The 27-Day Reign: Impeachment of Emperor Liu He of Han (74 BC)
On August 14, 74 BC, the powerful Western Han regent Huo Guang and a coalition of court officials formally presented articles of impeachment against the reigning emperor, Liu He, to Empress Dowager Shangguan. The charges, alleging a staggering pattern of misrule committed in barely three weeks on the throne, set in motion one of the most dramatic successions in Chinese imperial history and cemented Huo Guang's reputation as the most powerful kingmaker of his era.
A Sudden Vacancy on the Throne
The crisis began when Emperor Zhao of Han died in 74 BC without a son to inherit the throne, leaving the Han court scrambling to select a successor. Huo Guang, who had served as regent since the reign of Emperor Wu and had accumulated enormous influence over military and civil affairs, took charge of the selection process. The court's choice fell on Liu He, the young King of Changyi and a grandson of Emperor Wu, who was summoned to the capital Chang'an and installed as emperor. Liu He's succession seemed to promise stability, restoring the imperial line through a direct descendant of the celebrated Emperor Wu. Behind the scenes, however, Huo Guang retained effective control of the government, having spent over a decade consolidating power through marriage alliances, loyal appointees, and his oversight of the palace guard. Empress Dowager Shangguan, herself Huo Guang's granddaughter and still a teenager, held the formal authority to approve major decisions of state, including the appointment and removal of an emperor. This arrangement placed enormous power in the hands of two people—a young empress dowager and her grandfather—who would soon find the new emperor's conduct utterly intolerable.
Did You Know?
Liu He's reign of just 27 days is often cited as one of the shortest in the history of imperial China. Remarkably, his later burial site as the Marquis of Haihun, discovered in Jiangxi province in 2011, turned out to be one of the best-preserved and richest Han-dynasty tombs ever excavated, containing over 10,000 artifacts including gold coins, bronze lamps, and a portrait believed to depict Confucius.
Twenty-Seven Days of Misrule
According to the historical record, Liu He's brief tenure as emperor was marked by reckless and disrespectful behavior almost from the moment he arrived in Chang'an. Rather than observing proper mourning rites for the deceased Emperor Zhao, he reportedly indulged in feasting, hunting, and the company of his old retainers from Changyi, whom he installed in official posts despite their lack of qualifications. Court records compiled by officials loyal to Huo Guang later catalogued more than a thousand separate acts of impropriety committed during his reign of just 27 days, ranging from violations of ritual protocol to outright abuses of imperial authority. Whether every allegation was entirely accurate remains a matter of historical debate, since Huo Guang and his allies had strong political motives to discredit an emperor who threatened to sideline them. Nevertheless, the sheer volume and specificity of the accusations gave the impeachment effort an air of overwhelming legitimacy. Huo Guang, sensing that Liu He's erratic rule endangered both the dynasty's stability and his own position, moved swiftly to assemble support among fellow ministers and generals before formally acting against the emperor he had so recently helped install.
The Impeachment and Its Aftermath
On August 14, 74 BC, Huo Guang and his allied officials brought their formal articles of impeachment before Empress Dowager Shangguan, the only figure with the constitutional standing to depose a reigning Son of Heaven. Presented with the extensive list of charges, the young empress dowager granted approval for Liu He's removal, and he was swiftly stripped of the throne after a reign of only 27 days—one of the shortest in Chinese history. He was demoted and eventually exiled to Changyi, later resurfacing decades afterward as the Marquis of Haihun, a title under which his tomb was rediscovered by archaeologists in Jiangxi province in the 21st century, yielding a spectacular trove of Han-era artifacts. In Liu He's place, Huo Guang orchestrated the enthronement of Liu Bingyi, a great-grandson of Emperor Wu who had survived a purge earlier in his life and was raised largely outside the palace. Liu Bingyi took the throne as Emperor Xuan and would go on to preside over a lengthy and celebrated reign. Huo Guang continued as the dominant power behind the throne until his death in 68 BC, having demonstrated through the events of 74 BC that even an emperor's crown was not immune to the machinations of the Han court's most formidable minister.