Qin and Han · Emperor of Han

Emperor Yuan 孝元帝

Xiaoyuan Di

Died BC 33

Passages: 14
Chapters: 2
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Emperor Yuan as a royal family member and ruler. This record brings together 14 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Emperor Yuan	孝元帝	Xiaoyuan Di
Title	Emperor Xiaoyuan	孝元皇帝	Xiaoyuan Huangdi
Title	Emperor Xiaoyuan	孝元帝
Temple name	Emperor Yuan	元帝
Temple	Emperor Yuan	孝元帝	Xiaoyuan Di
Title	Emperor Yuan	元帝	Yuandi

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0175, hanshu:091:s0004

Roles

Royal Family Member
Ruler

Life and dates

Death

Date Context: Source Date: Text: 元帝崩 · Western Year: BC 33
Explicit · hanshu:091:s0126

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 元帝 · Western Interval: Start: BC 48 · End: BC 33
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0175
Source Date: Text: 元帝即位 · Western Year: BC 49
Explicit · hanshu:091:s0014, hanshu:091:s0100

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Child of Emperor Xuan (宣帝)
Kinship Term: begot / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological
Child of Empress Xu (許皇后)
Kinship Term: gave birth to / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
Kinship Term: born of / 生 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: mother
Spouse of Grand Empress Dowager Wang (太皇太后王氏)
Kinship Term: Empress Wang / 王皇后 · Union Category: primary-marriage
Parent of Emperor Xiaocheng (孝成皇帝)
Parentage: biological
Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Liu Kang (康)
Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Zhongshan King Xing (中山王興)
Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Spouse of Lady Feng (馮昭儀)
Union Category: concubinage
Spouse of Consort Fu (傅昭儀)
Union Category: concubinage

Kinship Role: sons · Count: 3
Explicit · hanshu:091:s0175, hanshu:091:s0176

Career and standing

Date Context: Source Date: Text: 元帝即位 · Western Year: BC 49
Explicit · hanshu:091:s0014

Places and affiliations

Label: Han / 漢 · Relation: served
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0175
Label: Western Han / 漢 · Relation: ruled
Strongly inferred · hanshu:091:s0014

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Book of Han, Chapter 85Volume 74: Wei Xiang and Bing Ji · 1 passage

元帝時，長安士伍尊上書言：「臣少時為郡邸小吏，竊見孝宣皇帝以皇曾孫在郡邸獄。 In Emperor Yuan’s time, Chang’an commoner Zun submitted a memorial saying, ‘When your servant was young, I served as a petty clerk in the commandery residence and privately saw Emperor Xuan, then the imperial great-grandson, in the prison there.

Book of Han, Chapter 91Volume 80: The Six Sons of Emperors Xuan and Yuan · 13 passages

卷八十宣元六王傳第五十 Volume 80: Biographies of the Six Princes of Emperors Xuan and Yuan (no. 50).

許皇后生孝元帝，張婕妤生淮陽憲王欽，衛婕妤生楚孝王囂，公孫婕妤生東平思王宇，戎婕妤生中山哀王竟。 Empress Xu gave birth to Emperor Yuan. Lady Zhang the Honored Lady bore Prince Xian of Huaiyang, Qin; Lady Wei the Honored Lady bore Prince Xiao of Chu, Ao; Lady Gongsun the Honored Lady bore Prince Si of Dongping, Yu; and Lady Rong the Honored Lady bore Prince Ai of Zhongshan, Jing.

久之，懲艾霍氏欲害皇太子，乃更選後宮無子而謹慎者，乃立長陵王婕妤為后，令母養太子。 In time, mindful of how the Huo family had tried to harm the crown prince, he looked elsewhere among his childless, cautious consorts and made Lady Wang of Changling empress, charging her with raising the heir.

太子寬仁，喜儒術，上數嗟歎憲王，輔曰：「真我子也！」 The crown prince was mild and humane and loved Confucian scholarship; the emperor would sigh over Prince Xian and tell his attendants, “Now that is my son!”

常有意欲立張婕妤與憲王，然用太子起於微細，上少依倚許氏，及即位而許后以殺死，太子蚤失母，故弗忍也。 He often toyed with making Lady Zhang and the prince his succession, yet the crown prince had come up from nothing: as a young man the emperor had leaned on the Xu clan, and after his accession Empress Xu had been executed, leaving the boy motherless—so he could not bring himself to replace him.

久之，上以故丞相韋賢子玄成陽狂讓侯兄，經明行高，稱於朝廷，乃召拜玄成為淮陽中尉，欲感諭憲王，輔以推讓之臣，由是太子遂安。 Years later he recalled how Wei Xuancheng, son of the former chancellor Wei Xian, had played mad to yield his noble title to an elder brother—learned in the classics and renowned for integrity—and summoned him to serve as commandant in Huaiyang, hoping such an example of deference would steady the ambitious prince and quiet the succession.

宣帝崩，元帝即位，乃遣憲王之國。 When Xuan died and Yuan ascended, the new emperor sent Prince Qin to his fief at Huaiyang.

元帝即位，就國。 When Yuan became emperor, Yu proceeded to his fief.

宇立二十年，元帝崩。 Twenty years after Yu took the throne, Yuan died.

孝元皇帝三男 Emperor Yuan had three sons

孝元皇帝三男。 Emperor Yuan had three sons.

即位二年，追尊共王為共皇帝，置寢廟京師，序昭穆，儀如孝元帝。 In the second year of his reign he posthumously honored Prince Gong as Emperor Gong, set up his spirit temple in the capital, arranged the zhao and mu order, and followed the ceremonial model of Emperor Xiaoyuan.

贊曰：孝元之後，遍有天下，然而世絕於孫，豈非天哉！ The summation runs: from Emperor Yuan onward they held all under heaven, yet the line died with the grandson—can we call it anything but fate?