Emperor Han Gaozu of China

Han Gaozu (漢高祖 pinyin: han4 gao1 zu3) (256 BC - 195 BC) (Wade-Giles: Han Kao-tsu) was the first emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty, and one of the only two dynasty founders who emerged from the peasant class. The other one was Hongwu of Ming Dynasty.

His birth name was Liu Bang (劉邦 pinyin liu2 bang1), courtesy name Ji (季 ji4). Gaozu is his temple name; his posthumous name is Emperor Gao (高皇帝 gao1 huang1 di4). Gao means "highly respectable" here. Before becoming an emperor, he was also called Lord Pei (沛公 pei4 gong1), after his birthplace.

Early Life

Born to Liu Zhijia (劉執嘉) and Wang Hanshi (王含始), a peasant family in in Zhongyangli, Fengyi (豐邑), Pei County (沛縣) (today Fengyi County[?], Jiangsu Province), he served as a low ranked police officer. He was not contented with living from hand to mouth. Instead, he had a lot of friends from the peasent class including cart driver, bodyguard and butcher owing to his generosity and broad-mindedness.

In the years following the death of Qin Shihuang, Liu Bang found himself in revolt for a curious reason. He was in charge of transporting a number of prisoners and was delayed by the weather. Despite the fact that the delay was due to circumstances beyond his control, he realized that the penalty for the delay was death. Having nothing to lose, he decided to rebel against the Qin dynasty with his prisoners as the nucleus of his army.

His affection to Concubine Qi inflamed Empress Dowager Lu[?]'s torture of Qi and her son Liu Yuyi[?] after his death.

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