早年

元朔元年（前128年），刘据出生时，武帝已经二十九岁了，故对长子的出生「甚喜」。母亲卫子夫「遂立为皇后」。元狩元年（前122年），刘据获立为皇太子，当时七岁。后来武帝为成年的太子修建「博望苑」，让太子在那里跟宾客往来，「从其所好」。

太子性格宽仁温和，汉武帝不满意，认为「不类己」。不过武帝认为「太子敦重好静，必能安天下」。随著武帝的其他宠妃生下儿子后，武帝对卫皇后和太子的关爱减少，令太子「常有不自安之意」。武帝察觉此事，曾对太子的舅舅、大将军卫青说：「闻皇后与太子有不安之意，岂有之邪？可以意晓之。」叫卫青安抚太子。太子劝谏武帝减少征伐，武帝却笑说「吾当其劳，以逸遗汝，不亦可乎！」。

太子宽厚得民心，一些主张严刑峻法的官员不满太子。卫青死后，太子失去了最重要的保护者，朝臣对太子的攻击更多。武帝晚年沉迷巫术，太子和卫皇后都很难见到他。太初四年（前101年），李广利为将军出征匈奴，李氏势力抬头，卫皇后失宠，钩弋夫人又以「尧母」自居，李夫人的兄弟掌握兵权，太子的地位越来越不稳固。有一次苏文上告「太子与宫人戏」，武帝没有处罚太子。又一次武帝身体不适，叫黄门常融召见太子。常融回报时说「太子有喜色」，武帝长声叹息。待太子来到后，发现太子看似哭过却又强颜欢笑，神态有异，追查后之下才知道是常融在背后构陷；武帝遂斩杀常融。

巫蛊之祸

武帝晚年，江充等酷吏受到重用。江充与太子不和，害怕将来太子继位后会杀他，便想到利用当时闹出几宗大案的「巫蛊之术」去制造阴谋。这时武帝因年老而性情变得多疑，以为身边的人懂得「蛊道祝诅」，为此查根究柢而导致多人被杀。

江充当时负责处理有关巫蛊的案件，他说宫中有蛊气，武帝派其他官员协助他追查。江充来到太子宫掘蛊，掘出桐木做的人偶。当时汉武帝在甘泉宫避暑，太子召问少傅石德，身为太子师傅的石德惧怕自己受诛连，建议太子越权行事，拘捕江充等人及追查他们的阴谋，太子在情急下同意石德所言。

征和二年（前91年）七月壬午，太子派人假冒使者收捕江充等人。江充助手韩说怀疑使者身份，不肯受诏，被来人杀了。太子派人禀告卫皇后，又分发武器给侍卫。太子向百官宣布江充谋反，把江充杀了。当时江充另一助手苏文逃到武帝处，向武帝控诉太子，武帝派使者召太子，但使者不敢到太子那里，乾脆回报武帝说「太子反已成，欲斩臣，臣逃归。」武帝大怒，下令丞相刘屈氂率兵平乱。太子被逼纠集了数万人，并命令长安犯人如侯冒充持节调动长水校尉麾下驻扎于长水及宣曲的匈奴骑兵，但被莽通识破计谋。太子兵马激战五日，死者数万人。长安民众以为太子谋反，所以大多数人不支持他，太子势孤力弱而兵败，唯有逃离长安。卫皇后自杀，太子宾客多人亦被捕杀。

太子逃到京兆尹湖县一户民家，户主常卖草鞋以维持太子生活所需。太子有一位富有的故人在此地，派人找寻此人，却被人发现太子行藏。官吏围捕太子，太子自经，户主亦被杀，是为巫蛊之祸。

太子有三子一女，全部因巫蛊之祸而遇害，只有一位孙子刘询（即汉宣帝）因为尚为婴孩而生还。

平反

后来武帝发现巫蛊之事多不真实，知道太子刘据本无反心，把江充家灭族，处死苏文，在湖县建「思子宫」。

刘据之孙刘询在十多年后登上帝位，是为宣帝，即位后諡刘据曰「戾」，所以刘据又称「戾太子」。

受冒充

虽然刘据已于巫蛊之祸时自杀，但民间尚有谣传称刘据未死。至汉昭帝时，有人自称刘据，诣长安北门。群臣起初束手无策，但京兆尹隽不疑随后赶到，并依春秋时卫灵公子蒯聩出奔、其孙姬辄不纳返的先例将其拘捕。随后廷尉确认其真实身份为成方遂，因被称貌似刘据而冒充之以图富贵。此人因而被腰斩。

家世

妃嫔

• 嫡妻，姓名不详

• 戾后史氏，生史皇孙进

• 李氏

儿子

• 刘进，即汉宣帝的生父

• 姓名不详

• 姓名不详

女儿

• 刘氏

注释

延伸阅读

Family background and birth

Liu Ju's mother, Wei Zifu, was Emperor Wu's second wife. Emperor Wu's first wife was Empress Chen Jiao (who was also his older cousin). She was infertile and had a jealous personality. Moreover, when she was found employing witchcraft to curse Emperor Wu's other concubines (aimed at Wei Zifu in particular), she was officially deposed in August 130 BC, leaving open the position of empress. Wei Zifu had become Emperor Wu's new favourite consort since 138 BC and had by then already given him three daughters. In 128 BC, she gave birth to Liu Ju, Emperor Wu's first son, and was created empress as a result in April that year.

It was recorded that Emperor Wu, who was already 29 years old when his first son was born, was overjoyed and ordered poets to write paeans celebrating the arrival of the "grand prince", hinting Liu Ju would become his imperial heir by default. Prince Ju was later formally created crown prince in June 122 BC, at the age of 6.

As crown prince

Emperor Wu had high hopes for Prince Ju, and made sure he got the best education possible, even constructing the "Broad Vision Academy" (博望苑) to allow his son exposure to all schools of scholars. It is unclear when Liu Ju became involved in government affairs, but as he matured and Emperor Wu began to take more time away from the capital, from 113 BC he was entrusted as the prince regent while his father was absent. His mother Empress Wei, ageing and no longer a favourite of Emperor Wu, was still entrusted to look after domestic palace affairs. Both Liu Ju and Empress Wei remained well respected by Emperor Wu.

Unlike Emperor Wu, who was at times megalomanic and always looking for territorial expansion which burdened his people to their limit, Liu Ju was regarded as a man of peace, interested more in the social well-being and economic recovery of the people, and openly opposed his father on many policies. He was well known for his hospitality and openness to different opinions, and he maintained a large group of advisers and friends at his palace. Because Liu Ju favoured more lenient policies and often helped overturn wrongful convictions. He frequently had conflicts with legal officials who had received promotions from following his father's harsher, more authoritarian policies.

In 113 BC, Liu Ju married his only well-known consort, Lady Shi (史良娣), who bore him a son Liu Jin (刘进). Liu Jin would later produce a young grandson, who was only months old when his entire family were killed during the 91 BC political turmoil. Liu Ju also had two other sons and a daughter.

While Liu Ju's well-respected uncle, General Wei Qing was alive, Crown Prince Ju was safe politically. After Wei Qing died in 106 BC, certain officials and factions started plotting against Liu Ju.

Forced into rebellion

Near the end of his reign, the physically deteriorating Emperor Wu became increasingly paranoid and fearful of others using witchcraft against him, especially after incidents involving the sighting/hallucination of an armed stranger walking by as well as a nightmare of hundreds of small wooden puppets beating him with sticks. A massive crackdown was ordered and those who were suspected of witchcraft were often summarily executed along with their entire clans. Many important people became victims of this witch-hunt, which peaked during early 91 BC, including the entire family of Prime Minister Gongsun He (公孙贺, Liu Ju's maternal uncle-in-law), Liu Ju's sisters (and Emperor Wu's own daughters) Princesses Yangshi (阳石公主) and Princess Zhuyi (诸邑公主), as well as Wei Qing's son Wei Kang (卫忼), effectively removing almost all of the Crown Prince's political supporters in the Han court.

Furthermore, Emperor Wu's favourite concubine was now the young Lady Zhao (赵婕妤), who was also known as "Lady Fist" (拳夫人) or "Lady Hook" (钩弋夫人) due to legend that she was born with a contractured clenched fist, which somehow magically opened up when Emperor Wu massaged it, revealing a jade hook in the palm. She gave birth to Emperor Wu's youngest son Liu Fuling after a rumoured 14-month-long pregnancy, same as the legendary Emperor Yao. Overjoyed that he could still father a son with such divine implications at the age of 66, the superstitious Emperor Wu named Lady Zhao's household the "Gate of Yao's Mother" (尧母门). This gesture did not go unnoticed, and speculations started to rise that he intended to replace Liu Ju with the 3-year-old Prince Fuling as the new crown prince. Such speculation fuelled further conspiracies to dethrone Liu Ju.

One of the conspirators against Crown Prince Ju was Jiang Chong (江充), the ruthless and opportunistic head of the secret intelligence, who once had a run-in with Prince Ju after arresting one of Prince Ju's assistants for improper use of an imperial right of way. Fearing that with Emperor Wu's health declining, Crown Prince Ju would one day ascend to the throne and punish him for their past clashes, Jiang Chong decided that he had to remove the Crown Prince once and for all. One other conspirator was Emperor Wu's chief eunuch Su Wen (苏文), who had falsely and repeatedly accused Liu Ju of committing adultery with Emperor Wu's junior concubines. Su Wen also blocked any attempts by Liu Ju and Empress Wei to communicate with Emperor Wu, who was then staying at his summer palace in Ganquan (甘泉, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi).

In the same year, Jiang Chong and Su Wen decided to move against Liu Ju, once again using witchcraft as an excuse. Jiang, with the approval of Emperor Wu, searched through various palaces, ostensibly for witchcraft items, eventually reaching Empress Wei and Liu Ju's household. Jiang's men dug holes everywhere, leaving barely room for the Empress and Crown Prince to lay their beds. Jiang Chong then planted dolls and pieces of cloth with mysterious writing in Liu Ju's palace, and then announced that he found evidence of witchcraft. Liu Ju, initially believing that he had nothing to hide, was shocked and forced to consider his options, and his teacher Shi De (石德), invoking the story of Zhao Gao's plot to murder Ying Fusu and raising the possibility that Emperor Wu might already be deceased, suggested that Liu Ju should start an uprising to remove Jiang. Liu Ju initially hesitated and wanted to speedily proceed to Ganquan Palace and explain himself to his father, but he found out that Jiang's messengers were already on their way to report the "crime". So he decided to accept Shi's suggestion.

Liu Ju arranged for one of his men to impersonate a messenger from Emperor Wu and arrest Jiang Chong's party. However, Su Wen managed to escape arrest. After they were subdued, Liu Ju personally executed Jiang on 1 September. He then reported his actions to his mother, who authorised him the right to mobilise her palace guards and distribute weapons to any civilian supporters he could muster in preparation to defend himself against any retaliation from Jiang's co-conspirators. Meanwhile, Su Wen fled to Ganquan Palace and told Emperor Wu that the Crown Prince was going to overthrow him in a rebellion. Emperor Wu, refusing to believe his benevolent son would commit treason and (correctly at this point) concluding that Prince Ju was merely angry at Jiang Chong. So the Emperor decided to send a low-ranking eunuch to the capital Chang'an to summon Prince Ju to provide an explanation for his actions. This messenger did not dare to proceed to Chang'an, but instead falsely reported to Emperor Wu that he fled because Prince Ju was going to kill him. By now enraged, Emperor Wu ordered his nephew, Prime Minister Liu Qumao (刘屈牦), to put down the rebellion.

Prince Ju also sent two messengers in attempts to mobilise regular armies. One was sent to a detachment of surrendered Xiongnu cavalry stationed outside the capital, but Emperor Wu's messenger had arrived just earlier and ordered the cavalry to attack Prince Ju instead. The other messenger was sent to the North Army in charge of guarding the capital, but the commander-in-charge, Ren An (任安), refused to get involved. Without regular army support, Prince Ju's forces, consisting only palace guards and armed civilians, were no match for Liu Qumao's army. Furthermore, after Emperor Wu's banner was displayed outside the capital city, it became clear that Emperor Wu was still in charge and Prince Ju did not have his father's authorisation. So public support for the Crown Prince disappeared. The two sides then battled in the streets of Chang'an for five days, and Liu Qumao's forces prevailed. On 9 September, Prince Ju was forced to flee the capital with two of his sons. On that same day, his mother, Empress Wei, committed suicide after Emperor Wu sent messengers to seize her seal as a punishment of supporting her son's uprising. The rest of Prince Ju's family were then killed, with the only exception of the months-old grandson Liu Bingyi, who was thrown into prison.

Emperor Wu ordered that Prince Ju be hunted down, but after a junior official, Linghu Mao (令狐茂), risked his life and spoke on Prince Ju's behalf, Emperor Wu's anger began to subside, but he had not yet issued a pardon for his son. At this point, Liu Ju had fled to Hu County (湖县, in modern Sanmenxia, Henan) and took refuge in the home of a poor shoemaker. Knowing the financial burden imposed on his warm-hearted host, Liu Ju attempted to seek help from an old friend living in Hu County, but this exposed his whereabouts. Local officials quickly tracked down and surrounded the house. Seeing no chance of escape, Liu Ju committed suicide by hanging. His two sons and the family hosting them all died when government soldiers finally broke in and killed everyone. The officials in charge, Li Shou (李寿) and Zhang Fuchang (张富昌), then wasted no times to take Liu Ju's body to Chang'an and claim rewards from Emperor Wu, who had to keep his word despite great sorrow over his son's death.

Posthumous developments

Eventually, Emperor Wu began to realize that the witchcraft cases during 91 BC were often false accusations. In 89 BC, when Tian Qianqiu (田千秋), then the superintendent of Emperor Gao's temple, filed a report claiming that "a white-haired old man" told him in a dream that for the offence of armed uprising, Prince Ju would at most be caned, not killed, as a punishment, Emperor Wu realised what had really happened. Furious that the conspirators had abused his trust and plotted his son's death, he had Su Wen burned alive, Jiang Chong's immediate and extended family executed, and killed every official who had received promotions for tracking down the Crown Prince. He also promoted Tian Qianqiu to prime minister, and made major policy changes that supported the ideals supported by his dead son. To express his regret over causing his son's death, Emperor Wu also built the Palace of Son-Grieving (思子宫) and Platform of Longing for Return (归来望思台), officially rehabilitating Liu Ju's name.

Liu Ju's only surviving offspring, his grandson Liu Bingyi, would eventually become emperor (as Emperor Xuan) in 74 BC following the death of Crown Prince Ju's childless younger brother Emperor Zhao and a brief reign by their nephew, Prince He of Changyi. Out of respect for Emperor Zhao, Emperor Xuan did not initially attempt to restore the title of his grandfather. It was not until 73 BC that he restored Crown Prince Ju's title (but with the rather unflattering posthumous name of "Li", which means "unrepentant") and reburied his grandparents and parents.

Ancestry