Liu Ying

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Liu Ying was the legitimate eldest son of Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han, and Empress Lü Zhi. He was born in 210 BCE (the thirty-seventh year of Qin Shi Huang) in Zhongyang Ward, Fengyi, Pei Commandery. Liu Bang had eight sons; Liu Ying ranked second among them but was the legitimate son because he was born to Empress Lü. His elder half-brother was Liu Fei, Prince Daohui of Qi, and his full elder sister was the Imperial Princess of Luyuan. Lü Zhi was Liu Bang's principal wife, but when Liu Bang was still of humble status the family was not wealthy. A legendary anecdote in the Records of the Grand Historian, “Basic Annals of Gaozu,” says that as a child Liu Ying worked in the fields with his mother and sister. An old man passing by examined Lü Zhi and Liu Ying's faces and said, “The reason the lady will become noble is this boy.” Though presented as an omen, the story also reflects the modest conditions of Liu Ying's childhood.

Before Liu Ying was two, Liu Bang released convicts in his charge without authorization and went into hiding among the marshes and mountains of Mang and Dang. Lü Zhi wandered with the children. In 209 BCE, after the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprising began, Liu Bang raised troops in Pei County and campaigned widely, while Liu Ying and his family remained at Fengyi amid instability. In 205 BCE, during the second year of the King of Han, Liu Bang marched east against Xiang Yu and reached Pengcheng, where Xiang Yu counterattacked and routed the Han army. While fleeing, Liu Bang encountered Liu Ying and the Imperial Princess of Luyuan and took them into his carriage. As Chu troops pressed close, Liu Bang repeatedly pushed the two children out to lighten the carriage, but Grand Coachman Xiahou Ying stopped and rescued them, allowing them to escape. Liu Ying and Empress Lü remained deeply grateful to Xiahou Ying, and after Liu Ying became emperor he granted him a first-rank residence immediately north of the palace, called “Near Me”.

Liu Bang failed to find his father, Liu Taigong, or his wife Lü Zhi; both had been captured by Chu forces and remained hostages in Xiang Yu's camp until their release in 203 BCE. In the sixth month of 205 BCE, Liu Bang made Liu Ying heir apparent of the King of Han, stationed him at Liyang, and appointed Grand Chancellor Xiao He to assist him. Sons of the Guanzhong lords served as the heir's palace guard.

Succession Struggle

In the second month of 202 BCE, Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor and established Liu Ying as crown prince. Liu Ying was described as “benevolent and weak,” and Liu Bang felt that he did not resemble him, while Liu Ruyi, Prince of Zhao and son of Lady Qi, was said to resemble Liu Bang closely and enjoyed great favor. Liu Bang repeatedly considered deposing Liu Ying in favor of Liu Ruyi, and the crown prince's position remained precarious for years.

In 198 BCE, after Zhang Ao, Prince of Zhao, was convicted and deposed, Liu Bang made Liu Ruyi Prince of Zhao. Lady Qi wept day and night, hoping to replace Liu Ying with her son. Liu Bang opened court discussion on changing the succession, and officials broadly opposed it. Censor-in-chief Zhou Chang, who had a stammer, angrily argued: “I-I certainly know it cannot be done! If Your Majesty wishes to depose the crown prince, I-I will not obey the edict.” Liu Bang laughed and temporarily abandoned the plan. Empress Lü, listening from the eastern chamber, knelt to thank Zhou Chang, saying, “Without you, the crown prince would almost have been deposed.”

Liu Bang nevertheless continued to consider the change. Alarmed, Empress Lü followed advice to send Lü Shizhi, Marquis of Jiancheng, to ask Zhang Liang for a plan. Zhang Liang believed words alone could not stop the change and advised the crown prince to invite the Four Hoaryheads of Mount Shang—Dongyuan Gong, Master Luli, Qiliji, and Xia Huanggong—with humble language and generous gifts and have them accompany him before Liu Bang. The four had originally withdrawn to the mountains because Liu Bang treated scholars lightly and was given to abuse, but when they heard that the crown prince was “benevolent and filial, respectful, and fond of scholars,” they accepted and stayed at Lü Shizhi's residence.

In 196 BCE, Ying Bu, Prince of Huainan, rebelled. Liu Bang was ill and intended to have the crown prince command the army against him. The Four Hoaryheads argued that if the crown prince led an army, “success would not raise his position, while failure would bring disaster,” and that the generals were all Liu Bang's fierce former companions; for the crown prince to command them would be “a sheep leading wolves.” Empress Lü therefore appealed to Liu Bang according to their advice, and Liu Bang had no choice but to lead the campaign himself. After he defeated Ying Bu and returned the next year, his illness worsened and his desire to change the succession increased. Zhang Liang remonstrated unsuccessfully and withdrew on grounds of illness. Grand Tutor to the Heir Apparent Shusun Tong cited Duke Xian of Jin's deposition of Shensheng and Qin Shi Huang's failure to establish Fusu early, threatening to die in opposition. Liu Bang outwardly agreed.

What finally caused Liu Bang to abandon the succession change was a public appearance by the Four Hoaryheads. At a banquet, Crown Prince Liu Ying entered attendance accompanied by the four men, all over eighty with white hair and beards and impressive dress. Liu Bang was astonished and asked who they were. After each gave his name, Liu Bang said: “For years I sought you gentlemen and you fled from me. Why do you now follow my son?” They replied that the crown prince was benevolent and filial and that all under Heaven stretched their necks in longing to die for him. Liu Bang then pointed them out to Lady Qi and said: “I wished to change him, but those four assist him. His wings are fully grown and he is difficult to move. Empress Lü will truly be your master.” From then on, Liu Ying's position as crown prince was secure.

Accession and the “Human Swine” Incident

On the jiachen day of the fourth month of 195 BCE, Liu Bang died. Sixteen-year-old Liu Ying succeeded him and honored Empress Lü as empress dowager. Liu Ying was gentle and benevolent and continued policies of allowing the people to rest and recover. Yet soon after his accession, Empress Lü began taking revenge on Lady Qi and Liu Ruyi, Prince of Zhao. She imprisoned Lady Qi in the palace service quarters, shaved her head, put her in shackles and convict clothing, and forced her to pound grain. When Lady Qi sang while working, Empress Lü became furious and summoned Liu Ruyi to the capital. Knowing her intent, Liu Ying personally received Liu Ruyi into the palace, ate and slept with him, and protected him for several months. In the twelfth month of 194 BCE, Liu Ying went hunting early in the morning. Liu Ruyi, too young to rise early, remained behind, and Empress Lü seized the opportunity to poison him. Liu Ying returned to find him dead.

Empress Lü then had Lady Qi's limbs cut off, her eyes gouged out, her ears damaged with smoke, and her voice destroyed by medicine. She placed her in a latrine and called her the “human swine.” Several days later Empress Lü summoned Liu Ying to view her. When he learned that the victim was Lady Qi, Liu Ying wept bitterly and became ill, unable to rise for more than a year. He sent a message to Empress Lü: “This is not something a human being could do. As the empress dowager's son, I can never govern all under Heaven.” From then on he drank and indulged in pleasures every day, withdrew from government, and entrusted affairs to Empress Lü. The episode dealt a severe physical and emotional blow and directly contributed to his later political withdrawal.

Government by Non-Action and “Cao Followed Xiao's Regulations”

Although Empress Lü dominated politics, Liu Ying's reign generally continued the Huang-Lao policy of non-action followed under Liu Bang. In 193 BCE, Grand Chancellor Xiao He became seriously ill. Liu Ying personally visited him and asked, “When you reach one hundred years and are gone, who can replace you?” Xiao He asked the emperor's view, and Liu Ying replied, “Cao Can?” Xiao He bowed his head and said, “The emperor has understood it.” After Xiao He died, Cao Can became Grand Chancellor and followed Xiao He's established arrangements without change, spending much of his time drinking. Liu Ying initially believed Cao Can was neglecting government and sent Cao Can's son Cao Zhu home to remonstrate. Cao Can angrily beat Cao Zhu two hundred strokes. Liu Ying then questioned Cao Can directly. Cao Can asked: “If Your Majesty examines yourself, how does your sagely martial ability compare with Emperor Gaozu's?” Liu Ying replied that he did not dare compare himself with the former emperor. Cao Can then asked: “How does my ability compare with Xiao He's?” Liu Ying replied that Cao Can seemed inferior. Cao Can said: “Your Majesty is correct. Emperor Gaozu and Xiao He pacified the realm and established clear laws and commands. Now Your Majesty can govern with folded arms while we ministers keep our offices and follow those arrangements without losing them. Is that not sufficient?” Liu Ying understood. This became the later saying that “Cao followed Xiao's regulations.”

Repeal of the Book-Prohibition Law and Construction of Chang'an

In 191 BCE, Liu Ying ordered the repeal of the Qin law prohibiting private possession of the Book of Odes and Book of Documents, under which families could face extermination for keeping banned books. The source presents this as loosening restrictions on intellectual and cultural development imposed since the Qin, allowing the various schools of thought to revive and Confucian teachings to spread again, with important implications for the revival of Han scholarship.

Another major project of Liu Ying's reign was construction of Chang'an's city walls and urban plan. Work began in 194 BCE and was largely completed in 189 BCE. The city was described as immense, with walls sixty-five li in circumference, twelve gates, intersecting streets, and an orderly layout. The project mobilized large numbers of laborers. In the third and fifth years of Emperor Hui, more than 140,000 men and women from within six hundred li of Chang'an were conscripted for thirty days at a time. Completion of the city laid the physical foundation for the Western Han capital in Guanzhong.

Death and Aftermath

In the eighth month of 188 BCE, the seventh year of Emperor Hui, Liu Ying died at Weiyang Palace at only twenty-three. The Records of the Grand Historian and Book of Han both give the date as the wuyin day of the eighth month, but calculations in Chen Yuan's Tables of New and Intercalary Moons in the Twenty Histories raise doubts about whether such a day occurred in that month, and some scholars argue that the correct day was jichou. The issue remains disputed. Liu Ying received the posthumous title Emperor Xiaohui and was buried at Anling.

When Liu Ying died, Empress Lü cried without tears. Zhang Pijiang, the fifteen-year-old son of Zhang Liang, Marquis of Liu, was then a Palace Attendant and recognized the danger. He told Grand Councilor Chen Ping: “The empress dowager had only the emperor. Now she cries without grief. Do you understand why?” Chen Ping asked. Zhang Pijiang replied: “The emperor has no grown son, and the empress dowager fears you officials. Now request that Lü Tai and Lü Chan be made generals, command the northern and southern armies, and that the members of the Lü clan all receive offices and hold power in the center. Then the empress dowager's heart will be at ease and you may be fortunate enough to escape disaster.” Chen Ping followed the plan; Empress Lü was satisfied and then wept with genuine grief. This account, from the Records of the Grand Historian, “Basic Annals of Empress Lü,” reflects the delicate balance between the meritorious officials and the Lü clan after Liu Ying's death and foreshadows the Lü Clan disturbance and the later killings of Liu Ying's sons.

Liu Ying's empress Lady Zhang was the daughter of the Imperial Princess of Luyuan and therefore his niece. The marriage was imposed by Empress Lü and was not consummated according to the source. When Liu Ying died, Empress Zhang had no son. Empress Lü took the son of a palace woman and falsely claimed that the empress had borne him, making him the young emperor; he was later deposed and killed. Liu Ying's sons—including Liu Gong, the Former Young Emperor; Liu Buyi, Prince of Changshan; Liu Shan, initially Marquis of Xiangcheng and later renamed Liu Yi, then Prince of Changshan and subsequently emperor as the Later Young Emperor; Liu Qiang, Prince of Huaiyang; and Liu Chao, Prince of Jichuan—were all killed after Empress Lü's death by Zhou Bo, Chen Ping, Xiahou Ying, and other meritorious officials on the claim that they were “not sons of Emperor Hui,” in order to eliminate future danger.

Liu Ying was the second son of Liu Bang, founder of the Han, and his mother was the empress Lü; among the founder's eight sons his position was the most legitimate. It is told that when Liu Bang was a village headman, the empress Lü was weeding in the fields with her two children when an old man passed by asking for a drink; she gave him food, and he read her face and said she was a noblewoman of the empire, then looked at Liu Ying and said that it was because of this boy that she was noble, and found the princess Yuan likewise noble. Liu Bang hurried after the old man, who told him that his own face was too noble for words. Whether or not the tale is exact, it reflects how Liu Ying was always associated in the early Han with auspicious physiognomy and the protection of his mother's kin.

After the founding of the empire Liu Bang's attitude to the heir grew unsettled. He doted on lady Qi and wished to set aside the heir in favor of her son Liu Ruyi, prince of Zhao, and most of the ministers objected. The censor-in-chief Zhou Chang argued his case in council and, stammering, said that his mouth could not speak well but that he knew in his heart this could not be done, and that though the emperor wished to depose the heir he would not obey the edict; Liu Bang laughed and the matter was shelved. The empress Lü, listening from the eastern wing, knelt to thank Zhou Chang afterwards, saying that but for him the heir would have been deposed. She then had the marquis of Jiancheng, Lü Shizhi, press Zhang Liang, the marquis of Liu; Zhang Liang declined at first, saying that among blood kin a hundred men like himself would avail nothing, but in the end offered a plan: to bring in the Four Whiteheads of Mount Shang — Lord Dongyuan, Master Jueli, Qili Ji and Lord Xiahuang — four men whom Liu Bang respected but who had refused to serve the Han, by having the heir write to them in humble terms and send comfortable carriages and eloquent envoys to invite them, receive them as guests and bring them to court from time to time. The empress did as he said and the four came, lodging at Lü Shizhi's house. At a banquet the four, all over eighty with white hair and eyebrows and imposing dress, attended the heir; Liu Bang, astonished, asked who they were, and on learning it said that their wings were now grown and could not be moved, telling lady Qi that the empress Lü would henceforth be the true mistress of the realm — and the plan to change the heir was dropped.

In the twelfth month of 194 Liu Ying, unwilling to wake his young brother Liu Ruyi early, let him sleep on in the palace while he went out; the empress Lü's agents reported it at once, and she had Liu Ruyi poisoned while he lay alone in his chamber. She then had lady Qi's hands and feet cut off, her eyes put out, her ears smoked, a drug given her to destroy her voice and her body thrown into a privy — the "human swine" — and summoned Liu Ying to see it. Learning that it was lady Qi, he wept bitterly, fell ill and could not rise for more than a year, and sent word to the empress dowager that no human being could do such a thing, that being her son he could in the end never govern the empire. From then on he drank and gave himself to pleasure, neglecting government and leaving affairs to his mother. When the prince of Qi, Liu Fei, came to court, Liu Ying seated him, as his elder, in the place of honor, as common household manners required; the empress Lü was furious and had poisoned wine set before him. Liu Ying, seeing what his mother meant, rose to take the cup and drink to her health himself; the empress, alarmed, knocked the cup from his hand. Liu Fei, though he did not know why, grew suspicious and drank no more; when he learned the truth he was terrified, and saved himself only by ceding the commandery of Chengyang to the princess Yuan as her maintenance fief and honoring her as queen dowager.

In government Liu Ying largely followed his father's policies, aided by an experienced body of ministers, so that his seven years on the throne passed without great disturbance. He kept Xiao He as chancellor, and the early Han, inheriting the Qin's excesses, sought above all to let the people recover. When Xiao He fell ill in 193, Liu Ying went to his house to ask who should succeed him; Xiao He asked whom the emperor had in mind, and when Liu Ying asked whether Cao Shen would do, Xiao He was deeply moved and said that if the emperor would use Cao Shen he could die content. After Xiao He's death Cao Shen became chancellor and kept to Xiao He's statutes exactly, drinking wine day and night; when subordinates and guests came hoping to raise matters, he plied them with wine so that they never got a word out. Cao Shen's son Cao Zhu was a palace grandee, and Liu Ying, thinking the chancellor did nothing and perhaps slighted him, had Cao Zhu sound his father out in private; Cao Shen in anger caned his son, and next day told the emperor that the founder and Xiao He had settled the empire and made the laws, so that the emperor had only to sit in state and his ministers to keep their offices and not lose what was made — enough. The people sang that Xiao He made the law as clear as a drawn line, that Cao Shen succeeded him and did not let it slip, and that by his quietness the people were at one. This is the "Xiao's rule, Cao's following" of later saying. Liu Ying also cancelled the taxes raised during the civil wars and restored the fifteenth-part levy, encouraged farming and exempted from labor service those who did well at it; he abolished the Qin law against private book-keeping, so that Confucian and other learning, long suppressed, revived and the ground was laid for the elevation of Confucianism to state orthodoxy under Emperor Wu; and in 190 the walling of Chang'an was finished — sixty-five li of wall with twelve gates, three to a side, each gate with three passages, the right for entering, the left for leaving and the middle reserved for the emperor.

Judgments of Liu Ying have always been mixed. Sima Guang in the Zizhi Tongjian criticizes him for a small benevolence and no understanding of the greater right, holding that a son should remonstrate when a parent errs, and if not heard should weep and follow, and that a man who held his father's empire and ruled all under heaven could not abandon the state and ruin his health in drink because he could not bear his mother's cruelty. The Pingjian Chan Yao says flatly that he was a guilty and ruinous son of the founder, since by his shock and his abandonment of government he let the disaster of the Lü house come about. On the other side, in his reign taxes and labor were light, the law against books repealed and Chang'an built, and as a transitional ruler of the early Han, when disorder was giving way to order, his part was a concrete one. He died in the eighth month of 188, at twenty-three, and was buried at Anling.

Another undertaking of Liu Ying's reign was the building of Chang'an. His father, with the state's resources still limited, had put up only the Changle and Weiyang palaces without a city wall, so that Chang'an had a few streets and little of a capital's grandeur; as the Western Han's dealings with the outside world increased, Liu Ying resolved to wall the city, and the work was finished in 190. In his years too the peace with the Xiongnu was kept by marriage alliance, and with the civil disorders ended the court could lighten the people's burdens. He died after seven years on the throne, and the empress dowager Lü then held court for eight years and enfeoffed her own kin widely, until after her death Zhou Bo, Chen Ping and others destroyed the Lü house and brought in the prince of Dai, Liu Heng, before the Han house was settled; Liu Ying's sons were then killed in the political reckoning, being declared not truly the sons of the Xiaohui emperor.

The reign of Emperor Hui left several concrete marks on the system: taxes lightened, farming encouraged, the law against private books repealed and the walls of Chang'an built. That his few years passed without great disturbance owed something to the support of founding ministers such as Xiao He and Cao Shen, and something to the fact that the early Han policy of simple laws, few prohibitions and rest for the people was already bearing fruit. His early death and the empress dowager's rule carried that policy on into the reigns of Wen and Jing, and so formed the basis of the empire's recovery in its first century.

In foreign relations the reign kept to the marriage diplomacy of the founder, giving a princess of the imperial house to the Xiongnu chanyu, and the frontier was for a time quiet. In later discussion of the early Han policy of letting the people rest, the concrete measures of Emperor Hui's reign are usually the starting point — lighter taxes, encouragement of farming, the repeal of the law against private books and the building of Chang'an, all of them preludes to the government of Wen and Jing. Short as it was, his reign was the practical hinge at which early Han policy turned from wartime to peacetime.

Major Activities

Political Measures

Although Empress Lü controlled much of government during Liu Ying's seven-year reign, several important measures were enacted under his emperorship. First, in 191 BCE he repealed the law against possessing books, removing a Qin-era cultural restriction and enabling the various philosophical schools to circulate more freely while Confucian learning revived. Second, the court continued the Huang-Lao policy of non-action, using Cao Can as Grand Chancellor and allowing him to follow Xiao He's precedents, thereby letting the people rest and recover. Third, construction of Chang'an was completed over five years, establishing the large-scale Western Han capital. Fourth, in 193 BCE the land tax was reduced and the one-fifteenth rate restored. Fifth, population growth was encouraged; in 189 BCE an edict imposed a fivefold poll-tax assessment on women aged fifteen to thirty who remained unmarried, in order to encourage marriage and childbirth.

Foreign Relations

During Liu Ying's reign, Western Han foreign policy continued the heqin marriage-alliance approach used under Liu Bang. In 192 BCE, Modu Chanyu sent Empress Lü an insulting letter: “I am a solitary and broken ruler, born amid marshes and grown among cattle and horses on the plains. I have often reached the frontier and wish to travel in China. Your Majesty stands alone and I live alone; the two rulers are without pleasure and have no way to entertain themselves. I wish to exchange what I possess for what you lack.” The message insulted Empress Lü as a widow. She became furious and summoned the ministers, considering execution of the envoy and war against the Xiongnu. Fan Kuai requested battle, declaring: “Give me one hundred thousand men and I will sweep through the Xiongnu.” Ji Bu rebuked him for deceiving the ruler to her face, noting that Emperor Gaozu with three hundred thousand troops had been trapped at Pingcheng and that Fan Kuai's claim that one hundred thousand could sweep the Xiongnu was empty boasting. Empress Lü ultimately endured the insult and sent a humble reply: “The chanyu does not forget our poor state and has favored us with a letter. Our poor state is fearful. On reflection, I am old and my vitality has declined; my hair and teeth are falling and my steps are unsteady. The chanyu has heard too much and should not soil himself. Our poor state is without offense and should be forgiven.” She also sent carriages and horses. Modu received the reply, sent an envoy to apologize, and the heqin relationship continued. Though the decision was Empress Lü's, the episode set the tone of foreign relations during Liu Ying's reign.

The court also continued relations with Nanyue. In 192 BCE, it established Yao of Dongyue as Prince of Donghai, helping stabilize the southeastern frontier.

Heqin with the Xiongnu and Relations with Nanyue

During Liu Ying's reign, the Western Han maintained heqin with the Xiongnu and the frontier remained broadly peaceful. Zhao Tuo of Nanyue had proclaimed himself emperor, but relations only deteriorated later under Empress Lü after restrictions were imposed on iron exports. In the early part of Emperor Hui's reign they had not yet become acute. Liu Ying adopted a relatively mild posture toward Nanyue and did not actively provoke conflict, maintaining comparative stability.

Key Figures in the Succession Crisis

Liu Ying's position as crown prince repeatedly faced the danger of deposition, and several historical figures were important in the struggle. Zhang Liang advised Empress Lü to bring in the Four Hoaryheads of Mount Shang to support the crown prince and was crucial in changing the situation. Zhou Chang fiercely opposed a succession change despite his stammer, while Shusun Tong threatened to die in remonstrance. The public appearance of the Four Hoaryheads finally convinced Liu Bang that the crown prince's “wings were fully grown,” and he abandoned the plan to replace him. Empress Lü's political skill and decisiveness in the episode contrasted sharply with Liu Ying's reputation for weakness.

Personal Relations

• Father: Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu of Han)
• Mother: Lü Zhi (Empress Lü)
• Elder sister: Imperial Princess of Luyuan
• Elder half-brother: Liu Fei (Prince Daohui of Qi)
• Younger half-brothers: Liu Ruyi (Prince Yin of Zhao), Liu Heng (Prince of Dai, later Emperor Wen of Han), Liu Hui (Prince of Liang), Liu You (Prince of Huaiyang), Liu Chang (Prince Li of Huainan), Liu Jian (Prince of Yan)
• Empress: Lady Zhang, daughter of the Imperial Princess of Luyuan and thus Liu Ying's niece; appointed by Empress Lü
• Children: Liu Gong (Former Young Emperor), Liu Buyi (Prince of Changshan), Liu Shan (initially Marquis of Xiangcheng, later renamed Liu Yi, then Prince of Changshan and later emperor as the Later Young Emperor), Liu Qiang (Prince of Huaiyang), Liu Chao (Prince of Jichuan), and others; all were killed after the Lü Clan disturbance under the claim that they were “not sons of Emperor Hui”
• Zhang Liang: advised Empress Lü to enlist the Four Hoaryheads of Mount Shang to support the crown prince
• Shusun Tong: Grand Tutor to the Heir Apparent who opposed changing the succession even at the risk of death
• Zhou Chang: Censor-in-chief who opposed the succession change at court
• Four Hoaryheads of Mount Shang (Dongyuan Gong, Master Luli, Qiliji, Xia Huanggong): recluses who supported the crown prince
• Xiahou Ying: Grand Coachman who saved Liu Ying and his sister after the defeat at Pengcheng
• Xiao He: Grand Chancellor who assisted Liu Ying and recommended Cao Can as successor
• Cao Can: succeeded Xiao He as Grand Chancellor and “followed Xiao's regulations”
• Chen Ping: Grand Councilor who later joined Zhou Bo and others in destroying the Lü clan
• Wang Ling: Right Grand Councilor who opposed Empress Lü's enfeoffment of the Lü clan as kings
• Lady Qi: Liu Bang's favored consort, who sought to replace Liu Ying with Liu Ruyi and was later mutilated by Empress Lü into the “human swine”
• Liu Ruyi: half-brother and rival in the succession struggle, later poisoned by Empress Lü
• Modu Chanyu: Xiongnu chanyu who insulted Empress Lü in a letter; the court nevertheless maintained heqin during Liu Ying's reign

Historical Assessment

Han / Contemporary

• Sima Qian did not create a “Basic Annals of Emperor Xiaohui” in the Records of the Grand Historian and instead used the “Basic Annals of Empress Lü,” reflecting Empress Lü's position as the actual political authority. In that chapter he wrote that under Empress Lü, “government did not leave the inner chambers, yet the realm was peaceful. Punishments were seldom used and criminals were few. The people devoted themselves to farming and clothing and food increased.” Although the judgment concerns Empress Lü, it indirectly depicts the social conditions of Liu Ying's reign.
• Ban Gu praised him in the Book of Han, “Annals of Emperor Hui”: “Emperor Xiaohui cultivated affection among his relatives within and treated the chief ministers with ritual without; he may be called a broad and benevolent ruler.”
• Ying Shao of the Eastern Han in Fengsu Tongyi described Liu Ying as “benevolent and filial” and noted the contrast with Liu Bang.
• Wang Chong in Lunheng criticized Liu Ying's “benevolent weakness,” arguing that his inability to restrain Empress Lü allowed the “human swine” atrocity against Lady Qi and represented a failure “to guard against the empress dowager.”

Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties

• Huangfu Mi of Jin in Diwang Shiji described Liu Ying as “broadly benevolent, respectful, and frugal,” but said “authority left his own hands” and government was controlled by Empress Lü.
• Pei Yin of Liu Song in the Shiji Jijie quoted Xu Guang to supplement the record of Emperor Hui's reign and generally followed Sima Qian's narrative framework, treating Empress Lü as the actual ruler.
• Cui Hao of Northern Wei described Liu Ying as “benevolent but indecisive,” arguing that his inability to restrain his mother led to the later troubles of the Lü clan.

Tang and Song Periods

• Sima Zhen in the Shiji Suoyin, in his appraisal of the “Basic Annals of Empress Lü,” wrote that “after Emperor Xiaohui died, Empress Lü exercised imperial authority,” treating Emperor Hui's reign and her later regency as a connected political period and judging that commands during Liu Ying's reign actually came from Empress Lü.
• Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance broadly followed the Records of the Grand Historian and Book of Han and criticized Liu Ying for “drinking daily and indulging in pleasures, not attending to government.”
• Su Zhe in Ancient History called Liu Ying “benevolent but not martial,” arguing that he possessed kindness but lacked firm decisiveness and could not restrain Empress Lü or preserve Lady Qi.
• Lü Zuqian in Chronicle of Major Events praised the repeal of the law against possessing books, writing that “after Emperor Hui removed the law on possessing books, the Odes and Documents gradually emerged; this was the beginning of cultural instruction in the Han age.”

Ming and Qing Periods

• Wang Fuzhi in Du Tongjian Lun wrote: “Emperor Hui's benevolence was the benevolence of a fool.” He regarded Liu Ying as kind but politically unintelligent, unable to stop Empress Lü's violence or protect his own sons.
• Zhao Yi in Notes on the Twenty-Two Histories observed that “after Emperor Hui succeeded, all political affairs were decided by Empress Lü,” treating his seven-year reign as a transition toward Empress Lü's direct rule.
• Wang Mingsheng in Critical Discussions of the Seventeen Histories praised the “Cao followed Xiao's regulations” model, writing that “Cao Can preserved Xiao He's laws, practiced clarity and non-action, and let the people rest; thereby the Han enterprise was stabilized.”
• Liang Yusheng in Shiji Zhiyi closely examined Emperor Hui's chronology and the titles of his sons and identified numerous errors in later records.

Modern Period

• Lü Simian in History of Qin and Han described Liu Ying as “benevolent and weak” but noted that “the realm was peaceful and punishments were seldom used” during his reign, viewing it as an important continuation of early Western Han recovery policies.
• Qian Mu in Outline of National History treated Emperor Hui's reign as the prelude to Empress Lü's rule. Although Liu Ying himself achieved little, society remained stable and the economy recovered, laying foundations for the Rule of Wen and Jing.
• Some recent scholars have reassessed Liu Ying, emphasizing his continuation of Huang-Lao non-action and repeal of the book-prohibition law as positive cultural measures rather than reducing him to “benevolent weakness.” Others argue that most political achievements of the reign were the work of Empress Lü and that Liu Ying himself failed to master political power, so his reputation should not be raised too high.