As not much is known about Wang Mang's policies, they have been subject to much debate and misunderstanding. Some consider his policies that of a man ahead of his time, a socialist (!). The others, some trusting the ancient historian Pan Ku's biography, some on other grounds, see him as a man who ultimately failed because of his own ill-conceived policies that strongly antagonized parts or all of the population. In general, the point of view is rather a negative one. But compared to the policies applied during the Former Han period, one sees that there weren't that many differences.

• One of the most important measures was that of the debasement of coinage. Unlike what may have been said, it is unlikely that the mistrust regarding new denominations had been more than marginal. It allowed to use less metal per coin, and thus for the government to meet the demand with more ease. Moreover, this policy had been also applied by Wu-ti in 119 BC, and it had not encountered problems either. In fact, he had gone a step further by introducing leather coins.
• Always regarding metal, nobles were required to exchange all the gold in their possession for coins: but that didn't last three years later, private possession of gold was again allowed in 10 AD. It is suspected that it was a way to weaken the Han clan, as 10 AD is the date when they were finally demoted to communars
• Bureaucracy titles were changed in 9 AD, commanderies and counties names in 14 AD. That had happened twice under Han, in 144 BC (after the Seven Kingdoms uprising) and in 104 BC (new area supposedly beginning)
• Laws that could have strongly embitter were those regarding the the prohibition of buying or selling slaves and the redistribution of land. But both laws were in fact abrogated in 12 AD; moreover, that regarding the land had been in discussion for centuries now, and was in fact an earlier version of the future equal field system (485 AD)
• Regarding the monopolies of state on iron, salt, liquor, coinage and incomes from mountains and marshes: they had been already established under Former Han as we've seen, and will be resumed under Later Han, even if they had been shortly discontinued from time to time. That it happened in 22 AD wasn't because they weren't successful measures, but because it was impossible to enforce them during the civil war
• Taxes on diverse professional categories were perceived on a wider range of professions than that of Wu-ti (119 BC) but were also lighter
• In 16 AD, an edict stipulated that official stipends would be reduced proportionally in case of bad harvests. Such measures had been taken in 70 BC and will again under Later Han rule. The only difference being the systematization of the measure
• Finally, in regard of foreign policy and non-Chinese: the uprising in what is modern Kweichow in 12 AD and that in modern Yunnan is said to have begun because Wang mang had demoted the local king to marquis, but revolts against the central government had been a constant in the region since it had been incorporated into the Empire in 111 and 109 BC. In fact, Wang Mang appointed a new governor in Yunnan and the region was gradually pacified. Also, Wang Mang has been accused of disrupting a tradition of courtesy regarding the Hsiung-nu leader that had begun in 51 BC. But what is often not underlined strongly enough, is the fact that, despite the courteous nature of those visits, they were never the sign of submission the Chinese believed to be, and the Hsiung-nu were free to resume their attacks whenever they wanted, although the system of mutual hostages made it risky for the hostages' lives. That Wang Mang had demoted the Hsiung-nu leader to a lesser rank had little practical impact, since he had not much power over them in the first place. And once the attacks started, he dealt with them efficiently, both on the diplomatic and military fronts, and there apart from one raid in 19 AD, no aggression from the Hsiung-nu is recorded from 13 AD onwards. The same can be said for his handling of the situation in Central Asia; no matter what his bibliography says, communications were maintained with the westernmost territories until after Wang Mang's death. In fact, Pan Ku even contradict himself when, after accusing Wang Mang for being responsible for the severed communications, he precises that the new protector-general of the Tarim Bassin maintained himself successfully.

Wang Mang has been depicted as an inept "usurper", where he was most able. He was also very interested in a large range of subjects, and was resourceful. Moreover, he was much more strict towards himself and his officials and relatives than the Han had been. But he shared also the flaws of most emperors: superstitious and overreacting to criticism. He also relied much on the Confucian old texts, but that was a general trend at the time, and although he was a Confucian at heart, that didn't prevent him from governing with a great sense of practicality. And, maybe the ultimate sign that his government was widely accepted, was that there seems to have been no assassination attempt between 10 and 20 AD against him. What will ultimately cost him his power and his life will be an event that nothing could have prevented: the change of course of the Yellow River

 

For a long time, the Yellow River had followed a single course, towards the north, that ended at Tiensin. But during P'ing-ti's reign, it flooded the south of the Great Plain , creating an additional arm towards the South-east. This catastrophe must have happened sometime during 3 and 5 AD; a few years later, in 11 AD, it abandoned for good the northward one for its current course ending north of the Shantung peninsula. Those events could in no way have been prevented as no one would have had the resources necessary to do so, and even the repairs required an immense effort.

Certainly many died during the floods and many others left these areas, only to find themselves in places that hadn't enough supplies to support them. As the famine spread, the peasants began to flee southward and, to get food, banded to take it by force. It took such a desperate turn in Shantung that, as a result, the peasants, and a very few members of the gentry, created a large, almost invincible, but poorly organized army called the Red Eyebrows, because of the color -which was also the color of the Former Han dynasty - they chose to paint their forehead as a way to distinguish themselves.

Despite two attempts by Wang Mang in 18 and 22 AD, the governmental troops could not defeat them. In fact, the second victory had been achieved by a single detachment of the Red Eyebrows; they had become so big that it was unpractical to operate as one unit. There were at least three, one of them heading for the rich, agricultural Nan-yang commandery, where descendants of Ching-ti lived. Most of it had been relatively stable until 22 AD, but south were peasants' troops called Hsin-shih operated. When they entered Nan-yang, local peasants created their own band, called Ping-lin, among which was a member of the Liu family, Liu Hsüan. Other members of the Liu family saw the situation as a chance to organize an uprising against Wang Mang, if they could channel popular unrest and direct it against him, and chief among them was Liu Yen (or, under his courtesy name, Liu Po-sheng), who had two younger brother, Chung and Hsiu. Another clan, the Li, agreed to join in the effort despite an old grudge, but others prefered to wait and see where the events would be leading.

At the end of the year, Liu Po-sheng had succeeded in forming an alliance with both the Hsin-shih and the Ping-lin troop; thanks to that, more members of the Nan-yang gentry gave him their support. However, he soon suffered a defeat against the governemental troops where his brother Chung died. The local officials believed the uprising had been crushed, but Liu Po-sheng persuaded the approaching Red Eyebrows' detachment to join his cause. This far more powerful army defeated that of Wang Mang in January 23 AD. It then headed for the capital of Nan-yang, Wan, which was an important city.

To legalize their acts, they had to choose an emperor. But because this army was composed by many different factions, and that one of them, the Red Eyebrows, had not one but numerous leaders, there were now many chieftains who had a right to voice their opinion in the choice; although all agreed on the fact that a member of the Liu family should ascend the throne, the peasants' leaders preferred to Po-sheng his third cousin, Liu Hsüan, in the hope that they could dominate him. There was little Liu Po-sheng could do against this decision, and Liu Hsüan was enthroned in March 23 AD. Yet as we're about to see, it won't be him who would restore the Han dynasty.

In the new government, the Nan-yang gentry could do nothing but accept to be dominated by the chieftains, and they did fought together in the new Han Army. The siege of Wan continued into spring 23 AD, while an expedition led by Liu Po-sheng's surviving brother, Liu Hsiu, entered the commandery of Ying-ch'uan, that bordered that of Nan-yang in the northeast. They were first forced back by the troops of Wang Mang, but in June, they returned with fresh armies, attacking the governmental forces from both sides, and utterly defeated them. As Wan had just fallen, the triumph of the Han troops was complete, as Wang Mang's power over the empire disintegrated and rebellions broke throughout the country.

As the Han armies were marching on the capital, important clans living in Chang-an surroundings took the opportunity to lead their followers to raid the city, and were soon to be joined by some of its inhabitants. Before the arriving of the Han armies the 9th of October, the capital had been looted and Wang Mang and its supporters killed by the crowd. Lo-yang fell too and Liu Hsüan, now known as the emperor Keng-shih, decided to make it his capital. But he was soon to commit several mistakes that would cost him the throne

He first sent Liu Hsiu, the young brother of Liu Po-sheng who had been executed under trumped-up charges shortly after the fall of Wan, to the north of the Grand Plain, therefore releasing him of from his control. Then, he broke his good relations with the leaders of the Red Eyebrows, who returned to their troops, their great help barely acknowledged. The next year, he decided to move the capital again to Chang-an. It had been a source of conflict between the chieftains (who saw the military danger of the move, as it was indefensible if armies ever broke through the passes surrounding it) and the Nan-yang gentry who hoped to isolate there the emperor from the chieftains. Furthermore, even while there were tensions among their own ranks, they succeeded in striping the chieftains from most of their power and having them sent away from the capital.

Keng-shih was in an impossible situation. The greatest part of his territories didn't recognize him, and among them the fertile regions north of the Grand Plain, now under Liu Hsiu's control after he had assembled an army of his own, while those that did weren't enough to sustain the regime. In February 25, the Red Eyebrows marched on the capital and chose another emperor, Liu P'en-tzu, 13, whom they had kidnapped in Shantung, while Liu Hsiu approached from another direction. Inside the city, open battle broke between the Nan-yang gentry and the chieftains, who fled to join the Red eyebrows after a month. The latest entered the capital in October; Keng-shih failed to escape and surrendered the imperial seals to Liu P'en-tzu; meanwhile, the city was sacked by the peasants' troops. But north of the Yellow River, Liu Hsiu proclaimed himself Son of Heaven on 5 August 25. He had become the founder of the Later Han dynasty