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Emperor Gao of Han
Birth and death:256 BC¹/247 BC²– June 1, 195 BC
Family name:Liú (劉)
Given name:Ji ³ (季), later Bāng4 (邦)
Courtesy name (字):Ji5 (季)
Dates of reign:Feb. 28, 202 BC6–Jun. 1, 195 BC
Temple name:Taizu7 (太祖), later Gaozu8 (高祖)
Posthumous name:
(short)		Emperor Gao (高帝)
Posthumous name:
(full)		Emperor Gao (高皇帝)
General note: Dates given are in the proleptic Julian calendar.
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1. This is the birth year reported by Huangfu Mi (皇甫謐) (215-282),
the famous author of acupuncture books.
2. This is the birth year reported by Chen Zan (臣瓚) around AD 270
in his comments of the Book of Han (漢書) .
3. Name meaning "the youngest one". Liu Bang was the third son of his
father, his oldest brother was called Bo (伯) , i.e. the "First one", and his
second older brother was called Zhong (仲) , i.e. the "Middle one".
4. Had his name changed into Bang, meaning "country", either when he
was made Prince of Han, or when he ascended the imperial throne.
5. Ji was the courtesy name according to Sima Qian in his
Records of the Grand Historian. It may be that Liú Bāng, after he
changed his name into Bāng, kept his original name Ji as his courtesy
name. However, some authors do not think that "Ji" was ever used as
the courtesy name of Liú Bāng.
6. Was already Prince of Hàn (漢王) since March 206 BC, having been
enfeoffed by the rebelled leader Xiang Yu. Liú Bāng was proclaimed
emperor on February 28, 202 BC after defeating Xiang Yu.
7. Meaning "supreme ancestor". Was apparently the original temple name
of Emperor Gao. Taizu, in the most ancient Chinese tradition, going back
to the Shang Dynasty, was the temple name of the founder of a dynasty.
8. Sima Qian in his Records of the Grand Historian referred to Emperor
Gao as "Gaozu", meaning "high ancestor", perhaps a combination of the
temple name and posthumous name of the emperor (doubts still remain
about why Sima Qian used "Gaozu" instead of "Taizu", and what the exact
nature of this name is). Following Sima Qian, later historians most often
used "Han Gaozu" (漢高祖), and this is the name under which he is still
known inside China. Furthermore, it seems that in the Later Hàn Dynasty
"Gaozu" had replaced "Taizu" as the temple name of Emperor Gāo.

Emperor Gāo () (256 BC or 247 BC–June 1, 195 BC), commonly known inside China as Gāozǔ, personal name Liú Bāng, was the first emperor of the Chinese Hàn Dynasty, ruling over China from 202 BC until 195 BC, and one of only a few dynasty founders who emerged from the peasant class (the other major example being Zhu Yuanzhang founder of the Míng Dynasty). Before becoming an emperor, he was also called Duke of Pei (沛公) after his birthplace. He was also created as the Prince of Hàn by Xiang Yu, the Grand Prince of Western Chu following the collapse of Qín Dynasty, and was called so before becoming emperor.

Early life

Liú Bāng was born into a peasant family in Pei (present Pei County in Jiangsu Province). When he was young, he did not like farm work, and was evidently living a rogue's life. Not surprisingly, he was not the favorite son of his peasant father.

After he grew up, Liú Bāng served as a patrol officer in his county. Once he was responsible for transporting a group of prisoners to Mount Li in present Shaanxi province. During the trip many prisoners fled. Fearful that he would be punished for the prisoners' flight, Liú Bāng released the remaining prisoners and fled himself, becoming the leader of a band of brigands. On one of his raids, he met a county magistrate who became impressed with his leadership skills and gave his daughter Lü Zhi (呂雉) to him in marriage.

Insurrection against Qín

In 209 BC Chen Sheng led an uprising against Qin Dynasty and assumed the title "King of Great Chu." Pei was in old Chu territory. At the time that Liú Bāng released the prisoners he was to escort to Mount Li and then became a fugitive himself, Xiao He was serving as a secretary to the county magistrate of Pei County. When Chen Sheng started his rebellion, the county magistrate considered joining the rebellion, and at the advice of Xiao and Cao Can (曹參) (who was then a county police official), he sent Liú Bāng's brother-in-law Fan Ceng (樊噌) to invite Liú and his company of bandits back to Pei County to support the rebellion. Fan found Liú, but on their way back, the magistrate changed his mind and closed the city gates against them, and also, afraid that Xiao and Cao would open the gates themselves, wanted to execute them. They jumped off the city wall and joined Liú. Liú Bāng, apparently at Xiao's suggestion, then sent letters to city elders urging surrender into the city by shooting them in on arrows. The elders agreed, and they assassinated the county magistrate and opened the gates to let Liú in, offering him the title the Duke of Pei.

Liú Bāng served first as a subordinate of Xiang Liang and then, after Xiang Liang was killed in action, became a subordinate of Mi Xin, Prince Huai of Chu, who was also the nominal leader of the coalition of the rebel states. Prince Xin named Liú Marquess of Wu'an. It was about this time that he met Zhang Liang (張良), who would become a chief strategist of his.

Prince Xin made a promise that whoever occupied Guanzhong first, which was the plain of Central Shaanxi, the Qín homeland, and the core of Qín Dynasty, should be awarded Guanzhong as his kingdom. He then sent Liú Bāng for this mission, partly because he considered Liú a kind and merciful man, and partly because he did not like Xiang Yu, whom he considered cruel and impetuous. When Xiang Yu was busy fighting the main force of the Qin Dynasty, Liú invaded Guanzhong with relative ease.

In December 207 BC, the last Qín ruler Ziying surrendered to Liú Bāng and his rebel army, and in 206 BC Liú entered the Qín capital Xianyang. However, as now Xiang Yu was the most powerful rebel at that time both Ziying and Xianyang were instead forced to be handed to Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu even considered killing Liú in one dinner party that would be later known as the Feast at Hong Gate, but decided otherwise.

Chu-Han Contention

Now considering the whole former Qín Empire under his domination, Xiang Yu realigned the territories of not only the remaining parts of Qín but also the rebel states, dividing the territories into 19 principalities. Xiang Yu did not honor the promise by Xin, Prince Huai of Chu, who would soon himself be assassinated by Xiang's orders. Instead, he gave Guanzhong to the princes of three Qins. Liú Bāng was only awarded the Principality of Hàn (modern Sichuan, Chongqing, and southern Shaanxi).

In Hanzhong, Liú Bāng focused his efforts on developing agriculture methods and training an army, through which he reinforced his resource accumulation and military power. Before long, Liú broke out of his principality, deposed the kings of three Qins and occupied Guanzhong, where he launched a war now known as the Chu-Han War, against Xiang Yu.

Although Xiang Yu was far superior in military ability to Liú Bāng, he was at a political disadvantage. Xiang Yu kept defeating Liú in the battlefield, but each of his victories drove more people to support Liú. When Xiang Yu finally was defeated, he could not recover and committed suicide.

The war lasted five years (206–202 BC) and ended with Liú Bāng's victory. Having defeated Xiang Yu, Liú proclaimed himself emperor and established the Hàn Dynasty in 202 BC and made Cháng'ān (present city of Xi'an) his capital city. Liú became historically known as Emperor Gāo of Hàn.

Reign as the Emperor

After Liú Bāng came into power, he re-centralised China based on Qín's model. He gradually replaced the original vassals, granting their lands to his relatives. Since the economy had been devastated by the war following the demise of the Qín Dynasty, he reduced taxes and corvée, developed agriculture and restricted spending. However, in response to what he saw as the decadence of Qín merchants, he restricted commerce by levying heavy taxes and legal restrictions on merchants. He also made peace with the Xiongnu. Under Gāozǔ's reign, Confucian thought gradually replaced Legalist thought; Confucian scholars were welcomed into his government, while the harsh Legalist laws were lessened. Emperor Gāozǔ's efforts laid a solid foundation for the over four-hundred-year reign of the Hàn Dynasty.

Liú Bāng also devoted to subduing the unruly kings. He soon annexed most of the kingdoms and established princehoods, with his sons and relatives as princes. By doing so he consolidated his new-born empire.

Liú Bāng tried military solutions against the Xiongnu but was beaten hard in the battlefield. He then decided to appease the Xiongnu by marrying ladies from the royal family to Chanyu, the leaders of the Xiongnu. This policy would not change for about 70 years.

Succession

Crown Prince Liú Ying, the eldest son of Liú Bāng and Empress Lü, was the heir apparent of Liú Bāng. However, Liú Bāng disliked him because he considered Ying to be too weak as a ruler. His favorite son was Ruyi, Prince Yin of Zhao, by Lady Qi, one of his favorite concubines. Liú Bāng attempted to make Ruyi crown prince but failed because most of his ministers remained loyal to Ying and his mother Empress Lü.

Liú Bāng's affection for Lady Qi and Ruyi inflamed Empress Lü, and after she became empress dowager after her son's accession following Liú Bang's death, she poisoned Ruyi and tortured Qi to death.

Evaluation

By historians' account, Liú Bang was the contrary to his rival, Xiang Yu. While Xiang Yu was normally depicted as a romantic and noble man, Liú Bāng was often mentioned as a rogue. Xiang Yu was always kind and gentle to his peer and subordinates. However, he was an inferior politician. Han Xin (韓信) described Xiang Yu as "having the kindness of women," meaning that, in his opinion, Xiang's "kindness" was petty and did not benefit either his regime or his people.

Xiang Yu also did not know how to utilize his talented subordinates; Han Xin, for example, was a soldier under Xiang, and his later defection to Liú Bāng, for whom he served as the commander in chief, would be extremely damaging to Xiang. Other main problems with Xiang's rule was his deliberate cruelty in military campaigns, his inability to accept criticism and wise counsel, and his inability to delegate.

Liú Bāng, on the contrary, was bold and arrogant. These being said, he knew how to manipulate his peers and subordinates. He bid them glory and territories generously when he was fighting Xiang Yu, which won the hearty support of most of his peer princes and subordinates. However, once he became the emperor, Liú Bāng ruthlessly oppressed them and executed several of them, most notably Han Xin and Peng Yue. Ying Bu was driven to rebellion by fear, and was also destroyed. Liú Bāng's strong suits were his ability to make decisions based on counsel of others, having an uncanny ability to figure out what counsel is wise and what counsel is not wise; his ability to delegate; and his ability to figure out what would bring a person to follow him.

While Liú Bāng might have been deliberately derogatory of Xiang, he was not particularly off the mark when he commented on the reason why he was successful and Xiang was not:

The most important reason is that I know how to use people and Xiang Yu did not. As to being able to set out a strategy in a tent but determining success or failure in the events a thousand miles away, I am not as good as Zhang Liang. As to guarding the home base, comforting the people, and supplying the army so that it lacked neither food nor supplies, I am not as good as Xiao He. As to leading untrained large forces but always being successful whether battling or sieging, I am not as good as Han Xin. These three people are heroes among men, but I know how to use them, so I was able to conquer the lands under heaven. Xiang Yu only had one great advisor, Fan Zeng, but was unable to use him properly, and so was defeated by me.

An incident involving Ying Bu demonstrates his personality well. Ying Bu was initially a subordinate of Xiang's, and in reward for Ying's military capabilities, Xiang created him the Prince of Jiujiang. However, Xiang also clearly began to distrust Ying, and once when Ying, then ill, was unable to lead a force on Xiang's behalf, Xiang sent a delegation to rebuke him and to monitor his illness, not believing the illness to be genuine. In fear and goaded by the diplomat Sui He (隨何), whom Liú Bāng sent to Jiujiang to try to make an alliance with Ying, Ying rebelled against Xiang, but his army was defeated by Xiang and he fled to Liú Bāng's headquarters. When Liú Bāng received Ying, he was half-naked and washing his feet, and he greeted Ying in crude language. Ying, a great general in his own right and a prince, was so humiliated that he considered suicide. However, once Liú Bāng had Ying escorted to the headquarters that he had built in ancitipation of Ying's arrival, Ying became impressed — Ying's headquarters had the same size, same furnishings, same level of personnel staffing, and same security as Liú Bāng's own headquarters. Ying got the impression that Liú Bāng's earlier slights were in fact endearments, treating him as an equal and a brother in arms, and he became a key figure in Liú Bāng's campaign against Xiang.

Xiang Yu was generally remembered as a fallen hero, while many considered Liú Bāng a rogue. However, Liú Bāng treated the commons much better than the former nobles. He was a true popular monarch, thus establishing one of the golden ages of China.

Personal information

See also

195 BC deaths | 247 BC births | 256 BC births | Han Dynasty emperors

Han Gaozu | Liu Bang | Gaozu (Han) | Gaozu (imperatore Han) | 劉邦 | Hán Cao Tổ | 刘邦

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Gaozu of Han".

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