Emperor Wen of Han

Also known as Liu Heng · Emperor HanWen

Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Heng, was a son of Emperor Gaozu by Consort Bo and was made King of Dai in 196 BC. After Empress Lu died and Zhou Bo and Chen Ping destroyed her clan, he was enthroned in 180 BC; era names did not yet exist, and his reign was counted in two series of years. He abolished collective punishment of criminals' families and the crime of slander. In 167 BC, after the girl Tiying offered herself as a slave to redeem her father, he decreed an end to mutilating punishments, and the same year he remitted the land tax. He kept marriage alliances with the Xiongnu, added no palaces or parks, and had his Ba tomb furnished only with earthenware. He died in the Weiyang Palace in 157 BC, and was given the posthumous name Xiaowen and, under Emperor Jing, the temple name Taizong. The *Records of the Grand Historian* (*Shiji*) ends his annals with Emperor Jing's edict likening his virtue to heaven and earth.