One of the most great emperors in Chinese history:汉武帝（hàn wǔ dì）Emperor Wu of Han

Emperor Wu of Han (simplified Chinese: 汉武帝; pinyin: hànwǔdì; Wade-Giles: Wu Ti), (156 BC–March 29, 87 BC), personal name Liu Che, was the seventh emperor of the Han Dynasty in modern day mainland China, ruling from 141 BC to 87 BC. Emperor Wu is best remembered for the vast territorial expansion that occurred under his reign, as well as the strong and centralized Confucian state he organized. He is cited in Chinese history as one of the greatest emperors of the Han dynasty. Emperor Wu’s effective governance made the Han Dynasty one of the, if not the most powerful nation in the world.As a military campaigner, Emperor Wu led Han China through its greatest expansion — at its height, the Empire’s borders spanned from the modern Kyrgyzstan in the west, to northern Korea in the northeast, and to northern Vietnam in the south. Emperor Wu successfully repelled the nomadic Xiongnu from systematically raiding northern China and dispatched his envoy Zhang Qian in 139 BC to seek an alliance with the Yuezhi of modern Uzbekistan. This resulted in further missions to Central Asia. Although historical records do not describe him as a follower of Buddhism, exchanges probably occurred as a consequence of these embassies, and there are suggestions that he received Buddhist statues from central Asia, as depicted in Mogao Caves murals.

He ordered the first census in recorded history of China to take place in his reign.

While establishing an autocratic and centralized state, Emperor Wu adopted the principles of Confucianism as the state philosophy and code of ethics for his empire and started a school to teach future administrators the Confucian classics. These reforms would have an enduring effect throughout the existence of imperial China and an enormous influence on neighboring civilizations. Emperor Wu’s reign lasted 54 years — a record that would not be broken until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor more than 1800 years later.

Emperor Wu was the tenth child of Emperor Jing, and was born to one of Emperor Jing’s favorite concubines, Consort Wang Zhi in 156 BC. His mother had initially been married once, to a commoner called Jin Wangsun and had a daughter from that marriage. However, her mother Zang Er (a granddaughter of one-time Prince of Yan, Zang Tu, under Emperor Gao) was told by a fortuneteller that both Wang Zhi and her sister would one day become extremely honored. Zang got the idea to offer them to Crown Prince Liu Qi (later Emperor Jing) and forcibly divorced Wang Zhi from her husband in the process. A son was born shortly after Prince Qi succeeded the throne from his deceased father Emperor Wen.

When Consort Wang was pregnant, she claimed that she dreamed of a sun falling into her womb. It was also said that Emperor Jing dreamed of a crimson boar descending from the cloud into the palace. The young, newly born prince was therefore named Liu Zhi, with Zhi literally meaning “boar”, but also implying the dragon — a mystical sign of nobility and fortune. In 153 BC, Prince Zhi was made the Prince of Jiaodong.

As Emperor Jing’s formal wife Empress Bo had no children, his oldest son Liu Rong, born to his another favorite concubine Consort Li, was created crown prince in 153 BC. Consort Li was arrogant and easily jealous, and she hoped to become empress after Empress Bo was deposed in 151 BC. However, her lack of tact and bad personality would give Consort Wang a break. When Consort Li, out of a grudge to Emperor Jing’s sister Princess Piao, refused to let her son marry Princess Piao’s daughter Chen Jiao, Consort Wang took the opportunity and had Chen Jiao betrothed to Prince Zhi. Princess Piao then began incessantly criticize Consort Li for her jealousy — pointing out that if Consort Li became empress dowager, many concubines might suffer the fates of Consort Qi, Emperor Gao’s favorite concubine who was tortured, mutilated and killed by Emperor Gao’s wife Empress Dowager Lü after Emperor Gao’s death. Emperor Jing was shocked upon the suggestion, and decided that such risk must be prevented. He deposed Prince Rong from the successor position in 150 BC. Consort Li, enraged and humiliated with the turn of event, died very soon after. Prince Rong later was charged with committing misconducts, and committed suicide in custody.

That year, Consort Wang was created empress, and Prince Zhi became the crown prince, with his name changed to Liu Che. Given his young age, there was not much record of any accomplishments by him while being the Crown Prince. When Emperor Jing died in 141 BC, Crown Prince Che succeeded to the throne as Emperor Wu at age 15.