ABSTRACT
The Latter Han empire has been portrayed as a lackluster continuation of the Former Han dynasty since its own time and has thus been highly underrated and understudied. This chapter, however, suggests understanding the Latter Han as a regime on its own terms, which only employed the rhetorical cloak of reviving the mandate of the Former Han to sustain its legitimacy. It also discusses how the Latter Han as an embattled empire went through different external and internal challenges and lasted for nearly two centuries before its disintegration and the significance of its role as a transformative period in various aspects between early and early medieval China.
