subject: The Greatest Emperor in Chinese History-Top Ten-Num 3 - Emperor Wu of Han [print this page] Emperor Wu Emperor Wu
Born to the name of Liu Che in 156 BC, he is viewed much like Qin Shi Huang; contributing many things to the development of China but causing much pain and sorrow to his people. When he started his rule in 141 BC he was 7th Emperor of the Han dynasty. At the age of 15 he didn't have full access to his power as he began his rule under the guidance of his grandmother, mother and half brother.
He began to wield more power once his grandmother had perished. His major focus during his rule was expansion. During his rule China rose to become one of the most powerful forces in the world. He managed to expand China to double its size during his rule, with more of the conquered territories continuing to be part of China to this day. With this expansion he managed to remove the threat of the Huns to his empire.
Even more important than the rapid expansion was the rapid promotion of Confucianism. During his rule Confucianism become the dominate thought in China, effecting how china governed all the way to very last emperor. These were two greatest achievements that Liu Che created but he also did some other remarkable things. The national finance was reformed by regulating and controlling the sale of salt, alcohol and so increasing the government revenue, a move that many other dynasties would copy. He was also the emperor who started the famous silk roads and began making relations with other western countries.
However as he grew older he started to fear death and in turn started to become paranoid. This paranoia was used by corrupt officials to execute many ministers. In this paranoia he started to segregate himself from the court and only allowed the corrupt officials who praised him to be in his presence. A prime example of this was when the ministers continually spread ill rumors to the emperor about his son the crown prince, which escalated and turned into a civil war.
Emperor Wu spend much of his time travelling trying to seek an clair for eternal life, this traveling along with the expense of war put great pressure on his population causing rebellion and anger. Even though his paranoia and aggression cause many problems during his rule his achievements affected China long after the collapse of his dynasty.
The Greatest Emperor in Chinese History-Top Ten-Num 3 - Emperor Wu of Han
