Emperor Houshao Of Han

Emperor Houshao of Han (; – 14 November 180 BC), personal name Liu Hong (劉弘), was the fourth emperor of the Han dynasty. He was a son of Emperor Hui and an unknown wife of him, likely by a concubine—although there is some controversy on the subject—and adopted by Emperor Hui's wife, Empress Zhang Yan. At the instigation of his grandmother, Empress Lü, Empress Zhang had Emperor Houshao's mother put to death. Very little about Emperor Houshao's life and personality is known.

There are only a few major important events in his life that are documented (which does not even include the year of his birth). In September 188 BC, his father Emperor Hui died, and his brother Liu Gong succeeded to the throne as Emperor Qianshao; his name came about as Empress Dowager Lü personally exercised the power of government alone and held power for herself. In 187 BC, he was made the Marquess of Xiangcheng.

In 186 BC, after his brother Liu Buyi (劉不疑), the Prince of Hengshan, died, he was made the Prince of Hengshan, and his name was changed to Liu Yi, likely because it was considered inappropriate to have one's name (or one's male ancestors' names) share characters with one's titles. Some time during or before 184 BC, Emperor Qianshao discovered that he was not, in fact, now-Empress Dowager Zhang's son and that his mother, like Prince Hong's mother, had been put to death.

Emperor Qianshao made the mistake of publicly making the remark that when he grew up, Empress Dowager Zhang would pay for this.