Dong Zhongshu
Liu An, engaged in political and cosmological arguments with Dong Zhongshu, founded an academy which compiled the "Huainanzi". The "Huainanzi" leaves room for multiple cultural traditions in China through the concept of the Tao. By contrast, Dong advocated cultural centralization, placing Heaven and its mandate before all other concepts. Wang Aihe views the defeat of the Prince of Huainan as symbolic of China's increasing cultural centralization during the Han dynasty.