Who is wang mang

However, his father died while he was still young. Although belonging to a distinguished family, Wang Man was denied of the luxuries his other relatives enjoyed. He did not become marquees until the year 16 BC. Instead of wearing the clothes of the noble family, Wang Mang preferred wearing the clothes of a Confucian Scholar.

He did not live in extravagance like his other cousins. Because he lived a simple life, many people took notice of Wang Mang and praised him for it. During this time, it was Wang Mang who took care of him night and day without leaving his side. His uncle then grew fond of him. The emperor and empress did so by assigning him a post as the imperial attended. Later on, Wang Mang was promoted as a sub-commander.

Wang Mang was thought to be the only faithful emperor at first. He has only one wife by the name Lady Wang. In his most famous reform he decreed AD 9 that the large tax-free estates be dissolved and that the land be redistributed to the peasants, who were to pay taxes.

Pressure from the aristocracy, however, forced him AD 12 to rescind the measure. He had dyed his white hair in order to look calm and youthful. Desperate officials persuaded him to retire with them to a high tower surrounded by water in the center of the capital.

There, a thousand loyalists made a last stand before the armies of the revived Han, retreating step by step up twisting stairs until the emperor was cornered on the highest floor. Wang was slain late in the afternoon, his head severed, his body torn to pieces by soldiers seeking mementos, his tongue cut out and eaten by an enemy.

Did he wonder, as he died, how it had come to this—how his attempts at reform had inflamed a whole nation? Finally, in 9 A. His usurpation marked the end of the Former Han Dynasty, which had reigned since B. The first period witnessed attempts to overhaul the entire system of imperial government, though whether the emperor intended to return China to the days of the semi-legendary Zhou Dynasty, which had ruled China before the Han, or introduce radical new policies of his own, remains hotly disputed.

Usurpers rarely enjoy a good press, but China has always treated its rebel rulers rather differently. It was, however, perfectly possibly to lose this mandate. At that point, he became illegitimate and his successor, no matter how humble his origins, assumed the mantle of Son of Heaven. From the point of view of Chinese historiography, however, emperors who lost their thrones had never been legitimate to begin with, and their histories would be written with a view to demonstrating just how lacking in the necessary virtues they had always been.

Wang Mang provoked a devastating civil war that ended with a large proportion of his empire in arms against him. More recently, however, Wang Mang has undergone a startling reappraisal.

Wang Mang defeated all the forces of the Liu Clan that had fought against him, then he announced himself as emperor, and established a new Dynasty named Xin, with support from large numbers of officials and civilians. Then Emperor Wang Mang implemented a series of reform policies, which were frequently considered radical in the history of China. He was sometimes considered as a time-traveler because many of his policies resembled those utilized in recent decades of China. It felt like a Chinese that was born in the s and then traveled to the Han Dynasty and applied all the policies from the era in which he used to live.

Besides, he loved the scientific experiments and inventions. Wang Mang even performed a post mortem examination himself, to persuade people to stop believing in superstitions. Wang Mang claimed all the farmland belonging to the state and did not allow the trading of land. Everyone could be assigned farmland, for free, based on the number of family members; any type of development activities should be authorized by the government. Slavery was abolished, and the trading of slaves was illegal.

More low-rental houses were built for poverty civilians, and people could get loans from the government with little or no interest. Alcohol, salt, and iron were managed by the state; the government would sometimes manage and supervise the market when necessary so that businessmen could not manipulate the market.

Names of officials, many cities, and buildings were changed as well. Besides, he initiated many wars to neighbor regimes and successfully expanded his realm.