ABSTRACT
On several occasions in the history of Western Han, members of a certain family rose to occupy the highest places in the realm and if for any reason that relationship was threatened, prejudiced or severed, the fortunes of the family suffered abruptly and dramatically. When the Huo family fell in 66 bc none of its male members who had been appointed to high office survived, and the succession of the nobilities which had been conferred upon them fell into abeyance. Attention has been drawn elsewhere to the circumstances in which Huo Kuang rose to stand possessed of ultimate powers of government in the Han Empire. Tu Yen-nien19 was another statesman who recommended Liu Ping-i to Huo Kuang as a suitable successor to Chao ti. The fall of the Huo family involved attention to the supernatural in several ways which merit consideration in view of the contemporary interest in phenomena and spiritual powers.
