Former Zhao: A Visual History

Former Zhao, originally called Han, was founded in 304 by Liu Yuan, a Sinicised Xiongnu prince who claimed the Han imperial heritage through ancestral marriage alliances. His son Liu Cong's armies sacked Luoyang in 311 and Chang'an in 316, capturing and killing two Jin emperors and ending Western Jin. Renamed Zhao by Liu Yao in 319, the state fought its former general Shi Le, who defeated and killed Liu Yao in 329 and absorbed it into his Later Zhao.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Former Zhao (Han Zhao). The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Former Zhao territory

Timeline of the Former Zhao (Han Zhao)

1. 304
   Liu Yuan proclaims Han
2. 308
   Liu Yuan takes the imperial title
3. 311
   Luoyang sacked
4. 316
   Chang'an takenWestern Jin ends.
5. 318
   Liu Cong dies; Jin Zhun's massacre
6. 319
   Renamed Zhao; Shi Le breaks away
7. 328
   Liu Yao captured at Luoyang
8. 329
   Former Zhao destroyed

Liu Yuan

Descendants of the southern Xiongnu had lived inside China for a century and their nobles were educated in the classics. Liu Yuan, a Xiongnu chief and Jin official, exploited the War of the Eight Princes to declare himself king of Han in 304, claiming to restore the dynasty to which the Xiongnu chanyus had been 'nephews' by marriage. He took the imperial title in 308.

Destruction of the Western Jin

Liu Cong killed his brother to succeed in 310. His generals Liu Yao and Shi Le destroyed the Jin armies; Luoyang fell in 311 with 30,000 dead and Emperor Huai captured; Chang'an fell in 316 and Emperor Min was taken. Both emperors were made to serve as cupbearers and executed. Liu Cong's court became notorious for cruelty and debauchery.

Zhao and its fall

After Liu Cong's death in 318 the general Jin Zhun massacred the imperial family; Liu Yao restored the state at Chang'an and renamed it Zhao, but Shi Le, based at Xiangguo in the east, declared his own independent Zhao. War between the two ended when Shi Le captured Liu Yao at Luoyang in 328 and executed him; the last Former Zhao princes were hunted down in 329.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Western Jin dynasty (266 to 316)
• Later Zhao (319 to 351)
• Eastern Jin dynasty (317 to 420)
• Xiongnu Empire (209 BC to 93)
• Former Qin (351 to 394)
• Rouran Khaganate (330 to 555)

Wars of the same era and region

• Three Kingdoms period (184 to 280)

8 surprising things about the Former Zhao (Han Zhao)

1. Liu Yuan's surname Liu was the Han imperial surname, adopted by Xiongnu royalty because Han princesses had married their chanyus.
2. The Xiongnu state built temples to the Han emperors and worshipped Liu Bang as an ancestor.
3. Liu Cong reportedly had three empresses at once and thousands of concubines.
4. The captured Jin emperors were forced to wash cups and hold parasols at Xiongnu banquets before execution.
5. Former Zhao is counted as the first of the Sixteen Kingdoms, opening 135 years of division in the north.
6. The Xiongnu of Former Zhao were the last people to bear that name as rulers of a state.
7. Liu Yuan had studied at Luoyang and was said to know the Han histories better than most Chinese officials.
8. The Yongjia disaster of 311 triggered the great migration of northern Chinese to the Yangtze.

Sources

• Han-Zhao Wikipedia
• Sixteen Kingdoms Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Sixteen Kingdoms Wikipedia
• Mark Edward Lewis, China Between Empires (2009) Harvard University Press

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