Background
Emperor Wu, or the 'Martial Emperor', celebrated for his expansion of the Chinese empire, succeeded to the throne as the fifth monarch of the Han dynasty. His father and grandfather were known for their laissez-faire policies marked by frugal government expenditures and low taxes. The result was rapid population growth and unprecedented prosperity. Naturally, such a domestic policy could only be maintained by peaceful foreign, or rather frontier, relations. All this was to change under the energetic young emperor.
The young emperor started promoting Confucianism in a process that would eventually establish it as the dominant ideology of East Asia for the next two millennia.
He etablished government control over iron-making and the salt trade to help finance the costly expansionist wars.
He is said to have abandoned the cousin to whom he was married, making a law-born singer his empress.
Emperor Wu ensured a peaceful succession by the harsh expedient of killing a concubine and establishing her young son as the new heir. Like other rulers who wished to further extend their worldly power, Emperor Wu was infatuated with immortality and the supernatural. In his search for elixirs and immortals, usually associated with Daoist mysticism, alchemy and astrology, he built elevated structures in the palace and travelled frequently to mountains and seashores. The emperor is still known by his posthumous title Wu ('martial'), demonstrating the importance of his conquests, and one of his legacies is the lasting, though sporadic, persistence of Chinese influence in Central Asia.