| Huainan Kingdom | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 淮南 國 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Kingdom south of the Huai | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Huainan Kingdom [note 1] was a kingdom of China's Han dynasty, located in what is now parts of Anhui, Jiangxi and Hubei provinces.
| Huainan Kingdom | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 淮南 國 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Kingdom south of the Huai | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Huainan Kingdom [note 1] was a kingdom of China's Han dynasty, located in what is now parts of Anhui, Jiangxi and Hubei provinces.
The title "King (or Prince) of Huainan" was first created in 202 BC by Liu Bang, King of Han, for Ying Bu, the former king of Jiujiang. After Liu Bang became the first emperor of the Han, Ying Bu rose up against Liu Bang in 196 BC. He was defeated and killed by Liu Bang.
After Liu Bang killed Ying Bu, he conferred the title of king of Huainan on his youngest son Liu Chang.
In 164 BC, Huainan was divided among Liu Chang's three sons. The eldest son Liu An kept the title King of Huainan, while his brothers became Kings of Hengshan (衡山王) and Lujiang (廬江王), respectively.
Liu An, engaged in political and cosmological arguments with Dong Zhongshu, founded an academy which compiled the Huainanzi . [1] The Huainanzi leaves room for multiple cultural traditions in China through the concept of the Tao. By contrast, Dong advocated cultural centralization, placing Heaven and its mandate before all other concepts. Wang Aihe views the defeat of the Prince of Huainan as symbolic of China's increasing cultural centralization during the Han dynasty. [2]
In 122 BC, Liu An was involved in an alleged plot of rebellion, and committed suicide. The kingdom was converted to Jiujiang Commandery, while the title King of Huainan became extinct. [3]
劉 / 刘 is a Chinese surname. pinyin: Liú in Mandarin Chinese, Lau4 in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. Today, it is the 4th most common surname in Mainland China as well as one of the most popular names in the world.
The Eight Immortals of Huainan, also known as the Eight Gentlemen, were the eight scholars under the patronage of Liu An, the prince of Huainan during the Western Han Dynasty. They are not deified in any religions and the xian ("immortal") is used metaphorically to describe their talent. Together, they wrote the philosophical collection Huainanzi.
Empress (Dowager) Lü Zhi, commonly known as Empress Lü and formally Empress Gao of Han, was the empress consort of Gaozu, the founding emperor of the Han dynasty. They had two known children, Liu Ying and Princess Yuan of Lu. Lü was the first woman to assume the title Empress of China and paramount power. After Gaozu's death, she was honoured as Empress Dowager and Regent during the short reigns of Emperor Hui and his successors Emperor Qianshao of Han and Liu Hong.
Emperor Gaozu of Han, born Liu Bang with courtesy name Ji (季), was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning from 202 – 195 BCE. His temple name was "Taizu" while his posthumous name was Emperor Gao, or Gaodi; "Gaozu of Han", derived from the Records of the Grand Historian, is the common way of referring to this sovereign even though he was not accorded the temple name "Gaozu", which literally means "High Founder".
Emperor Hui of Han was the second emperor of the Han dynasty in China. He was the second son of the first Han emperor, Han Gaozu and the lady who after the death of her husband, became the Empress Dowager Lü. Lu was her last name, and she was from the powerful Lu clan. Han Huidi is generally remembered as a somewhat weak character dominated and terrorized by his mother, Lü.
Emperor Xian of Han, personal name Liu Xie (劉協), courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty in China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until 11 December 220.
The Chu–Han Contention was an interregnum period between the Qin dynasty and the Han dynasty in Chinese history. Following the collapse of the Qin dynasty in 206 BC, Xiang Yu split the former Qin Empire into the Eighteen Kingdoms. Civil wars soon broke out in a struggle for supremacy, with two major contending powers emerging, namely the Kingdom of Western Chu led by Xiang Yu, and the Kingdom of Han led by Liu Bang. Several minor kings also warred, but these were largely insignificant compared to the main conflict between Western Chu and Han. The war ended in 202 BC with total victory for Han at the Battle of Gaixia, with Liu Bang soon crowning himself as the first emperor of the Han dynasty.
After Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and proclaimed himself emperor of the Han dynasty, he followed the practice of Xiang Yu and enfeoffed many generals, noblemen, and imperial relatives as kings, the same title borne by the sovereigns of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and by the rulers of the Warring States. Each king had his own semi-autonomous kingdom. This was a departure from the policy of the Qin dynasty, which divided China into commanderies governed by non-hereditary governors.
Zhao Kingdom or Zhao Principality was a kingdom or principality in early Imperial China, located in present-day North China.
Emperor Yi of Chu, also known as King Huai II of Chu before receiving his de jure emperor title, personal name Xiong Xin, was the ruler of the Chu state in the late Qin dynasty. He was a grandson of King Huai of Chu. In 223 BC, during the Warring States period, the Chu state was conquered by the Qin state, which unified the various Chinese feudal states in a series of wars and established the Qin dynasty in 221 BC. In 209 BC, when rebellions broke out throughout China to overthrow the Qin dynasty, the Chu state was revived as an insurgent state against Qin imperial rule. Xiong Xin was discovered by Xiang Liang, a rebel leader who descended from a famous Chu general, Xiang Yan, and installed on the Chu throne as "King Huai II of Chu". However, Xiong Xin was merely a puppet ruler because power was concentrated in Xiang Liang's hands, and was later passed on to Xiang Liang's nephew, Xiang Yu, after Xiang Liang was killed in battle. In 206 BC, the Qin dynasty was overthrown by the rebels, after which Xiang Yu, who was the de facto leader of all the rebel forces, divided the former Qin Empire into the Eighteen Kingdoms. He promoted King Huai II to a more "honourable" title – Emperor Yi of Chu – and made him the nominal sovereign ruler over all the Eighteen Kingdoms. Xiang Yu then had Emperor Yi relocated to Chen County and secretly ordered Ying Bu to assassinate the emperor during the journey.
Liú Ān was a Han dynasty Chinese prince and an advisor to his nephew, Emperor Wu of Han (武帝). He is best known for editing the Huainanzi compendium of Daoist, Confucianist, Buddhist and Legalist teachings and for supposedly inventing tofu. Early texts represent Liu An in three ways: the "author-editor of a respected philosophical symposium", the "bumbling rebel who took his life to avoid arrest", and the successful Daoist adept who transformed into a xian and "rose into the air to escape prosecution for trumped-up charges of treason and flew to eternal life."
Liang was a traditional Chinese fief centered on present-day Kaifeng. It was held by various powers over the course of Chinese history. It generally comprised modern Henan with a small part of Shanxi.
Xin, King of Hán, also known as Hán Xin and as Hán Wang Xin, was a descendant of the royal family of the state of Hán during the Warring States Period of ancient Chinese history. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu granted Hán Xin the title "Prince" or "King of Hán" (韓王). In 201 BC, King Xin was suspected of conspiring with the Xiongnu to attack the Han Empire and decided to defect to the Xiongnu. He was killed in action during a battle against the Han army in 196 BC.
Peng Yue, courtesy name Zhong, was a prominent military leader and political figure in the late Qin dynasty and early Western Han dynasty. He was involved in the Chu–Han Contention – a power struggle between the Han dynasty's founder, Liu Bang, and his rival, Xiang Yu – as an ally of Liu Bang. In recognition of his contributions, Liu Bang granted Peng Yue the title "King of Liang" (梁王) after the Han dynasty was established.
Liu Fei, formally King Daohui of Qi was the eldest son of Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han, and Consort Cao—initially his mistress. After Liu Bang decisively defeated Xiang Yu in the Battle of Gaixia in 202 BC, he proclaimed himself the emperor of the new Han dynasty and named Liu Fei, his first son, the King of Qi.
Liu Pi was a nephew of Emperor Gao of Han, son of Liu Xi, Prince of Dai, and appointed Prince of Wu by Emperor Gao. During the reign of Emperor Jing, he initiated the Rebellion of the Seven States to resist the Emperor's centralizing policies, during which he was defeated and killed.
Ying Bu was a warlord and vassal king who lived in the early Han dynasty. He was a native of Lu County. In his early life under the Qin dynasty, Ying Bu was convicted and sentenced to qing, so he was also called Qing Bu (黥布). He was then sent to Mount Li to perform hard labour by constructing Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. He later escaped with some men and became the leader of a bandit gang. Ying Bu participated in the insurrection against the Qin dynasty after the Dazexiang Uprising broke out in 209 BC. After the uprising failed, he became part of a rebel force led by Xiang Liang. He assisted Xiang Liang's nephew and successor Xiang Yu in overthrowing the Qin dynasty. After the fall of Qin, he initially fought on Xiang Yu's side in the Chu–Han Contention, a power struggle for supremacy over China between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. However, later, he defected to Liu Bang's side and helped Liu defeat Xiang Yu and become the emperor. During this period of time, Ying Bu held the title "King of Jiujiang". After Liu Bang established the Han dynasty in 202 BC, he appointed Ying Bu as a vassal king and granted him the title "King of Huainan". In 195 BC, Ying Bu rebelled against the Han dynasty but was defeated and killed.
Zhang Cang 張蒼 was the representative thinker of the Yin-Yang School, as well as a Confucian scholar, general, and prime-minister under Liu Bang. Evidence on his life is contained in the Book of Han and some later sources.
Chen Xi was a Chinese rebel against the first Han emperor Liu Bang.
Liang (梁國) was a kingdom/principality in Han dynasty. Its territories was located within the modern Henan, Anhui and Shandong provinces.