刘贺 / Liu He / Marquis of Haihun

Overview

刘贺 / Liu He enters the wiki through Hanji 430 as the former Changyi king and twenty-seven-day Western Han emperor whom 汉宣帝 continues to monitor after deposition.

Current Profile

The episode presents Liu He less as an active plotter than as a legitimacy problem. Xuan reportedly judges him “not worth worrying about,” but privately orders 张厂 to watch his visitors, conduct, speech, body, health, wives, and children. That gap between verbal dismissal and hidden surveillance is the page’s core profile: Liu He is politically weakened, but not politically irrelevant.

In 63 BCE Xuan grants him the Haihun marquisate while stripping away royal privileges such as ancestral-temple sacrifice and direct court audience. The settlement preserves a reduced noble status while containing the symbolic danger of a former emperor.

Key Characteristics

• Former Western Han emperor whose short reign leaves a continuing succession-legitimacy residue.
• Subject of sustained confidential surveillance under Emperor Xuan.
• Described by Zhang Chang as bodily and mentally diminished in the episode’s report.
• Father of a large household that the surveillance report counts and describes.
• Reassigned into a reduced marquisate that grants status without restoring court access.

Evidence

Surveillance and assessment:

• Hanji 430 says Xuan secretly instructs Zhang Chang to monitor Liu He’s visitors and not reveal the edict.
• Hanji 430 says Zhang Chang reports Liu He’s appearance, illness, speech, reactions, wives, sons, and daughters.
• Hanji 430 contrasts Xuan’s “not worth worrying about” wording with actual continuous watchfulness.

Reduced settlement:

• Hanji 430 says Liu He is made Marquis of Haihun in 63 BCE.
• Hanji 430 says Xuan removes his ancestral-sacrifice and court-audience privileges.

Qualifications

This page is source-scoped to Hanji 430. It does not reconstruct Liu He’s full biography, the complete Changyi accession and deposition process, archaeological evidence from the Haihun tomb, or the full Han Shu account. Zhang Chang’s “白痴儿” style assessment is treated as an official surveillance report in the episode, not as an independent medical diagnosis.

What Changed

• Created the page to distinguish Western Han Liu He / Haihun Hou from late-Han figures with similar names.

Relationships

• Emperor Xuan of Han / 汉宣帝 / 刘询 / 刘病已 - successor-ruler who contains and monitors Liu He.
• 张厂 / Zhang Chang (Shanyang governor) - governor who reports on Liu He’s conduct and household.
• 海昏侯国 / Haihun Marquisate - reduced noble settlement used to contain Liu He’s residual legitimacy.
• Western Han dynasty / 西汉 - dynastic setting of Liu He’s deposition and containment.