Wang (王) or
Kings of the Han Dynasty can be divided into two categories: Yixing Wang (Kings) and Tongxing Wang (Princes). Yixing Wang literally means "Wangs with a different family name than the emperors" while Tongxing Wang means "Wangs with the same family name as the emperors". Tongxing Wang are normally relatives of the emperors by direct male line.
It is arguable how to translate the Chinese "Wang" into English. Here "kings" are used for "Yixing Wang" because these Yixing Wang usually were generally derived from peer kings of
Liu Bang, Emperor of Han. During the 2nd century BC, they had enormous power in their territories and were de facto
sovereigns to some extent. After the 2nd century BC, these territories lost most of their regional autonomy, the kings lost executive powers, and their kingdoms' administrations were staffed and monitored by the central government. The kings did retain some rights, however, such as revenue sharing of the taxes collected by the central government in their nominal fiefs.
Tongxing Wang is translated into "princes" since they were normally sons or brothers of the emperors, and after the
Rebellion of the Seven Princes had relatively little power in their territories. However, it should be pointed out that in the early period of
Han Dynasty there was no legal distinction between Yixing Wang and Tongxing Wang. The early princes were as powerful as kings in their territories.
Yixing Wang (Kings)
Wang (Kings) were remnants of the rebellion against the
Qin Dynasty. When the
Qin Dynasty collapsed, many former nobles of the old
Warring States joined the rebellion and occupied territories. They called themselves "kings" and often used the names of the old
Warring States kingdom to bid for support from the peoples of those states. Among these kingdoms, Chu was the most powerful. After the
Qin Dynasty was overthrown,
Xiang Yu, King of Chu, decided to align all the kingdoms for his own political advantage. After the alignment,
18 Kingdoms were formed. However, many of these kings were not satisfied with this arrangement and rebelled against
Xiang Yu, among them
Liu Bang, King of Han.
Liu Bang later defeated
Xiang Yu and became the first emperor of the
Han Dynasty. The kings who had sided with
Liu Bang in the
Chu-Han Contention remained as kings under the Han Emperors; other kingdoms were created for generals and favorites of
Liu Bang.
Although nominally under the rule of the
Han Dynasty, these kings were de facto
sovereigns, with very considerable power in their territories.
Liu Bang felt this was dangerous to the unity of his empire, and endeavoured to subdue these unruly kingdoms. By conspiracies, wars and other political manoeuvres, many kings were deposed and their kingdoms annexed during
Liu Bang's lifetime. When
Liu Bang was dying, he ordered his ministers to swear an oath that only members of royal house of "Liu" could be created as Wang (i.e., Tongxing Wang or princes) under the
Han Dynasty. In spite of this, some new Yixing Wang were created later, especially during the reign of
Empress Dowager Lü. Most of these newly-created kingdoms were abolished after her death. The last king during Han Dynasty was Wu Chan, King Jing of Changsha, who died without an heir in 157 BC. After that there were no further Yixing Wang for the remainder of the
Han Dynasty.
Tongxing Wang (Princes)
After establishing the
Han Dynasty,
Liu Bang created several Tongxing Wang, or principalities, for his relatives and sons. It then became a tradition that sons of Chinese emperors should automatically be created as princes. This tradition continued until the
Qing Dynasty, in which sons of emperors could be created as lower nobles.
Liu Bang and his successers originally thought that creating principalities for members of the royal family would strengthen the royal house and strengthen their hand against the kings (Yixing Wang). However, some of these princes became as powerful as those kings, and equally as dangerous to the emperor - or even more dangerous, because as members of the royal house, they were eligible to succeed to the throne, and were therefore potential pretenders.
Several rebellions or attempted rebellions by these powerful princes happened during the reigns of
Emperor Jing and
Emperor Wu, the most famous being the
Rebellion of Seven Princes. Subsequently,
Emperor Wu removed most of the power of these princes and divided their territories, so that they would no longer be a threat to the throne. The institution of principalities would last throughout both phases of the Han Dynasty, however.
Power of the kings and princes
In the early part of the
Han Dynasty, kings or princes were the rulers of their territories, usually including several prefectures. After
Emperor Wu, kings and princes were limited to acting as figurehead of their territories, whilst the real power was given to the prime ministers of these princes, who were appointed by the imperial court. Moreover, the princes' territories were reduced to only one prefecture.
Crown Prince
The Crown Prince in the Han Dynasty was the heir apparent to the throne. The Crown Prince was normally the eldest son of the Emperor and the Empress, but not always. The power to nominate the Crown Prince lay with the throne, although the Emperor generally had to obtain the advice or consent of his high ministers. The Crown Prince would not be given a princedom, but rather abode with the Emperor in the capital. When a prince became Crown Prince, his princedom became extinct. The Crown Prince could be dismissed and this did indeed happen several times in the Han Dynasty.
List of Crown Princes
List of the kings and princes in Han Dynasty
Kings
Kingdoms existing when Han Dynasty was established
Princes
Category:Han Dynastyhan
