Xijun Liu

Background

Liu Xijun came from a disgraced branch of the Han imperial family. She was a daughter of Liu Jian and granddaughter of Liu Fei, a brother of Emperor Wu. There is no exact information about the place and the date of her birth.

Career

Liu Xijun was elevated in 105 to the status of a princess when Emperor Wu married her off to Wusun, the most powerful state in the western region. The purpose of this marriage was to conclude a diplomatic alliance intended to break the menacing Xiongnu confederacy.

When Liu Xijun arrived at Wusun she became the Lady of the Right to Lieqiaomi. She was not accustomed to living in a yurt or eating raw meat, that is why she built a palace for her own in Chinese architectural style. Through her marriage, Liu Xijun did a lot to enhance diplomatic relations between the kingdom of Wusun and Han China. She also helped to spread the culture of Han China through the stimulation of trade and the maintenance of peaceful borders.

As Liu Xijun lived alone in her palace she wrote poems expressing her nostalgia for Han China. Emperor Wu learned about it and sent her additional necessities every year in order to comfort her.

Liu Xijun husband was older than she was, so he decided to divorce her and give her up to his grandson. Liu Xijun protested to Emperor Wu but he asked her to follow Wusun customs in order to maintain friendly relations. So Liu Xijun married to Jun Xumi. She shared the life of the new king for many years before her death.

Achievements

• Liu Xijun, one of the famous characters in Chinese history and literature, was known as a woman who made contributions to cultural exchange and executed the mission of friendship through diplomacy. She is also known as a poet whose poem has preserved the memory of her brief and sorrowful life as a princess bride in the history of Chinese-nomadic relations.

Connections

Liu Xijun was the wife of Lie Jiaomi, the king of Wusun. But as he was older than she was, he decided to remarry her to his grandson. So, Liu Xijun became the wife of Jun Xumi and bore him a daughter Shaofu.

Father:

Liu Jian

Liu Jian inherited the title of the Prince of Jiangdu and territory in 127.

Grandfather:

Liu Fei

Liu Fei was a brother of Emperor Wu. He had won merit by quelling the revolt of the seven princes in 154 B.C. and become the Prince of Jiangdu.

Ex-husband:

Lie Jiaomi

Lie Jiaomi was the king of Wusun.

husband:

Jun Xumi

Jun Xumi was the king of Wusun.

Daughter:

Shaofu

References

• China in central Asia: The early stage, 125 B.C.-A.D. 23 An annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of The history of the former Han dynasty.
  1979
• Peace, War, and Trade Along the Great Wall: Nomadic-Chinese Interaction through Two Millenia This fascinating book tells the story of the centuries-long confrontation along the Great Wall of China.
  1989
• A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods (221 BC - AD 24) This is a unique and conclusive reference work about the 6,000 individual men and women known to us from China's formative first empires. Over decennia, Michael Loewe (Cambridge, UK) has painstakingly collected all biographical information available. Not only those are dealt with who set the literary forms and intellectual background of traditional China, such as writers, scholars, historians, and philosophers, but also those officials who administered the empire, and the military leaders who fought in civil warfare or with China's neighbors.
  2000
• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. - 618 C.E This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West.
  1998
• The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC-AD 220 This volume begins the historical coverage of The Cambridge History of China with the establishment of the Ch'in empire in 221 BC and ends with the abdication of the last Han emperor in AD 220. As the book is intended for the general reader as well as the specialist, technical details are given in both Chinese terms and English equivalents. References lead to primary sources and their translations and to secondary writings in European languages as well as Chinese and Japanese.
  1986
• Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century The collaborative effort of nearly 100 China scholars from around the world, this unique one-volume reference provides 89 in-depth biographies of important Chinese women from the fifth-century B.C.E to the early twentieth century.
  2000