Kurš datēja Emperor Ai of Han?

Emperor Ai of Han, personal name Liu Xin (劉欣; 25 BC – 15 August 1 BC), was an emperor of China's Han dynasty. He ascended the throne when he was 20, having been made heir by his childless uncle Emperor Cheng, and he reigned from 7 to 1 BC.

The people and the officials were initially excited about his ascension, as he was viewed by them (as well as Emperor Cheng) to be intelligent, articulate, and capable. However, under Emperor Ai, corruption became even more prevalent and heavy taxes were levied on the people. Furthermore, Emperor Ai was highly controlled by his grandmother Consort Fu (consort of his grandfather and his predecessor's father Emperor Yuan), who demanded the title of Grand Empress Dowager—even though she had never been an empress previously and therefore did not properly hold that title, and this led to the unprecedented and unrepeated situation of four women possessing empress dowager titles at the same time—Empress Wang Zhengjun (Emperor Cheng's mother and Emperor Yuan's wife), Empress Zhao Feiyan (Emperor Cheng's wife), Consort Fu, and Consort Ding (Emperor Ai's mother). Consort Fu's control of the political scene extended until her death in February 2 BC.

During Emperor Ai's reign, he also stripped the Wang clan (Empress Wang's clan), which had been powerful during Emperor Cheng's reign, of much of their power, and substituted members of the Fu and Ding clans in their stead (which, ironically, caused the people, who were not enamored with the Wangs initially, to long for their return to power, as they associated the departure of the Wangs from power with Emperor Ai's incompetence in administration).

In an unpopular act, Emperor Ai had his prime minister Wang Jia (王嘉, unrelated to the Wang clan mentioned above) put to death for criticizing him, an act that made him appear tyrannical. Emperor Ai's shortcomings quickly led to the demoralization of the people towards the government and the acquisition of power by Wang Mang, in a backlash, after Ai died in 1 BC.

Many regarded Emperor Ai as the most effusive homosexual emperor of the Han dynasty, although the Han Dynasty included many emperors that had male lovers. Traditional historians characterized the relationship between Emperor Ai and Dong Xian as one between homosexual lovers and referred to their relationship as "the passion of the cut sleeve" (斷袖之癖) after a story that one afternoon after falling asleep for a nap on the same bed, Emperor Ai cut off his sleeve rather than disturb the sleeping Dong Xian when he had to get out of bed. During Emperor Ai's reign, officials became aware of the promises tied to his favoritism, beginning to dress in a highly ornate fashion. Ironically, Dong was noted for his relative simplicity and given progressively higher and higher posts as part of the relationship, eventually becoming the supreme commander of the armed forces by the time of Emperor Ai's death. Dong was afterward forced to die by suicide.

Emperor Ai also became an influential figure in a Chinese historical anthology called Duanxiupian (断袖篇) focusing on homosexuality in ancient China. Additionally, Emperor Ai is an important figure in Chinese pop culture, especially in online Dan Mei pieces. Online literature referring to him have been emerging on websites such as Jinjiang Literature City.

Dong Xian (董賢; 22 BC – 16 August 1 BC) was a Chinese Han dynasty politician who quickly rose from obscurity as a minor official to become the most powerful official in the imperial administration of Emperor Ai within a span of a few years, and he had both the interest and the complete trust of the emperor.

Most scholars agree that Dong's quick career advancement came mostly because of his personal relationship with Emperor Ai, very likely a romantic and sexual one, rather than a demonstration of abilities. Both men were married to women, but Emperor Ai, at least, was childless.

An idiomatic term for homosexuality in Chinese is duanxiu zhi pi (斷袖之癖, literally, "passion of the cut sleeve"), derived from an episode involving Dong and Emperor Ai. They often slept together on the same straw mat. One afternoon, after Emperor Ai woke up from a nap, Dong was still sleeping, and Emperor Ai's sleeve was stuck under Dong's head. Rather than waking Dong up, Emperor Ai cut off his sleeve to allow Dong to continue to sleep without disturbance.