University of Virginia Library

A summary of Emperor Wu's reign

The history of this period, in the Occidental sense of the word, is to be
found, for the most part, not in Pan Ku's "Annals", but in his "Treatises"
and "Memoirs", which elaborate the chronological summary given here.
These "Memoirs" are largely abstracted in the Glossary, which contains
an account of every person, place, and government office mentioned in
the "Annals". The reader is referred to it for many important matters
concerning this and other chapters. A reading of the relevant
"Memoirs" and "Treatises" impresses one with the tremendous activity
of the time and with the control exercised by Emperor Wu over the
elaborate governmental mechanism.

The Emperor was, in more ways than one, le grand monarque of Han
times. Not only did he reign for more than half a century, but he came
to the throne at the age of fifteen and a half, so that shortly after he
began his reign he came into the most vigorous years of his manhood
and was prepared to infuse his own vigor into the government. In addition
to his many brilliant achievements, he overturned the unwritten
constitution of the state, which limited the emperor's powers, and made
himself an absolute autocrat. He made continual demands upon his
realm until its resources were exhausted and disorder ensued. He made
the relatives of his favorite women influential officials. He devoted
much time to the pursuit of supernatural beings. He set in operation
the examination system in the form which it maintained until T'ang
times, and, through the Imperial University, he was to a considerable
degree responsible for the victory of Confucianism over its rivals, although
he was personally only a nominal Confucian.

His reign became a period about which romance gathered. There
have come down two famous collections of such stories, the Stories from
[the Reign of Emperor] Wu of the Han [Dynasty] (Han-Wu Ku-shih) and
the Secret Memoirs of [Emperor] Wu of the Han [Dynasty] (Han-Wu
Nei-chuan), both of which are full of miracles and wonderful stories. In
addition, there are many other romances and plays based upon events
in this reign. Some of these deal with Szu-ma Hsiang-ju, the famous
poet, who, because he did nothing of administrative importance, is not
even mentioned in this chapter, although Pan Ku admired him highly
and devotes a long memoir to him.

This is not the place to write a history of Emperor Wu's reign.
Chavannes has supplied a long account of its events, external and internal,
including an account of his military campaigns, his enfeeblement of the
nobles, his selection of commoners as his ministers, his change in the
calendar, his sale of noble ranks, his monetary changes, and his cultivation
of letters (Mh I, lxii-cvii). Here will be found merely an attempt

to indicate something of the background to this reign and some important
events omitted from the "Annals."