Emperor Wu of Han (30 June 156 BC-29 March 87 BC) was the Emperor of the Han dynasty from 141 BC to 87 BC, succeeding Emperor Jing of Han and preceding Emperor Zhao of Han.
Biography[]
Wu came to the throne as a teenager in 141 BC when his grandmother Empress Dou chose him as a weak heir so that she and her male relatives could control him. The deaths of his grandmother and uncle soon opened the way for him to rule in his own right, and his reign was one of the longest and most eventful reigns of the Han dynasty.
He made Sima Qian his court astrologer by Wu, although he was castrated for defending a disgraced general. Wu was recorded as being manipulated by charlatans promising him magic powers, immortality, and seances with the dead, and Wu did much to increase the power of the emperor. He invaded Vietnam to the south and Manchuria and North Korea to the north, and he dispatched forces to conquer territories northwest of the Chinese heartland such as Gansu and Xinjiang. His expansion laid the foundations for the Sil Road, and he improved access to large numbers of his horses for his expanding cavalry and to threaten the Xiongnu Confederacy from the west.
During his reign, he also adopted Confucianism and opened a university on the outskirtsof Chang'an, while local officials were ordered to send a certain number of promising students from their districts each year. For 2,000 years, scholar-officials were promoted for their knowledge of Confucian texts, and the alliance of Confucianism and the government led to a compromise; the Confucians gained employment and power but had to give up on their insistence of a perfect ruler. He died in 87 BC.