Han Zhao

The Han Zhao (simplified Chinese: 汉赵; traditional Chinese: 漢趙; pinyin: Hànzhào; 304-329), or Former Zhao, or Northern Han (北漢), was a Southern Xiongnu state during Sixteen Kingdoms period coeval with the Chinese Jin Dynasty (265-420). In the Chinese historiography it was given two conditional state titles, the Han state (漢, pinyin Hàn) for the state proclaimed in 304 by Liu Yuan, and the Former Zhao state (前趙, pinyin Qiánzhào) for the state proclaimed in 319 by Liu Yao. The reference to them as separate states should be considered clearly erroneous, given that when Liu Yao changed the name of the state from Han to Zhao in 319, he treated the state as having been continuous from the time that Liu Yuan founded it in 304; instead, he de-established royal lineage to the Han Dynasty and claimed ancestry directly from Yu the Great of the Xia Dynasty.

The reason it was also referred to as Former Zhao was that when the powerful general Shi Le broke away and formed his own state in 319, later it was also conditionally named Zhao as well, and so in the Chinese historiography Shi Le's state was referred to as Later Zhao.) Since they both were ruled by partially sinicized Xiongnu with a Chinese throne name Liu, the Chinese scholars often conditionally combined them into a single Han Zhao state. Numerous western texts refer to the two states separately; others referred to the Han state as the Northern Han, a confusing nomenclature as the term also refers to the Northern Han in the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

All rulers of the Han Zhao were titled emperors. Han Zhao rulers were all extremely intelligent and articulate, but some lacked self-control and demonstrated excessive cruelty on the battle field. Particularly typical of this pattern of behavior was Liu Cong (Emperor Zhaowu), who was clearly able to discern good strategical plans from bad. He would sometimes indulge himself on wine and women, and his patterns of erratic behavior often resulted in deaths of honest officials. Han Zhao was considered to be a state that never fully realized its potential,it had a right mix of talent among its officials, and its armies were extremely powerful especially when utilized properly, but it would not always complete the conquests that its emperors envisioned, and eventually fell to its formal general Shi Le.

The Han Zhao armies sacked the Jin dynastic capitals of Luoyang in 311 and Chang'an in 316. Emperor Huai and Emperor Min of the Jin were captured, humiliated and executed. Remnants of the Jin court fled to Jiankang, located east of Luoyang and Chang'an, and founded the so-called Eastern Jin Dynasty, under Sima Rui a Prince of Langye, later he adopted a title Emperor Yuan.

In 318, Liu Can and the state ruling family at Pingyang were toppled and executed by the coup d'etat of Jin Zhun, who was in turn overthrown by Shi Le and Liu Yao. Liu Yao, as an imperial prince, claimed the throne and changed the dynastic name from Han to Zhao. The Han Zhao dynasty lasted until 329, when Shi Le defeated Liu Yao at the river Luo. Liu Yao was captured and executed; his sons agreed to join Shi Le forces, and Shi Le became de facto head of the Southern Xiongnu state.