Empress Jia and and her clan remain in power until 300, when she deposes and assassinates the heir to the throne, Sima Yu, her husband's son by the concubine Consort Xie Jiu.

Sima Lun, who commands the imperial guards, takes this opportunity to kill the Empress Jia and her faction.

Sima Lun places himself in power and tries to centralize control over the powerful princes; this results in the rebellion of Sima Yun, who marches his troops to the capital against Sima Lun; Sima Yun is killed by Sima Lun's troops in the ensuing battle in Luoyang.

Sima Lun then imprisons Emperor Hui and styles himself as the new emperor.

 Emperor Hui’s regent Sima Jiong, the fourth of the eight princes commonly associated with the War of the Eight Princes, responds to Sima Yun’s usurpation by leading a coalition of forces, including Sima Ying and Sima Yong, against Sima Lun.

In 301, they defeat Sima Lun's troops, kill him, and then reestablish Emperor Hui as the emperor, with Sima Jiong exerting the most influence at the imperial court.

Sima Jiong tries to centralize power in his hands but the princes rebel against him: he is defeated by Sima Ai, the Prince of Changsha, and killed in 302.

Sima Ai, the fifth of the eight princes, becomes the effective regent, but in order to reduce opposition, he submits all important matters to Sima Ying, still stationed at Yecheng.

Sima Ai, as regent, pays attention to reforming the government, and he sees the importance of formally honoring Emperor Hui while maintaining resemblance to impartial governance.

He continues to try to share power with Sima Ying.

However, in autumn 303, Sima Yong, dissatisfied that his plan had not come to fruition, persuades Sima Ying to again join him against Sima Ai.

While Sima Yong and Sima Ying have overwhelming force, their forces cannot score a conclusive victory against Sima Ai.

Chinese poet Lu Ji leads a Taoist and Buddhist-influenced movement toward a more individualistic and uninhibited literary style.

After Wu’s subjugation by the Jin Dynasty in 280, Lu Ji, a direct descendant of the founders of Eastern Wu and son of the general Lu Kang, had moved with his brother Lu Yun to the capital, Luoyang, where he has become prominent in both literature and politics and has been made president of the imperial university.

According to Achilles Fang, quoted in Eliot Weinberger (ed.

), The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry (New Directions, 2003: ISBN 0811215407), p. 240, “ He was too scintillating for the comfort of his jealous contemporaries; in 303 he, along with his two brothers and two sons, was put to death on a false charge of high treason."

Lu Ji wrote much lyric poetry but is better known for writing fu, a mixture of prose and poetry.

He is best remembered for the Wenfu ("On Literature"), a piece of literary criticism that discourses on the principles of composition.

Sima Ai makes peace overtures to Sima Ying, but after negotiations, those efforts fail.

Sima Yong's forces are about to withdraw in spring 304 when Sima Yue the Prince of Donghai, the grandson of a great-granduncle of Emperor Hui, believing that Sima Ai cannot win this war, arrests him and delivers him to Sima Yong's general Zhang Fang, who executes Sima Ai cruelly by burning him to death.

Sima Yue's troops by this time have strongly incorporated Wuhuan and Xianbei troops as cavalry.

Xiongnu nobles, tired of Jin misrule and secretly plotting independence from Jin, send a messenger in 304 to secretly offer Liu Yuan, the commander of the North Tribe of the Xiongnu, the title of Grand Chanyu.

Liu Yuan then tells Sima Ying, who is concerned about an attack from Wang Jun, whose troops are reinforced with Xianbei and Wuhuan soldiers, that he would be willing to mobilize Xiongnu soldiers to support Sima Ying's cause.

Sima Ying agrees and allows Liu Yuan to return to the Xiongnu tribes.

Once Liu Yuan returns to his people, he gathers fifty thousand men quickly and is readying himself to rush to Sima Ying's aid, but he also publicly accepts the title of Grand Chanyu.

(Previously, Sima Ying had bestowed the title of North Chanyu on him.)

However, he then hears that Sima Ying's forces have collapsed in fear of Wang's troops and that Sima Ying had, against his prior advice, fled to Luoyang.

He now declares his people independent from Jin and further declares that, as a Han descendant, he will succeed to the Han throne legitimately, and therefore claims the title of the Prince of Han—deliberately choosing a title that had been previously held by Han Dynasty's founder, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao).

He reestablishes the worship of eight Han emperors—Emperor Gao, Emperor Wen, Emperor Wu, Emperor Xuan, Emperor Guangwu, Emperor Ming, Emperor Zhang, and Liu Bei (Emperor Zhaolie)—and creates his wife Lady Huyan (likely a relative of his mother) princess.

(The name of Liu's state was therefore "Han," but is often referred to as "Han Zhao" or "Former Zhao" because his nephew Liu Yao, who will take the throne in 318, will change the name of the state to Zhao in 319.)

He spends great energy on trying to restore the Han system of government, but he himself is unable to quickly expand his sphere of influence.

He establishes his capital at Lishi (in modern Lüliang, Shanxi), but his control of territory becomes limited to this local region.

His forces are often able to achieve victories over Jin forces but unable to hold cities.