang Mang's policies toward non-Chinese peoples within and outside the borders is equally biased and in need of redressing. Population growth in Han China was retarded by a number of factors. Agricultural techniques, hygiene, and medicine were primitive in all parts of the country.