Cao Pi deposes the last Han emperor: the Three Kingdoms begin, 220

Cao Pi deposes the last Han emperor: the Three Kingdoms begin

Months after Cao Cao’s death his son Cao Pi made Emperor Xian abdicate and, on an altar at Fanyang, proclaimed himself emperor of Wei, ending four centuries of Han rule. Liu Bei declared himself Han emperor in Shu the next year, Sun Quan soon broke with Wei, and China was divided among the Three Kingdoms.

Date

between 25 November and 11 December 220exact date unknown: an interval is given

Place

Abdication altar at Fanyangtoday: Fancheng, Linying County, Luohe, Henan, China · East Asia

Participants

Cao Pi, Emperor Xian of Han, Han dynasty, Cao Wei

Threads

East Asia in the 1st–5th centuries

Also known as

End of the Han dynasty; Abdication of Emperor Xian; Founding of Cao Wei; Конец Хань; Отречение Сянь-ди; Основание царства Вэй; 漢魏禪讓

Emperor Xian, enthroned as a boy by Dong Zhuo in 189, had been a figurehead since 196 in the hands of Cao Cao, who ruled in his name as Imperial Chancellor and from 216 as King of Wei. When Cao Cao died in Luoyang on 15 March 220, his son Cao Pi inherited his titles and changed the era name to Yankang. In the tenth month the emperor issued an edict of abdication — on 25 November, according to the Book of the Later Han — and after the customary three refusals Cao Pi mounted an altar built at Fanyang and accepted the throne: on the gengwu day (10 December) according to the main text of the Records of the Three Kingdoms, on the following day, xinwei (11 December), according to the Xiandi zhuan quoted in Pei Songzhi’s commentary, the stele recording the abdication and the Zizhi Tongjian. He named his dynasty Wei, began the Huangchu era and moved the capital from Xu to Luoyang. The former emperor was made Duke of Shanyang and lived until 234. Two steles carved in 220 — the petition of the ministers and generals urging Cao Pi to take the throne and the record of the abdication — survive at Fancheng in Linying County, together with the earthen mound of the altar.

The transfer of power was staged as a voluntary abdication in the manner of the legendary sage kings, but Liu Bei refused to recognise it: on 15 May 221 he proclaimed himself emperor of Han in Chengdu, the state known to historians as Shu Han. Sun Quan accepted the title of King of Wu from Cao Pi in 221 but broke with Wei in 222 and declared himself emperor in 229. Historians date the Three Kingdoms period from 220 to the reunification of China under the Jin in 280.

Connections

Causes and preconditions

Yellow Turban RebellionMarch 184 – between December 184 and January 185 · East AsiaThe rising of 184 broke Han authority and raised the warlords who divided the empire

Battle of Red Cliffsbetween 27 October 208 and 21 February 209 · East AsiaRed Cliffs fixed the division of China into the future Three Kingdoms

Related events

Cang Ci, governor of Dunhuang, protects the western merchantsbetween 227 and 233 · Central and Northern AsiaCang Ci governed Dunhuang for the new state of Wei

Zhuge Liang’s Northern Expeditionsbetween 23 February and 9 April 228 – between September and October 234 · East AsiaShu Han claimed to be the legitimate Han and set out to overthrow the Wei usurpers

Kang Tai and Zhu Ying, envoys of Wu, in Funanbetween 245 and 250 · Southeast Asia and OceaniaWu, which sent the envoys, was one of the Three Kingdoms that arose after the end of the Han

Cao Pi deposes the last Han emperor: the Three Kingdoms begin

Connections

Causes and preconditions

Related events

Meanwhile in the world

Eastern Europe

Middle East and Egypt

Central and Northern Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia and Oceania

North America

Latin America

The same period

Sources