Birth and Childhood Before Ascending The Throne
In 94 BC, then-Prince Fuling was born to a favorite concubine of Emperor Wu, Consort Zhao, who carried the title Lady Gouyi (鉤弋夫人). Emperor Wu was ecstatic in having a child at his advanced age (62), and because Consort Zhao purportedly had a pregnancy that lasted 14 months long—the same length as the mythical Emperor Yao – he named Consort Zhao's palace gate "Gate of Yao's Mother." This led to speculations that he, due to his favor for Consort Zhao and Prince Fuling, wanted to make Prince Fuling crown prince instead of Crown Prince Liu Ju, the son of Empress Wei Zifu. That, in turn, led to conspiracies against Prince Ju and Empress Wei, eventually forcing Prince Ju to pre-emptively rise up in military self-defence in 91 BC. Being misunderstood as a revolt, Prince Ju was defeated and went into exile, and both he and Empress Wei committed suicide soon afterwards.
After Prince Ju's death, Emperor Wu was forced to consider who would make a good heir. Liu Dan, the Prince of Yan, was Emperor Wu's oldest surviving son, but Emperor Wu considered both him and his younger brother Liu Xu, the Prince of Guangling, to be unsuitable, since neither respected laws. Left with no other options, he decided on his youngest son, Prince Fuling, who was only six at that time. He therefore also chose a potential regent in Huo Guang, whom he considered to be capable and faithful. He also ordered Prince Fuling's mother, Consort Zhao, arrested and executed, in fear that she would become an uncontrollable empress dowager, like Empress Dowager Lü. He entrusted Huo with the regency of Fuling. At Huo's suggestion, he also made ethnic Xiongnu official Jin Midi and general Shangguang Jie co-regents. He died in 87 BC, shortly after creating Prince Fuling crown prince. Crown Prince Fuling then succeeded to the throne as Emperor Zhao at the age of 8.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Zhao Of Han
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“To do good is like ascending a mountain; to do evil as easy as following an avalanche.”
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—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)