Guangwu claims the throne as Emperor of China, restoring the Han dynasty after the collapse of the short-lived Xin dynasty.

AD 25

Calendar year

AD 25 (XXV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lentulus and Agrippa. The denomination AD 25 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became…

Emperor Guangwu of Han

Emperor of China from 25 to 57 AD

Emperor Guangwu of Han, born Liu Xiu (劉秀), courtesy name Wenshu (文叔), was a Chinese monarch. He served as an emperor of the Han dynasty by restoring the dynasty in AD 25, thus founding the Eastern Han dynasty. He ruled over parts of China at first since his dynasty was formed…

Emperor of China

Throughout Chinese history, "Emperor" was the superlative title held by the monarchs of imperial China's various dynasties. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was the "Son of Heaven", an autocrat with the divine mandate to rule all under Heaven. Emperors were…

Han dynasty

Imperial dynasty in China (202 BC – 220 AD)

The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring interregnum known as the Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BC), and it was succeeded by the Three…

Xin dynasty

Chinese imperial dynasty from 9 to 23 AD

The Xin dynasty, also known as Xin Mang (新莽) in Chinese historiography, was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty which lasted from 9 to 23 AD, established by the Han dynasty consort kin Wang Mang, who usurped the throne of the Emperor Ping of Han and the infant "crown prince"…