Liu Yuan (Han Zhao)

Liu Yuan (劉淵, died 29 August 310), courtesy name Yuanhai (元海), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Guangwen of Han (Zhao) (漢(趙)光文帝) was the founding emperor of the Xiongnu-led Han-Zhao dynasty of China during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Due to Tang dynasty naming taboo, he is referred to by his courtesy name as Liu Yuanhai (劉元海) in the ''Book of Jin''.

With the dissolution of the Southern Xiongnu in 216, the last vestiges of their power were divided into Five Divisions in Bing province around modern-day Shanxi. Liu Yuan was born into the aristocracy of the Five Divisions and was sent to the Chinese capital, Luoyang as a hostage during his youth, where he became highly sinicized and later held several government offices under the Western Jin dynasty. As the War of the Eight Princes weakened Jin authority in northern China, Liu Yuan was called upon by the Five Divisions to lead their rebellion, and in 304, he declared independence from the Jin and founded the Han-Zhao dynasty, one of the first of the Sixteen Kingdoms. His declaration, along with the founding of the Cheng-Han dynasty in Sichuan that same year, marked the formal end of the Western Jin's brief unification of China following the Three Kingdoms period.

Liu Yuan proclaimed himself a direct descendant of the Southern Xiongnu ''chanyus'' and, by extension, the Han dynasty, since his ancestors had married Han princesses through the practice of ''heqin''. His state of Han (renamed Zhao in 319) was initially depicted as a restoration of the Han dynasty, and as anti-Jin sentiment continued to grow, Liu Yuan soon found himself leading a coalition of Han Chinese and tribal rebels in northern China. Though he would not live to see it, his family and generals would eventually drive the Jin dynasty out of the north.

Family background

According to official history, Liu Yuan was a member of Xiongnu nobility, as a descendant of the first great ''chanyu'' in Xiongnu history, Modu Chanyu, who, along with their people, had long been loyal vassals to the Han dynasty and to its successor states Cao Wei and Jin. In late Wei or early Jin times, the Xiongnu nobles claimed that they descended from the Han dynasty's ruling Liu clan also — through a princess who had married Modu Chanyu – and therefore changed their family name to Liu. Liu Yuan's father, Liu Bao, was a son of one of the last Southern Xiongnu ''chanyus'', Yufuluo, and the nephew of the last Southern Xiongnu ''chanyu'' Huchuquan (before Cao Cao abolished the office in 216 and divided the Xiongnu into the Five Divisions); Liu Bao had the command of the Left Tribe (左部). Liu Yuan's mother Lady Huyan appeared to be from a noble family, and was in probability Liu Bao's wife, rather than a concubine. As the Five Divisions settled down in Bingzhou (modern southern Shanxi), that was likely where Liu Yuan was born and raised.

As a Jin subject

As powerful nobles from the Five Divisions were usually encouraged or pressured by Cao Wei and Jin authorities to send their sons to the capital Luoyang (both to encourage them to further sinicization and as collateral for their loyalty), Liu Yuan was sent to Luoyang to reside and to study traditional Chinese literature. He became well known for his studies, particularly of the Zou version of Confucius' ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' and of the military strategies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi. The key Jin official Wang Hun became impressed with him, and Wang Hun's son Wang Ji became a close friend of Liu Yuan's. Wang Hun believed Liu to be general material and repeatedly recommended Liu Yuan to Emperor Wu, but Kong Xun and Empress Yang Zhi's uncle Yang Ji suspected Liu for his Xiongnu ancestry and persuaded Emperor Wu against giving Liu military commands during campaigns against Eastern Wu and the Xianbei rebel Tufa Shujineng. Eventually, even Emperor Wu's brother Sima You the Prince of Qi, impressed and fearful of Liu's abilities, encouraged Emperor Wu to have Liu executed, but Wang Hun persuaded Emperor Wu that it would be wrong. When Liu Bao died in 279, Emperor Wu permitted Liu Yuan to take over command of the Left Tribe. In 289, he was transferred to Commander of the North Tribe.

As the commander of the tribes, Liu became known for his fair administration of laws and willingness to listen to ideas, and also for his willingness to spread his wealth. This led the ambitious people in his region, not only of the Five Divisions but of many Han clans, to flock to him. After Emperor Wu's death and succession by Emperor Hui, the regent Yang Jun made Liu the commander of the Five Divisions, but toward the end of the subsequent regency of Emperor Hui's wife, Empress Jia Nanfeng, Liu was removed from that position due to his inability to stop one of his countrymen's rebellions. Later, when Sima Ying the Prince of Chengdu became the military commander at Yecheng, he invited Liu to be one of his subordinate military commanders, and Liu accepted the invitation.

Independence from Jin

In the midst of the War of the Eight Princes, in 304, the Five Divisions nobles, led by the commander of the North Tribe, Liu Xuan, who was tired of misrule by the Jin, secretly plotted independence. They sent a messenger to secretly offer Liu Yuan the title of Grand ''Chanyu''. Liu Yuan told Sima Ying, who was concerned about an attack from Wang Jun, whose troops were reinforced with Xianbei and Wuhuan

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