Emperor Gaozu of Han
founding emperor of the Han dynasty (256–195 BC)
Emperor Gaozu of Han (256 or 247 – 1 June 195 BC), personal name Liu Bang, was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty.
Liu Bang was among the few dynastic founders to have been born in a peasant family. He initially entered the Qin dynasty bureaucracy as a minor law enforcement officer in his hometown in Pei County, within the conquered state of Chu. During the political chaos following the death of Qin Shi Huang, who had been the first emperor in Chinese history, Liu Bang renounced his civil service position and became a rebel leader, taking up arms against the Qin dynasty. He outmaneuvered rival rebel leader Xiang Yu to invade the Qin heartland and forced the surrender of the Qin ruler Ziying in 206 BC.
After the fall of the Qin dynasty, Xiang Yu, as the de facto chief of the rebels, divided the former Qin Empire into the Eighteen Kingdoms, with Liu Bang forced to accept control of the poor and remote region of Bashu (present-day Sichuan, Chongqing, and southern Shaanxi), and assuming the title "King of Han". Within the year, Liu Bang broke out with his army and conquered the Three Qins, starting the Chu–Han Contention, a civil war among various forces seeking to inherit the Qin dynasty's former territory.
In 202 BC, Liu Bang emerged victorious following the Battle of Gaixia, took control over much of the territory previously ruled by Qin, and established the Han dynasty with himself as the emperor. During his reign, Liu Bang reduced taxes and corvée labour, promoted Confucianism, and suppressed revolts by the rulers of vassal states not from his own clan, among many other actions. He also initiated the policy of heqin, a system of arranged marriages, to maintain peace between the Han Empire and the Xiongnu following the Han defeat at the Battle of Baideng in 200 BC. He died in 195 BC and was succeeded by his son Liu Ying.
Birth and early life
According to the Han dynasty's imperial mythology, Liu Bang's ancestors were the mythical Emperor Yao and the Yellow Emperor.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Emperor Gaozu of Han” as founding emperor of the Han dynasty (256–195 BC). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7210. VIAF identifies the subject as 1339456. The Library of Congress control number is n81110440. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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