Emperor Wu of Han

156–87 BCE · Chinese (Chang'an) · Han Dynasty, Ancient China

Known for: Expanded Han China to its greatest extent—opened the Silk Road and made Confucianism the state ideology

Emperor Wu ruled for 54 years and transformed Han China into a superpower. He defeated the Xiongnu nomads, sent Zhang Qian to open the Silk Road, conquered Vietnam and Korea, and made Confucianism the state ideology (establishing the civil service examination system).

He was also paranoid in later years, executing family members and officials based on accusations of witchcraft.

What Emperor Wu of Han would be watching

The “if they lived today” Q&A on this page gives Emperor Wu of Han Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) as a favourite film. Rankquant scores it above 77% of films, drawn from 1,025 IMDb reviewers individually re-centred rather than averaged raw. The full film & TV rankings are built the same way.

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