Emperor Wu of Han
On the 16th of May 153 BC, a five-year-old boy named Liu Che received the title Prince of Jiaodong. This young prince stood at the center of a political storm that would eventually crown him Emperor Wu of Han. His mother Wang Zhi had been forcibly divorced from her first husband Jin Wangsun to become a consort for Crown Prince Liu Qi. The soothsayer who predicted her daughters would become honored women set in motion a chain of events that placed this child on the path to power.
Emperor Jing made his son the Prince of Jiaodong on the same day he appointed Liu Rong as Crown Prince. The young Liu Che was considered the emperor's favorite son from a very early age. When Princess Guantao offered to marry her daughter Chen Jiao to the seven-year-old Liu Che, she secured a crucial political alliance with Consort Wang. The princess held the five-year-old Liu Che in her arms and asked if he wanted to marry his cousin A'Jiao. The boy boasted that he would build a golden house for her if they were married.
This promise inspired the Chinese idiom "putting Jiao in a golden house." Princess Guantao used the boy's response as a divine sign to convince Emperor Jing to finally agree to the arranged marriage between Liu Che and Chen Jiao. The union sealed the political alliance that would help secure Liu Che's future throne against powerful rivals like Lady Li.
In late 141 BC, only one year into his reign, Emperor Wu launched an ambitious reform known as the Jianyuan Reforms. These reforms included officially endorsing Confucianism as the national philosophy and forcing noblemen back to their own fiefdoms. The policy dictated that nobles could no longer live off the government's spending and must leave the capital Chang'an if lacking any justifiable reason to keep staying.
Emperor Wu's grandmother Grand Empress Dowager Dou held real political power in the Han court and supported the conservative factions. Most of the reformists were punished: Emperor Wu's two noble supporters Dou Ying and Tian Fen lost their positions, and his two mentors Wang Zang and Zhao Wan were impeached, arrested and forced to commit suicide in prison. Deprived of any allies, Emperor Wu became the subject of conspiracies designed to have him removed from the throne.
His first wife Empress Chen Jiao was unable to become pregnant, which his enemies used as an argument to seek to depose him. Even Emperor Wu's own maternal uncle Tian Fen switched camps and sought Liu An's favor. Princess Guantao took every opportunity to influence the Grand Empress and also constantly made demands on behalf of her nephew. However, Emperor Wu's mother, Empress Dowager Wang, convinced him to tolerate Empress Chen and Liu Piao for the time being.
In 138 BC, the southern autonomous state of Minyue invaded the weaker neighboring state of Dong'ou. The battered Dong'ou desperately sought help from the Han court after their king Zuo Zhenfu died on the battlefield. Emperor Wu dispatched a newly promoted official Yan Zhu to Kuaiji to mobilize the local garrison.
The tiger tally, which was needed to authorize any use of armed forces, was in Grand Empress Dowager Dou's possession at the time. Yan Zhu circumvented this problem by executing a local army commander who refused to obey any order without seeing the tiger tally. He coerced the governor of Kuaiji to mobilize a large naval fleet to Dong'ou's rescue. Seeing that superior Han forces were on the way, Minyue forces became fearful and retreated.
This was a huge political victory for Emperor Wu and set the precedent of using the Emperor's decrees to bypass the tiger tally. It removed the need for cooperation from his grandmother. Although Grand Empress Dowager Dou remained an obstacle until her death in 135 BC, the military was now firmly under his control. In the same year, his concubine Wei Zifu became pregnant with his first child, effectively clearing his name.
Following the end of the Chu-Han Contention, Emperor Gao of Han realized that the nation was not yet strong enough to confront the Xiongnu. He therefore resorted to the so-called marriage alliance or heqin in order to ease hostility and buy time for the nation to rest and recover. Despite periodic humiliation, the Han borders were still frequented by Xiongnu raids for the next seven decades.
After the death of his powerful grandmother, Emperor Wu decided that Han China had sufficiently recovered to support a full-scale war. He first ended the official policy of peace with the Battle of Mayi in 133 BC. This involved a failed plan to trick a force of 30,000 Xiongnu into an ambush of 300,000 Han soldiers. While neither side suffered any casualties, the Xiongnu retaliated by increasing their border attacks.
The failure of the Mayi operation prompted Emperor Wu to switch the Han army's doctrine from the traditionally more defensive chariot-infantry warfare to a highly mobile and offensive cavalry-against-cavalry warfare. After a series of defeats by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing between 127 and 119 BC, the Xiongnu were expelled from the Ordos Desert and Qilian Mountains. The Battle of Mobei in 119 BC saw Han forces invade the northern regions of the Gobi Desert.
The exploration into Xiyu was first started in 139 BC when Emperor Wu commissioned Zhang Qian to seek out the Kingdom of Yuezhi. Zhang was to entice the kingdom to return to its ancestral lands with promises of Han military assistance. Zhang was immediately captured by Xiongnu once he ventured into the desert but was able to escape around 129 BC.
He eventually made it to Yuezhi which had relocated to Samarkand. While Yuezhi refused to return, several other kingdoms including Dayuan and Kangju established diplomatic relations with Han. Zhang delivered his report to Emperor Wu when he arrived back in the capital Chang'an in 126 BC after a second and shorter captivity by Xiongnu.
After the Prince of Hunxie surrendered the Gansu region, the path to Xiyu became clear and regular embassies between Han and the Xiyu kingdoms commenced. Another expansion plan aimed at the south-western tribal kingdoms led to the establishment of the Commandery of Jianwei. Later, after Zhang Qian returned from the western region, part of his report indicated that embassies could more easily reach Shendu and Anxi.
Emperor Wu worshiped the divinity Tai Yi or Dong Huang Tai Yi, a deity to whom he was introduced by his shaman advisers. The emperor even went so far as to construct a House of Life chapel at his Ganquan palace complex in modern Xianyang specifically for this purpose in 118 BC.
One of the religious rituals that Emperor Wu organized was the Suburban Sacrifice. The nineteen hymns entitled Hymns for Use in the Suburban Sacrifice were written in connection with these religious rites and published during Wu's reign. It was also during this time that Emperor Wu began to show a fascination with immortality.
He began to associate with magicians who claimed to be able to create divine pills that would confer immortality if they could find the proper ingredients. However, he himself punished others' use of magic severely. In 130 BC, when the witch Chu Fu tried to approach Empress Chen to teach her sorcery and love spells, he dispatched Zhang Tang to execute Chu Fu for witchcraft.
In 96 BC, a series of witchcraft persecutions began after Emperor Wu experienced a nightmare of being whipped by tiny stick-wielding puppets. He ordered extensive investigations with harsh punishments. Large numbers of people including many high officials were accused of witchcraft and executed usually along with their entire clans.
The first trial began with Empress Wei Zifu's elder brother-in-law Gongsun He and his son Gongsun Jingsheng. This quickly led to the execution of their entire clan. Also caught in this disaster were Crown Prince Ju's two elder sisters Princess Yangshi and Princess Zhuyi as well as his cousin Wei Kang. They were all accused of witchcraft and executed in 91 BC.
These witchcraft persecutions later became intertwined in succession struggles and erupted into a major catastrophe. Conspirators against Prince Ju included Jiang Chong who had once had a run-in with Ju after arresting one of his assistants for improper use of an imperial right of way. Su Wen chief eunuch in charge of caring for imperial concubines also made false accusations against Ju claiming he was joyful over Wu's illness.
After Crown Prince Ju fled the capital following the defeat in Chang'an, he took refuge in the home of a poor peasant family in Hu County. Knowing that their good-hearted hosts could never afford the daily expenditure of so many people, the Prince sought help from an old friend who lived nearby. However, this move exposed their whereabouts and he was soon tracked down by local officials eager for a reward.
Surrounded by troops and seeing no chance of escape, the Prince hung himself. His two sons and the family housing them died with him after the government soldiers eventually broke into the yard. The two local officials Zhang Fuchang and Li Shou wasted no time in taking the Prince's body to Chang'an to claim a reward from the emperor.
Common questions
When was Emperor Wu of Han born and what title did he receive as a child?
Emperor Wu of Han was born on the 16th of May 153 BC when he received the title Prince of Jiaodong. This young prince stood at the center of a political storm that would eventually crown him Emperor Wu of Han.
What major reforms did Emperor Wu of Han implement in late 141 BC?
In late 141 BC, only one year into his reign, Emperor Wu launched an ambitious reform known as the Jianyuan Reforms. These reforms included officially endorsing Confucianism as the national philosophy and forcing noblemen back to their own fiefdoms.
How did Emperor Wu of Han change military strategy against the Xiongnu between 127 and 119 BC?
After a series of defeats by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing between 127 and 119 BC, the Xiongnu were expelled from the Ordos Desert and Qilian Mountains. The Battle of Mobei in 119 BC saw Han forces invade the northern regions of the Gobi Desert using highly mobile cavalry-against-cavalry warfare.
When did Zhang Qian return to Chang'an after exploring the western region for Emperor Wu of Han?
Zhang delivered his report to Emperor Wu when he arrived back in the capital Chang'an in 126 BC after a second and shorter captivity by Xiongnu. This mission began in 139 BC when Emperor Wu commissioned Zhang Qian to seek out the Kingdom of Yuezhi.
What witchcraft persecutions occurred under Emperor Wu of Han starting in 96 BC?
In 96 BC, a series of witchcraft persecutions began after Emperor Wu experienced a nightmare of being whipped by tiny stick-wielding puppets. Large numbers of people including many high officials were accused of witchcraft and executed usually along with their entire clans.