Han Dynasty West Han (or Former Han) Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD)

Made China an Unprecedented Powerful and Prosperous Country Made Great Success on Politics, Military and Culture

27 Liu Bang

The Founder of Han Dynasty

Liu Bang (256-195 BC), also Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, was the founder father of the Empire. Han Dynasty had achieved utmost brilliant deeds, so the word “Han” had later become a replacement word of “Chinese”, such as ethnic Han (ethnic Chinese), Han language (Chinese language), Han culture (Chinese culture).

Liu Bang was a native of North Jiangsu Province. He had been a low level official inferior than a head of township. He was a local ruffian, eating free food from restaurants and making troubles after drunken. He rose up by forming a 100-men unit amid the anti-Qin storm initialed by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. There was a legend “Liu Bang rose up after killed a snake”, saying: One evening he killed a big white snake at roadside, and an old woman showed up the next day at the site weeping over and said: “My son who was the White King was killed by the Red King last night.” The myth helped Liu Bang raise quickly 100,000 troops. Then he made use of the time when Qin’s elite troop fought with Xiang Yu (see following piece) attacking Xianyang City, Qin’s capital, and toppled Qin Empire.

By the time, Xiang Yu, after annihilated Qin’s troops, possessed 400,000 troops and became a matter-of-fact new ruler. The ambitious Liu Bang, although much weaker, wanted to seize the utmost power. A war between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang broke out, and the 5-year-old war ended up with the victory of Liu Bang and the establishment of Han Dynasty.

During the war, Liu Bang mainly depended on his three major aides: Xiao He, Zhang Liang and Han Xin (all were household names in China). Liu Bang once said: “In terms of working out tactics in small camp, winning victory at remote battlefield, Zhang Liang was better than me; In terms of managing general logistics, Xiao He was better than me; And in terms of commanding troops to win battles, Han Xin was better than me. My strong point was only I could make their initiatives into full play.”

Liu Bang was a man aroused much pros and cons in history. He created Chinese history, but he had a lot of mischievous deeds. He and his wife Lv Zhi were both wicked and treacherous. He killed many important aides who did great merits for the founding of his empire.