Wudi

Chinese emperor (r. 140-87 b.c.e.)

• Born: 156 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Unknown
• Died: 87 b.c.e.
• Place of death: China

The victorious campaigns led by Wudi’s generals made Han China the paramount power throughout central Asia. Wudi’s domestic and foreign policies exemplified the activist model, in contrast to the passive, laissez-faire policies of his predecessors.

Early Life

Wudi (wew-dee) became heir apparent at age nine and emperor at his father’s death in his sixteenth year. His fifty-three-year reign was the longest in Chinese history until the eighteenth century. Foreign and domestic policy problems confronted the young emperor. Serious raids by the Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu) continued along the northern borders despite the peace treaty first signed by dynastic founder Liu Bang (Liu Pang; 256-195 b.c.e.), and renewed many times subsequently, generally to the advantage of the Xiongnu. Under Wudi, the Han were no longer willing to continue this unsatisfactory arrangement, but before they could declare war against the Xiongnu, domestic consolidation needed to take place and new foreign alliances had to be forged.

Life’s Work

To centralize the government Wudi had to reduce the semi-autonomous feudal states that had been created by Liu Bang to reward relatives, in-laws, and meritorious officials. The system had been troublesome from the start, and had culminated in a major though unsuccessful revolt by the vassal kings in 154 b.c.e. Wudi’s policies dramatically weakened these lords: He imposed heavy financial demands on them that bankrupted many (for instance, he demanded that they pay a tribute of white deer skin to him, and since the only herd of albino deer lived in his imperial park, the lords had to buy the skin from him at exorbitant prices); he also stripped many of their ranks for minor offenses and confiscated their domains, which then became commanderies and counties. Most important, he made all noblemen divide their fiefs equally among all their sons on their death, thus fragmenting their domains.

Wudi inherited a prosperous country that had enjoyed seventy years of peace. It was reported that the coins in the state treasury storehouses could not be counted because the strings that tied them were rotten from long storage. However, the merchants had also profited enormously from the peace and low taxes. Some had engaged in speculation in grain and other essential items and in loaning money to peasants at high interest rates, and mortgage foreclosures had forced many farmers to tenancy and even slavery. To end the merchants’ abuses, to add revenue to the treasury (to pay for the wars he was planning), and to prevent the sale of strategically important iron to the Xiongnu, Wudi introduced new taxes on merchant inventories, enacted laws that forbade merchants from owning farmland, introduced an “ever-normal granary” system to regulate the supply and price of grain, and made the production and wholesale distribution of iron, salt, and liquor state monopolies. He also enacted measures that forbade merchants to wear silk clothes or ride in carriages, among other bans, in order to humiliate them. Wudi’s other measures that had economic consequences included flood control projects along the Yellow River, government-sponsored caravans to promote trade with western lands, and government-sponsored and supervised settlements in newly conquered lands.

These policies were intended to strengthen China for an eventual showdown with the Xiongnu, an enterprise for which it also needed allies. In 139 b.c.e. Wudi sent a courtier Zhang Qian (Chang Ch’ien; d. 114 b.c.e.) to find a nomadic people called the Yuezhi (Yüeh-chih) who had earlier been defeated by the Xiongnu and fled westward. Zhang’s mission was to offer the Yuezhi an alliance against the Xiongnu. First, however, Zhang and his party of one hundred men had to cross Xiongnu territory, where they were captured. He settled among the Xiongnu, married one of their women, and waited for ten years before he could escape. Zhang eventually found the Yuezhi, who now called themselves Kushan and had settled in present-day northern Pakistan; they refused his offer of an alliance and Zhang began his return trip. He was again captured by the Xiongnu, again escaped, and finally returned to the Han capital Chang-an (modern-day Xian) in 126 b.c.e.

Although Zhang’s mission was a failure, his report gave the court information about western regions hitherto unknown to the Chinese and about a breed of “heavenly horses” in Central Asia. He also reported rumors of trade routes between southwestern China and India. Both possible trade routes reinforced Wudi’s intentions to expand Chinese conquests. In the meantime, Wudi had sent another emissary to another tribal people called the Wusun (Wu-sun), located in the northwest, whose land also produced fine horses; he offered the Wusun an alliance against the Xiongnu, a Han princess to marry the Wusun king, and rich gifts.

The massive campaigns against the Xiongnu began in 133 b.c.e. Wudi did not personally lead the expeditions; several of the leading generals were relatives of his wives and consorts. The Xiongnu were first cleared from the Ordos region, an area in the northern bend of the Yellow River, from which Xiongnu raids had threatened Chang-an; that region was settled by Chinese farmers. The armies then fanned out to the east and west, driving the Xiongnu from Inner Mongolia, Gansu (Kansu), and Chinese Turkestan. In 102 b.c.e., General Li Guangli (Li Kuang-li), brother of Wudi’s favorite consort, reached Ferghana in Central Asia and induced its overawed king, as well as the rulers of numerous petty kingdoms in the region, to render submission to China.

A tributary relationship was established between the local states and China whereby Chinese protector-generals supervised local vassal rulers, who appeared periodically at the Chinese court with symbolic tribute and sometimes left sons in the Chinese capital as hostages, to be educated in Chinese ways. The tribute missions received in return lavish gifts from the Chinese court. Trade flourished as a result, with China exporting mainly silk and importing various local luxury products, most notably the noble Central Asian horses known in China as the “heavenly” or “blood-sweating” horses (a mite caused the capillaries under the horses’ skin to rupture so that the horses’ sweat was mixed with blood).

The Great Wall was extended to the Jade Gate in present-day Gansu Province and garrisons and military colonies were established beyond that point to defend China against raids and to protect trade. Other areas conquered by Wudi’s generals included the southern coastal regions of present-day Chinese Yunnan and Guizhou (Kweichow) Provinces in the southwest, northern Vietnam, and Korea. These regions were organized into commanderies and counties and governed as regular parts of the Han Dynasty.

Other important accomplishments under Wudi include the establishment of an Imperial Academy that standardized the interpretation of the ancient classics and admitted an initial class of fifty students. On completion of their studies they were eligible for appointment to the civil service. This academy expanded to enroll thirty thousand students by the late Han Dynasty. All students studied Confucianism, the philosophies of Confucius and his disciples, which were defined during Wudi’s reign by a famous scholar named Dong Zhongshu (Tung Chung-shu, c.179-104 b.c.e.). Confucianism had been growing in official stature since the beginning of the dynasty, but under Wudi it became the official doctrine of state and remained so until the beginning of the twentieth century.

China’s most revered historians lived during Wudi’s reign. They were a father-son duo, Sima Tan (Ssu-ma T’an, d. 110 b.c.e.) and his more famous son Sima Qian (Ssu-ma Ch’ien, 145-86 b.c.e.). They were jointly responsible for writing a monumental history of the world as known to China up to that time titled Shiji (first century b.c.e.; Records of the Grand Historian of China, 1960, rev. ed. 1993). It became the example for all subsequent histories because of its organization, comprehensiveness, and elegance of style. It also established a historiographic tradition that would be a hallmark of Chinese civilization.

The strain of Wudi’s campaigns on manpower and finances, the undue severity of his rule to strengthen government control over the people, and the extravagance of his court led to severe crises during the last years of his reign. There were revolts by the exhausted people, but the most disruptive conflicts were between his wives and their relatives who vied for power. The first domestic crisis of Wudi’s household concerned his first wife, the Empress Chen (Ch’en) who had one daughter and no son. Her use of magic and witchcraft on the emperor so that she could bear a son led to her demotion from empress, the execution of their daughter, and the deaths of numerous other people.

In later years Wudi was unable to control the intense rivalry between the powerful family members of his second wife, the Empress Wei, and the family of one of his favorite consorts, the Lady Li. This rivalry culminated in an attempted coup by the Wei family in 91 b.c.e. In the intense fighting that ensued in Chang-an, thousands died and Wudi had to flee his capital city. In the end, both Empress Wei and her son, the crown prince, committed suicide. In 87 b.c.e., the gravely ill Wudi appointed an eight-year-old son crown prince mainly because his mother, the consort Zhao (Chao), had no powerful relatives. She died soon after her son’s elevation—unproven rumor had it that she was murdered. Thus ended one of the most brilliant reigns in Chinese history.

Significance

Wudi is one of the most celebrated grand monarchs in Chinese history. His long reign saw the reversal of Han domestic and foreign policy. His domestic reforms show a mixed record, but the reduction of the power of the semi-autonomous princes and nobles and the growing power of the central government promoted unity and uniformity in governance. His establishment of important state monopolies set a trend for later reigns and dynasties. His wars and foreign policy enlarged the empire to include southern and southwestern China, Inner Mongolia, and southern Manchuria, areas that would remain integral parts of China. Vietnam and Korea would eventually break away from direct Chinese rule but remain parts of the Chinese cultural area.

Wudi’s campaigns against the Xiongnu swung the tide in Han-Xiongnu relations; under his successors, the wars would end in the break-up of Xiongnu power and their eventual expulsion from the Chinese frontier. In expanding Han power to central Asia, Wudi consolidated the Silk Roads that linked the Han and Roman Empires and expanded the Pax Sinica (Chinese peace) to prevail in much of the Asian continent. His espousal of Confucianism (despite his despotic ways) culminated in the establishment of Confucianism as China’s state ideology, a trend that had begun under Liu Bang, the dynastic founder. Despite the family crises that marked the end of his reign, Wudi is regarded as a heroic figure in Chinese history.

Emperors of the Western Han Dynasty

206-195 b.c.e.

• Gaozu (Liu Bang)

195-188

• Huidi

188-180

• Shaoi Kong

188-180

• Shaodi Hong

180-157

• Wendi

157-141

• Jingdi

140-87

• Wudi

87-74

• Zhaodi

74-49

• Xuandi

49-33

• Yuandi

33-7

• Chengdi

7-1

• Aidi

1 b.c.e.-6 c.e.

• Pingdi

6-9 c.e.

• Ruzi

Bibliography

Grousset, Rene. The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. Translated by Naomi Walford. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1994. Focuses on the nomadic neighbors of China from the Han Dynasty on. Index.

Jagchid, Sechin, and Van Jay Symons. Peace, War, and Trade Along the Great Wall: Nomadic-Chinese Interactions Through Two Millenia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. An overview of Chinese-nomadic relations, with large sections devoted to the Han Dynasty. Glossary, bibliography, and index.

Kierman, Frank, and John K. Fairbank, eds. Chinese Ways in Warfare. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974. One long chapter is devoted to Wudi’s campaigns. Glossary and index.

Loewe, Michael. Crisis and Conflict in Han China, 104 B.C.-A.D. 9. London: Allen and Unwin, 1974. An account of court intrigue and policy conflicts from Wudi’s reign to the end of the Western Han. Glossary of Chinese and Japanese terms, and index.

Twitchett, Denis, and John K. Fairbank, eds. The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 B.C.-A.D. 220. Vol. 1 in The Cambridge History of China. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. The definitive history of the Qin and Han Dynasties. Glossary, bibliography, and index.

Wang, Zhongshu. Han Civilization. Translated by K. C. Chang. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1982. Richly illustrated account with recent archaeological information. Bibliography and index.