Such a fine land Posterity gave Wang Mang a bad rap, because written histories of the period were all based on Ban Gu's History of the Former Han Dynasty. "If not by refuting Wang Mang, how could Guangwu affirm his own position?" points out Ko Ching-ming.
後世對王莽的評價過於極端，主因在今天對王莽的歷史書寫，都來自班固《漢書》，「不否定王莽，東漢光武帝劉秀如何肯定自己？」