Hanhun Emperor Wu — Luxurious, Arrogant, and Colored by Passion

Author: He Qianshan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: He was a historical giant who expanded territories, making China a renowned and vast nation; he was a child obsessed with becoming an immortal, often believing in the tricks of martial artists; he was a romantic, frequently clashing with the empress dowager and queen for the love of his beloved woman. He is the Han Emperor Wu, Liu Che, praised by historian Ban Gu as "a man of great talent and strategy" who! For the achievements and faults of Emperor Wu, admirers call him a great leader who expanded the frontier, with accomplishments worthy of overshadowing the ages; critics, however, condemn him for his relentless military campaigns, his penchant for grandeur, his disregard for the people, and his extravagant spending. A man of extremes—killing, lust, pride, vanity, selfishness, superstition, extravagance, stubbornness, rigidity, and a love for grandeur—Emperor Wu was a monarch with a very polarized personality. The life of Emperor Wu was filled with contradictions, vivid colors, and great charm. He was an ambitious and capable emperor who, through military campaigns, outlined the basic contours of the Chinese map; he established Confucianism as the dominant ideology in the nation's cultural and intellectual life; he realized large-scale cultural exchange and integration between the East and the West. He was extremely lustful, boasting that "he could go three days without food but not one night without a woman by his side." Despite his indulgent nature, in his later years, he not only personally killed his favorite concubine but also meticulously organized the mess he had left behind, leaving his successors a legacy that would be praised by later generations as the "Zhao Xuan Revival"! Among all the emperors of antiquity, how many could have such a fulfilling and well-rounded end?! A great emperor with immense personal charm—how many untold stories does he hold? What makes his life, marriage, love, and family so uniquely different from ordinary people? How did his own personality traits enable him to achieve such monumental achievements?
A brief introduction to the era of Emperor Wu is a remarkable period in Chinese history. The life of Emperor Wu was filled with contradictions, vivid colors, and great charm. Possessing almost all the weaknesses of ordinary human nature—killing, lust, pride, vanity, selfishness, superstition, extravagance, stubbornness, rigidity, and a love for grandeur—Emperor Wu was a monarch with a very polarized personality. This book, with a realistic and objective approach, presents the lesser-known aspects of Emperor Wu's life in an accurate and truthful manner, allowing people to better understand and appreciate this historical giant.