Emperor Shun of Han

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Emperor Shun of Han (simplified Chinese: 汉顺帝; traditional Chinese: 漢順帝; pinyin: Hàn Shùn Dì; Wade–Giles: Han Shun-ti; 115 – 20 September 144^[2]) was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty and the eighth emperor of the Eastern Han. He reigned from December 125 to September 144.

Emperor Shun (Prince Bao) was the only son of Emperor An of Han. After Emperor An died in April 125, the Empress Dowager Yan, childless but yearning to hold on to power, displaced Prince Bao (whose title of crown prince she had wrongly caused Emperor An to strip in 124) from the throne in favour of Liu Yi, the Marquess of Beixiang. After Liu Yi died after reigning less than seven months, eunuchs loyal to Prince Bao, led by Sun Cheng, carried out a successful coup d'etat against the Empress Dowager, and Prince Bao was declared emperor at age 10.

The people had great expectations for Emperor Shun, whose reign followed his incompetent and violent father. However, while Emperor Shun's personality was mild, he was just as incompetent as his father and corruption continued without abatement among eunuchs and officials. He also overly entrusted government to his wife Empress Liang Na's father Liang Shang (梁商) - a mild-mannered man with integrity but little ability - and then Liang Shang's son Liang Ji - a corrupt and autocratic man. In general, Emperor Shun's reign was an improvement over his father's, but this minor improvement was unable to stem the Eastern Han Dynasty's continued decline.

Emperor Shun died at the age of 29 after reigning for 19 years. He was succeeded by his son Emperor Chong.