East Asia · Confederacies, Han and the steppe
Xin Dynasty
9–23 CE
The Xin ("New") dynasty (9–23 CE) was the sole reign of Wang Mang, a Han regent who usurped the throne from the infant Ruzi Ying. A Confucian idealist, Wang Mang enacted radical reforms: nationalization of land (the "royal fields"), abolition of the slave trade, state monopolies, and currency reforms—most of which failed and caused economic chaos.
- Existed
- 9–23 CE
- Shown on the map
- AD 6–29
- Peak area
- 4.5M km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
The Xin ("New") dynasty (9–23 CE) was the sole reign of Wang Mang, a Han regent who usurped the throne from the infant Ruzi Ying. A Confucian idealist, Wang Mang enacted radical reforms: nationalization of land (the "royal fields"), abolition of the slave trade, state monopolies, and currency reforms—most of which failed and caused economic chaos. The Yellow River's catastrophic course change and the resulting famines fueled the Red Eyebrows rebellion. Wang Mang was killed when rebels stormed Chang'an in 23 CE, and the Han was restored (Eastern Han) under Emperor Guangwu.
Common questions
- What was the Xin Dynasty?
- The Xin ("New") dynasty (9–23 CE) was the sole reign of Wang Mang, a Han regent who usurped the throne from the infant Ruzi Ying. A Confucian idealist, Wang Mang enacted radical reforms: nationalization of land (the "royal fields"), abolition of the slave trade, state monopolies, and currency reforms—most of which failed and caused economic chaos.
- When did the Xin Dynasty exist?
- The Xin Dynasty existed 9–23 CE. On this map it is drawn AD 6–29.
- How large was the Xin Dynasty?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Xin Dynasty covered about 4.5 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Xin dynasty en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xin_dynasty
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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