Quick Facts
- Wade-Giles romanization:
- P’ing-ti
- Born:
- 9 bc, China
- Died:
- ad 5, Chang’an [now Xi’an, Shaanxi province]
- Title / Office:
- emperor (1BC-6), China
- House / Dynasty:
- Han dynasty
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Pingdi
emperor of Han dynasty
Also known as: P’ing-ti
Pingdi (born 9 bc, China—died ad 5, Chang’an [now Xi’an, Shaanxi province]) was the last ruling emperor of China’s Xi (Western) Han dynasty (206 bc–ad 25).
Pingdi, at the time only nine years old, was placed on the throne in 1 bc by the powerful minister Wang Mang, whose daughter he married five years later. Though proof is lacking, it has been claimed that Pingdi was poisoned by his father-in-law. In any case, Pingdi’s death allowed Wang to assume the title of regent to a child emperor; in ad 8, Wang finally set aside the Han dynasty altogether and established himself as emperor of the Xin dynasty.
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