[asiaconqueror]

Who is your favourite Chinese Emperor?

For me, I voted Emperor Taizong of Tang dynasty..

Here's an image of him..

[chinesewarrior]

My favourite one will have to be Taizong as well. Emperor Taizong was one who listened to the advice of his councellors and ministers. No other emperor can match him in this respect. Because he was able to listen to the advice of his loyal officials, his empire grew strong in a midst of time.

Emperor Taizong was also a man of great strategy and tactics, especially during his campaign war against the Tujue (Turks), which allowed him to conquer Mongolia and Central Asia.

[Tyler]

I think Cao Cao is pretty cool.

[General_Zhaoyun]

Liu Ce, on May 28 2004, 09:36 AM, said:

I think Cao Cao is pretty cool.

Well, Cao Cao didn't really make himself emperor. In fact, he did not do so in order to avoid history criticism of him of upsurping the throne of the han emperor. But his son, Cao Pi, force the han emperor to abdicate the throne in order that he can become the emperor. :lol:

[barbarian]

My favourite emperor is Zhu Yuan Zhang (1st emperor of Ming Dynasty). He was famous for his autocracy. (see below)

[Chinaconqueror]

barbarian, on May 29 2004, 02:56 PM, said:

My favourite emperor is Zhu Yuan Zhang (1st emperor of Ming Dynasty). He was famous for his autocracy. (see below)

I can't imagine you choose such a tyrant Zhu Yuan Zang..don't you know he kill so many people. For me, I go with Han Wudi.

[chineseruler]

"chinaman" said:

can't imagine you choose such a tyrant Zhu Yuan Zang..don't you know he kill so many people. For me, I go with Han Wudi.

Come on, many emperors have killed lots of people. Even Emperor Taizong of Tang dynasty killed his own brothers, who tried to kill him. Zhu Yuan Zhang used terror and autocracy to silence opposition and to deal with corruption. Historical critique was that he was still a capable ruler, though he took lives easily. He committed during his time an administration purge of 10,000 to deal with corruption. In addition, he kill all those generals that once fought with him.

Chinese history talked about righteousness, thus it's usual that there was lots of criticisim about his act.

[chineseruler]

My favourite emperor would have to be Kangxi of Qing dynasty...

[Yihesan]

I would say Han Wudi, Tang Taizong and Qianlong.

I also like Zhao Wuling but he was a Wang (King), not a Di (Emperor).

[General_Zhaoyun]

Yihesan, on May 31 2004, 12:58 AM, said:

I would say Han Wudi, Tang Taizong and Qianlong.

I also like Zhao Wuling but he was a Wang (King), not a Di (Emperor).

Zhao Wuling was the 1st king during the warring states to learn to adopt the cavalry kind of warfare from the steppe. He often fought a losing battle against the northern "hu" tribe. But he decided to reform his army so he adopted the steppe tactics, trained and established a new cavalry force, even adopting the dressing of the "Hu" people. This allowed him to beat the hu tribe and successfully won the battle. His reform allowed many other states to follow

[Sephodwyrm]

:ph43r:
Anyone heard about the emperor Xiao Xuan of Han? He's the best emperor ever in terms of benevolence, foreign policies and of course, the very famous romantic story of not abandoning the wife that lived with him through the most difficult years. He even changed his name because the words in his name Bing Ji was pretty common and petty officials outside his control were abusing commoners who "insulted" the emperor.

Not many emperors would change their name for the people. Zhu Yuan Zhang was something of the opposite. He hated people using the word Seng (as in priest) or Zei (as in bandit) and punished harshly anyone who used it. And because Zhu Yuan Zhang had horrid mandarin pronunciation and pronounced Seng as Sheng (living), the peasants can't use it either.

[thirdgumi]

Mine is Qin Shi Huang Di. He had every quality to be a great emperor, ruthless and authoritarian, but also humble and patiant when needed. He knew how to use talents. A hard worker, unlike many other spoiled emperors. Ambicious and brave. The most important, he was the first of the emperors, he started the spark to unification, just because of that, he is my favorite.

[Han_Wudi]

For me, it is quite obvious B)

I'm surprised no one said Han Gaozu though. he unified and pacified the country after years of war and suffering and codified the ruling system that was to last over four hundred years. He set the tone for one of China's greatest dynasties.

[Yun]

Emperor Xuan of the Han (Liu Bingji aka Liu Xun) is indeed one of the humblest emperors the Chinese have ever had. But the reason why he was raised as a commoner is because his father the crown prince was killed by Emperor Wu (Han Wudi) out of paranoia! I shudder to think that it takes a father killing his son to produce a benevolent emperor in the grandson. Furthermore, Emperor Xuan was too dependent on Imperial In-laws - he killed the previous set of In-laws, the Huo, only to then elevate his own set, the Xu.

As usual, I'm partial to Age of Fragmentation people, so I'll nominate Fu Jian of the Former Qin and Tuoba Hong (aka Yuan Hong) of the Northern Wei - both rulers with a grand vision of a multi-ethnic Chinese civilisation, but who died under tragic circumstances after being betrayed by the people they trusted most.

[thirdgumi]

If we look back at the history, most of the great emperors didn't have an easy life before rise to throne. It's the harsh life that made them capable.