Emperor Gengshi of Han

Who was Emperor Gengshi of Han?

Emperor Gengshi of Han, ch. 漢更始帝, py. gèng shĭ dì, wg. Keng-Shih-ti, also known as the Prince of Huaiyang, courtesy name Shenggong, was an emperor of the restored Chinese Han Dynasty following the fall of Wang Mang's Xin Dynasty. He is not to be confused with Emperor Guangwu, who founded the succeeding Eastern Han Dynasty. He was viewed as a weak and incompetent ruler, who briefly ruled over an empire willing to let him rule over them, but was unable to keep that empire together. He was eventually deposed by the Chimei and strangled a few months after his defeat.

Traditional historians treat his emperor status ambiguously—and sometimes he would be referred to as an emperor and sometimes he would be referred to by his Eastern Han-granted title because Eastern Han was later viewed as the "legitimate" restoration of Han Dynasty, implying that he was only a pretender.