Ruzi Ying
Ruzi Ying (; 5 – 25), also known as Emperor Ruzi of Han and the personal name of Liu Ying (劉嬰), was the last emperor of the Chinese Western Han Dynasty from 6 CE to 9 CE. After Emperor Ai of Han and Emperor Ping died without heirs, Wang Mang chose the youngest of the available successors in order to maintain his power in the government. The child Ying was soon deposed by Wang Mang who declared the Xin Dynasty in place of the Han. During Xin Dynasty, Ying was under effective house arrest—so much so that as an adult, he did not even know the names of common animals. Before and after the Xin Dynasty was overthrown in 23 CE, many ambitious people claimed to be restoring the Han dynasty. In 25 CE, a rebellion against the temporary Gengshi Emperor used the former Emperor Ruzi as a focus, and when the rebellion was defeated, he was killed. He is often viewed as an innocent child who was the victim of tragic circumstances. (The expression "Emperor Ruzi" is a misnomer, as he never assumed the throne and was only named crown prince. Nevertheless, he is commonly referred to as such.)
Han Chinese
During the Shang dynasty, people of the Wu area in the Yangtze River Delta, were considered a different tribe, and described as being scantily dressed, tattooed and speaking a distinct language. Later, Taibo, elder uncle of Ji Chang – on realising that his younger brother, Jili, was wiser and deserved to inherit the throne – fled to Wu and settled there. Three generations later, King Wu of the Zhou dynasty defeated King Zhou (the last Shang king), and enfeoffed the descendants of Taibo in Wu – mirroring the later history of Nanyue, where a Chinese king and his soldiers ruled a non-Han population and mixed with locals, who were sinicized over time. By the Tang dynasty, however, this area had become part of the Han Chinese heartland.
After the Battle of Muye, the Shang dynasty was overthrown by Zhou (led by Ji Fa), which had emerged as a western state along the Wei River in the 2nd millennium BCE. The Zhou dynasty shared the language and culture of the Shang people, and extended their reach to encompass much of the area north of the Yangtze River. Through conquest and colonization, much of this area came under the influence of sinicization, and this culture extended south. However, the power of the Zhou kings fragmented not long afterwards, and many autonomous vassal states emerged. This dynasty is traditionally divided into two eras – the Western Zhou (1046–771 BCE) and the Eastern Zhou (770–256 BCE) – with the latter further divided into the Spring and Autumn (770–476 BCE) and the Warring States (476–221 BCE) periods. It was a period of significant cultural and philosophical diversification (known as the Hundred Schools of Thought) and Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism are among the most important surviving philosophies from this era.