emperor he was the son of emperor zhang. he ascended the throne at the age of nine and reigned for 17 years. it was during emperor he's reign that the eastern han began its decline. strife between consort clans and eunuchs began when the empress dowager dou (emperor he's adoptive mother) made her own family members important government officials. her family was corrupt and intolerant of dissension. in 92, emperor he was able to remedy the situation by removing the empress dowager's brothers with the aid of the eunuch zheng zhong and his brother liu qing the prince of qinghe. this in turn created a precedent for eunuchs to be involved in important affairs of state. these trend would continue to escalate for the next century contributing to the fall of the han dynasty. further, while qiang revolts, spurred by corrupt and/or oppressive han officials, started during his father emperor zhang's reign, they began to create major problems for the han during emperor he's reign and would last until the reign of emperor ling.