Emperor Wu & Ancient China's Zenith

A History of Mankind (193)

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Emperor Wu’s court was perhaps the brightest in Chinese history. A man full of curiosity, with an appreciation of talented underlings and who was known to have penned the occasional poem, the emperor established official posts for scholars who mastered the Confucian canon in 136 BC; a decade later, he set a rule that 50 pupils would be sent annually to be trained by those scholars in court, the origin of China’s civil examination system and its ability to regularly produce new Confucian scholars¹.

Besides the philosopher Dong Zhongshu, Wu congregated in his palace a number of outstanding men of various talents and abilities, an “inner court” beholden to the emperor only, in charge of helping him extend the empire, increase its wealth and influence, promote knowledge and settle distant lands. He also got rid of many noble families, originally settled at court a century earlier by Li Si and in following decades, and a net drain on the budget, whom he sent back to their own lands.

Liu An (179-122 BC), an uncle of Emperor Wu who held a vassal king title, found the time to put together the “Huainanzi,” an influential compendium of Confucian, Legalist and Daoist writings that represents a great example of the traditional Chinese approach to gathering knowledge from distant, even opposing schools – all in the service of advising an enlightening the emperor. Liu An is also credited with the invention of tofu, the classical Chinese ingredient, in his spare time.