Han Wudi

Han Wudi (Emperor Wu of Han; personal name Liu Che; 156–87 BCE) was the seventh emperor of China’s Western Han dynasty, reigning from 141 to 87 BCE. His long rule strengthened imperial authority and expanded Han influence through major military campaigns, including against the Xiongnu, and through administrative reforms. He elevated Confucian learning in state governance, notably endorsing Confucian classics as a basis for official education and recruitment. Although not primarily an author, his court fostered scholarship, historiography, and ceremonial writing, and later tradition sometimes attributes poems or statements to him. His reign left a lasting imprint on Chinese political and cultural institutions.