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| Emperor Guangwen of Han 漢光文帝 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Emperor ofHan-Zhao | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 304 – 29 August 310 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Liu He | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 29 August 310 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Burial | Yongguang Mausoleum (永光陵) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Issue | see#Family | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| House | Liu | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | Han-Zhao | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Father | Liu Bao | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Mother | Lady Huyan | ||||||||||||||||||||
Liu Yuan (劉淵, died 29 August 310[1]),courtesy nameYuanhai (元海), also known by hisposthumous name as theEmperor Guangwen of Han (Zhao) (漢(趙)光文帝) was the foundingemperor of theXiongnu-ledHan-Zhao dynasty of China during theSixteen Kingdoms period.[2] Due toTang dynastynaming taboo, he is referred to by his courtesy name asLiu Yuanhai (劉元海) in theBook of Jin.[3]
With the dissolution of the Southern Xiongnu in 216, the last vestiges of their power were divided into Five Divisions inBing province around modern-dayShanxi. Liu Yuan was born into the aristocracy of the Five Divisions and was sent to the Chinese capital,Luoyang as a hostage during his youth, where he became highlysinicized and later held several government offices under theWestern Jin dynasty. As theWar of the Eight Princes weakened Jin authority in northern China, Liu Yuan was called upon by the Five Divisions to lead their rebellion, and in 304, he declared independence from the Jin and founded theHan-Zhao dynasty, one of the first of the Sixteen Kingdoms. His declaration, along with the founding of theCheng-Han dynasty inSichuan that same year, marked the formal end of the Western Jin's brief unification of China following theThree Kingdoms period.
Liu Yuan proclaimed himself a direct descendant of the Southern Xiongnuchanyus and, by extension, theHan dynasty, since his ancestors had married Han princesses through the practice ofheqin. His state of Han (renamed Zhao in 319) was initially depicted as a restoration of the Han dynasty, and as anti-Jin sentiment continued to grow, Liu Yuan soon found himself leading a coalition of Han Chinese and tribal rebels in northern China. Though he would not live to see it, his family and generals would eventually drive the Jin dynasty out of the north.
According to official history, Liu Yuan was a member ofXiongnu nobility, as a descendant of the first greatchanyu in Xiongnu history,Modu Chanyu, who, along with their people, had long been loyal vassals to theHan dynasty and to its successor statesCao Wei andJin. In late Wei or early Jin times, the Xiongnu nobles claimed that they descended from the Han dynasty's ruling Liu clan also — through a princess who had married Modu Chanyu – and therefore changed their family name to Liu. Liu Yuan's father,Liu Bao, was a son of one of the last Southern Xiongnuchanyus,Yufuluo, and the nephew of the last Southern XiongnuchanyuHuchuquan (beforeCao Cao abolished the office in 216 and divided the Xiongnu into the Five Divisions); Liu Bao had the command of the Left Tribe (左部). Liu Yuan's mother Lady Huyan appeared to be from a noble family, and was in probability Liu Bao's wife, rather than a concubine. As the Five Divisions settled down inBingzhou (modern southernShanxi), that was likely where Liu Yuan was born and raised.
As powerful nobles from the Five Divisions were usually encouraged or pressured by Cao Wei and Jin authorities to send their sons to the capitalLuoyang (both to encourage them to furthersinicization and as collateral for their loyalty), Liu Yuan was sent to Luoyang to reside and to study traditional Chinese literature. He became well known for his studies, particularly of the Zou version ofConfucius'Spring and Autumn Annals and of the military strategies ofSun Tzu andWu Qi. The key Jin officialWang Hun became impressed with him, and Wang Hun's son Wang Ji became a close friend of Liu Yuan's. Wang Hun believed Liu to be general material and repeatedly recommended Liu Yuan toEmperor Wu, but Kong Xun andEmpress Yang Zhi's uncle Yang Ji suspected Liu for his Xiongnu ancestry and persuaded Emperor Wu against giving Liu military commands during campaigns against Eastern Wu and theXianbei rebelTufa Shujineng. Eventually, even Emperor Wu's brotherSima You the Prince of Qi, impressed and fearful of Liu's abilities, encouraged Emperor Wu to have Liu executed, but Wang Hun persuaded Emperor Wu that it would be wrong. When Liu Bao died in 279, Emperor Wu permitted Liu Yuan to take over command of the Left Tribe. In 289, he was transferred to Commander of the North Tribe.
As the commander of the tribes, Liu became known for his fair administration of laws and willingness to listen to ideas, and also for his willingness to spread his wealth. This led the ambitious people in his region, not only of the Five Divisions but of manyHan clans, to flock to him. After Emperor Wu's death and succession byEmperor Hui, theregentYang Jun made Liu the commander of the Five Divisions, but toward the end of the subsequent regency of Emperor Hui's wife, EmpressJia Nanfeng, Liu was removed from that position due to his inability to stop one of his countrymen's rebellions. Later, whenSima Ying the Prince of Chengdu became the military commander atYecheng, he invited Liu to be one of his subordinate military commanders, and Liu accepted the invitation.
In the midst of theWar of the Eight Princes, in 304, the Five Divisions nobles, led by the commander of the North Tribe,Liu Xuan, who was tired of misrule by the Jin, secretly plotted independence. They sent a messenger to secretly offer Liu Yuan the title of GrandChanyu. Liu Yuan told Sima Ying, who was concerned about an attack fromWang Jun, whose troops were reinforced withXianbei andWuhuan soldiers, that he would be willing to mobilize the soldiers of the Five Divisions to support Sima Ying's cause. Sima Ying agreed and allowed Liu Yuan to return to the Five Divisions.
Once Liu Yuan returned to his people, he gathered 50,000 men quickly and was readying himself to rush to Sima Ying's aid, but he also publicly accepted the title of GrandChanyu. (Previously, Sima Ying had bestowed the title of NorthChanyu on him.) However, he then heard that Sima Ying's forces had collapsed in fear of Wang's troops and that Sima Ying had, against his prior advice, fled to Luoyang. He then declared his people independent from the Jin (establishing the state of "Han", often referred to as "Han-Zhao" or "Former Zhao") and further declared that, as a Han descendant, he would succeed to the Han throne, and claimed the title of the King of Han—deliberately choosing a title that had been previously held by the Han dynasty's founder,Emperor Gaozu. He reestablished the worship of eight Han emperors—Emperor Gaozu,Emperor Wen,Emperor Wu,Emperor Xuan,Emperor Guangwu,Emperor Ming,Emperor Zhang, andLiu Bei (Emperor Zhaolie).
For those who had previously been impressed with Liu's abilities, his reign was somewhat of a let down. He spent great energy trying to restore the Han system of government, but was unable to quickly expand his sphere of influence. He set his capital at Lishi (in modernLüliang,Shanxi), but his control of territory became limited to that local region. His forces were often able to achieve victories over Jin forces but were unable to hold cities. In 305, after a famine, he relocated to Liting (in modernChangzhi, Shanxi).
As years went by, however, the various agrarian rebel generals who were resisting Jin rule, whether ethnicallyWu Hu or Han, often chose to come under Liu Yuan's Han banner. Chief among these were the Chinese generalWang Mi and theJie generalShi Le (both of whom declared loyalty to Han in 307), who generally only nominally submitted to Liu's orders while maintaining separate power structures but who also did appear to genuinely respect and fear Liu. Liu largely entrusted troops under his own control to his sonLiu Cong, the Prince of Chu and his nephewLiu Yao, the Prince of Shi'an. The four generals, while not being able to hold cities, were generally able to rove throughout northern and central China unimpeded by Jin forces, defeating most Jin generals who opposed them.
In 308, Wang's troops advanced on the Jin capital, Luoyang, but was repelled. That year, after capturing more territory, Liu Yuan moved his capital to Puzi (in modernLinfen,Shanxi) and declared himself emperor, signifying an even more complete break from the Jin. In 309, he moved the capital once more to Pingyang (also in modern Linfen). By this time,Liu Cong and Wang Mi controlled all of southern Shanxi for Han, and they attacked Luoyang again, but were repelled.
In 310, Liu Yuan grew ill, and he created his second wifeLady Shanempress and his oldest sonLiu He (by his first wife Empress Huyan—who appeared to have died by this point)crown prince. When he died later that year, Liu He became emperor. However, a week later, he was overthrown and killed byLiu Cong, who then became emperor.
In theBook of Wei, Chinese authorWei Shou notes that Liu Yuan was over six feet tall and that he had strands of red hair in his longbeard.[4]
Some modern Chinese academics, such as Tang Changru and Chen Yong, cast doubt on Liu Yuan's lineage from the Southern Xiongnuchanyus, with Tang in particularly presenting three reasons. Firstly, Liu Bao's lifespan was unusually long, with the assumption that he was 20 years old when he becameTuqi King in 195 and dying duringTufa Shujineng rebellion sometime around 274; he would have been in his 70s when Liu Yuan was born in the 250s. Secondly, the Leader (or Commander) of the Left Tribe in 272 was Li Ke and not Liu Bao according toEmperor Wu's entry in theJinshu, but Liu Yuan's entry states that he inherited the position from his father. Thirdly, Liu Yuan was from Xinxing Commandery (north of present-dayXinzhou,Shanxi), which would have placed him in the North Tribe rather than the Left Tribe. Furthermore, theJinshu states that after becoming Leader of the Left Tribe, he was later transferred to become Commander of the North Tribe, and when Sima Ying permitted him to return to the Xiongnu, he was given the title of NorthChanyu rather than the vacant title of SouthChanyu, which was held by his supposed ancestors.
Tang hypothesized that these discrepancies were due to Liu Yuan actually being from theChuge people (also known as Xiuchuge), which is supported by the fact that he and his family members are referred to as "Chuge" in several passages from relevant records. The Chuge are theorized to be the descendants of KingXiutu's tribe, who surrendered to the Han dynasty in 121 BC, much earlier than the Southern Xiongnu. From theHexi Corridor, the Chuge spread out throughout northern China and became the most powerful and prestigious tribe among the Xiongnu within China. In 188 AD, they killed the Southern Xiongnuchanyu,Qiangqu and exiled his sonYufuluo. After the Five Divisions were established inBingzhou, they were all annexed byLiu Bao of the Chuge in the 250s. It is possible that Liu Yuan and Han-Zhao historians fabricated his ties to the Luandi clan for more legitimacy by presenting his rule as both a continuation of the Southern Xiongnuchanyus and a restoration of the Han dynasty.[5][6]
However, another modern scholar, Zhou Weizhou, challenged Tang's hypothesis, asserting that the three discrepancies he pointed out could easily be explained and that the records clearly states that Liu Yuan was a descendant of the Southern Xiongnu Chanyu. Firstly, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Liu Bao was a child when he was appointed Tuqi King and had Liu Yuan when he was in his 50s. Li Ke was also described as a "general ofLiu Meng (Leader of the Central Tribe)" in Hu Fen's biography in theBook of Jin, so there is no consensus on whether he was the Leader (or Commander) of the Left Tribe or merely a general. For his last point, Zhou explains that the offices of the Southern Xiongnu, including that of thechanyu family, were mostly empty titles and that their positions could be easily changed by the Jin court as a method of divide and rule, though they could occasionally be sent back to their respective tribes to recruit and garrison soldiers. While Zhou agrees on the origins of the Chuge, he also believes that the reason for their prevalence was because there were no longer any "pureblooded Xiongnu" at the time, and that Chuge had become a blanket term particularly for the sinicized Xiongnu.[7]
Consorts and their respective issue(s):
Emperor Guangwen of Han (Zhao) Died: 310 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Recreated Title last held by Emperor Gaozu of Han | King ofHan 304–308 | Succeeded by Himself asEmperor of Han-Zhao |
| Preceded by Himself as King ofHan | Emperor of Han-Zhao 308–310 | Succeeded by |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Preceded by | — TITULAR — Empire of China Royal descent claimant 304–310 Reason for succession failure: Wu Hu uprising | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
