page_title: Emperor Gaozu of Han
section_title: Insurrection against the Qin dynasty
hierarchical_section_title: Emperor Gaozu of Han / Insurrection against the Qin dynasty
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 刘邦（前256年－前195年6月1日），中国历史上第一位平民出身的皇帝，字季，汉朝（西汉）开国皇帝，庙号为太祖，谥号为高皇帝，所以史称汉太祖高皇帝、汉太祖、汉高祖或汉高帝。 English: Emperor Gaozu of Han.
context_page_description: Emperor Gaozu of Han, born Liu Bang with courtesy name Ji, was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning from 202 – 195 BCE. His temple name was "Taizu" while his posthumous name was Emperor Gao, or Gaodi; "Gaozu of Han", derived from the Records of the Grand Historian, is the common way of referring to this sovereign even though he was not accorded the temple name "Gaozu", which literally means "High Founder".
  Liu Bang was one of the few dynasty founders in Chinese history who was born into a peasant family. Prior to coming to power, Liu Bang initially served for the Qin dynasty as a minor law enforcement officer in his home town Pei County, within the conquered state of Chu. With the First Emperor's death and the Qin Empire's subsequent political chaos, Liu Bang renounced his civil service position and became an anti-Qin rebel leader. He won the race against fellow rebel leader Xiang Yu to invade the Qin heartland and forced the surrender of the last Qin ruler in 206 BCE.
context_section_description: Liu Bang had been tasked with escorting a group of convicts to Mount Li where they would be put to penal labor to help build the First Emperor's mausoleum. A few prisoners managed to escape during the journey. Liu Bang began to fear for his life as having convicts escape under one's care was, under the laws of the ruling Qin dynasty, a capital offence. Realizing that to keep his life he'd have to flee, Liu Bang decided to release the remaining prisoners in his care. A few of these convicts were so grateful to be set free that they decided to join Liu Bang of their own accord.
  According to legend they encountered a gigantic white serpent which killed members of Liu Bang's group with its poisonous breath. It is said that while drunk, Liu Bang slew the serpent that night and later encountered an old woman weeping by the side of the road the next morning. When the men following Liu asked her why she was crying, she replied, "My child, the White Emperor's son, has been slain by the son of the Red Emperor."  She then mysteriously disappeared. After hearing the old woman's strange words, Liu Bang's followers believed that he was destined to become a ruler in the future and became even more impressed with him. This event is known as the "Uprising of the Slaying of the White Serpent" (Chinese: 斬白蛇起義).
  Liu Bang and his followers took refuge on Mount Mangdang and lived as outlaws in an abandoned stronghold. Liu had maintained secret contact with some of his old friends such as Xiao He and Cao Shen who still lived in Pei County. In 209 BCE, two men named Chen Sheng and Wu Guang began the Dazexiang Uprising to overthrow the Qin dynasty. The magistrate of Pei County considered joining the rebellion as well and acting on the advice of both Xiao He and Cao Shen, he sent Fan Kuai (a relative of Liu Bang) to invite Liu and his followers back to Pei County to support him. However, he later decided against it and ended up denying Liu Bang entry into his lands. He also worried that Liu's friends Xiao He and Cao Shen might decide to open the gates for Liu now that he had been denied entry, so he set a plan in motion to kill them but Xiao and Cao managed to escape before it was put into action and eventually joined up with Liu and his entourage. While in Liu's company, Xiao came up with a plan to gain entry into the county and managed to convince Liu to take his advice. Liu Bang ordered his men to write letters, wrap them around their arrows and fire the arrows over the border and into the neighboring county from which they had been barred. In the letters they urged the local townsfolk to help him. The peasants responded to this call for aid by killing the magistrate and welcoming Liu back into Pei County. Liu Bang decided to style himself the "Duke of Pei" (沛公) after this and became known to others by this title.
  In 208 BCE, during the reign of Qin Er Shi, the descendants of the former royal families who had ruled over the states of Yan, Zhao, Qi and Wei rebelled against the Qin Empire in the hope of restoring their former kingdoms, all of which had been conquered by the Qin dynasty in a series of wars to unify China under one ruler (the later Qin Emperor) about two decades earlier. In the county of Wu, a commoner named Xiang Liang (whose father had been a general for the state of Chu during the wars of unification) began his own uprising and installed Xiong Xin as "King Huai the Latter" (楚後懷王) on the throne of the former Chu state. Liu Bang decided to join Xiang Liang's rebellion and served in Chu for some time. After Xiang Liang was killed in action at the Battle of Dingtao, King Huai II sent Xiang Liang's nephew Xiang Yu and minister Song Yi to lead an army to reinforce the Zhao state, which was under attack by Qin forces.
  Liu Bang was later granted the title "Marquis of Wu'an" (武安侯) by the king and tasked with leading an army which was to attack Guanzhong, the Qin heartland.  The king then promised that whoever entered Guanzhong first would receive the title "King of Guanzhong" and become its rightful ruler.  In 206 BCE, Liu Bang managed 
caption: Liu Bang, in an illustration by Qing-dynasty artist Shangguan Zhou 上官周 (1665–1749)
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